The importance of clean language.
I was listening online to a guided visualisation last week. Suddenly I could hear the words ‘no’ ‘stop’ in my head. I tuned into the words of a well-known author and realised that his language was not clean! I left the call immediately.
The language that is used during meditations and guided visualisations is so important because someone in a meditative relaxed state can be in a highly suggestable state. Understanding how the brain works and its systems for processing language are key. As a Master Practitioner of both Neuro Linguistic Programming and a Master Practitioner of Hypnotherapy, I have learnt how the brain ‘neuro’ is operating and how it analyses language patterns ‘linguistic’ plus the strategies we put into place to communicate ‘programming’.
If I say to you…
‘Don’t think of a pink elephant’, I bet that’s the image you have in your head. Our brain processes words in a different order to the way they are spoken.
So why is it helpful to know this?
During meditations and guided visualisations, we can be in an open and trusting state. We can be open to suggestion. In the same way that we wouldn’t put mouldy rotten food into our mouths, it’s good to be aware of the language that we ‘put’ into our mind.
When we think of the mind, its probably easiest to think about it in two parts. Like an iceberg there is the seen part that we are aware of, the Conscious mind which is the rational and logical thinking part, and a large amount hidden from our awareness, a great wealth of knowledge and wisdom below the surface. That is the Unconscious part of our mind. Although, we have no or little awareness of the Unconscious mind, it influences all that happens in our body from blinking the eyes to the heart beating. It’s also where our habits, behaviours and beliefs are held.
The words we or others say to us, any suggestions that we accept have the power to shape and impact our lives. If someone says to you for example ‘It must be hard to do your job’, we can
accept that as a suggestion or reframe it by making and accepting a different suggestion that perhaps our job challenges us but rewards us.
How to intentionally positively impact your UCM?
Knowing what we know about suggestions, this means that we can start to consider what suggestions we may want to embed that are helpful and take us to where we want to be and help us to live the life we want to live. Here are some ways to positively impact the mind.
• Surround yourself with positivity. Positive people, music that lifts your spirits, images that make you feel good, meditations and affirmations that take you to a good place. Ask yourself. Is what’s being said by those around me, taking me towards where I want to be? What can you have around you to set yourself up for success?
• Start focusing and visualising your success. Imagine yourself being successful in the
situation you want to be in, whatever that is from a conversation with a loved one, leading others or a presentation. Whatever the situation, see you being successful. Really involve yourself in the visualisation. Feel what it’s like to be there, hear the noises around you. What are people saying to you? What is being said about you. What can you see?
What do you feel? Add a colour and brightness to your image. How does it feel to be there? Really feel as if you are living and breathing the situation.
• Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. As we’ve shown earlier because of the way that the brain works by focusing on not thinking of a pink elephant, all you can think of is a pink elephant! Keep asking yourself ‘What do I want?’
• Create or use positive affirmations. Louise Hay was a big believer in the power of affirmations. They are great for turning negative self-talk around. Write them or find ones written in the present tense so instead of ‘I will’ say ‘I am’. Add emotion to make your affirmation even more powerful, use positive focus. ‘I am filled with joy and a sense of achievement when I walk in nature’, ‘I believe in, trust and have confidence in myself’. What affirmations will support you today?
• Be aware of the language and thoughts in your head. Do you criticise yourself? Beat yourself up? Do you make judgements about what is right wrong, good or bad? Feed your mind with words and thoughts that are unhelpful. See the blog on positive affirmations
• Go with your gut instincts. Have you ever had two choices and just known that one is the right answer? You may not have had any thought process; you just know inherently that one choice is the right one for you. That’s your unconscious mind. Listen to it!
Meditation and guided visualisations.
Suggestions are widely used in meditation and guided visualisation to support someone in their desired path, convey ideas or inspire action (behaviours and thoughts). These are a great way of communicating at an unconscious level. Meditation can change and slow our thought patterns allowing downloads from the unconscious mind. You may think of these as random thoughts that seem to just ‘pop’ into your head. There’s nothing random about them, they are ideas, thoughts, suggestions from your unconscious mind. Letting your thoughts flow like this can provide all sorts of insights. Guided visualisations can help to embed helpful suggestions that take us to where we want to be.
I created my own guided visualisations during the radiotherapy treatment. I had heard so many horror stories about the side effects that I needed to reframe the whole experience to let go of the anxiety and fear. I wanted to ensure that my body was in the best possible state to heal so I created a guided visualisation to use during each treatment. It really changed the whole experience for me!
Give it ago and see what happens!