Prologue – I'm in a bad mood!

It is early April, winter is changing to spring, but it is still not really warm. Furthermore, it is raining constantly. Rain, cold, and a cold on top of that contribute to me feeling miserable. The interesting thing is: I don't even notice it at first! It's only my wife's reaction that draws my attention to the fact that I have tipped the world outside into my inner self and my mood is rather dark and rainy. I am a grump! Now, it's nice that I'm just realizing that I'm a grump, but how do I get out of this mood again?

One does not need to refer to the findings of the effectiveness researcher Gerhard Roth to know that pure rumination does not help. To get out of a mental dead end, one must be creative. Stephen Gilligan, a world-renowned hypnotherapist, is of the opinion that creativity is a conversation between conscious reality and a creative unconscious quantum world. To conduct this conversation, I need an "observing self" as an important characteristic or ability. He further explains that I create my conscious reality, i.e. my rational and logical consciousness, myself with the help of perceptual filters. Such filters are fed from various sources. There are biological, cultural, familial, social, personal, and many other filters that influence the shaping of my personal reality. Most of these filters can also be called "convictions". Only when I am willing to change my filters can I influence the shaping of my reality, can I live and learn creativity.

Aha, I think to myself, my reality is: I'm in a bad mood! My wife is nagging me. I don't want that, because I would like to live in harmony with her. So I have an interest in adjusting my perception filters with the help of a "creative unconscious". So now I need three things: myself, as I am in a bad mood (1st position), someone who is creative and brightens me up as a grouch with their creativity (2nd position), and an observer who looks at me from the outside, how I am in a bad mood and reflects and evaluates the situation (3rd position).

Look, these are exactly the three perceptual positions that NLP has been teaching for decades. NLP also teaches that change only succeeds when you give so-called resources into a not-so-good state, because: Only feelings change feelings! Put simply: I add a great feeling that matches the motivation for feeling bad to a bad feeling and thereby transform the bad into a good feeling.

However, very few people can guide themselves through such a change process; they need procedural guidance. This is what coaches are for. Sounds logical and simple at first.

Variants of resource transfer

In NLP usage, a feeling that is to be used to improve a problem situation is called a resource. I would now like to briefly discuss three variants of feeling or resource transfer.

With these variants, I, as an executive coach, guide my clients so that something changes for them and "understanding" occurs. The prerequisite is that the client has identified a resource that they believe can improve the not-so-good state. This resource can be, for example, a character trait that is capable of activating helpful abilities.

Variant 1 – Energy and symbol as a gift

This variant I have within the scope of my NLP training at Adrian Schweizer learned. In this variant, the client first associates with their problem state and feels what they feel when they are in the problem. Here they check whether the chosen resource could be helpful. Then they switch to an observer position, where they look at their problem-self from the outside, think about what was experienced in the problem-self, and reflect on whether the chosen resource could be helpful. If both the problem-self and the observer-self are of the opinion that the resource fits, then the client considers which person has this resource characteristic. This could be themselves in a different life situation or another person. It does not matter whether they personally know the chosen person. It is important that they attribute the desired characteristic to the person. So it can be a known person (e.g., a friend), an actor (e.g., John Wayne), a historical figure (e.g., Nelson Mandela), or a fictional character (e.g., Superman).

Now another place in the room is determined, which stands for the resource. One imagines the chosen person and goes to this place in the room and, so to speak, slips into this person and enters the state of the required character trait/ability and the associated feeling. This feeling is what we need. Now a symbol is defined, which represents the feeling, and a color, which stands for this feeling. The client now sends the color as a beam of light over to the problem-self, while taking the symbol into his imagination with both hands. While the colored light is already transmitting the feeling, the client now moves to the problem-self, steps directly in front of it, and hands the symbol to the problem-self as a gift. Then the client steps into the position of the problem-self, receives the symbol as a gift, puts the symbol in his imagination into the body of the problem-self while perceiving that the colored light of the resource is entering his inner self.

The problem feeling will now change.

Variant 2 – The Energy Metaphor

I derived this variant myself for my needs. It is initially identical to the variant described previously. When I have determined the resource person, moved myself to this person's spatial position, and built up the feeling of the desired characteristic, then the position of the feeling in the body is localized. The feeling is then described as energy. This energy represents the desired character trait / ability. With the resistance-free language according to Milton Erickson, the client is now guided to let the energy flow through the body until, in the end, all body parts from head to toe are completely filled with this energy. Then, the client can be guided to let the energy flow out of the body and envelop the entire body like an energy cloud. Then the color of this energy is determined, and the client is instructed to send a beam of this energy in the direction of the problem-self. The energy flows to the problem-self, penetrates it, permeates the problem-self, and fills it completely. While the energy continues to flow, the client may now, from the resource position, enter the problem-self with the energy beam and experience the change.

Variant 3 – Metaphorical Decorating

I learned this variation from Gunther Schmidt, the developer of the hypnosystemic approach and head of the Milton Erickson Institute in Heidelberg. Here I only need the problem-self and the observer position. From the observer position, the client determines which characteristic/ability the problem-part needs. Then the client is allowed to think of a metaphorical figure that represents this characteristic/ability. Now they should imagine any number of these metaphorical figures (objects) and use them to decorate the problem-self as they wish. With the decorated elements, the attitude towards the problem-self will already change from the observer perspective. Then switch into the problem-self and find out what has changed.

There are, of course, other variants of transferring resources. A feeling present within a person is combined with a context (a manifestation in Mental Space ) connected, in which this feeling is not addressable. Metaphors are always used for this.

Epilogue

The point is – with whichever variant – to transfer enough resources into the problematic state until the feeling there is okay. The basic principle is always the same: the bad feeling (K–) is enriched with good feelings (K++) that match the motivation until the bad feeling becomes a good feeling (K+).

Since I also want to experience something nice with my wife on a gloomy November day and my grumpy mood prevents this, I will briefly withdraw and use the variants described above to improve my mood. Afterwards, I will do something nice with her.

Good thing I shape my own reality! That gloomy weather doesn't bother me anymore, spring will unfold in all its glory...