By Teresa Meehan Ph.D.
The NLP technique known as The Swish Pattern, is a powerful tool used to help people re-program unwanted thouht processes. The concept of "the swish" is that a person is able to move away from an unwanted behavior - such as "I am a hopeless person" attitude - toward a much healthier thinking process - such as "I am a good person" or "I am good at what I do" attitude. The Swish is one of the quickest techniques that you can use to re-direct your habitual thinking patterns.
Let's run through an example of how to use this powerful technique.
Think of a specific situation where you tend to feel very low self-esteem, such as talking in public or even talking to members of the opposite sex. Make yourself aware of the first picture that you see through your own eyes just before you feel the bad, insecure feelings. This is called the cue image.
Put that cue image aside for the moment and now think of something that made you feel really good. It doesn't need to be anything major just something that makes you feel better than that insecure, low self-esteem feeling.
If you are having trouble thinking of something then try thinking of a pet or favorite TV show, your favorite music or movie or person even.
Now that you have those 'better' feelings, try to imagine what that good feeling would look like. You can imagine a picture or even just a color.
Try to imagine bringing that image or color closer to you, making it bigger and brighter and you will notice that it makes you feel even better.
Now the step to re-program your mind is about to begin. Picture that cue image again. The one that you started with that gave you the insecure feelings. Bring it closer to you, make it bigger and brighter.
Now in the middle of the image place a small, postage stamp sized image of the 'good feeling' image.
Here comes the exciting bit - the swish...
Imaging that you are zooming the insecure cue image off into the distance, it is gradually getting smaller and dimmer the further it gets away from you AND at the same time bring the good feeling image closer to you, making it bigger and brighter.
Now blank the screen. Try to picture a big black or white blank board.
Repeat the 'swishing' process several times until you can imagine doing it in less than half a second.
The final step is to break your current state. Think of something completely different like what you will eat for dinner tonight. Take your mind completely away from the swish exercise thoughts.
Now think of the original cue image again and notice how your feelings have changed.
Low self-esteem and its associated behavior have a tendency to re-enforce themselves resulting in a person suffering with feelings of low energy. To break out of these habitual patterns and improve self-esteem it is necessary to do something different. Anything else to break the patterns!
The NLP Swish technique is a very effective tool for breaking out of destructive patterns along with NLP's many other useful change methods. Raising your self-esteem is one of the first steps to improving your overall quality of life. Try it!
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