(This blog was originally posted on January 22, 2014)
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| Photo courtesy of Microsoft |
No pun intended, but the way we use words to
share thoughts and ideas is so expressive
of who we are and how we take in our world.
We communicate what we perceive, and we use specific words and terms to illustrate
how we perceive the information we are sharing. According to Neurolinguistic
Programming, we all have a preferred way to express or represent ourselves when
we communicate. Following are descriptions of the different sensory
representational systems.
·
Visual: This person primarily takes in
information by seeing and how something looks. He or she looks up and is
comfortable establishing eye contact. He or she needs to see written
information or instructions to something and will use metaphors such as, “I see what you mean” to convey
understanding during a conversation.
·
Auditory: This individual processes
information via auditory cues and can learn by hearing and listening to instruction.
He or she will use expressions like, “The message is loud and clear” or “another
way to say that.” This person is comfortable memorizing sequences and is very
sensitive to the speaker’s tone of voice and the words the other person uses.
However, this individual can become overwhelmed by stimuli and may avoid eye
contact (focusing on another stimuli) in order to listen to and understand what
is being said. This person will use metaphors like, “I hear what you’re saying” to convey understanding during a
conversation.
·
Kinesthetic: A kinesthetic person learns
and memorizes something by rehearsing or “walking through” a scenario. This
person tends to make physical contact with the object of discussion or another
person in the conversation as a way of reinforcing what he or she is learning. He
or she will use metaphors like, “That
meeting completely slipped my mind.”
·
Auditory Digital: An auditory-digital
individual focuses on whether something makes sense in order to learn and
understand a concept. This person will use language like, “That’s logical” to indicate that he or she understands (or not)
the principle being discussed.
During each
hypnotherapy session, I pay careful attention to the words my clients use and
which metaphors they choose when they speak. I know that the way they use
language paints a picture of how they perceive their lives and where they are
in the process of replacing an unwanted behavior. This information helps me to create
the ideal hypnotic script by which I can communicate with their subconscious
mind and help them achieve their goals.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in
Southern California. She graduated with honors from the
Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about
Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
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