Source: Nelson Zink & Joe Munshaw

Select a negative and positive state.

Get a visual representation of the negative and positive states.

Create a symbol for the negative state.

Repeat for the positive state.

Rotate the images around each other, accelerating to an extreme rate.

Blend the images into one image.

Tell a story.

Test.

Avoid or get out of negative situations. Solve problems and be creative.

Step 1: Select a negative and positive state. #

One should be in a state you are in, or sometimes find yourself in, that is not desirable. If this is your first time working with this pattern, choose a relatively “weak” state. Once you get more comfortable, work on the stronger, more disturbing, ones. The other state should be a very desirable state that you might think of as an “antidote” to the negative state. For example, you could take “irritated easily when hearing a squeaky noise” as the negative state, and its “antidote” state, “hearing music in every seemingly inharmonic set of sounds.”

Step 2: Access this negative state and get a visual representation. #

Notice where in your sensory field it exists, and explore its sub-modalities. Be certain to explore the driver sub-modalities in the major modalities: visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. The driver sub-modalities will give you the most elegant path for the change-work to be successful. Do the same for the positive state.

Step 3: Have the person create an icon or symbol for the visual representation of the negative state. #

You can ask the person to, “Create a simple image that represents the negative state, such as a cartoon or icon.”

Step 4: Repeat this for the positive state. #

Step 5: Rotate the images around each other, accelerating at an extreme rate. #

Have the person begin to rotate the two icons around each other, as if they were two planets in each other’s gravitational field. The images will exchange locations and continue. Have them gradually speed up until they reach an extremely high speed.

Step 6: Blend the images into one image. #

Ask them to allow the images to blend into a single image. Ask the person to briefly describe the image. Do not get caught up in too many details here; the idea is just to get the general feeling of the image in order to work with it elegantly. Pace their description, but move on to the next step as soon as possible.

Step 7: Begin telling a story. #

Pick any story from your life or anywhere else that suits you. The purpose is to break the state. If you have additional skills, such as those from the Ericksonian language, then use these advanced skills if it’s appropriate.

Step 8: Test. #

In the coming days and weeks, see how this process has made the positive state more accessible and how well the pattern has reduced incidences of being in the negative state. See whether the person has begun employing more creative ways of coping with situations that had been arousing the negative state or more resourceful ways of preventing or getting out of the negative state.