NLP: Managing Your Inner Resources

Hello everyone! Stalilingus here, riding the wave with you. Today, let’s talk about the topic of inner resources! I’m writing with the hope that you already have an idea of what inner resources are (confidence, resilience, calmness, anger, etc.).

In NLP, there’s a formula:

Problem + Resource = Solution or a problem is just a solution that’s not formulated correctly!

If you have a problem, all that’s left to solve it is to access your inner resources. Now, let’s go into more detail about how to do that.

1) Visualize (Identify) the Situation

Think of a situation where you need resources and want to behave differently. For example, you might feel awkward approaching someone to introduce yourself, your knees might shake before public speaking, you might need to talk to your boss, make up with your girlfriend, or you want to tell a joke and suddenly realize you’ve “forgotten” all 300 jokes you read last night…

2) Immerse Yourself in the Situation

Next, step into the chosen situation and associate yourself with it, as if it’s happening right now (imagine you’re merging with it), and make a “freeze frame.”

What do you see, hear, what emotions are you experiencing, maybe even smells… Once you’ve recreated the event as vividly as possible, find the sensations in your body that correspond to this event. Usually, these sensations—like tingling, tightness, etc.—are in the chest or stomach, but they can be anywhere in the body.

You don’t need to “materialize” these sensations or define their size or color. It’s enough to clearly realize that these sensations match the situation you’re working on. Once you have this awareness, observe the sensations in your body for a while, focus your attention on them, and ask yourself: “Where inside me does the feeling of my ‘self’ arise, or more precisely, the feeling of ‘me in this situation’?” The image of “self” can be anywhere in the body: stomach, back of the head, heels… sometimes even outside the body. (If you can’t identify the sensations or the image of “self,” use the “as if” principle. If they were there, what would they be like, or where would they be?)

3) Project the Image and Transform It

Now, during the NLP technique for accessing inner resources, project this image onto a screen in front of you. In your imagination, create a screen and transfer everything onto it.

Let the image be whatever it wants to be. It can be metaphorical or symbolic. Don’t try to consciously construct it. Notice how far away it is, its size, color, proportions compared to other people or objects. Notice if you like it or not. Then, move it to arm’s length and make it your own size. Transform it so that you like it. Give it the qualities you want it to have, even if you don’t allow yourself those qualities in real life. If needed, change its color, pose, or light it up from behind with a rising sun… Focus on “what you like,” not “whether it’s possible or not.”

When the image fully satisfies you, when you feel it’s “just right,” let it enter you, or step forward and enter it. Merge with it in any way that feels comfortable and pay attention to your new feelings.

You can now determine where the new sensation of “self” arises in your body. Now, go back into the original situation and let it play out with your new self-image. For example, if your initial scenario was: you approach your boss’s office to tell him everything you think, but turn back because you don’t have the courage. How would you act now, with your newly created self-image?

I also recommend rereading my article on submodalities as a supplement to this one.

Stalilingus