What if you could alter a memory?
In fact, you can.
This fascinating TED talk provides a glimpse into the cutting edge neuroscience that supports what we in NLP have known for decades: memory is quite malleable.
Every thought has a LOCATION in the brain.
Every thought has a biochemical signature that causes a chain reaction of events IN the brain, and IN the body.
Every time an event is re-experienced, either internally OR externally, the neurons involved in processing that experience form a stronger network, adding new information.
At the biochemical level, there is NO difference between living through an event and remembering living through an event.
This is why hypnotists, coaches, and NLP practitioners tend to avoid re-traumatizing a client by allowing them to go on talking about (thereby re-processing) a traumatic event and strengthening the neural response.
Instead, we want to reframe that event, refocus the attention, and allow new biochemical responses to form, bond, and strengthen a NEW response.
Among the simplest, most efficient, and VERY effective means of accomplishing that goal is a process known as Bilateral Stimulation. It is, quite literally, a means of moving the location of the unpleasant thought to a region of the brain where it was not originally processed. This allows new information to be processed along with the old, thus altering the biochemical response and permanently rewiring the brain to accommodate the new information. The real beauty of this technique is that EVERY piece of information is internally generated. It comes, not from a therapist or “outside expert”, but from YOU. It might take a therapist years, even decades, to express an idea in a powerful enough way to convince you to change your mind. Most of us are quite resistant BECAUSE the neural network that has built up around that thought or memory is simply huge by the time we seek help from an outside source.
Many NLP processes rely on the simple mechanism of changing the location of a well-practiced thought. We have many techniques for doing that. It doesn’t matter WHAT the thought is; what matters is HOW you experience it. When we change the way you experience a thought internally, the emotional payload evaporates because the old biochemical signature is not activated.
And here’s the science:
In fact, you can.
This fascinating TED talk provides a glimpse into the cutting edge neuroscience that supports what we in NLP have known for decades: memory is quite malleable.
Every thought has a LOCATION in the brain.
Every thought has a biochemical signature that causes a chain reaction of events IN the brain, and IN the body.
Every time an event is re-experienced, either internally OR externally, the neurons involved in processing that experience form a stronger network, adding new information.
At the biochemical level, there is NO difference between living through an event and remembering living through an event.
This is why hypnotists, coaches, and NLP practitioners tend to avoid re-traumatizing a client by allowing them to go on talking about (thereby re-processing) a traumatic event and strengthening the neural response.
Instead, we want to reframe that event, refocus the attention, and allow new biochemical responses to form, bond, and strengthen a NEW response.
Among the simplest, most efficient, and VERY effective means of accomplishing that goal is a process known as Bilateral Stimulation. It is, quite literally, a means of moving the location of the unpleasant thought to a region of the brain where it was not originally processed. This allows new information to be processed along with the old, thus altering the biochemical response and permanently rewiring the brain to accommodate the new information. The real beauty of this technique is that EVERY piece of information is internally generated. It comes, not from a therapist or “outside expert”, but from YOU. It might take a therapist years, even decades, to express an idea in a powerful enough way to convince you to change your mind. Most of us are quite resistant BECAUSE the neural network that has built up around that thought or memory is simply huge by the time we seek help from an outside source.
Many NLP processes rely on the simple mechanism of changing the location of a well-practiced thought. We have many techniques for doing that. It doesn’t matter WHAT the thought is; what matters is HOW you experience it. When we change the way you experience a thought internally, the emotional payload evaporates because the old biochemical signature is not activated.
And here’s the science:
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