(5) C was then to comment on those feelings to herself, describing explicitly the feelings she experienced (note how this changes the role of her internal dialogue in her eating strategy — it is now describing the feelings as opposed to having a polarity response to them). After she had described the feelings, she was to ask herself if she wanted to eat more or to put everything away. In making this decision she was to compare the image of her desired state to what she observed of her present state (Ve/Vc) and allow a feeling to emerge to help her decide which it was to be.
(6) If she truly felt that she should have more to eat (which the author guessed would rarely be the case) she was to respect the decision of her feelings and eat, but first she was to construct a specific image of what else, and how much of it, she was to eat. If she didn't feel the need to eat, she was to imagine as if looking through her own eyes, in as much detail as possible, putting each of the items left on the table away, and then leaving the kitchen to do something else. As she imagined these scenes she was also to include the representation of feeling good, as she did the specific actions, about having accomplished her outcome successfully. (The use of the visual constructs was to provide a self initiated future pace that would help reprogram the problematic synesthesia pattern. The act of putting the food away or of eating only so much would be initiated by the sight of the food instead of the eating impulse. If she did go back to eat, the imagery would also help her "keep watch" over how much she was eating.
Various reference structures were accessed and anchored for each step in the strategy, and then the strategy was rehearsed. But, although C could elicit and perform each of the pieces of the strategy separately, she had an extremely difficult time getting through the whole strategy. Every time she tried, she would miss a step or something would go wrong. This, of course, does not satisfy the test step 1 of the reframing TOTE.
We pick up the transcript again just after C has made another attempt at completing the strategy. This puts the author and the client at 2B in the reframing TOTE.
C: Gee . . . I'm really sorry I keep bumbling things up ... I'm just too stupid or something I guess . . . (eyes down left, then down right).
A: Before you start feeling bad about anything I'd like to ask you a question.
C: Okay.
A: What would happen if you were able to incorporate this strategy?
(Having met with interference, the author moves to step #3 of the reframing TOTE, and tests the specific outcome sequitur of the strategy.)
C: Well ... I'd stop eating, I guess.
A: Well I hope you wouldn't stop eating, . . . that could be disastrous.
(A also tests his rapport with C by venturing a playful remark.)
C: (Laughing) Well I mean . . . I wouldn't stop eating altogether ... I'd stop over-eating . . .
(C responds positively indicating that rapport has not been broken. A continues to test the outcome in more detail. (Still step #3))
C: Ummm ... I'd be thinner ... I'd look thinner.
A: You'd look thinner.
C: Yes ... I'd look the way I want to to be able to . .. the way I did in college ... I want to look the way I did when I didn't like myself. . .
(C's last comment seems to imply a connection between the way C looked at an unhappy time in her life, and the kind of person she was. If she was indeed to not like herself again if she looked thinner, this would be in conflict with a very basic meta-outcome, that of liking oneself. In the least case, looking thinner is probably a bad anchor.)
A: Are you aware of what you just said?
C: What I said about what?
A: That you want to look like you did when you didn't like yourself.
C: Well . . . sort of . . .
A: I'm curious . . . How much have you changed since then . . . since you put on weight?
(A inquires about possible resources that A gets from her weight, a very important question. We pointed out earlier in the book that body type was a very powerful and important accessing mechanism. Heavier people tend to generally have more awareness of internal kinesthetic experience; thinner people tend to be more visual. People who change their weight at all significantly often undergo a change in their state of consciousness. A person who is losing weight becomes more conscious of the way he looks and has to deprive himself of many kinesthetic luxuries in the form of food and drink. Many people who attempt diets are not prepared for the accompanying change in state and are not willing to go along with those outcomes. They resist the change in their state, but want the physical changes. This can be a very frustrating situation if one is unaware of it.)
C: Oh I've come a long way since then . . . (eyes move down and right) . . . (voice tone deepens and tempo slows) it hasn't been easy . . . but. . . back then I couldn't even stand on my own two feet . . . I'm a lot more in control of me now ... a lot more grounded ... I really like myself as a person a lot better. . .
(C lists a number of resources that she has gained in connection with her weight, which, judging by her accessing cues and predicates, are primarily kinesthetic.)
A: Mm Hmm . . . Now if you lost weight so that you looked like you did before, do you think you'd be able to still have all of these important resources?
(A tests C's representation of her specific outcome to find if it is congruent with the meta-out-comes she has just named. #3)
C: Ummmm . . . Well (eyes move from up and right to down and right, then to down and left and back up and right) ... I guess so (voice hesitates, eyebrows furrow, eyes move to down and left).
(C expresses her incongruence.)
A: You don't sound very sure about that . . . Would you do something for me . .. would you again describe to me that image you have of yourself being this way?
(A begins to test the specific details of the desired outcome.)
C: (Looks up and right) Well ... I look very thin . . . like I did in college . . .
A: What about her face ... is it smiling? . . . Does she look grounded?
C: Well . . . (looks back and forth between up left and up right.) ... I can't really see the face . . . It's just sort of an image of a body . . . with no head. . .
A: Oh ... I see . . . she doesn't have a very good head on her shoulders, huh?
C: (Laughs) ... I guess not.
A: You know ... I have this theory about people who are overweight . . . My theory is that the reason they are heavy is because they are "weighting" for some special resources that they need ... Do you think that it would be possible for you to get thin and remain grounded and like yourself?
(A states the details of the modified specific outcome of the new strategy that he has been attempting to install. #4. He also has begun the second sub-TOTE of the reframing process — that of testing the strategy sequence to find out if it will achieve the modified outcome. #5
Note also that A takes advantage of the phonological ambiguity between "wait" and "weight" to reframe C's problem with losing weight.)