The specific utilization of strategies and resources will be covered explicitly in the next section of this book.
Taking our full toolbox of elicitation procedures, let's move quickly through another example.
EXAMPLE B
Consider the following statement, perhaps made by a client, associate, or friend of yours, that is trying to make some change in his life or behavior that is important for him, but who is experiencing difficulty in acquiring the motivation necessary to implement the change:
"I know that I should do it (head and eyes are oriented down and left then shift over to the right) … and I really feel that it's the right thing to do, but… (reaches up and begins rubbing eyes) at the same time I keep looking at all the times I've tried before (stops rubbing, opens eyes, looking up and to left but head remaining down) and haven't been able to … (sighing) it's really a struggle."
Here we are confronted with a case of a multi–representational test:
Analysis: The person begins with an internal dialogue (Aid), probably telling them to do the behavior in question.
Predicate: "I know that …" (unspecified)
Accessing cue: Head and eyes down and left.
Analysis: This statement initiates a set of congruent internal feelings. (Ki+)
Predicate: "I really feel that”
Accessing cue: Head and eyes down and to the right.
Analysis: These feelings, however, begin to overlap onto a polarity response that occurs visually. (Ki+/Vr-)
Predicate: "at the same I keep looking …"
Accessing cue: Overlap of cues: (K) head down and right —rubs eyes and looks up and left. (Vi)
Analysis: The incongruence between these two representations is represented kinesthetically. (Ki)
Predicate: "struggle"
Accessing cue: Sighs (a deep breath).
We can show this strategy as the following steps:
Another way to notate it might be:
Both of these show that there are two responses to the verbal proposal of the behavior. The final kinesthetic response is about the conflict of the two responses preceding it.
Again, you have a number of options available for eliciting resources for the person:
a. You can elicit a congruent visual representation of making the proposed behavioral change to help reinforce the positive pole of the conflict by asking, "What would it look like if you could do it?" Getting congruent representations of an outcome in all representational systems is a very important and powerful resource in assisting people to attain that outcome because (1) it will reduce the probability of a polarity representation if all systems contain a congruent representation that can be accessed by the individual, and (2) it assures that no important information that is necessary for tests or operations involved in securing the outcome is left out of the strategy.
In fact, one elicitation procedure that we often employ and offer to you as a useful tool is that of eliciting a full 4–tuple as a reference structure for each step in the three point process of:
|PRESENT STATE| + [RESOURCES|→|OUTCOME / DESIRED STATE|
This means that you elicit a representation in each representational system, of both internal and external orientation, of what each of these states is or would be like for the individuaclass="underline"
For each of these states or conditions you will want to ask questions eliciting a representation of the experience from each modality. For example, for each state you will want to elicit the following information:
(Ae) What do you hear happening around you? What does your voice sound like?
(Ai) What do you hear inside your head? Do you have any internal dialogue?
(Ve) What do you see around you ?
(Vi) Do you have any internal pictures?
(VC) What do you look like?
(Ke) What is your tactile or external body awareness ?
(Ki) How do you feel internally?
(Oe) What do you smell? Are you aware of any tastes in your mouth?
(0i) Are you remembering any smells ?
Getting these representations will give you explicit information about the neurological nature of each state, and provide you with much insight into the states. Certain representations will be absent and/or out of consciousness and others will be readily available and/or more exaggerated. (As you elicit each of these representations, anchor them in the same place for each individual state, so that you will be able to retrigger them later — see the Utilization and Installation Sections of this book for a definition and exercises for anchoring.)
These reference structures will provide you and your client with an explicit means for getting feedback on the progress of your work, and will also provide explicit information on what kind of resources, in the form of representational systems, will be appropriate.
b. You can also access the positive pole of the conflict by having the individual exaggerate the congruent kinesthetic response to the initial verbalization. This can be most effectively accomplished by having the individual stop the overlapping of access cues that contribute to the simultaneous access of the interfering representations.
This exaggeration will also help to initiate a transderivational search through the kinesthetic system to previous experiences where congruent motivation has occurred.
c. You may again circumvent the problematic strategy by directly eliciting a motivation strategy that you know has been effective in the past by asking, "Has there ever been a time when you were really motivated to do something of importance for yourself?"
Or, to relate it more to the ongoing problem, you might ask, "Can you think of a time when you were really in a conflict with yourself about whether to devote your time and energy to some particular program of behavior that would have profound and lasting importance to you, and when you were able to resolve the conflict in the manner which turned out be the most beneficial to you and all others involved? How were you able to do that?"
Even though the two examples presented here deal with the behavior of single individuals, the same patterns, as we have said, will apply as well to families, groups and organizations. We will present some explicit examples of how to do this as we move onto the Utilization, Design, and Installation Sections of this book.
IV: UTILIZATION
A poet, it is said, was once strolling through the forest toward dusk when suddenly there appeared before him an apparition of the greatest of all poets, Virgil. Virgil told the awed poet that fate had smiled upon him and that he had been elected to be shown the secrets of Heaven and Hell. By magic Virgil transported himself and the poet, who was still dazed by the suddenness of this experience, to the ancient and mythical river which surrounded the underworld. They got into a boat and Virgil instructed the poet to row them across the river to Hell. When they arrived the poet was somewhat surprised to find the terrain much like that of the forest they had just left and not made of fire and brimstone nor infested with winged demons and slimy fire breathing creatures as he had expected.