Snowdrops

Spring is just around the corner

I was walking along a footpath on my way to our local surgery the other day and noticed some little green shoots - snowdrops making their welcome appearance after all the recent snow, ice and cold weather. I always find them such a hopeful sign that Spring isn’t so very far away now, a reminder of gentle, changes occurring naturally. White flowers making their way towards the daylight, long before we might have noticed any shift in the season.  

 

 
I have loved NLP for a long time - but it is still possible to be reminded of how helpful and life affirming the simplest of tools can be.  I was facing a challenge recently and I reached for the simplest tool in the NLP book: the Present State, Desired State model.  In a nutshell this model gets us to explore -  ‘Where are we now?’  And then in lots more detail and richness, ‘Where do we want to be instead?’  There may well be things that we cannot change about a situation however we can think about it differently….
 
With a leap of imagination we can ask:
 

“Supposing I woke up one day and it was fixed … what would that be like”?

• What will I see and hear now it’s fixed? What is happening? How do I feel about this now?
• How is my thinking different?
• What am I focussing on now? …
• How am I spending my time? ...
• What am I enjoying most in my life now?
• What is important about having made this change?
• What else becomes possible as a result?

As I begin to really explore these questions in a rich sensory way – my state begins to shift, I start to relax and feel more positive and in control.   The issue seems like a much smaller part of the picture, not the whole.  My thoughts are filled with more colour and vibrancy and a sense of calm and normality returns.  In this state of mind – my body feels more relaxed and at ease and I can trust I’ll make the best choices available. Gentle, positive changes, happening naturally.