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What if instead of visualizing a worm flying into her mouth every time she picked up a shovel, my friend saw a worm emerge from the earth, smile at her, thank her for helping him to the surface, and then crawl off on his way.

Would she still be scared?

And would that image be any less valid than the image of the worm flying through the air?

Definitely not – on both counts, though if she makes the image too “cutesy” she may start gardening just for the sake of digging up worms – especially if she’s a bit on the lonely side.

Now before we turn this into a technique we need to cover a couple of simple NLP elements.

Firstly, whenever you remember a memory, you remember the event using representations of your senses (well what else is there?).

You remember what you saw, what you heard, what you felt (internally and externally), what you smelt, and what you tasted.

For most purposes, we’re only interested in the first three senses.

These are referred to in NLP speak as modalities, and the three we’re interested in are the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (feeling/body sensations) modalities.

Also, whenever you remember a memory, you are only remembering a representation of the memory; You are not remembering what actually happened.

You are remembering what you remember happening but through the filters of your beliefs.

In a sense you are remembering what happened in a manner that allows you to not have to question what you think about yourself.

So, back to the technique.

I'll describe it in a simplified form and give a few examples and ideas, and then it’s up to you to take it as far as you wish.