Our Self Talk stems from the images, messages, and agreements that we have used to create our map of the world.  This Self Talk unconsciously guides us in terms of our Inner Judge, our Inner Victim, and our Inner Warrior. It is these three main arch types that primarily lead and control our emotions, our stresses, our joys, our anxiety, and our happiness. There are three ways in which our brain / our Inner Judge uses this information to create the map of our personal worlld, these are Generalization, Deletion, and Distortion.

Generalization – The process of generalization provides part of the explanation of how we are able to learn as rapidly as we do.  Many “new” behaviors, for example, are actually composed of bits and pieces of previously experienced behaviors that are similar to the new behavior.  Because of this similarity, we are able to generalize from the experience of the old behavior, alleviating the need to learn the new behavior “from scratch”.  The ability to generalize from past experiences means that it is not necessary to expend great amounts of time and energy learning new behaviors.  This same process is utilized in the learning of new concepts and in other activities associated with what we call “thinking.”  In essence, generalization eliminates the necessity to relearn a concept or behavior every time we are confronted with a variation of the original.

(Generalization – One form of this process often taken for granted is our ability to learn a word / symbol, like the word “chair”, and then apply the symbol to other forms with similar function.  This ability to generalize promotes the rapid assimilation of divers kinds of information.)

Deletion – It has been reported that the human central nervous system is being fed more than two million pieces of information every second.  Just in terms of efficiency, if every bit of this information had to be processed and used, the time and energy necessary would be astronomical!!!  This is where the process of deletion comes in.  Our central nervous system actually operates as a “screening mechanism” allowing us to function at peak efficiency.  As Aldous Huxley says in The Doors of Perception, experience “has to be funneled through the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system.  What comes out the other end is a measly trickle of the kind of consciousness, which will help us to stay alive on the surface of this particular planet.”  Obviously, our ability to delete portions of the barrage of input is essential to our survival.

(Deletion –

Paris in the  the spring.                     A snake in the the grass.                                A kick in the the rear.

One of my favorite examples of deletion is portrayed in the above three sentences.  In order to make sense of what you see, there is a tendency to delete the portion of the sentence that doesn’t make sense.  Notice the extra “the” in each of the sentences.  Many people do not even see it when it is pointed out to them.  As we shall see, this process has some profound implications in the area of human communications.)

Distortion – The third universal human modeling process forms the basis for most acts of creativity.  Distortion is the process by which we alter our perceptions, changing our experiences of sensory input.  Using this process we both create and enjoy works of art, music and literature.  It also makes possible our ability to dream, fantasize, and plan for the future.  By allowing us to manipulate our perceptions of reality, of the world as we sense it or remember it to be, distortion enables us to create totally unique variables.  Some of our “creations” may even be outside the realm of possibility defined by our model of reality.  But whether it results in a “quantum leap” in our thinking or simply enables us to “interpret’ a Picasso, distortion is an important process in our modeling of the world.

Raednig is esay

The brain does amazing things, doesn’t it?

Instructions:  Just read the sentence straight through…

Acocdrnig to an elgnsih unviesitry study, the order of letetrs in a word

Dosen’t mttaer, the olny thnig thta’s iopmrantt is that the frsit and

lsat ltteer of eevry word is in the crrecot ptosision.  The rset can be

jmbueld and one is stlil able to raed the txet wiohtut dclftfuiiy.

The sentences  above represents a “visual paradox”.  Because it presents conflicting information, the observer finds him or her Self attempting to make sense of an apparent irrational sentence, but because of the capacity of the brain to take in certain kinds of information, in this case a words that contain the correct first and last letters, but are otherwise jumbled.

These remarkable modeling / building processes of generalization, deletion, and distortion, are a double-edged sword.  As important s they are to our abilities to learn, think and create, these same processes can also create pain and suffering in an individual through such things as Self Talk. How do \these indispensable tools create pain?  How do they limit perception and disallow behavior?  How do they become counter-productive to a person’s normal living and growing?  They do these things by performing their functions just as they are designed.  The following examples will demonstrate how these processes can work both for and against the best interests of an individual.

Examples

  • As a child, Bob had several very pleasant experiences in a particular reading group. These experiences were soon generalized to all reading, and Bob became an enthusiastic ‘bookworm”.
  • Mary had what he termed a “fear of intimate relationships”. This fear keeps her from relaxing enough to have any close, affectionate relationships.  When she was younger she had a crush on one of the more popular boys in in high school.  One night they went our got drunk and Mary ended uphaving sex with the boy. The next Monday in school, the male  friend would have nothing to do with Mary, and rumors were spread that Mary was a loose girl.  This whole experience hurt Mary very deeply, and from this one experience she generalized that men would just take advantage of her­–use her for their own purposes and then discard her.

In both of these cases, these generalizations have become a part of Bob and Mary’s  Self model of the world.  In both cases the Self modeling process occurred “automatically,” completely out of conscious awareness.

A) One of the ways that Bob was able to be such a good reader was his ability to keep noises and external visual stimuli from distracting him.  He learned to systematically delete from his awareness anything that would detract from his ability to concentrate on the book he was reading.

B) In the years following her first high school female – male relationship, Mary also systematically deleted from her awareness the positive, normal responses of men who became genuinely interested in her.  Her “selective attention” only allowed her to be aware of the things they did to “take advantage” of her.  Because her model of the world did not include the possibility of warm, kind and honest attention between two people, she was not aware of these qualities when they were present in a male admirer.  Without this awareness, no healthy relationship could develop.

Again, operating without conscious awareness, deletion can assist us by focusing our attention when necessary, as in the example of Bob’s reading.  However, the same process can often be the major source of a person’s emotional distress.  It can create limitations on our models of the world that prevent us from being able to perceive what we need in order to achieve our goals.

1C) Bob loved to read novels.  By creatively employing the process of distortion, he could transform words into full, rich experiences.  He actually “lived” characters as he read about them.  He felt their joys, their sorrows, labored in the muddy fields and had tea with the Queen.  As a youngster, Bob had learned to read words and then to distort them into images, feelings, sounds, tastes and smells so vividly that they became “real” people to him.

2C) Mary also used the process of distortion as a means for explaining his “predicament” with relationships with men.  Though her “fear” was a major factor, she attributed much of the problem to a series of “bad relationships.”  As she said, “If only those relationships had been different, if only they had given me what I wanted and needed, then I probably would be a lot happier now.”

Using the same process of distortion, Bob was able to remove himself from the external world during specific periods in his life, while Mary’s model of the world told her that it was the relationships that were the cause of his problems.  However, this indicates a distortion of her perceptions of the situation.  By Mary saying that “the relationships” hadn’t given her what she wanted, she was ignoring her own responsibility and participation in the process of relating.  She had removed herself from the role of participant and had become a helpless observer.  This distortion, built into his model of the world, effectively prevented her from being able to change in ways that would make her more comfortable and happy.  Not until she could step back into the process of relating would she be able to make those changes and regain a sense of control over her own life.

Utilizing the power of Foundation Hypnosis, Emotional Release Therapy, you can reclaim control of both your thoughts and emotions, and thus make a major change in your Self Talk. Call Now, (206) 417-4900, Foundations Hypnosis and Life Coaching North Seattle, Shoreline and Edmonds.  with just six easy sessions, you can reclaim the energy and power that you have been giving away for years.  REMEMBER  (206) 417-4900.  Change Your Self Talk Change your Life.