Sometimes people have difficulty changing behaviours that no longer appeal to them. Behaviours which are hard to change are often labelled 'habits'. Being able to change any behaviour you choose, when you choose, is a prerequisite to successful living. One effective way of changing behaviour, called reframing, is presented here in a spatial format.

Preparation

Mark out the following three 'positions' as circles on the floor, far enough apart to keep each one separate, and close enough to be able to move from one to another with ease. Mark one circle for 'behaviour', one for 'intent' and one for the 'creative state'.

Build yourself a 'creative state'.

Begin by standing outside the 'creative state' circle and think of a time when you were performing creatively according to your own standards. Note what you saw, heard and felt while reliving that experience. When the memory of your choice is strongly present as if it were happening to you now, step into the 'creative state' circle. Then step out of the space for the creative state, and leave the "creative state" that you have just re-lived, in that space. Keep adding other examples of creative states into the circle, one at a time, until the state in the circle feels strongly creative.

The Process

1. Stand in the circle that represents 'behaviour' and think of a behaviour that you would like to change, or you find limiting or habitual. Make sure that the behaviour is represented in one or more of the senses, in other words, imagine and/or hear and/or feel the behaviour.

2. Step back to the circle that represents 'intent', and as you do so ask the question, 'what is the intent, function or purpose of the behaviour?'. When you have a sense of the intent for the behaviour move into the 'creative state' circle.

3. Ask yourself 'how else can I fulfil the intent for the behaviour?'. While within the 'creative state' allow yourself to generate a range of alternative behaviours that fulfil the intent. When you have plenty of alternatives you can shift back to the circle for 'intent'.

4. Now you can review the alternatives and select the best three options. Step back into the circle for 'behaviour'.

5. Test out each of the three options one at a time by imagining using each new behaviour in the original context(s). Check are then any objections to any of the selected options? If so, step back into the circle for 'intent' and repeat the entire process, until all objections are satisfied.

Discussion

This format is based on what is known in the NLP community as a Six Step Reframe. Some students of NLP find difficulty when first learning to use the Six step Reframe on themselves. It requires the unaccompanied subject to split their attention between tracking their own internal states and running the process. To be able to do these tasks simultaneously requires some familiarity with the process.

This approach to six step reframing uses spatial sorting of the process into its components for ease of tracking while leaving the subject free to attend to their internal responses.

This spatial format allows you to use this process by yourself anytime you choose to. It is simply a matter of finding a suitable place where you can run through this process undisturbed.

There are other reframing processes as part of the NLP technology.

Reference

Collingwood, J.J.P., Collingwood, C.R.J. (2001). The NLP Field Guide; Part 1. A reference manual of Practitioner level patterns.

Also see Reframing; Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the transformation of meaning. by Richard Bandler, & John Grinder, (1982).