The Rainbow Bridge
The Rainbow Bridge
Rebecca C. Rishe, CHT, NLMP
In a class I recently put together, we were working on fear. This is brother to anxiety, what Paul Durbin, Ph.D. refers to as number one in the unholy trinity.
This pair of troublemakers seems to be prominent in our society today. It paralyzes us from making decisions, therefore removing our chances for control of our life or even living it to its fullest.
Fear tends to immobilize us and anxiety clouds our thought process while were stuck.
In this workshop we looked past events, present circumstance and future presentations. We looked at how we came to some of our best decisions and what our expectations were. Then we looked at how the outcome, when we made the decisions, were within our realm of control.
We tried to determine the reality factor and how we as a society feel anxious about the probabilities before they even appear on the horizon. It's okay to plan ahead, to lock yourself in fear without cause is not okay.
Of course, lots of things come into play in decision making. There's a belief system and a value system that are imbedded deep in the psyche; programming from childhood. There's history of past failures and bad feelings from people affected.
The workshop was eight hours and I ended it with this NLP technique I learned from Dr. Wil Horton and expanded on.
I call it the "Rainbow Bridge". I have my clients imagine or visualize themselves at the entrance to an old stone arch bridge. It is dusk and they are deep in contemplation of a decision they made a while back that turned out very well. It was something they allow their intuition to contribute to. I go into the whole NLP talk of see it, feel it, hear yourself, taste the success, etc. I anchor and let them assign a color to that success. I have them notice that the globe on the lamppost beside them is now glowing that very color and they should bathe in its light; the color of success, clear, intense, bright. Anchor once again, allowing the feeling to grow in intensity.
Disassociate/break connection. Mention the night sky, the air whatever it takes.
Next I have them think of a decision they did not make in a timely fashion and how the outcome affected them. I had them go through the process of loss of control and the fear and the probability factors. I ask them to reflect on the feelings of that moment in time and how they dealt with the situation. What affect did it have on their self-esteem? What would have change if they had followed through with their intuition? I had them go through the NLP talk again; feel it, see it, taste it, smell it, does the feeling have a sound, texture, etc. Then we give it color. Again I anchor on the opposite shoulder. (You are free to anchor where you feel proper to your position. I was standing behind the group sitting in a circle.) The color of opportunity lost. It was always duller than before. I could feel the lower vibration! I make them do a comparison.
I break association once again and NOW we go back to the light of success, anchoring once more and then go into comparing using both anchors to neutralize the negative and bring the good feeling up and dismiss the lower vibration memory.
You can continue across the "bridge" using as many lampposts as necessary. I used five lampposts using the same scenario, always having the positive first then introducing the negative or haunting memory.
Other questions, I used, were "Remember a time you opened yourself up to meeting new people?" Counter question "Remember a time you had an opportunity to meet someone really special and you avoided it?" "Remember something you did spontaneously that worked out really well?" "Remember something you avoided?"
As you can see the effort is well worth the ridding of negatives in the mindset of your client. It takes the sting out of some negative occurrences and in some instances if the positives are really powerful it totally removes the haunting sensation of a lost opportunity in the past. This allows your client to move forward with a stronger conviction and a positive gain.