Richard Bandler - Reframing. Neuro–Linguistic Programming™ and the Transformation of Meaning

Now, if you have all the objections and outcomes, go ahead and build the new fantasy. First do it dissociated, and then do the whole thing again from the inside. Revise that fantasy until no part objects… .

If it's possible for you to make up a fantasy of yourself doing something and then step inside it and have the experience of doing it, you have already made all of the necessary adjustments at the unconscious level—in terms of strategies, in terms of representational systems, in terms of everything relevant—for that part to know how to generate the behavior and behave in accordance with what you want to accomplish.

A music teacher once told me «If you can hear something inside, then you can play it outside. The trouble is learning how true that is.» Another person that I took music lessons from said «When you can hear it on the inside, then do it with your mouth. And if you can do it with your mouth, then you can do it with your hands.» What was behind that is the understanding that in order to make a fantasy, you have to do everything mental that needs to be done in order to actually do it in experience. For instance, in a detailed fantasy you see somebody and tell him a joke and he laughs. As you did that, you had to go through all the necessary strategies to develop the joke: the creativity, the gestures, the talking—all of those behaviors are functioning in a detailed fantasy.

Step six is much more metaphorical than we usually are, and it demands some congruence on your part. You ask your unconscious resources to analyze that fantasy and to pull from it the essential ingredients. What you want your unconscious to do is something it does all the time anyway. You want it to take those first memories that you started with—the times in your past when you had actually done the behavior or something similar—and the fantasy that worked, and all the underlying structures, and you want it to give all that entity. That is how you randomly got all your parts anyway. Your unconscious can do that for you; it does it all the time. Those of you who are TA therapists and have TA parts, who do you think made them? You made them.

So you go inside and you say «Look, either one of two things is the case: either my unconscious mind is in charge of building parts, or I have some part in there that builds parts. Whichever it is, I want you to build this one and to give it entity. You don't do this step until you have a well–formed fantasy that no part objects to. When you've modified the fantasy so that every part is satisfied, then you do this step. You have your unconscious or some part of you give it entity so that it will function on its own.

Man: Could you go over that again?

You want to get some part of you, or your unconscious, however you think about it, to analyze the fantasy. What I'm saying is «Look, in the fantasy you used a strategy that worked. You want the part that you are building to use the experience of that fantasy as a foundation, and to operate out of that strategy.» This is not what you would tell a client, by the way. You use whatever metaphors you need to with a client. Whichever way you think about it, whether you call it a strategy or a part, you say «Look, go in there and get what you need to know.» This is what I would tell a client. «Get what you need to know from that fantasy to be able to build a part of you that can do this exquisitely and easily, and at every moment that it needs to be done.»

I want you to go ahead and run through the rest of the steps. If you get stuck, let me know. Then I want to demonstrate to you some ways of testing… .

Are you done with that step? OK, now we get to the most important step of all: step seven. We have to test the part to make sure it's there. There are several things you can do. You can go inside and ask «Are you in there?» That's always a good first step. You can also do things behaviorally that would engage that part and find out what happens. You should also add lots and lots of future–pacing activities to your testing phase, especially when you do it with other people.

Now, how is your part going to work? Tell me something about what it would do. When would it be apt to do something?

Teri: Well, if I were to get on the scales and weigh two pounds more than what I want to weigh, it would let me know that I need to stop eating so that I can get back down.

So it would put you on a diet. Will it design the diet for you, or is there another part that does the dieting?

Teri: I already have a part that does that.

OK. You have another part for that. This part's job is to say «The time is now.» What else would it do?

Teri: When I get to the weight that I want, it will give me a picture different than what I looked like when I was crazy.

What would it be apt to do right here?

Teri: Ah, it would allow me to go into the dining room and be with people while they are having dinner, and only eat what I really want to eat, and not allow me to eat everything.

It will disconnect the automatic hand–arm–mouth sequence? OK. How would I know if that part were active, Teri? If I walked into the dining room, what would I see?

Teri: You'd probably see some food left on my plate, depending upon whether it's something that I like or not. Visually, I'm not too sure that it would show for a while.

Is this part in a hurry to lose weight or does it do it slowly?

Teri: Slowly. I'd only agree to doing it slowly. I've already worked it out with my husband. If he wants to eat, he can eat, and I don't have to.

All right. Who else is done?

Bill: My part is going to wait until at least—

Shhhh! (with disdain) I didn't call on you… . Well, what happened? I was just testing the part. You built a part to help you respond to criticism, right?

Bill: Well, I'm recalling what… I was amused … and responded in a way that … helped me.

As opposed to?

Bill: Feeling that I have just done something awful, and I should be embarrassed, or ashamed of myself, or coming back with an angry response.

OK. Anybody else?

Pat: I have a new part, and I even made it grow, so that it is now about twenty–five years old.

Ah. I like that. OK, you built a part. What's it going to do?

Pat: It lets me know what I know, and to act on it when I know it. And my test is now to tell you that I have this part, and I also know that I know—

Give me an example of an outcome. If you were going to build another part, what would be an example of a function that—

Pat: I am going back home and I am going to use it everywhere. I am going to teach it; I'm going to—

That's what this one does. Now, give me another one. If you were going to build another part, what function would it have? If I were going to bring you up and have you demonstrate building a whole new part in another area of your life, what would you build? What would its function be?

Pat: Its function would be to utilize my unconscious mind as much as it can, as it did just now.

OK. Now, is that a function or is that a behavior?

Pat: Its function is to extract everything of value from my unconscious.

OK. Is that a function or a behavior?

Pat: I think it's a function.

OK. Are you sure, though?

Pat: It has to do it in action.

Yeah. I'm just asking you if you are sure, if you want to commit yourself to this. Pat: I am sure. It's a function.

OK. Are you all learning how to test these things, by the way? … Anybody else? Man: I think I got it.

What was the part you built? What does it do?

Man: It's a part that says «Go out and try something that you think you know. Try to do it, and see what happens.»

So that part will get you to do it, to find out whether you really know it or not. That sounds like a good idea. That's what you built the part for, and you finished, right? OK, what do you think you know but you're not sure if you know it?