Have you ever stewed over a problem situation, looping negative thoughts again and again in your mind? Maybe it was about family, maybe about work, maybe it was health related. I know we all have those “stew times!!” Some call it worry, or obsessing. I call it unnecessary.

What if a problem that has been looming large in  your mind could be minimized to the point of trivial? What if this problem / situation / icky-ness was absolutely OVER as far as you’re concerned and  didn’t affect you negatively anymore? That would be great, wouldn’t it?

Here’s a super simple (and massively powerful) NLP technique to do just that – to put thoughts of a problem behind you.

When we think about our life, we have a mental construct that’s called a “timeline.” We have NOW. We’re in it. There’s also a sense of past. And a future. These things actually have directionality in our minds. We “see” our life around us in space. For most people I discuss this with, the future is ahead of them, in a direct line moving out into space in front of the body. Tomorrow is close in front, and next week is further out in front, and next year is further out than that, moving along a line stretching from your body out into infinity in front of you. The past is often behind, directly behind us, and similarly, the further back in space behind the body is the further back in time in our minds. PS: Everyone’s different and there’s no right or wrong timeline. MY future is out to my right hand side, and the past goes off to my left.

Sit for a moment and think about your life, and identify your personal sense of time, your timeline.  Got it? Good!

Now, for a moment, focus on the problem you’ve been stewing about, the thing you’d like to STOP giving your mental energy.  Perhaps it’s something outside of your control and there’s no point in generating endless bad feelings about it. Or something that belongs in the past and you haven’t put it there. Yet.

Let’s do that now! Make an image in your mind that represents the “problem.” Any image will do. Whatever pops into your mind’s eye is fine. Now look at that picture, pretend it’s a picture on a canvas or screen. Notice in particular the size of the image and where it seems to loom in space.  Is it right in front of you?  Off to the side?   Close? Far away? Is it life size? Notice what you can notice about the qualities of the picture, size and location.

Now, imagine that the picture begins to change. It’s getting smaller. Smaller, it’s collapsing in on itself, like a resizing in photo-shop. Same image, just smaller. Keep shrinking it. More. Until the picture’s canvas or screen is the size of a postage stamp.  Now, shrink it to half that size! Good! Now, check in with yourself and notice if you feel better in some way about the “problem.”

Next step. Imagine that the tiny picture sprouts wings and the image begins to fly through space, like a moth. And it takes off into the directionality of your past. If that is behind you (your past), see the image moving away from you in space behind you. Further and further behind you.   Until you can’t even see it. Now, the wings fall off and the picture plops down and stays, planted where it fell. Into the past. Where it belongs.

Check in again with yourself, and see if the “problem” feels different to you. Perhaps it’s not even there. A problem is only a problem if you think it is, and this process changes your thinking. Go for it, and discover for yourself how you can reframe your thoughts so quickly and powerfully. You’re amazing beyond your own knowing, and this process is a super easy way to tell your brain: it’s over!

Go for it and let me know your results!