It's not only what you focus on but how . . .

Our experience of the world is created by gathering information through the use of our five senses. However, each of us tends to develop a favorite mode of focus, or a modality, as it is often called. Some people are more impacted, for example, by what they see; their visual system tends to be

more dominant. For others, sounds are the trigger for the greatest of life's experiences, while for still others, feelings are the foundation.

Even within each of these modes of experience, though, there are specific elements of pictures, sounds, or other sensations that can be changed in order to increase or decrease the intensity of our experience.

These foundational ingredients are called submodalities.* For example, you can make a picture in your mind and then take any aspect of that image (a submodality), and change it to change your feelings about it. You can brighten the picture, immediately changing the amount of intensity you feel about the experience. This is known as changing a submodality. Probably the greatest expert in submodalities is Richard Bandler, co-founder of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. The lineage of experts on this dates back to the foundational work on the five senses done by Aristotle, which categorizes perception models. You can radically raise or lower your intensity of feeling about anything by manipulating submodalities. They affect how you feel about virtually anything, whether you feel joy, frustration, wonder, or despair. Understanding them enables you to not only change how you feel about any experience in your life, but to change what it means to you and thus what you can do about it.

One image I've found very useful is to think of submodalities as the grocery store UPC bar codes, those clusters of little black lines that have replaced price tags in just about every supermarket you patronize today.

The codes look insignificant, yet when pulled across the checkout scanner, they tell the computer what the item is, how much it costs, how its sale affects the inventory, and so on. Submodalities work the same way.

When pulled across the scanner of the computer we call the brain, they tell the brain what this thing is, how to feel about it, and what to do. You have your own bar codes, and there is a list of them coming up along with questions to ask to determine which of them you use.

For example, if you tend to focus upon your visual modalities, the amount of enjoyment you get from a particular memory is probably a direct consequence of the submodalities of size, color, brightness, distance, and amount of movement in the visual image you've made of it. If you represent it to yourself with auditory submodalities, then how you feel depends on the volume, tempo, pitch, tonality, and other such factors you attach to it. For example, in order for some people to feel motivated, they have to tune in a certain channel first. If their favorite channel is visual, then focusing on the visual elements of a situation gives them more emotional intensity about it. For other people it's the auditory

or kinesthetic channels. And for some, the best strategy works like a combination lock. First the visual lock has to be aligned, then the auditory, then the kinesthetic. All three dials have to be lined up in the right place and the right order for the vault to open.

Once you're aware of this, you'll realize that people are constantly using words in their day-to-day language to tell you which system and which submodalities they are tuning in. Listen to the ways they describe their experience, and take it literally. (For example, in the last two sentences I used the terms " tuning in" and " listen" —clearly these are auditory examples.)

How many times have you heard someone say, " I can't picture doing that"? They're telling you what the problem is: if they did picture doing it, they'd go into a state where they'd feel like they could make it happen.

Someone may have once said to you, " You're blowing things out of proportion." If you're really upset, they may be right. You may be taking images in your mind and making them much bigger, which tends to intensify the experience. If someone says, " This is weighing heavily upon me, " you can assist them by helping them feel lighter about the situation and thereby get them in a better state to deal with it. If someone says, " I'm just tuning you guys out, " you've got to get them to tune back in so they can change states. Our ability to change the way we feel depends upon our ability to change our submodalities. We must learn to take control of the various elements with which we represent experiences and change them in ways that support our outcomes. For example, have you ever found yourself saying you need to " get distance" from a problem? I'd like you to try something, if you would. Think of a situation that is challenging you currently. Make a picture of it in your mind, then imagine pushing that picture farther and farther away from yourself. Stand above it and look down upon the problem with a new perspective. What happens to your emotional intensity? For most people, it drops. What if the image becomes dimmer, or smaller? Now take the picture of the problem and make it bigger, brighter, and closer. For most people, this intensifies it. Push it back out and watch the sun melt it. A simple change in any one of these elements is like changing the ingredients in a recipe. They're definitely going to alter what you finally experience in your body, Although I spoke about submodalities in great depth in Unlimited Power,

I'm reviewing the topic here because I want to make sure you grasp this distinction. It's critical to understanding much of the other work we'll be doing in this book. Remember, how you feel about things is instantly changed by a shift in submodalities. For example, think of something that happened yesterday. Just for a moment, picture that experience. Take the image of this memory and put it behind you. Gradually push it back until it's miles behind you, a tiny, dim dot far off in the darkness. Does it feel like it happened yesterday, or a long time ago? If the memory is great, bring it back. Otherwise, leave it there! Who needs to focus on this memory? By contrast, you've had some incredibly wonderful experiences in your life.

COMMON EXPRESSIONS BASED ON:

Visual Submodalities—

That really brightens my day.

That puts things in a better perspective.

That's a top priority.

This guy has a checkered past.

Let's look at the big picture.

This problem keeps staring me in the face.

Auditory Submodalities—

He's constantly giving me static about that.

The problem is screaming at me.

I hear you loud and clear.

It brought everything we were doing to a screeching

halt.

The guy is really offbeat.

That sounds great.

Kinesthetic Submodalities—

That guy is slimy.

The pressure's off/the pressure's on.

This thing is weighing on me.

I feel like I'm carrying this whole thing on my back.

This concert is really hot!

I'm absolutely immersed in this project.

Think of one right now, one that happened a long time ago. Recall the of that experience. Bring it forward; put it in front of you. Make right, and colorful; make it three-dimensional. Step into your

body were then and feel that experience right now as if you were there. Does it feel like it happened a long time ago, or is it something you are enjoying now? You see, even your experience of time can be

changed by changing Submodalities.