[Neurons] 2008 Meta Reflection #33

[Dr. Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

July 28, 2008

Meta Reflection #33




UP AND DOWN QUESTIONS




One of my personal goals is to always be attempting to improve how we communicate what precisely we do in Neuro-Semantics with NLP, Meta-States, Matrix, Self-Actualization, Axis of Change, and the other models. With that as a lens, I sometimes find that some off-handed comment is what gives me the next creative idea. It happened this week, again.

Working with the executive team of a Canadian company I introduced the idea of the question driven conversations for creative problem solving-the dance of the three well-formed conversations that lead to magic-like solutions (this is what was introduced in the Creativity and Innovation Workshop for the first time). Anyway, using the diagram of the Meta-Model questions for precision and grounding, a diagram that had arrows pointing down to the ground and then using the Meta-Questions for exploring the Matrix of meanings in the back of a person's mind for richness and quality of meaningfulness, a diagram with arrows going upward, I set out the first set of questions in front of the little man and the second set of questions above and behind the image of the person.

The arrows show that some questions ground in reality with precision for the outer game and others move upward to the frames of the inner game to unpack the layers of psycho-logical frames of meaning. I then did a demonstration or two. Afterwards in the debrief, one senior manager asked a question about the processes:

"How do you know when to use the down questions and when to use the up questions?"

I immediately thought, "What a great question!" I answered that timing and coordination of the questions is important and lies at the heart of skillful questioning. Yet what I mostly liked about the question was the way he summarized the questions -not "Meta-Model questions," "precision questions," "Meta-questions," "Matrix questions," etc. but simply up and down questions. 

So I stole the phrases. And that became the language for the next few days- Up Questions and Down Questions. And when you do them with a subject you can not only explore a matrix of frames that defines, describes, and informs a person's reality, but you can ground it so that it is embodied, contextualized, and actualized, that is, made neuro-semantic.

Later I found that many of the people were asking other new questions using this terminology:

"Where can I learn more about Down Questions?"

"Is there a book somewhere on Down Questions?"

"Are there more Down Questions than these 6 that you gave us?"

"Are there more Up Questions than these 12 that you gave us?"

"Where can I learn more about Up Questions?"

"Can you start with Up questions and then move to Down questions?

"How long should I ask Up questions before grounding them with the Down questions?

It was great. People who never heard of NLP before or Meta-States or Neuro-Semantics or logical levels were asking great Meta-Questions and grounding with Meta-Model questions!

Now the key with both sets of questions is iteration. Simply asking the down questions of what, where, when, with whom, and how is very seldom sufficient. You have to ask them again and again. You have to ask them in different combinations. You have to ask them following the client's energy while simultaneously holding a relevance frame about the client's outcome. Engage in that kind of iteration and your questions will enable the person to ground his or her matrix of meaning and et it increasingly into neurology. The down questions are the questions the de-fog confusion, clear out the cobwebs of muddled thinking, and de-hypnotize us from old trances of childhood.

The up questions activate the client's matrix of frames as it allows the person questioning and the person being questioned to enter the Matrix. Here we find the fluid layering of thoughts-and-emotions tied together into a complex web of interconnections. Here we discover the psycho-logics of the person's way of constructing his or her Matrix. And here are all of the rich things that make us most human-our beliefs, values, hopes, decisions, intentions, imaginations, etc.

Here's to lots of up and down questions for you this week as you release more of your innate potentials!



NEXT TRAINING --- 

Trainers' Training --- August 5-21, 2008

            Auckland, New Zealand

            Including -- The Psychology of APG

                            -- The Self-Actualization Workshop

            Contact Lena Gray --  lena at ignition.org.nz for Brochure


















L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
Neuro-Semantics Ltd., Executive Director
ISNS - International Society of Neuro-Semantics
P.O. Box 8
Clifton, Colorado, 81520 USA
www.neurosemantics.com 
www.meta-coaching.org
www.self-actualizing.org 

Email: meta @onlinecol.com @acsol.net @mindfocus.co.za
(970) 523-7877
(970) 523-5790 FAX
(877) 686-2867 toll free in the USA only
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