[Neurons] Framing disaster

[alan at optimum-mind.co.nz]

Alan Fayter NZ
alan at optimum-mind.co.nz


Framing
Disaster





 


 
Hello all from earthquake affected Christchurch
NZ. If you haven’t already seen the news, there has been a
significant earthquake here in the Christchurch region of the South Island
of NZ. There are also a lot of quite large aftershocks – the latest
one of magnitude 5.1 broke my chimney this morning and as I write this
there are builders on the roof taking it down.
Being the ‘people watcher’ I am this
whole experience has highlighted how interesting it is how people’s
frames of mind affect their responses, and how powerful that framing is in
terms of how it affects the larger system.
I’ve noticed that how people are
linguistically framing the current events here is having a huge effect on
the media perceptions, and that in turn is systemically fuelling
individual responses creating wonderfully complex feedback and
feed-forward loops. It’s not helped by those who don’t
understand the effect of language on others; I heard a radio announcer
yesterday take a call from a listener and ask “are you upset,
depressed or very depressed?” How’s that for a negative
suggestion!
Map-territory distinctions



What I mean by ‘linguistically
framing’ demonstrates the powerful effect of language. I’ve
heard and read countless descriptions such as “I was violently
shaken awake and my bedside lamp was thrown off the nightstand and smashed
into pieces on the floor” - a wonderful description... of
someone’s map. Add to this a fast paced and/or loud voice and the
emotional effect it has on others is magnified; basic state elicitation.

But let’s look at a different description of
that very same event/territory; “I woke up because I saw and felt
the room was shaking and my bedside lamp fell on the floor and
broke”... a somewhat less emotive but none the less more sensory
specific description. The first description is framed with countless
layers of emotion and judgement.
I think this is indicative of larger and more
general frames of mind that people have. For example; when the initial
quake hit my partner was frightened, and has experienced sleeplessness and
nervousness for days and nights following. Being a person who values
‘experiences’, I found the quake really interesting.  Apart from initial thoughts about
exits, falling objects and my partner and daughters safety if the house
fell down, I just found the whole experience fascinating. I actually feel
quite lucky to be in the midst of such a unique experience. So this was
the exact same place and time but two entirely different maps!

And this demonstrates how we frame experiences in
our mind, what we Meta state them with, has a huge effect on primary state
experiences. 
When we consider what is happening with the floods
in Pakistan, the loss of countless lives, no aid or relief, etc, compared
with the situation in NZ where there is aid, food, help, support, and no loss of life; despite the
economic effect we are actually quite ok really. 
If we look at the situation here from the
perspective of Maslow’s hierarchy, there are not a lot of basic
needs that people are going without. Even those who find themselves
homeless have help and support structures in place. They might not have
their own shelter, but they do have
shelter. It’s how we frame that basic need (i.e. shelter) that has a
significant effect on primary states and responses. What meanings does
shelter have for each individual person? What each individual is Meta
stating their experience with, changes that experience.  And the same for safety needs, how
does an individual frame those needs in an earthquake?
What is interesting is that two things are
emerging – a wonderful proactive pulling together of community and
support for others; and to a much smaller degree, a ‘poor me’
mentality that is being fed by the former. Some classic rescue triangles
are emerging.
The value of
NS


There are a lot of NLP practitioners,
hypnotherapists, counsellors, etc, etc, here offering free sessions to
those in need, me included. But even those who mean well often frame
things in a less than helpful manner; I was asked to participate with a
group of NLP practitioners who called themselves the “Trauma
Team”... I responded that I’m happy be involved but thought
something like the “Rescue Team”, “Help Team”,
“Calming Crew” or something similar might be a better frame to
begin with.
Those of us who are Neuro Semanticists and Meta
Coaches have a greater advantage over classically trained NLP’ers.
We have the benefit of the Meta States model that allows us to track the
recursive layering of frames; we have the Matrix model that allows us to
enter and follow the energy of another person’s map; there is the
Axis of Change that gives us a framework for coaching. And there is the
extra efficacy as these and the other NS models integrate within
themselves and all of the other cognitive, behavioural and Self
Actualisation models.
If we can get NS more widely known and used I
think we could potentially help change the ‘framing’ of
disasters worldwide. You can help that too by going to your nearest NS
trainer and take part in APG, or any of the ISNS trainings – I truly
believe we can change the world from the inside out!




Alan Fayter 
Optimum Mind 

+64 03.942 2103 
www.optimum-mind.co.nz 
alan at optimum-mind.co.nz
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