[Neurons] 2014 "Neurons" Meta Reflections #39

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections 2014 #39

September 29, 2014

Neuro-Semantics & Therapy Series #2

 

 

NEURO-SEMANTIC THERAPY

 

 

How does Neuro-Semantic therapy work?  At its heart, it works by changing
meaning.  If a person is not fully-functioning as a person, if the person
lives in constant fear, anger, distress, upset, resentment, etc., if the
person has become addicted to a substance, behavior, or concept, if the
person's very personality is becoming distorted from what's within the norm
of healthy behavior-  these are but symptoms of a problem.  The problem
itself is located in the person's meanings.

 

This is because what gets "hurt" that demands healing ("therapy") are our
mental models or maps that a person holds about the world.  What "hurt" or
violated is a person's sense of meaning.  When we experience a so-called
"negative" emotion, it means that we are sensing that something is wrong,
not-right, out-of-balance, unexpected, undesired, etc. in the way that we
are making sense of the world.  That "wrong" is wrong to our meanings-and
that means our understandings, beliefs, knowledge, etc.  In other words,
what's wrong lies in that the meanings we have created and that we want for
ourselves and our life experience feels at risk or violated.

 

In Neuro-Semantics we have several descriptions of what an "emotion" is.
One of these entails a picture of a set of scales weighing on one side, the
person's mental maps about the world and on the other side one's sense and
experience of the world.  Balancing map and territory- our experience in the
territory of the world either confirms or disconfirms our mental map about
it.  This leads to three possibilities:

Balanced:  If the scale is fairly balanced, then map and territory are
pretty close and so there's not much energy moving one way or the other.
We're getting what we expected.

Tipping Down: If the scale tips downward on the territory side, then one's
experience in the world is not measuring up to our mental map.  What we
understood, believed, and expected is not or does not happen. Something is
"wrong."  But what?  Is it that we have an inaccurate map?  Is it that we
lack the sufficient skills to handle the world that we're trying to
navigate?

Tipping Up: If the scale tips downward on the map side and upward on the
territory side then our experience in the world is going beyond what we
understood, believed, and expected.  Whatever is going on, our maps are
being validated and so things are going very right.

 

With this we can now offer one of three definitions of an emotion.  An
emotion is the difference between our map and our experience in the
territory.  "Negative" emotions tell us that overall, something is wrong,
something is not right.  "Positive" emotions tell us that overall, something
is right.  Emotions are relative experiences- relative to the relationship
between map and territory.  So whether a negative emotion is telling you to
"stop, look, listen" and make some adjustment or whether a positive emotion
is tell you to "keep going, it's working," our emotions operate as a basic
go- no go system.  Neurologically this shows up in our body in terms of our
nerve impulses- some are excitatory ("go") and some are inhibitory ("no go"
stop, make a change, something is not right). 

 

This is incredible!  It means that every emotion is right.  Whatever you are
feeling emotionally and somatically, you should be feeling.  What you feel
is a function of your mental maps in relationship to the territory that you
are attempting to navigate.  The emotion itself is a symptom that provides
you energy and motion (e-motion) and this generalized information of go-
don't go.  Given that, we do our emotions damage when we fear them, forbid
them, taboo them, and demonize them.  That's a sure way to mess them up.

 

This also means that what gets "hurt" in human nature is not our emotions.
In spite of the way some people talk, its not our emotions that get "hurt"
in trauma.  The trauma emotions are just emotions- fear, dread, worried,
hatred, stress, distress, sadness, etc.  They say in a general way that
something is not right- either one's mental maps or one's skill set and/or
skill level for handling something.

 

So what gets hurt in trauma?  Our mental maps.  What gets hurt is your
primary tool for handling reality and dealing with life, your understandings
and interpretations.  When that is damaged, then what can you use to move
through the world?  What can you rely on to know what to do, what to say,
how to think about anything?  Your understandings about yourself, others,
life, the world, work, taking care of yourself, etc. is your only tool for
navigating the territory.  That's why we all hate "being wrong."  Whether
we're wrong about some information or wrong about our expectations of
something-being wrong is one of the most painful and distressful experiences
possible for us humans.

 

And yet-because we are fallible, being wrong is a constant experience for
us!  It is inevitable.  So what's the solution?  The answer is simple:
Develop an appreciative acceptance of your fallibility and a passionate
curiosity about being wrong.  Develop a passionate joyful learning state so
that you are continuously, minute-by-minute making corrections and
adjustments to your mental maps.

 

When you have these meta-states, you can correct whatever you discover
that's wrong quickly and in the moment.  Then you can keep updating your
mental models of the world and the meanings within that you give to things.
Then you can keep updating your coping mechanisms that you use to meet your
needs.  Then you can keep refining your responses, and response style, as
you relate to others, find meaningful work, etc.

 

 




 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

                Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

                Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

                1 970-523-7877 

                Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net


    

    

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Self-Actualization: Neuro-Semantics launched the New Human Potential
Movement in 2007, for information about this, see
<http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org  

 

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