[Neurons] Advertisement ---- About Some of the New Books

Thu Feb 25 14:05:34 EST 2021

From: L. Michael Hall

meta at acsol.net

ABOUT SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS

When I send out information about newly published books, I often put the
Table of Contents and the Foreword, but several people have recently
reminded me that I did not do that with some of the new books.  Here are two
---

              Thinking as a Modeler

              Humorous Thinking

THINKING AS A MODELER

Foreword

1. Then I began Modeling
7

2. The Mind of a Modeler
22

3. The Driving Question
34

4. Getting your Exemplars
44

5. The Linear Structure
56

6. Constructing the Linear Structure
68

7. The Vertical Structures
75

8. Modeling Vertical Structures
87

9. Modeling Notation System

98

10. Modeling the Person
105

11. The Systemic Structure
117

12. Complex Simplicity
127

13. Following the Energy through the System
137

14. Testing and Refining
148

15. Model Streamlining
159

16. Background Knowledge

166

17. Replicating Your Model

178

18. Modeling Limitations
188

19. Modeling Mind Writ Large
194

20.  Modeling Cultures
205

21. On to Modeling
216

22.  222

Appendix A

Author

FOREWORD

"By modeling the structure and process of exceptional behaviors or skills,
NLP is gradually developing a set of 'off-the-shelf' software to teach to a
client.  Besides being more efficient, this process can study a resourceful
exception in one person and offer it to others who don't have exceptions." 

Steve Andreas Rapport 46 (1999, pp. 10-11)

W

hen I first discovered NLP my focus was entirely on its communication
principles and skills.  While I heard and read about modeling, it did not
really connect, not at first.  Then I took my first NLP trainings.  That's
when the idea of modeling expertise in those who were already highly skilled
struck me.  I thought, "That's one of the greatest ideas on planet earth!"
Then during my experience in the trainers' training, Richard Bandler
challenged us to "go model something."  I don't remember if there were any
other details to the challenge.  I only know that I came away looking for
something to model.

Being a psychotherapist and working with all sorts of clients, I got the
bright idea(!) that I would get some local organizations to let me work with
some of their schizophrenics.  I would model how they create that
experience, model how previous schizophrenics solved it, and presto! I would
create a world-class breakthrough new model.  (Yes, I was very new and the
idea was extremely naive!)  And sure enough, that idea lasted a couple of
weeks when it was quickly devastated by a whole series of rejections from
every single person I tendered the idea with.  "No, no, no!"

But having been bitten by the modeling bug, that didn't stop me.  A couple
months later I decided I would model resilience.  Now, nearly thirty years
later, I have completed 26 modeling projects and have essentially made a
living by modeling.  From the modeling I did came trainings, workshops,
manuals, patterns, and books as well as several businesses.

In the process I have learned to increasingly think as a modeler and, of
course, I am still learning.  In the process of modeling many different and
diverse experiences, making lots of mistakes, discovering how I went astray,
figuring out how to get back on track-I learned a lot about how to model.
In the process I also discovered and created several models for modeling
(first the Meta-States, the Matrix Models, and the various models for
coaching and self-actualization).  I also have been learning how to more
effectively model expertise.

With all of that behind me and many asking that I share how I do what I do,
I decided to run a final NLP Master Practitioner training and to make the
theme modeling.  That occurred in Manila, Philippines, August 2018.  My
motivation was primarily to pass on much of what I had learned about
modeling and enable the next generation of trainers to continue the
tradition of modeling.

During that same time, I was working on thinking itself as the foundation of
everything we do in NLP and Neuro-Semantics.  That led to the book,
Executive Thinking (2018) and to the training Cognitive Make-Over.  Then,
with that background arose the focus of this book- How to Think as a
Modeler. Hence the question which many have asked me:

How do you effectively think when you are modeling expertise?

Originally I had considered writing yet another book about how to model.  My
first book on how to explicitly model, NLP Going Meta (1997) detailed the
modeling processes, models, and tools.  After that I wrote four other books
on modeling.1 Further, there are a number of really good NLP books on
modeling.2  I decided on a new focus-one not addressed anywhere else,
namely, the mindset and attitude required to effectively model.  The NLP
books that are currently available are excellent for telling you what to
think.  What they mostly lack is a focus on how to think.  That's the design
of this book.

"Modeling is much more than a tool for excellence; modeling is a window on
everything that is human." 

David Gordon

Anchor Point, 2002

I have also written this book due to a quiet crisis in the field of NLP
regarding modeling.  Namely, there is far too little modeling and some much
what is called modeling is of very low quality.  What explains this?  Do we
not have the models and tools for modeling?   Yes we do.  Do we not have the
know-how regarding how to modeling?  Yes, that is also available.  It's easy
to get the processes, the tools, the how of modeling.  There's plenty of
sources.  What we do not have is detailed information about how to think as
a modeler or how to think through the details while modeling.  So that's
what I decided to focus on in this book.

"What thinking enables a person to take all of the models that we have and
use them to effectively model expertise?"

In what follows, I have attempted to invite you into my thinking processes
as I engaged in working through the models I've created-resilience,
self-reflexivity, wealth creation, physical fitness, selling, etc.

Over the years many have asked me about how I have studied so much, written
so much, and created so many new models and processes and on such a regular
and consistent basis.  If there's any secret, I think is in the thinking
patterns which govern my attitude.  That's what I've sought to highlight in
walking through the models that have been created.

End of the Chapter Notes:

1. Here are the books which I have already written about modeling:

             NLP Going Meta: Advanced Modeling Using Meta-Levels (1997/
2008).  This "NLP, Volume II" presents modeling in a format similar to NLP,
Volume I (1980).  

             Advanced Neuro-Semantic Modeling, Training Manual (2000).
Much of this training manual is in NLP Going Meta, yet many of the pieces
are not.

             The Matrix Model (2002/ 2016).  A systemic model of eight
dimensions that enables you to "follow the information through a system" to
understand the energy that emerges. 

             Meta-States Model (1995/ 2012).  A model of self-reflexive
consciousness and how the reflective layering of thoughts and emotions upon
themselves generates logical levels, the human psycho-logics, and much more.

             Cultural Modeling, Training Manual (2000).

2. Excellent NLP books on Model include Robert Dilts' two books,
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Volume I (1980) and NLP Modeling (1990), David
Gordon Introduction to Modelling withy NLP (CD), David Gordon and Graham
Dawes (2017); Fran Burgess The Bumper Bundle Book of Modelling (2013).  

HUMOROUS THINKING

Foreword
4

Modeling the Structure of Humor

1. What is Humor?
8

2. What Emotion is Humor?
20

3. Modeling Humor
26

4. The Heart of Humor
37

5. Humor as a Trance
49

    The Momentary Hypnotic State

Problems with Humor

6. When Humor Goes Wrong
58

     Dark and Toxic Humor

7. When You Get Serious, 

     You Get Stupid
68

     The Problem with Seriousness

Humor Trances 

8. Humor for Meaning-Making

     Reframing Trance of Humor
77

9. Humor for Creativity

    Creativity Trance of Humor
86

10. Humor for Health

     Well-Being Trance of Humor
94

11. Humor for Bonding

      Relational Trance of Humor
103

12. Humor for Therapy
110

   Getting Over the Past with Humor

13. Humor for Communication

     Joyful Communications
119

14. Humor for Spirituality

      Holy Humor's Sacred Trance
128

15. Humor for Change
136

      Humor for Changing the World

16. Humor and Critical Thinking 

142

Crafting Humor

17. Preparing Yourself for
150

      Humor

18.. The Art of Humor
161

      How to Create Humor

19. The Art of the Joke
170

One Last Thing
179

Appendices

A: Humor Research
181

B:  Why we Laugh?
182

C: Humor as a Self-Actualizing

     Being--Value
184

Bibliography
185

Author
188

PREFACE

"It is easy to laugh, but difficult to explain why one laughs."

Sigmund Freud

"Man with meta-states has high thoughts."

Newly Discovered Ancient Chinese Proverb

Y

our brain is uniquely made for humor.  Did you know that?  It is.   Your
brain is designed to entertain multiple perspectives and to shift
perspectives.  It is designed to hunt down incongruities, to solve problems,
and to transcend the human experience by developing a humorous and/or
philosophical outlook.  Further, your brain thrives when it is joyful and
playful.  And when your brain is on joy, you experience what we call humor-a
comic perspective which can open up all sorts of new vistas.

You can and do think humorously.  Yet you were not born with that capacity-
it developed.  And it began developing very early as you started to laugh at
four months of age.  At first, the humor you enjoyed was physical-playing,
chasing, being thrown into the air, someone kissing your tummy, someone
playing pee-a-boo, etc.  By the time you were six, you could hold two
meanings in your mind about the same word or thing and so you became an
expert in "Knock, Knock..." jokes.

Today when scientists say, "That's funny!" they are often on the verge of a
major breakthrough, a new paradigm, or an insight that might change the
world.  Humorous thinking can enable you to switch from one way of looking
at things to a completely new and different way to look at things.  When you
think humorously, you can reframe meaning that you attribute to something so
that you endow it with a much more useful meaning.

Humorous thinking also promotes well-being.  After all, humor feels fun,
joyful, and playful, and it can induce a sense of relief.  It can help you
to de-stress and it can put you and others in a good mood.  It can relieve
you of "terminal seriousness" thereby saving you from being an over-zealous
fanatic or perfectionist.  Humor, in fact, is the best cure for
perfectionism.

Yet thinking humorously is often a mystery.  Sometimes we ask, "Why are
things funny?"  Or we may ask, "What's so funny about that?"  In actuality,
things are not funny.  There are no funny things.  Funny is your perception
- it arises from the way you think and interpret things.  The questions to
ask about humor are these:

           What do you find funny?

           How do you see that as funny?

Yet with these questions, it becomes suddenly clear that funny is in the eye
of the beholder.  If funny is a perception, then it is a function of your
thinking, meaning-making, and mental map-making and, in that case, it is a
trance-an internal focused state of mind and emotion.  It certainly is not
an external thing.  You can't pick up funny.  You can't weigh or measure
humor.  A humorous perspective, as an internally focused state, is a
hypnotic state.  You think you are laughing at something "out there" in the
external world.  You are really laughing at a rich complex of thoughts that
make up of your expectations, style of interpretation, and unconscious
frames which set contexts in your mind.  The real thing in the external
world simply triggers your humorous perspective.  Here is Rodney
Dangerfield, of "I get no respect" fame: 

Last week I saw my psychiatrist.  I said, 'Doc, I keep thinking I'm a dog.'
He told me to get off the couch.

My wife, she's cheatin' on me again.  This time it's with a midget.  But
hey, at least she's cuttin' down.    

What triggers the humor is the punch line, "get off the couch."  But, what's
so funny about that?  The answer is an idea or memory.  We chase dogs off of
our couches because we don't want them to pee on them.

Amazing, isn't it? The structure of the subjective experience of humor turns
out to be entirely an internal state.  And as an internal perspective, it is
yet another hypnotic state.  When you chuckle or laugh at a joke or riddle,
you momentarily leave the here-and-now world and go into another dimension-a
dimension of mind and emotion, of memory and imagination, a dimension of
understanding where you see things from a different perspective.

Why did the window box?

Because it saw the garden fence.

So where did you go?  As with all language, the content of the words take
you somewhere, here it takes you to a window.  But what window did you
imagine?  A window at your home?  One at your childhood home?  On in a
nearby building?  A generic one?  With "box" you probably first saw a
literal box, but with the word was used as a verb, so you shifted to the
sport of boxing.  The transition to the other place in your imagination then
occurred momentarily- very quickly, and you did not stay there.  You were in
and out in a nanosecond.  And if it tickled your funny bone- there was an
ejaculation of laughter (ah, did that double entendre elicit a smile from
you?).

Humorous Thinking as a Personal Resource 

When you know what humor is and how it works, you realize that humor is an
incredible resource.  That does not mean that humor is a panacea.  It is
not.  And while it is not always called for, it is a resource that has many
applications- expanding perspective, shifting consciousness, reframing
meaning, creativity, lightening up emotionally, increased flexibility,
healing, well-being, deepening connections, understanding self and others,
getting through tough times, refusing to be traumatized, even changing the
world.

Given then how humor can be a rich personal resource and that it can serve
so many purposes, it offers a wide range of opportunities.  In
Neuro-Semantics we use and recommend the resource of humor as a powerful
phenomena for coaches, trainers, public speakers, doctors and nurses,
parents, couples, etc. 

           Coaches use humor to invite clients to step back from an
experience to bring other perspectives to a primary awareness.  They do this
to lighten things up and create more flexibility.

           Similarly trainers and public speakers use humor in their
presentations to create engagement, interest, and to accelerate learning by
making it fun.  They use it also to lighten things up and avoid becoming
over-serious around life's hurts and traumas.

           Health professionals, doctors, nurses, dentists, front-line
responders, etc. use humor as a key variable that facilitates well-being
especially since the majority of illnesses are stress-activated.  Norman
Cousins used the humor state as a way to gain pain-relief when suffering a
serious disease.  Viktor Frankl said that humor saved their sanity in a
concentration camp and enabled him to hope against hope.

"Have you ever been treated by a doctor for this condition?

"No, they always make me pay."     

           Parents bring humor to make learning fun, to engage the minds of
children, and to make family life joyful.

           Couples bring humor to deepen their bond, enjoy being together,
and make mistakes and humanness acceptable.

The Depth and Richness of Humor 

There's a lot more to humor than you would ever suspect.  And as it depends
entirely on a rich mixture of conscious and unconscious thinking, it is a
profound psychological factor for good or evil.   As humor can heal, humor
can hurt.

My aim here is to model the subjective experience of humor-to understand its
structural processes.  What is it?  How does it work?  What is its
significance?  What can I use it for?  In so comprehending humor, my
objective was to be ready to say how humor works and how you can work it.
Here you will discover the multiple aspects of humor as powerful resources,
and how you can use it more effectively.  Here you will learn how to tap
into the comic perspective to bring more fun and joy into your life and
those around you.

This book is the fourth volume on thinking- the most fundamental and unique
function for us humans.  I began with Executive Thinking (2018) for
activating your highest executive thinking potentials.  Then, Thinking as a
Modeler (2019) for an inside look at modeling expertise.  Then came Hypnotic
Thinking (2020) for unleashing potentials.  And now Humorous Thinking -the
essence of creativity, reframing, innovations and well-being.  You are about
to discover that there are multiple levels of hidden thinking that makes
humor possible.  Welcome to the adventure!

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to Neurons, send request to meta at acsol.net 

Making smart decisions is not easy--- many, many cognitive biases 

work against us and it is far too easy to default to pseudo-decisions:

emotions, gut feelings, intuitions, circumstances, others.  

Executive Decisions (2021) offers a way to decide intelligently and wisely.

130969 Neuro Semantics Executive Decisions Book Cover

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