What happens when we use the rewind technique on a positive emotion/feeling as opposed to a phobia?

I am a control freak and need to know how things work, which is why I think my mind fears that a negative effect will occur if I run good feelings backwards (when I do this internally I cant seem to control it and try very hard to stop).

I know it sounds strange but I find myself constantly doing the unwanted thing inside my head.. and I dont know how to stop this process.

Does NLP have any negative side effects or does it only yield positive results?

Thanks all

Jeff, you're not a real control freak unless you want to do it every way possible. It's your brain, if you move something one way, you can move it back the other way. Experiment with every variation you can think of and find out just how much control you really do have over your processes.

PhilFarber wrote:

Jeff, you're not a real control freak unless you want to do it every way possible. It's your brain, if you move something one way, you can move it back the other way. Experiment with every variation you can think of and find out just how much control you really do have over your processes.

Yes, but doesn't the rewind technique have a permanent effect on the emotions? Or can that too be undone?

I really don't know why I have to keep struggling with my brain; it's like everytime I try to go right it decides to fight me and go left, could this be a form of OCD?

The little voice in the back of my head says 'What if I accidentally erase all my positive feelings and am left feeling like a vegetable?" and thats when it starts to infact try and create that outcome.. by running good feelings in reverse.

I guess it all stems from fear?

It's only permanent if you leave it that way. If you change it again, you'll change it again.

If you keep being so damn serious, you'll erase all your fun. Relax and play.

PhilFarber wrote:

It's only permanent if you leave it that way. If you change it again, you'll change it again.

If you keep being so damn serious, you'll erase all your fun. Relax and play.

Don't get me wrong here. it's not like I'm intentionally trying to be uptight and serious.. but I have a problem with compulsive thinking and control, so give me a break here.

There's nothing I wouldn't love more than to relax and have fun with it..

Thanks for the advice though, I will definitely try to be more at ease and less serious.

What was your favorite toy when you were a child?

PhilFarber wrote:

What was your favorite toy when you were a child?

Good question.. it would have to be my Power Rangers action figures (used to make stop motion videos with them amongst my friends). Why do you ask?

Stop motion videos? Very cool. So you explored what you could do with your Power Rangers, beyond just looking at them on the shelf?

PhilFarber wrote:

Stop motion videos? Very cool. So you explored what you could do with your Power Rangers, beyond just looking at them on the shelf?

Yes most definitely!

Wonder where this is leading to? lol

If you bent the arms or legs one way and put the Power Ranger in a pose, you knew that you could bend it back the other way and put it in another pose later, when you wanted to?

PhilFarber wrote:

If you bent the arms or legs one way and put the Power Ranger in a pose, you knew that you could bend it back the other way and put it in another pose later, when you wanted to?

True, but my question is do the same rules apply to NLP techniques? (I really don't know, and im a newbie to the world of NLP.. plus I constantly seek reassurance)

Afterall if you could easily reverse the effect the rewind technique has on a phobia... or worse PTSD, that wouldn't be much help to the sufferer I wouldn't think?

Sorry for rambiling like this.. I guess I just want to make sure that nothing can go wrong (as I always do).

What sufferer? We're talking about someone who can change their state when they want to.

Seriously - go practice the techniques on a Power Ranger first. Just look at it, bend it into position in your mind how you think it would look with a feeling moving one way, then bend it back to represent the other way. Maybe they are subtle movements - a tilt of the head, a slight movement of the hips for instance - or more obvious movements. If it feels okay in your imagination for the Power Ranger, then have some fun yourself. (And if you no longer have the Power Rangers, imagine that you do.)

JEFF: "What happens when we use the rewind technique on a positive emotion/feeling as opposed to a phobia?"

One way, the phobia cure works as a reframe. When the characteristics of the remembered incident change, we get to see the whole thing in a new perspective and the emotions associated with it also change. So, the positive feeling should get affected, if we do it properly. I've heard that the feeling diminishes; just haven't tried it myself. Why not try it yourself with an incident and see how the feeling changes? As Philip said, no need to be serious, just play!

Vivek.

blueleopard wrote:

The little voice in the back of my head says 'What if I accidentally erase all my positive feelings and am left feeling like a vegetable?" and thats when it starts to infact try and create that outcome.. by running good feelings in reverse.

Dude, I do the exact same thing.

I really don't know why I have to keep struggling with my brain; it's like everytime I try to go right it decides to fight me and go left, could this be a form of OCD?

LOL, probably! I've had several OCDs.

We have a valid concern. I've been lucky enough to have been able to keep my mind clear enough to try some of the techniques towards positive ends, and I can give you good news and bad news. The good news is, you're safe--your chances of accidentally vegetating yourself with NLP are zero. The bad news is, that's because the techniques are oversold. The effects, if any, will be very short-lived if you don't really want them. Hell, a lot of people think they really want the change and still can't keep it! (In my opinion, that's because they don't really want the change [see: secondary gains], or else the "cure" they've come up with is worse than the poison.)

There is truth to what Phil says, but I'd go a step further: If you don't really want a change, your mind will automatically reset whatever you did. This goes for both "positive" and "negative" changes. Think of the techniques as nitro-powered affirmations--if you don't want them, they'll do nothing, no matter how many times you repeat them. Being nitro-powered, they'll do nothing faster, but, yeah, whatever.

Unfortunately, if you're anything like me, most of what I just said will go in one ear and back out the same ear. The only way to prove it to yourself is to challenge it. That's how I beat all my OCDs--you have to get so sick of them that you stand up and defy them! Take your fondest memory and run that mofo backwards! Tell it, "Do your worst, bitch!" I guarantee that its "worst" will be very disappointing--the technique won't do a damn thing to your feelings.

And no, you can't "accidentally" really want a change. It takes concentrated effort and a fair amount of artistry to align oneself towards a change; it's not like stepping in a dog turd.

(I should also add that "defiance" is only the first step towards overcoming an OCD. Also, according to my wife, I have greater than average will-power, and I'm also naturally defiant, so it's possible I'm rare in being able to do this. Who knows.)

blueleopard wrote:

What happens when we use the rewind technique on a positive emotion/feeling as opposed to a phobia?

It sounds to me not as a question but as an offer to explore... What if ... what when ... when I hear similar questions on our trainings from people I always offer them to explore if they like an adventure of course - and if someone have phobia of going into unknown - then work with phobia first

And the main question: why woud you want to rewind the positive feeling for? if its for sake of adventure, go and expore it i would try with less important positive feeling in this case, something like a feeling after watching a good movie or smth... choose a feeling that you will not regret about in case you loose it and try the opposite thing. I wonder what your little voice will say good luck

Okay, so what would be the best way to undo the rewind technique? Would we do the opposite and fast forward instead? Can anyone shed some light on this as I'm interested in this as well.. I would like to test out how to undo this effect for better control.

pjmc84 wrote:

Okay, so what would be the best way to undo the rewind technique? Would we do the opposite and fast forward instead? Can anyone shed some light on this as I'm interested in this as well.. I would like to test out how to undo this effect for better control.

The best way is to do nothing! Seriously. The memory of the movie running forwards is still there! Those old feelings are still there! All you've done is create a new movie. You've added a memory. The point of the exercise is to get a new perspective--to be able to access the same content in a different enough way that you can easily associate different feelings to it. It's a fancy reframe! That's it!

You can "rewind the rewind" if you really want to--if you feel you have to engage in some kind of ritual in order to earn permission to get what you've already got. That, in itself, is rather OCD-like.

Chris Johnson wrote:

The best way is to do nothing! Seriously. The memory of the movie running forwards is still there! Those old feelings are still there! All you've done is create a new movie. You've added a memory. The point of the exercise is to get a new perspective--to be able to access the same content in a different enough way that you can easily associate different feelings to it. It's a fancy reframe! That's it!

You can "rewind the rewind" if you really want to--if you feel you have to engage in some kind of ritual in order to earn permission to get what you've already got. That, in itself, is rather OCD-like.

ok, so how do we go about undoing the new memory? if we wanted to?

This is going to sound really silly, but I think I've accidentally screwed myself.

I've been rewinding a bunch of positive things in my head (out of obsessive fear), and now I feel like those feelings don't feel the same way anymore (they seem more dull). This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about.. my silly brain doesn't listen to me.. it does what I DONT want and its stressing me out crazy, I constantly sabotage myself. Whenever something is going good, I find a way to screw it up.. how can I stop doing this?

Furthermore, I feel like rewinding all these feelings has diminished them / made them go away for good.. which is not something I want, so if anyone can tell me a way to reverse this process it would be much appreciated (or is this all in my head?).

Can someone offer me a solution out of this dilemma? Perceived by my imagination or not?

You made yourself feel worse by turning your good feelings back. What a surprise! The techniques actually do work! Now you know that you can do it, you have the control and the technique, so turn it all back the good way again and make it even stronger.

And work the same magic on those compulsions you had, too.

Did you play with your Power Rangers?