Negative thoughts and feelings can be paralyzing and even lead to increased odds of death from heart disease. The good news is that there’s a way to change these feelings using a technique called the NLP Swish. This technique transforms your negative feelings and emotions by replacing them with powerful new images and feelings.
###Visualize a different you
Visualization is a powerful tool that can be used to improve our lives. Many athletes have used visualization techniques to achieve success in their respective fields. Visualization can help in changing your thoughts and feelings in reference to negative triggers, resulting in the creation of a new you.
###Change how you identify yourself in given situations
The NLP Swish technique helps you become a person who is stronger, more confident, and less worrisome in specific scenarios. This results in changes to your identity around those issues, and ultimately changes your reality.
###The basics
The NLP Swish technique is an easy, simple method for disassociating negative emotions and replacing them with powerful new images and feelings. It involves four main points which are detailed in the following sections.
####Part 1 – Preparation and set-up
- Identify the unwanted feelings around a topic (e.g., fear of flying).
- Identify the triggers that set off the negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions (e.g., buckling up in the plane seat and hearing the voice announce takeoff).
- Identify the reality of the negative emotion with a check or review of facts (e.g., less people die annually in airplane crashes than car crashes).
- Identify how you wish to feel instead of how you feel now (e.g., you are calm and peacefully sitting in the seat, anticipating a smooth flight to see the kids).
####Part 2 – Employ the technique
- Think about the image that triggers your fear, worry, or anxiety.
- See this trigger image as a movie screen and place a pop-up window somewhere on the screen, over a part of the image. In this new window will be the replacement image of who you want to be in that scenario.
- Quickly enlarge that pop-up window image, making it bigger and bigger, until it covers entirely the negative trigger image.
- Take a fast break and look around the room, at a photo on the desk, or a crack on the wall — anything that can help you break your mental state for a moment.
Repeat about 5-7 rounds of this exercise, moving more quickly through the process in each round. This will help anchor the new program in your mind.
####Part 3 – Test the result
Once you’ve completed the rounds of the Swish technique, change your state by distracting yourself for a few moments. Then recall your trigger memory or thought again and see how you feel now. If the technique was done properly, you should not have the same negative emotions triggered. If you do, try another 2-4 rounds of the exercise, followed by the break and test again.
###Some pointers to remember
- Relax during the Swish process; there is no need to struggle to make it happen.
- Do not accept and fully experience the negative emotion to a crippling degree. Simply visualize it and begin the process once you are triggered.
- Be ready with the empowered feeling and sense of who and what you want to be, so you can reprogram yourself into that new you in the process.
- Have fun, and if you need more assistance with this NLP Swish technique, there are plenty of tutorials online to explore.
Remember that the NLP Swish technique is just one method of transforming negative emotions. If it doesn’t work for you, there are other techniques worth considering, such as EMDR, which employs special eye movements to ease trauma, enhance happiness, and create positive energy. Try out different techniques and find what works best for your journey towards a positive and powerful new you.
