NLP can help people in many areas of life. Recounted by one of our NLP Master Practitioners, here is a real life story of how using the NLP Parts Integration process can help people overcome fear and gain freedom:
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free- Jim Morrison
Using the NLP Parts Integration process:
I did this session with a friend who said that her quest for freedom has created problems for her again and again over the years, and that recently she had another unpleasant experience. When I asked her how the freedom issue is a problem for her she said that it jeopardizes her need for feeling safe. She said there had been many situations where she acted recklessly out of her desire to be free, and this behaviour had financial, job, family and relationship consequences. She said that she felt torn between her need to feel safe, secure and belonging, and that for freedom. So I asked her if this is something she would like us to work on and she agreed. I briefly explained to her what parts are and that we would do a parts integration.
Then I told her how to hold her hands and with her permission softly touched the back of her hands to guide them in place. Next I asked her to close her eyes and told her that with her permission I would talk to the parts in question. First I asked permission to talk to the part that was causing her problems. I asked her which hand and where in the hand she would like this part to come out and sit. She said “in the palm of the right hand”, so I asked the part to come out and sit there. Then I asked her if this part looked, sounded and felt like someone or something she knew, and almost immediately she said “yes, my great uncle, my paternal grandfather’s brother”. “Your great uncle, good. What is the intention of this part?” She said he wanted to be free, and I asked “for what purpose?” She was quiet for a while and then said “he wants to express his individuality”. “What does this get for him?” I asked, and she answered “Makes him happy”. “Makes him happy, and what does this do for him?” I asked. She said “Nothing, he just wants to be happy, that’s all he wants and freedom gives him that.” At that point I thought I could not chunk up any further so I thanked the part and asked permission to talk to the flipside of it, the part which wants to feel safe, secure and belonging. I asked the part to come out and rest in the palm of the left hand, and asked her if this part looked, sounded and felt like someone or something she knew and without hesitation she said yes. She said it was her paternal grandfather. So she had two brothers sitting in her palms, representing her parts.
I asked her what the highest intention of this part was. She said “to serve”. I said “to serve what?”, and she replied “to serve her family”. At this stage the micro muscle movements started, they were so subtle that initially I wasn’t sure. Then I asked “serving his family… what does this get for him?”, and she said “he loves his family and he wants to protect them”. “For what purpose?” I asked, and she said “so that they can be safe”. I asked “What does this do for him?”, and she said “makes him happy”. The hands were getting closer but very slowly. I said “Do you realise that that’s what the other part wants too? to be happy?”. She said “yes” and got emotional. I said “your hands are moving towards each other, are you doing that on purpose?”, and she said “no” and opened her eyes to look. I said “Don’t let your hands come together unless you feel that these two parts are ready to integrate, take your time.” She sighed, closed her eyes again, and her hands started moving together a bit faster but still very slowly.
Her breathing became deeper. Soon the tips of her fingers touched each other, and I asked her if there were other parts she thought should join this integration, and she said “no”. I asked her to visualise how she wanted this integration to come to completion and when she was ready she could bring it to her chest and feel the integration inside. She said the two brothers gave each other a hug and then the images disappeared. She put her hands on her chest and smiled.
Finally I asked her to think of a possible situation in the future where she would find herself wanting to act out of her desire for freedom, how would she see herself handling the situation? She said she would not be impulsive but would rather evaluate the possible consequences first.
Success!