X-Ray Listening « minds, metaphors and (ethical) manipulation

“I Can Make You Think”

Jan 26th

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What’s the most effective way to get people to think? It’s a question that teachers and trainers grapple with daily, the world over.

So it never fails to amaze me that so little attention is paid to questions and their attention-directing qualities.

I was the speaker at a central London event last night. Called Interesting Talks, it attracts a young, lively crowd with lots to say for themselves.

It might have been tempting to do what I’d been asked to do and just give an “interesting talk” on my chosen topic – how to discover your Sweet Spot, the place where you can make a great living by doing what you love.

But instead, I used questions to challenge the group to think for themselves.

It seemed to work, judging by the buzz in the room and by the feedback. Some of the participants were a bit surprised that it was so interactive – but a larger number commented on how much more fun it was than sitting and listening.

Why bother trekking into London on a January night just More >

How Can Clean Language Make You Rich?

Jan 21st

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

1 comment

“How can Clean Language make me wealthier?” That was the question from a prospective client recently – and it seemed well worth answering.

There are at least three specific ways that Clean Language can increase the amount of money that you have:

1. Working with a skilled coach who uses Clean Language techniques (like me, for instance!), you can get really clear about your “sweet spot” – the place when your unique skills, experience, knowledge and passion coincide with the needs of a hungry crowd, keen to pay you to help them – and how to articulate the value you offer.

This makes it easier for you to focus your money-making efforts more tightly, on the activities which are most likely to produce a positive return which is consistent with your personal values – and which are enjoyable for you to do.

Oh. My. God! If someone had told me before my session with Judy that it was possible to get so much clarity in such a short space of time… I wouldn’t have believed them!  I’ve known for ages what I’m good at and enjoy doing, but have always struggled to articulate it in terms of the value I can provide to business owners and their More >

The Hypnosis Metaphor

Jan 19th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

4 comments

I’m very excited! I’ve been asked to take part in a live “hypnosis conversation” with two of the most interesting – and controversial – figures in the world of personal change, James Tripp and Jorgen Rasmussen.

I think it’s going to be great fun to do – and should be absolutely fascinating for those listening in on 31 January.

It’s no wonder that there’s a bit of a buzz about the event online this week.

One of the things that both James and Jorgen have in common is that they work with their clients using conversation and physical activities, in a frame that I’d label “NLP”. But both use the label “hypnosis” to market themselves.

James’s work is labelled “Hypnosis Without Trance”, Jorgen’s “Provocative Hypnosis”.

There’s probably a very pragmatic reason for that: last month 2,240,000 people googled “hypnosis” and only 823,000 “NLP”!

But it got me thinking about the relationship between NLP and hypnosis. To what extent are they simply different labels for the same kind of thing? Are there really significant differences? Is trance important? What is trance anyway?

Are NLP and hypnosis “humpty-dumpty” words, like “coach” vs “mentor”, that can mean what you choose them to mean?

And closer to home, is the work I do, More >

How To Use Clean Language To Help Dyslexic Adults

Jan 18th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

1 comment

Today we begin a new series of podcasts interviews entitled “How Do You Use Clean Language?”

I’ve asked some of my friends in the Clean community to share short stories which provide good examples of how Clean Language has been useful to them.

My aim is to:

Give newcomers to Clean a sense of how valuable it can be, and the breadth of its application
Inspire Clean enthusiasts to apply their skills in a wider range of contexts
Connect people with others who share their interests or who might get value from their services
Raise the profile of Clean Language generally.

My first interviewee is Nancy Doyle. A chartered psychologist, she has been an expert in Clean Language for many years, often working alongside Caitlin Walker in their company Training Attention. Now she’s branching out in a new direction…

In this interview, you’ll hear how she uses Clean Language with dyslexic adults and the impact her work can have.

Click here to play the 23-minute MP3

Clean Processes Using Space And Movement

Jan 16th

Posted by Judy in Body-Mind

1 comment

I’ve been writing recently about the relationship between two subjects I’m passionate about – David Grove’s Clean processes, and embodied cognition. There seem to me to be two key connections:

Clean Language provides an effective methodology for noticing and exploring people’s unique and individual metaphors of movement and space, which often results in dramatic and transformative change (in coaching, changework and therapy)
In the last ten years of his life, David devised a variety of changework processes which explicitly use space and movement: Clean Space, Emergent Knowledge and the Power of Six.

So, what are these later processes? There’s a neat description of Clean Space here.

As Penny Tompkins and James Lawley point out, “The basic Clean Space process is remarkably straightforward. There is a starting process, three simple routines which are repeated over and over, and a finishing process. Facilitating Clean Space requires only six questions and four directing statements.”

It also requires some courage on the part of the facilitator… because your client is going to get up out of their chair and move about. OMG!

I’ve taught this process to dozens of coaches over the years, and nearly all agree it’s one of the move effective they’ve ever experienced for themselves. However, very few More >