I keep going deeper and deeper into the NLP studies and a recent discovery has scared me a lot! So let me tell you what happened. Firstly I will explain how I got to the stage of doing that particular test.
In NLP you learn that every person has a different mental map that they use to interpret events in life. The more clear the mental map is, the more of the real world people can perceive.
We perceive reality mainly through our five senses. If you lower the threshold of your senses, you will perceive more of what the world is really about.
For example, I have recently lowered my auditory thresholds. I did that by having two people clap their hands in a similar way and I with my eyes closed had to tell who clapped when. They clapped from the same place so I couldn’t tell who claps by the location. I had to carefully listen for the differences in the sounds of their clapping. That was quite an exercise and I felt exhausted after probably 7-10 minutes. I would say that my hearing sense is the worst compared to other senses, so that was quite a stretch for me.
So next day I’m listening to my self-hypnosis audio and I got quite scared (no, this is not the scary thing I want to tell you about) because I started to hear sounds unheard in the audio before. I would stop the audio, then I would play it again and I still could hear sounds that weren’t there before! And then it hit me. I have developed a better auditory sense. I have lowered the threshold of my auditory perception of the world. Wow. The world has truly shifted in a slight but a very interesting way thanks to a small exercise.
You can try this exercise yourself. Have a couple of friends or family members clapping or making some other kind of sound in similar ways. You will see how easy it is to develop better auditory sense.
You can do that with other senses too. Have someone touch you in a similar way and see if you can tell who just touched you. Or have two people stand in the room and then close your eyes so that they can remove or add some accessory to themselves or stand in slightly different ways. See if you can pick that up and keep playing this way until you become better at spotting changes. This exercise will allow you to see the world in a clearer light.
Ok, now about a scary thing. I was reading about one NLP technique called memory deletion or something like that. The book author claimed that it’s possible to make a person even forget his/her name if you ask certain questions. I kind of believed that because some hypnosis artists can make people forget which color is which, like Derren Brown.
The author also claimed that it’s possible to add memories to your life that never happened. I think this technique is called “Memory Distortion Technique” – I completely forgot in which book I read it, so I can’t double-check it. I thought I would give it a try to see if that would work.
So I took an insignificant thing that could have happened to me but didn’t. I didn’t go shopping that day but I thought I would try to install such memory into my mind. So I did the technique and… I could no longer tell if that event happened or not. I looked at the past to think if I went shopping and I clearly remembered that I did!
That was so confusing… As though I knew that I didn’t go shopping, but I remembered that I did! That elicited fear and confusion in me. I started feeling really strange and my head was heavy. That felt so weird. Later I’ve found out that what I was feeling was a normal reaction to the memory distortion technique.
This technique is so powerful. Just think what it could do if it got into the wrong hands. Like if someone who knew the technique wanted to convince that someone committed some kind of crime.
But this technique could be used very positively also. It could be used to change your beliefs about your abilities. If the memory of your goal as already accomplished is properly installed, you will feel that you can accomplish so much more. So this technique definitely goes into my coaching, but I will test it more to be fully sure that I know it well.
NLP books are sooooo boring, but I keep reading them because I know that this science will allow me to help people in a much more effective way.
If you decide to find out this technique, I need to warn you. If you have a weak mind (you get easily scared and people can easily convince you), don’t try this. This technique can lead to paranoia and other mental health problems if you are not strong enough to experience it.
This technique truly shifts your understanding about reality and your mind. You realise how powerful you are and that you yourself can distort or install memories in your mind. What can be more powerful than that?
Thank you for visiting my site. My name is Simona Rich and my purpose in life is to help you reconnect with your core and create a life of your own design. I can help you do this with my coaching and articles. 
That’s quite an experience! It would be too scary for me to try:) Thanks for the great post!
Thanks, Mirkotasi!
Hmm I had made a comment on this blog entry but it is missing?
Sorry Straw, this is because I had to replace the whole blog. All comments are missing from all posts. I messed up the feed so I had to replace it. Now it should be all good;)
Very interesting! I totally missed this. Great looking blog by the way! Have a good day!
Thank you, Blake.
I have been to your posts before. The more I read, the more I keep coming back!
Thank you, I’m glad my posts help you.
Straw
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:09 pm · Reply
Hmm I had made a comment on this blog entry but it is missing? <— wow memory distortion really works..
Hi Simona. Memory distortion technique is used all the time by everybody in normal every day occurrences, either used by people unconsciously to get their own way or in some cases used knowingly to manipulate somebody. Most work’s management use this technique to make staff feel down trodden and belittled so management can easily control the amount of hours worked for as little pay as possible. If you tell a worker that they are great and that the firm relies on them, then they will ask for more pay. Tell them that they aren’t good enough and memory distortion in their mind is that they are lucky to have a job.
The governments of the world use this but they call it apparent descent. If for example the government wants to put up a load of cctv cameras all over the country, then they won’t say ‘we want to spy on the general public’ otherwise there would be hell to pay. What they say is that crime has gone up and we need to protect the public. They have created a mass memory distortion and so the public believe and insist on the cctv cameras.
on a more personal note. As a child I would say to my dad “Dad I feel like an ice cream”, where my dad would reply “Well, feel like you’ve had one”. In which case I wouldn’t get one. Doesn’t matter, I don’t much care for ice cream anyway.
Thanks Simona for an interesting website