"That's a load off my Mind"

I last wrote about the "Cloud Technique" back in April 2010 (see archive) and as to how effective and flexible it is - not just for state change and enhancement, but also for removing elements of unwanted mental (particularly emotional) baggage.

The technique is just one of Kevin Creedon's** hugely useful developments, and I'm indebted to Kevin for it and to Nigel Hetherington** who first brought it to my attention.

I've used it many times now, and the most recent for a client who had been struggling for a couple of years to find closure after leaving a previous job.
This lack of resolution was starting to impact into other areas of her life, affecting her objectivity and ability to focus on a variety of things and, most importantly, chipping away at her self-esteem. "Everyone else affected has dealt with their issues around this change of job for me, but I have a lot of anger, frustration, and resentment going on still and just can't shift it." Her physiology, as she told me about it, tensed up - especially around her neck and shoulders - and her voice took on a terse quality to back this up.

She'd actually come to see me about something else - however this seemed a good opportunity to tackle this issue as it was clearly the more dominant!

PW - "So is there a colour you associate with this anger, resentment, this frustration?"
CL - (after a pause) "No - but I'll tell you what its like. Its like a big, heavy weight." It was good of her to give out this metaphor so early!
PW - "Its like a big, heavy weight - and is there anything else about that heavy weight?"
Cl - "It sort of encloses me, but its not in front of me." I already knew where it was from her earlier body language, so I pointed towards her neck and shoulders:
PW - "Kind of, around here enclosing you - but not out here in front..."
CL - "Yes that's it. Big, heavy, weighing me down..."
PW - "And what would you like to have happen really?"
CL - "For it not to be there - to be behind me."
PW - "What happens to it when its behind you?"
CL - "It just dissolves and disappears..."
PW - "It just dissolves - almost like 'out of sight out of mind'..."

Next I got her to stand up, ensuring that the feeling was still there on her neck and shoulders. She was fully associated into the whole scenario now. I invited her to see what it was like when I helped her lift the big, heavy weight off her neck and shoulders with my help.
CL - "That's nice, that's much better - but its not fair on you. Now you've got it."
PW - "Not a problem for me," I said, "because I'm going to get rid of it by throwing it out of the window. So now - as I hold it, as I take the weight, I want you to step forward and away from it."
This she did, and after another step I got her to turn around and face me (holding her imaginary weight) and the window. I asked her if there was any weight left still on her neck and shoulders. There was none. I then 'threw' the weight out of the window - knowing of course that for her it was going to dissolve, evaporate, disappear.
PW - "Is there any of the weight left behind in the chair you'd been sat in, or anywhere else in the room?"
CL - "No its all gone!"
PW - "Absolutely sure?"
CL - "Yes - I would see it if there was because it was dark grey."
So there WAS a colour associated with it after all!
She was visibly surprised and somewhat bemused that she could feel so different. I got her to sit down in the chair I'd occupied and asked her about how she felt now about her closure issues. She reported nothing at all - a totally neutral response.

We conversed a little further, and she became almost tingling with excitement that the weight had gone, the emotions surrounding closure were neutral, and that it had been quite so simple, saying, "Heavens! Quite literally that's a load off my mind!"

** - You can find Nigel Hetherington's website at http://communicatingexcellence.com/, and about Kevin Creedon here http://www.nlpco.com/nlp-training/nlp-training-team/kevin-creedon/#axzz4P7udHVzL

Additional thanks go to Judy Rees, for helping my understanding with framing the questions and eliciting and working with the client's metaphors. Her website is here http://judyrees.co.uk/judy-rees/