Thinking is a process with structure and order. When our thoughts arein appropriate order, achieving desirable outcomes becomes simple and natural.On the other hand, when our thoughts are out of order, in disarray, eventhe simplest tasks and responsibilities can seem burdensome and unachievable.

NLP provides tools for changing the structure of thinking, indeed, foraltering the entire structure of subjective experience. In this articlewe will examine four major components of human thinking: (1) the VAK sensoryrepresentational basis for all thinking, (2) the conscious/unconscious distinction,(3) the concrete/abstract distinction, and (4) the role of metaphor. Basedon these four components, we then will demonstrate a simple, straightforwardNLP toolSpinning Icons. 

One of the basic tenets of Neuro–Linguistic Programming is the ideathat all thinking involves a combination of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic(and to a lesser extent, olfactory and gustatory) representations. Our memories,thoughts, plans for the future, dreams and imagination exist in our experiencein the form of pictures in our mind's eye, sounds in our mind's ear, andkinesthetic sensations felt in our body.

To say that our thoughts are V-A-K representations does not mean necessarilythat such representations are complete and accurate reproductions of whatwe have heard, seen, and touched in the sensory world. The picture in yourmind of the shirt a friend wore yesterday and a Polaroid snapshot of thatshirt might be similar or quite dissimilar. A tape recorded conversationyou had yesterday might sound very different from the auditory representationof that conversation in your memory. On the other hand perhaps the two mightbe remarkably similar. Your kinesthetic memory of how it feels to wear thewool sweater you put away last spring may be similar or different from theactual feel of the sweater when you put it on for the first time this winter.

The basic idea in the V-A-K distinctions about thinking is that peoplegather information through their senses, and when that information is accessedas thoughts or memories it will be experienced as some combination of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic representations.It is these representations which provide the structure for the subjectiveexperience of thinking.

For the past dozen years we have been working with and studying the sensorysubmodality distinctions, and in many ways consider them to be the basicbuilding blocks of subjective experience. In doing NLP work an individualcan experiment with changing one or more submodalities of a given experienceand then note if and how the quality of that experience changes.

We have found that one of the key visual submodality distinctions islocation of the pictures in the mind's eye. By location we do not mean thegeographic location of the given memory, e.g. "I remember seeing myfriend standing in front of the library yesterday." Instead, picturelocation refers to what extent the visual representation is straight ahead,left or right, above horizon or below horizon. For example, think of someoneyou love and respect, and notice the location of the visual representationyou make of that person. Now, think of someone you detest, and note thatvisual location. Notice the different locations. What happens when you exchangethe locations of those two pictures? You also can experiment with locationdifferences in your visual memory of a food that you very much enjoy andanother food you hate. Through V-A-K changes at the submodality level itis possible to create a wide variety of qualitative changes in subjectiveexperience.

As we think and communicate, often we are acutely aware of our thoughts.We attend to our thoughts. Revise our thoughts. Respond to our thoughts.Follow the rising and unfolding of our thoughts. Mull over our thoughts.We gather information from our environment by looking, listening, touching,smelling, and tastingand then we think about the new information we havegathered. Much of the time we are highly conscious of our thinking.

That having been said, we also commonly experience a full–blown ideaor conclusion springing into awareness seemingly out of nowhere. We don'tknow how we arrived at the thoughtall of a sudden it is just "rightthere." We also often experience being affected by hunches, intuitions,flow, being in the "zone," and gut–feelings which influenceand guide our choices and actions. When we are at our most creative, itis not unusual to experience that we have access to thinking and knowingthat largely is outside the realm of conscious awareness, but which canbe trusted.

Many of the most important decisions we make result from some kind ofmixture of conscious and unconscious thinking. A switch from conscious tounconscious thinking, or vice versa, often can make a difference in achievingdesirable outcomes. Sometimes people get stuck consciously thinking througha problem, going round and round in circles talking to themselves aboutit. They then set the problem aside and forget about it for awhile. Lateran insight or solution seems to come out of nowhere. The conscious/unconscious distinction is one component of human cognition. It is a common aspect of subjective experience. Being aware of and utilizingthis distinction can be a difference that makes a difference in NLP work.

Because much of thinking involves creating and responding to words, thedistinction between concrete and abstract language is a significant componentof subjective experience. Some words are specific and sensory based. Theyrefer to the aspects of our external experience which we can see, hear,touch, smell, and taste. On the other hand, abstract language is importantin human thought. General principles, laws, guidelines, and relationshipsrequire abstraction. The ability to bind timeto make significant connectionsbetween various past events, and between those past events and future considerationsinvolvesmoving from the specific and concrete to the general and abstract. The generalsemanticists use the Ladder of Abstraction metaphor to explain the concrete/abstractdistinction.

It also is true that the concrete/abstract distinction is not confinedonly to language. Visual representations can be more or less abstract. Apicture of a circle enclosing a cigarette with a line through it is an abstractionof the verbal message "no smoking."

The earliest of the NLP tools, the Meta–Model, created a bias inthe field of Neuro–Linguistic Programming toward the concrete and specific.The meta–message was that any problem can be solved if one chunks downsufficiently, that is, gets specific enough. In information gathering andsetting outcomes often it is useful to ask questions and think at the concretelevel. We have found in exploring the Other Half of NLP, however, that,in working with the concrete/abstract distinction, significant change occurswhen individuals make shifts at the higher levels of abstraction. In therealm of abstraction exist key aspects of identity, principles, and values.NLP change work often is an interplay between (1) adept manipulation andutilization of specifics and (2) calling on abstract patterns and principlesto guide the changes at the concrete level.

A metaphor allows people to connect one thought with another. Two unlikenotions are implicitly related to suggest an identity between them; forexample, time is money. Aristotle defined metaphor as existing "halfwaybetween the unintelligible and the commonplace."

There are, of course, specific categories of metaphor.

Simile: Two unlike things are explicitly compared to point outa similarity, using a marker such as "like" or "as."Time is like a river. A river is like a liquid snake.

Personification: A type of metaphor in which an object or ideais represented in human terms. Inflation is eating up our profits.

Metonymy: The use of an attribute in place of the whole. Thereare a lot of good heads in the university. We need some new blood in thisorganization.

Oxymoron: Two semantically incompatible expressions are broughttogether, thus forcing a non–literal interpretation. Delicious torment.Living death.

Chiasmus: A balanced structure in which the main elements arereversed. Don't live to eat, but eat to live. Ask not what your countrycan do for you, but what you can do for your country.

Combinations of metaphoric effects are common, especially in literarywriting. As faint as cracks on the mud-flats of despair. I felt likea bug on the windshield of life.

One of the ways we often experience others as being effective and creativeis discovering they are making connections that we aren't. Creative connectionsmetaphors,if you willprovide us with new ways to experience. The key is to take twonotions or thoughts which normally have not been connected in our experience,and to blend them skillfully together so that a metaphor hence new meaningarises.

Over the past decade we have studied and utilized many of the patternsand techniques presented in the field of NLP. Most NLP practitioner trainingsteach reframing, anchoring, the fast phobia/trauma process, swish patterns,and various language techniques. Robert Dilts and his associates have presentedthe Walking Belief Change Pattern, the S.C.O.R.E. and S.O.A.R. models, andvarious patterns arising from logical levels thinking. Connirae Andreashas developed the Aligned Self and Core Transformation Processes. John McWhirterhas offered the Set–Up, Upset, Set-Down process and a variety of otherelegant techniques. The list goes on and on.

We continually have experimented with processes and techniques searchingfor the essence of how they work, and seeking to discover simpler yet increasinglyeffective ways of helping our clients alter the structure of their subjectiveexperience in order to achieve their outcomes.

About three years ago we developed a technique which we call "SpinningIcons." The process involves gathering and utilizing information abouta client's present (or stuck) state and desired state. In particular weconsider the VAK and submodality structure of those experiences, and wepay very close attention to the location submodalities. We presuppose thatthe client has both concrete and abstract insights into the present anddesired states, and that we can elicit the concrete structure utilizingconscious thought processes and elicit the abstract structure by gettingrapport with and utilizing the unconscious thought processes. The resultis the creation of a new connectiona metaphor in the visual, auditory, orkinesthetic sensory modality. From this highly abstract metaphor we invitea story or narrative to unfold which guides clients naturally and effectivelyinto the changes they desirethe outcomes they seek.

In their book, Principles of NLP, Joseph O'Connor and Ian McDermottdiscuss what they call "the four pillars of NLP": (1) establishrapport with yourself and others, (2) know what you wanthave a well–formedoutcome, (3) have sharp sensory acuity, and (4) be flexible in your behavior.We recommend these four pillars as a foundation anytime one practices NLP,including the technique we offer below.

Here is how the process works in the visual version of "SpinningIcons."

1. Think of a discrepancy between your present state and your desiredstate or goal. Notice any incongruity between where you are and where youwant to beor between your present resources and desired resources.

2. As you think of your present state (problem state, stuck state) whatvisual image or representation do you get? What is the picture in your mind'seye? Notice particularly where the picture is located and its distance fromyou. Describe the picture briefly.

3. As you think of your desired state (outcome, goal, resources) whatvisual representation do you get? Notice this picture's location and distance.Describe briefly.

4. Now, allow your mind to turn the first picture into some kind of abstractsymbol or iconic visual representation. Just let the icon appear. Keep theicon in the location of the first picture. (Note: here you need to pacethe client's vocabulary and experience. "Stick figure drawing,""cartoon," or "caricature" are words which may workbetter for some clients than "iconic visual representation." Someclients develop very elaborate and detailed icons; others turn their pictureinto a visual representation that is as simple as a color. The key is toguide the client from a concrete, specific picture to an abstract visualsymbolic representation.)

5. Repeat this same process with the second pictureturn it into an iconicimage that is in the same location as the second picture.

6. See the two iconic images at the same time, now, each image in itsproper location. (Pause) Now, s-l-o-w-l-y begin to rotate them, allow themto exchange locations, then move back to their original locations, thenexchange locations again, etc. Begin to rotate or spin them a bit more rapidlynow. Round and round. Spinning more and more rapidly! Now very rapidly!(Have the client continue this for about ten seconds.) (Note: the basicidea is to get the icons to move around each other. For some clients theword "rotate" will work best; others respond better to the word"spin." The key is the moving relationship between the two iconsin relationship to each other.)

7. As you rotate the icons very very rapidly, now let them blend togetherinto a single image and allow this new image to move right out in frontof you, where you can view it easily. What is this new icon? Describe briefly.(Note: get a quick, brief description. Pace the client's emotions and ideasabout the new icon. Move as quickly as possible to step eight.)

9. (Note: At the end of the story begin exploring with the client howthe insights from the story apply to getting the outcome or desired statethe client seeks.) "How is the story relevant to your difficulty?"The story/metaphor is fairly abstract, but less abstract than the icons.The metaphor offers insights into specific elements of how the problem orquest for the goal might now be considered differently.)

We have found that the story or narrative discussed in steps eight andnine, is not essential to the change work actually created in the firstseven steps. The story simply takes the change which has happened largelyat an unconscious level and makes it more conscious and coherent to theclient.

We also have developed auditory and kinesthetic versions of the SpinningIcon technique. Contact Joe Munshaw at Gateway NLP Institute for a freecopy of those instructions to clients

Spinning Icons can be done with any two contrasting experiences. Theprocess involves eliciting a fairly concrete, sensory representation ofthe two experiences. The next step is to change the concrete representationsinto abstract icons. This moves the process of problem-solving, creativity,etc. into a different realm. Follow this by making a change in the V-A-Kstructure at the submodality level of "location." By rotatingthe icons, exchanging locations, and spinning more and more rapidly a newmetaphor is created by blending the icons into a single iconic representation.In other words, we have a new connection. The new icon is a symbolic guideto help the client move from present state to desired state. In the finalstep, telling a story about or arising from the new icon, the client movesdown the ladder of abstraction and may gain insights about how to achievethe goal.

For experienced NLPers who work regularly with clients, we offer theSpinning Icons Technique as an addition to your elegant "bag of tricks."We are both pleased and excited about the results we have gotten with awide variety of clients. We welcome any feedback you have to offer afterreading this article and experimenting with the process. Compare and contrastSpinning Icons with what you're already doing, and let us know what happens.

The authors are the co–developers of The Other Half of NLP.

Joe Munshaw is a professor of speech communication and director ofundergraduate studies at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, andco-founder of Gateway NLP Institute. He can be reached at 1-800-252-3100or e-mail jmunsha@siue.edu

Nelson Zink is the author of The Structure of Delight, and maintainsa private practice in Taos, New Mexico. His e-mail is zink@newmex.com

The contents of this article are Copyright (C) 1998 by Anchor PointProductions, Salt Lake City, Utah