MChat
Resident "Preacher Man"
This is something I have been thinking about since the whole "Corona Virus" thing first started, and I feel that it is time to tell others what I am observing. First a little (tiny bit) of background: I have been a student of Neuro-Linguistic Programming for the past 7 years; I've used it to help a number of people overcome past traumas, mental roadblocks and phobias. My teacher/mentor is one of the best in the world using this technology. For the past two years or so, I have been using NLP speaking techniques as a public speaker. I am going to apologize in advance; what I have to say is not going to be short, however by the end you will see how NLP is being used on us through this "pandemic" and perhaps get a feel for why no-one, yet, has "gotten off of the porch."
If you're unfamiliar at all with NLP, google it. People like my Anthony Robbins, Jim Rohn, my mentor and others have used it as a "motivational" (actually more of a transformational, when properly done) speaker. There are a great number of training programs out there, most of them geared toward salesmen and marketing people as NLP is quite effectively used in these industries (nearly every professional commercial uses at least one NLP technique). I am not here to teach about NLP in general, however, so lets just say at this point that it is a very, very effective form of persuasive communication. What I am going to share, specifically are two techniques.
1. The Pattern Interrupt
A pattern interrupt is a simple technique that intends to put a person into an "altered state." Milton Erikson, I believe, was the first to use this to induce a full hypnotic state; the first time I witnessed it used in this manner I was sure it was fake. I had been to the "Hypnotist show" at the State Fair, and believed that it took time to "walk" people into a hypnotic trance, yet after learning the technique and practicing it myself I became convinced. I will say, that the vast majority of time, a hypnotic trance is not necessary to do the transformational work that a client is desiring; in fact a lot of people are very resistant to the idea of being "hypnotized" (yet don't realize that everything you have learned, you were in a sort of trance while learning).
But what is a pattern interrupt? Let me give you a simple example. Let's say you're at a party and that long-winded guy that can drone on and on about his favorite subject (that you have no interest in) has you cornered and he's just getting warmed up (and let's suppose for argument's sake that this is someone you don't want to be rude to) what do you do? "Do you smell pop-corn?" You ask a question like that and it interrupts his "pattern," this leave him in a light trance like state, a receptive state. Then you simply make a suggestion, change the subject, excuse yourself and he has no idea what really happened and doesn't think you were rude at all. The pattern interrupt can even be an action, anything that breaks their pattern. The important thing to remember (for the purposes of this thread) isn't how to do it, but that once a pattern interrupt is successfully employed it leaves the "audience" in a receptive state, ready to receive further instruction.
This isn't always necessarily an intentional thing; I use this example often in my public speeches when I discuss how communication affects our subconscious mind: There was a little girl, about 6 years old and if you can picture it, like a lot of little girls liked to play dress up, and this girl had done just that: she had put on a special outfit just for dancing, an outfit for "performing." Off she went into the living room, twirling, and singing (at the top of her lungs) and dancing, a picture that under normal circumstances would warm the heart of a mama who was watching this. I don't know if you've been around any six year old when they sing, but most of them are off-key, off-pitch, especially if they're LOUD! Such was the case for this little girl, and unfortunately for her, her mama had just gotten home from a bad day at work, had a huge headache and was not in the mood to have a 6 year old girl twirling and dancing and singing (at the top of her lungs) in the living room where she was trying to relax. "Would you just STOP THAT, you have a terrible voice anyway!" As parents, we've all said and done things to our children that we've instantly regretted, and I'm sure she regretted it the moment that she said it, but the damage was done (damage that could have been reversed if she understood what had just happened). What exactly did just happen? Well the little girl was in a pattern (singing and dancing, "in her own world" some might say), the mother interrupted that pattern ("STOP THAT"), leaving the child in a receptive state ("you have a terrible voice"). That one instance transformed the little girl, she became quiet and shy and didn't like to speak very loudly, you see she heard and took in the idea that she had a terrible voice.
How does this apply to what is going on today? Think about it, this whole pandemic is a HUGE pattern interrupt (something like this has never happened in most people's lifetime, and even the centenarian would have been too young to really remember), every pattern we have for what we would have called a "normal" life has been interrupted. From the way you do your job (if you didn't lose it), the way you run your business (if you have one), being asked/required to wear a mask in public, standing in a line (six feet apart) to get into a grocery store, having directional arrows on the floors of said grocery stores, interacting with the clerks through a plexiglass window. Do you remember they even shut down outdoor recreational areas: how was being alone out in the woods riskier than going to a grocery store? Whether you believe the "conspiracy theory" of a planned epidemic or not, you have to see that, intentional or not, this has, in effect been a HUGE pattern interrupt... and the vast majority of the population entered into that receptive state and bought into the mainstream media's fear mongering and thus willingly donned masks and stood by as businesses were shut down.
Finally, the riots too are a pattern interrupt; perhaps intended to "get the rest of us" that didn't fall for the first pattern interrupt. Lastly, the pattern interrupt puts us in that receptive state for the next technique: The Micro-Commitment.
If you're unfamiliar at all with NLP, google it. People like my Anthony Robbins, Jim Rohn, my mentor and others have used it as a "motivational" (actually more of a transformational, when properly done) speaker. There are a great number of training programs out there, most of them geared toward salesmen and marketing people as NLP is quite effectively used in these industries (nearly every professional commercial uses at least one NLP technique). I am not here to teach about NLP in general, however, so lets just say at this point that it is a very, very effective form of persuasive communication. What I am going to share, specifically are two techniques.
1. The Pattern Interrupt
A pattern interrupt is a simple technique that intends to put a person into an "altered state." Milton Erikson, I believe, was the first to use this to induce a full hypnotic state; the first time I witnessed it used in this manner I was sure it was fake. I had been to the "Hypnotist show" at the State Fair, and believed that it took time to "walk" people into a hypnotic trance, yet after learning the technique and practicing it myself I became convinced. I will say, that the vast majority of time, a hypnotic trance is not necessary to do the transformational work that a client is desiring; in fact a lot of people are very resistant to the idea of being "hypnotized" (yet don't realize that everything you have learned, you were in a sort of trance while learning).
But what is a pattern interrupt? Let me give you a simple example. Let's say you're at a party and that long-winded guy that can drone on and on about his favorite subject (that you have no interest in) has you cornered and he's just getting warmed up (and let's suppose for argument's sake that this is someone you don't want to be rude to) what do you do? "Do you smell pop-corn?" You ask a question like that and it interrupts his "pattern," this leave him in a light trance like state, a receptive state. Then you simply make a suggestion, change the subject, excuse yourself and he has no idea what really happened and doesn't think you were rude at all. The pattern interrupt can even be an action, anything that breaks their pattern. The important thing to remember (for the purposes of this thread) isn't how to do it, but that once a pattern interrupt is successfully employed it leaves the "audience" in a receptive state, ready to receive further instruction.
This isn't always necessarily an intentional thing; I use this example often in my public speeches when I discuss how communication affects our subconscious mind: There was a little girl, about 6 years old and if you can picture it, like a lot of little girls liked to play dress up, and this girl had done just that: she had put on a special outfit just for dancing, an outfit for "performing." Off she went into the living room, twirling, and singing (at the top of her lungs) and dancing, a picture that under normal circumstances would warm the heart of a mama who was watching this. I don't know if you've been around any six year old when they sing, but most of them are off-key, off-pitch, especially if they're LOUD! Such was the case for this little girl, and unfortunately for her, her mama had just gotten home from a bad day at work, had a huge headache and was not in the mood to have a 6 year old girl twirling and dancing and singing (at the top of her lungs) in the living room where she was trying to relax. "Would you just STOP THAT, you have a terrible voice anyway!" As parents, we've all said and done things to our children that we've instantly regretted, and I'm sure she regretted it the moment that she said it, but the damage was done (damage that could have been reversed if she understood what had just happened). What exactly did just happen? Well the little girl was in a pattern (singing and dancing, "in her own world" some might say), the mother interrupted that pattern ("STOP THAT"), leaving the child in a receptive state ("you have a terrible voice"). That one instance transformed the little girl, she became quiet and shy and didn't like to speak very loudly, you see she heard and took in the idea that she had a terrible voice.
How does this apply to what is going on today? Think about it, this whole pandemic is a HUGE pattern interrupt (something like this has never happened in most people's lifetime, and even the centenarian would have been too young to really remember), every pattern we have for what we would have called a "normal" life has been interrupted. From the way you do your job (if you didn't lose it), the way you run your business (if you have one), being asked/required to wear a mask in public, standing in a line (six feet apart) to get into a grocery store, having directional arrows on the floors of said grocery stores, interacting with the clerks through a plexiglass window. Do you remember they even shut down outdoor recreational areas: how was being alone out in the woods riskier than going to a grocery store? Whether you believe the "conspiracy theory" of a planned epidemic or not, you have to see that, intentional or not, this has, in effect been a HUGE pattern interrupt... and the vast majority of the population entered into that receptive state and bought into the mainstream media's fear mongering and thus willingly donned masks and stood by as businesses were shut down.
Finally, the riots too are a pattern interrupt; perhaps intended to "get the rest of us" that didn't fall for the first pattern interrupt. Lastly, the pattern interrupt puts us in that receptive state for the next technique: The Micro-Commitment.