Have you been working on Mind Bending Language, but can't get past the awkward language patterns, or can't seem to see the practical application for MBL? Well, let me see if I can help clarify a few things that will help you be more effective in your usage of MBL in conversational hypnosis.

The purpose of mind bending language is really to create mind bending 'moments'. The MBM's are verbal (and sometimes non-verbal) pattern interrupts. The pattern you are trying to interrupt is the subjects current process of thinking (or lack of thinking) in order to stimulate deeper thinking by accessing new cognitive resources.

Let's begin by exploring the difference between 'thinking' and 'thought'. Thinking is a process, whereby your subconscious searches through your life experiences in order to derive a conclusion. A 'Thought' is a conclusion. Once you have a 'thought', then the 'thinking' process stops.

Someone with a pre-conceived notion or belief, has a 'thought' about something, and therefore has closed off the 'thinking' process to additional possibilities. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless it's preventing an individual from moving beyond a self-limiting belief toward a more productive solution.

MBL/MBM's are meant to interrupt a 'thought' and provoke a 'thinking' processes, by reframing the perspective that an individual has on an idea or scenario.

We often practice MBL by using socially awkward language patterns like "Who are you not, that's happy, now?" Or "When are you, other than here, that's more effective?" These language patterns create confusion and, they are pattern interrupts, however they are not very practical in 'real life' social encounters.

Some forms of MBL that are practical are:

When someone is stuck on a limiting belief, you might respond with "How would you know when that wasn't true?" This question forces their subconscious to search alternative beliefs in order to answer the question.

Another example, if someone was overwhelmed and not moving forward, you could use a pattern like "Of all of the options you have thought of, and including those you haven't discovered yet, what is the one thing you can do now, to move forward?" This pattern widens their perspective to known (and unknown) possibilities, and then narrows them down to just one that they can take action on.

Yet another example, if someone is stuck on a single approach, you can use an agreement frame and follow up question to interrupt their pattern. "You're absolutely correct that (x) is a way of doing (y). What's another way?"

You see, these examples don't create massive confusion, but they do stimulate 'thinking' in the subject.

So the next time you are practicing MBL with someone, consider this. Beyond the awkward approaches you may have used in the past, and considering the practical approach you know now, perhaps you can think of new ways of utilizing these language patterns in more effective ways, but only to the extent that you yourself are open to more success.

That's all I have for now.

Michael C. White, C.Ht.