Many moons ago, when I trained in NLP, I was fortunate to have a course rich with content about expanding awareness into that which us currently unconscious by using intuitive modelling.
Today I want to share a really simple exercise that you can use to tap into your unconscious knowing about a relationship, group, or community you are a part of.
Grab a piece of paper, find a quiet spot, and answer instinctively and spontaneously the following questions:
What is the colour of this relationship?
What is the shape of this relationship?
What is the temperature of this relationship (cold, cool, tepid, warm, hot)?
Which sound from nature characterises the relationship?
What is the scent / aroma of the relationship?
If it were a food, which food?
If it were an animal, which animal?
If it were a plant (of any kind inc trees etc) which plant?
If it were a bird, which bird is it?
If it were a fairy-tale character, which is it?
If it were a season, which season?
What weather is the weather of the relationship?
When you have answered the questions, take some time to reflect on the patterns between your answers. What does this tell you about the way you are experiencing the relationship? What does it illuminate that you were not aware of before?
It can be useful for each person to do the exercise, and to have dialogue about what you each discover and what this means for you both/each. Insights can help you to evolve relationships to the way you want them to be based on your embodied experience of them.
Any intuitive modelling can bring up powerful emotions and thoughts, and we can need support and tenderness as we work through this. It's always a good idea to have someone supportive on hand when you're exploring, and do remember there are psychotherapy professionals available to help you work through things that you sense need a deeper holding and further exploration.
