How to distance yourself from any situation

I wonder how you’ve been feeling this week, and whether there were any negative emotions or thoughts playing on your mind.

Sometimes, when we’re dealing with a situation our thoughts and feelings can get too much and you may feel you want to step back.

This week, our family pulled together to support a younger family member with an unexpected spell in hospital. The symptoms were uncomfortable and daily blood tests, canula fittings and other investigations were too much to bear from time to time.

NLP Dissociation is a great strategy if ever you find yourself feeling that you need to get some distance from a situation and the associated feelings of being in the moment. It’s simple and effective to use on yourself or when you’re supporting others. Here’s how:

  1. Think of a negative situation or feeling that you want to get some distance from, e.g. fear, despair, anger.
  2. Sit quietly and imagine floating your mind up and out of your body and notice what changes.
  3. Up there, looking down on yourself you can simply enjoy the distance for a while. That is to say, see yourself going through the experience without the associated or physical feelings.

For our family member, the suggestion to take her mind up in the aeroplane and be back enjoying a recent journey was enough of a dissociation for the medical profession to complete a procedure.

Dissociation is literally a mind/body split and there are lots of ways to achieve that distance. So, this week my invitation to you is to notice your feelings and choose whether to float your mind up, physical step back and park the emotion physical in space or imagine it on a screen in front of you and use the power of your mind to push it into the distance. As it disappears on the horizon the feelings will decrease dramatically too.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead and if by chance you feel the need to get some distance from a situation, do remember to float your mind up, or push the situation off and away so you give yourself the opportunity to rekindle your shine.