Hello Nick,

I agree that a big part of what Bandler and Grinder did was to model, and make available, the linguistic hypnotic patterns of Erickson (The Milton model). Also, Virginia Satir used some very similar patterns in her work. As different as Virginia's and Milton's philosophies may have been, and they were very different, the structure of what they did was very, very similar.

Also, I think it would be useful to not only master the Milton model, but also the Meta model, and the use of metaphor. In the extreme sense, the Milton and Meta models are on opposite ends of the spectrum. With the Milton model lending to an artfully vague use of language which, if not leads, invites the listener to project individual meaning onto the words being offered, while the Meta model was an integral part of the genesis of NLP. It allowed for the specific kind of precision that was necessary to have modeled what Milton did, hence the Milton model. Now, if we add the use of metaphor to the pot, the two models can become seamless, which is what Milton wound up doing in his later years. People would come to him and he would sit around just telling stories. They would go home changed, never fully realizing just how much they had changed, at least not consciously.

Since absolutes are only example of the extreme, we all use a bit of both models. Yet, it is in the learning of both of these models, in the extreme sense, can one gain the seemingly natural ability to usefully cycle through the logical levels of thought that can easily lead a client toward an ecological set of outcomes.

Being who I am, I find myself thirsty for an example of the Milton Model in use, so I will switch logical levels here ... and offer one. I will pretend that there is someone listening who has just presented me with a desire to change. Yet, I do not know what it is they want to change, nor do I know in what direction they want to change into. I could gather some information, but with the Milton model, I don't need to. I will presume that the imaginary person I see sitting before me already knows the answers, they know what they want to change, and what they want to wind up with. Here goes...

I know that you have a certain difficulty in your life that you would like to bring to a satisfactory resolution. Not only that, but like most people I know, you also know what you want, and where it is you want to go into your own future. But the only problem is, there is something that I don't yet know...

Some people like to *change quickly*, some like to change slowly, others have already begun changing even before they get here. . . but to me -- it doesn't matter how you *change quickly* or slowly, because all that matters is that before you do *make the changes* you came here to make... *today+... I want you to first listen to what I have to say...

It's hard to imagine, but I used to be young and impulsive. I can't even begin to count all of the times I jumped in without first thinking. I remember a particular time when I was living in Denver, Colorado. I was about twenty years old at the time, and was out there in Denver helping a company rewrite a set of technical manuals that were used in an electronics home study course. But that was not all I was doing. I was also involved heavily in learning and studying. I would split my time between rewriting the technical manuals and studying psychology, electronics engineering, gemology and hypnosis. And when things went well, I was able to find some pleasure in one of my passions - swimming.

I lived in this large apartment complex with about five hundred other students. It was right in the middle of winter, but they kept the junior Olympic pool heated to a comfortable temperature. And when things were going well for me at work and in school, I would spend as much time as I could swimming in that pool. Oh, it was cold outside during that particular winter, with the average temperature being below freezing. But once I made it to the pool it was rather nice.

I remember this one time, right after final exams. I was taking two majors and two minors, add to that the work I had to do on those technical manuals, and you can begin to imagine how much I had on my mind. I thought I would never make it through that difficult time and I often found myself daydreaming about swimming in that pool. After about two weeks with my head in one book or another, and without one single opportunity to jump into that pool - well, you could say that I was at the end of my rope - I was ready to get into that water and do some laps.

Finally, after almost three weeks, I was at a point where I had finished my work on the technical manuals as well as having caught up on my studies. I was now ready to go swimming, to get into the pool. It was about nine at night, I put on my bathing suit, my robe, and headed down to the recreation room which had sliding doors that led out to the pool. I can remember as if it were today. I walked up to the sliding glass doors, opened them up, took off my robe, took a deep breath - I was preparing myself for the fifty foot run I was about to take to get into the pool, and it was seventeen degrees outside! There was this voice in my head that said, "Do something else with your time tonight, the pool will be there tomorrow." I didn't listen.

As ready as I would ever be, I let out the breath I was holding - and took off as fast as I could. It was very dark out, but I had done this before, so I thought. I got close enough to the pool to risk becoming airborne, and I dove for that heated water, head first. It wasn't until I was committed beyond return did I realize that the heater was broken -- the pool had frozen over! It was as if time stood still, me hanging in the air - getting ready to forcefully crash down into this ice - and in a bathing suit no less!

The next thing I remember, after crashing into the ice that is, were the paramedics. I had knocked myself out and drowned. If it wasn't for the hypothermia caused by the excessively cold temperature of the water, I wouldn't have made it. I remember being told how lucky I was that the water was so very cold. I thought that this is the kind of luck I can do without. And from that day forward, no matter how badly I wanted something - I stopped first to thoroughly look things over, to listen to what I had to say, and when I felt that all was in order - I went for it. It didn't always work out, but that was only a sign to stop and think it through again. Besides, many of the things I did want that I didn't get later turned out to be less than what I could do. I always say, "Why settle when you don't have to?"

Now, as you sit here listening to me, I can only wonder, what you haven't thought of yet that you could use. How many different times had I almost given up on something, only to wind up getting more. You see, as you do sit here listening to me, the sound of my voice -- you are also listening to me unconsciously... and you may be deriving one set of meanings consciously, but your unconscious will be deriving another. It's not that you can't understand me consciously, it's different.

How many different times in your life have you said, "I can't do this." Learning the alphabet, learning how to drive, to go out on your first date, so many different things that you said you couldn't do - but later you did anyway. Well, if you couldn't do it -- then who did? Your unconscious, the parts of you that have access to the resources, learnings and understandings that led you into being able to do all of those things that you at first thought that you couldn't do. And, what you were going through before you came here today is not any different. Sure, up until now you hadn't yet been able to make the changes you wanted to make. But I know, that as you sit here listening to me consciously...

Your unconscious is doing something else, and what your unconscious is doing is much more important than what your conscious mind is engaged in... because your unconscious is building a foundation, a solid structure, that will serve as the basis for the future choices that you have always wanted to have.

I enjoy cooking, and every once in a while I will let someone else use my kitchen. And at times when I do... it's kinda like my tool box, I like to keep it organized. I may not use most of the tools that are in that box all too often, but it is nice to know that they are there. And even more importantly, that when I reach for a tool, I know exactly where it is. One day I let someone use my tools. And about a week later, I needed to do something that would require some very specific tools. So, I went down into the basement, where I kept the tools, and reached for a tool but it wasn't there. I did not have the time to find it and grabbed some other tool. But the tool did not work for what I wanted to do. So I went back to the tool box and began searching through all of the different drawers until I found exactly what I needed... and I used it.

But an interesting thing happened when I was looking for that tool. You see, I had been collecting tools for so long that I had forgotten all of the tools that I did have. And as a result of having had my tool box disorganized, I was able to remember some of tools that I had forgotten -- tools that would make many of the future tasks that I would do from time to time a great deal easier.

The same can be true for anything. At first it seems one way, but later as you look back it seems different somehow. And when this happens, it's kind of like being on a freeway and passing your exit. You don't back up, you just go to the next exit! I did that once in Miami, I was in foreign territory and went right past my exit. I went on to the next exit and got off. Went over two blocks and made a right turn. And as soon as I did, I saw this beautiful '65 Mustang for sale, and for a great price. I had been looking for one for over a year but had given up because I just couldn't find the kind of quality I wanted for the price I wanted to spend. Go figure! But if you think about it, some things just seem to work out that way.

This is just an example

Carmine Baffa