Identifying Successful Healing Templates
I recently attended a reunion of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) health certification graduates. During our meeting we worked on a project to discover healing templates using a process that involved interviewing each other about a successful healing. We sought to determine what “successful” meant to each individual, and we also discussed healings that did not go so well.
Healing Goals
The interview process attempted to tease out all the factors that go into healing. We started by asking about goals and what each person attempted to do through healing. We looked at the various ways people approach healing. In successful healings the goals were often expressed in the positive, or they began as an interest in avoiding something—like pain—but ended up as an expression of something wanted, such as achieving mobility.
Sometimes the goals were not specific enough, with a failure to describe healing as a representation that could be expressed and measured. In some cases the goals weren’t specific enough.
Healing Questions
Next we attempted to discover the “core healing” question. These are questions that can serve as a guiding light, providing opportunities to more forward, such as “What do I need to know to take effective action?” or “What message does this healing have for me?”
These core questions were necessary to activate or encourage the healing process. Some people were very conscious of asking these questions themselves, but for others they had to be elicited through questioning. Even in those cases the core questions were recognized as operating at an unconscious level.
The core questions often provided answers that allowed actions to be taken. They were empowering questions rather than questions that tended to disempower or even victimize. The contrast between healings that worked and healings that didn’t work provided this information. In successful healing processes the question tended to be asked in an empowered or curious voice. The questions had presuppositions that supported or encouraged curiosity or action, or they presupposed answers that some action of healing could be taken.
Healing Beliefs
In other words, the people who experienced successful healings had held very strong beliefs that not only was healing possible but also that their own healing was possible. Because of these beliefs, the primary state that people tended to operate from was one of curiosity or possibility. When they did ask questions of themselves, the answers to their questions provided courses of action. People gathered more information, set intentions and in general got help, especially by creating a healing team. Rarely did people go it alone; asking for help was seen as positive and created a sense of community or the idea of a healing team.
The templates created from these interviews revealed several specific patterns utilized to accomplish healing. Almost all of them included beliefs of empowerment, possibility and “deservability.” The beliefs themselves tended to suggest actions. In the examples of not healing well, the beliefs tended to be disempowering and were more likely to create a sense of apathy or helplessness.
Healing Criteria
As you might expect by now, successful healing criteria tended to support beliefs of healing and tended to be the kind of criteria that insured action and motivation.
A Successful Healing Template
In summary, the successful healing stories had many commonalities. At their foundation were powerful beliefs of possibility, capability and deservability. These beliefs allowed for questions that presupposed healing. There was an almost universal sense that the individual was in charge of the healing, yet each sought out a healing team of several members rather than going it alone. Strategies for healing tended to be multifaceted and almost always included a strong mental or emotional component. A significant amount of exploration or research often accompanied the healing. There was usually a strong tendency to let one’s own criteria describe how healing was taking place in addition to a willingness to check external criteria, like blood work indicators, for feedback.
These characteristics represent a generalized successful healing template. If you are facing a healing crisis, look to these commonalities—of healing goals, questions, beliefs and criteria—as indicators of what has been helpful in others’ healing. If you are working with someone who is struggling with healing, you may discover that they’re missing one of these components, and they can add that to their strategy for healing.
I would be happy to speak with anyone—you or your clients—who is facing a healing crisis and share what I’ve learned.
—
P.S. Do you want to share this post? Please do. Just be sure that it remains intact and includes the following bio.
About Terry: Terry Hickey, M.S., is a Certified NLP Professional Coach, Business Trainer and Consultant, a Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the co-owner of NLP Advantage Group. Originator of the Belief Breakthrough Method™, Terry specializes in teaching coaches and entrepreneurs how to rapidly resolve limiting beliefs about wealth and success. His tips and strategies can help you launch yourself into the future you want… NOW. http://terryhickey.com/