Photo by pagedooley

The map is not the territory.

This phrase was coined by the Polish mathematician Alfred Korzybski. He never tired of pointing out that road map or restaurant menu can help you find your way around the town or select a meal. However, they are both fundamentally different from the road you take or the entrée that’s brought to your table.

You can see this principle in action every day as people drive to work. Months or perhaps even many years ago, each driver looked over his or her street map, tried a few different routes, and settled on the best way to get from home to work and back. Since then, most of these drivers have been driving that same route every day.

In the meantime, new connector and feeder roads have been added. Unless a driver has taken the time to his or her mental map, there will necessarily be discrepancies between this map and the territory. This won’t matter too much until the day workers begin road construction on that usual route to work. Traffic will back up as the drivers with older maps are startled out of their mental slumber to discover they have only a few routes, and are without a clue about the range of available alternatives. Meanwhile, drivers with a newer and more complete map, with many routes and alternatives, have already taken the previous exit and are on their way.

Another way to appreciate the importance of this presupposition is to experience it directly. Take a few minutes to do the next exercise. Remember, the more complete attention you can devote to it, the more thorough the results.

We’ve all had disappointments in life that later turned out not to be the “big deal” we thought they were at the time. People often say they “changed with time”, but it wasn’t the length of time that changed them. It was how they remembered the memory that changed. On completing the Movie Music exercise, the mental code, your map for the experience, is different because you changed it deliberately. Knowing how to do this means you don’t have to wait for your feelings to change. You can do it now.

In this exercise you will learn how to change an unpleasant memory. This technique works best everyday problems of low to medium intensity.

Watch Movie of Problem Situation. Begin by thinking of an everyday difficulty. For example, recall a time that you were disappointed or embarrassed, a time when you didn’t feel very good about things. Pick a specific and real event from your past. As you think of this specific event, notice what images and sounds come to mind and watch a movie of this event unfold before you. When you’re done, notice how you’re feeling.

Select Them Music. Now select some “theme music” that mismatch the feelings you got from the movie you just watched. Your memory is probably serious and heavy. So select something light and bouncy, like circus or cartoon music. Some people prefer upbeat dance music, while others like overly dramatic classical or operatic music.

Repeat Movie with Music. When you have selected music, have it playing nice and loud in your mind as you begin to watch your movie again. Have the music continue playing all the way through to the end.

Check Results. Now, rewind that movie back to the beginning. Play it without the music and notice your response to this time. Have your feelings changed? For many, the incident has become ludicrous or humorous. For others, their unpleasant feelings have been greatly reduced or at least neutralized. It your feelings are not yet satisfactory for you, try using different kinds of theme music with your movie until you find one that works for you.

Enjoy your work
joe

Post filed under Music@Mente and tagged Artist Coaching, artistic blocks, change mind, changing mind, creative visualization, creativity, everyday problems, health problems, lifestyle coaching, meditation, music, nlp, psychology, self improvement, spirtual-music, thinking.