A conversational postulate is a question asking for yes or no as a response which often presupposes and produces a behavioral response. The most common conversational postulate is Do you have the time? A literal response to the question would be either yes or no, but when asked this question, most people will look at their watches and tell the person who asked the time. If someone asks, Does anyone have a pencil? people typically respond by checking to see whether they have a pencil the person can borrow.
Think of a behavior that would be good for your patient, then identify a yes/no question that presupposed the desired behavior.
If, for example, you ask “Would you like to change something about that,” most people respond by saying what they would like to change instead of answering yes or no.
• Will you allow yourself to make the changes that improve your health?
• Can you imagine what your life will be like when you are living without pain?
• Is everything in place for you to make the commitment to your treatment?
• Are you feeling comfortable about the direction now?
• Do you already have ideas what changes will bring the greatest improvement?
Whatever you do, will you join Joel and Debra and have great fun using language for healing?
Send your questions about how other-than-conscious communication skills can hurt or help your patients and clients to Joel P. Bowman (Joel@SCS-Matters.com) or Debra Basham (Debra@SCS-Matters.com), co-developers of Subtle Communication Systems. We will provide answers to those for you. For more information about Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy, or about the Imagine Healing Process, visit:http://ImagineHealing.info or http://SurgicalSupport.info. Healing with Language: Your Key to Effective Mind-Body Communication is available for a limited time for $10 plus $5 shipping within the U.S. For volume orders and overseas shipping, check with Debra.See the Table of Contents and List of Exercises in PDF format for more information about this comprehensive text and training manual. |