After completing my normal pretalk, she still seemed a little nervous so I told her that before we began the session we would play some mind gamesto "get things loosened up a little." She agreed and seemed relieved that the hypnosis had been put off a while longer. I asked her to close her eyes, go inside, and tell me where her ex-husband was. "Oh, he’s at work," she replied. After being a little more specific in the phrasing of my inquiry, we ascertained that an image of him was directly in front of her eyes about six inches away; a big, bright, colorful movie. I commented that it was no surprise that she found thoughts of him compelling.

I asked her, just for fun, to shrink the picture down to the size of a postage stamp and see what happened. I could tell by the intensity of her nonverbals that she was making vivid internal images and began to think that this could be really fun and interesting. She reported that the image was now the size of a postage stamp and had also dropped down lower on her mental screen. A slight reduction in the intensity of her feelings was reported, but no major shift. I had her make the movie black and white and then move it into the distance with little noticeable change.

She was finding the entire procedure quite fascinating and I felt that the vividness of her internal imaging would certainly lead to success so on I went. When I asked her to lift the image up, over and then behind her head I was amazed by the obvious reality of the procedure for her, though she said she still felt obsessive about her ex.

I had her bring the image back up to the front and then make it larger and larger. This had an immediate positive effect as she excitedly reported that it became blurry and not nearly as interesting or compelling. Encouraged, but still looking for that "difference that makes a difference, " we brought it back to normal size and moved it off to one side. She chose her left (the past?) and got another good response, though still not a total shift. I had her leave it off to the side, then move it further into the distance while letting the image get larger and larger. All of a sudden she opened her eyes and cried out, "Bubbles! I didn’t expect bubbles!" While exhibiting a major series of physiological shifts. Apparently as the image got larger and further away it suddenly dissolved into a cloud of bubbles and disappeared.

When I asked her to think of her ex, she indicated that her mind felt "empty". I had her put a bright, colorful image of herself right in front of her eyes where he had been previously and then to adjust it so that it felt most comfortable to her.

When we broke state and talked about the plants in my office, her phone numberat work, etc. When I asked her to think of him again, she excitedly reported that her mind now felt "clear and clean." As she answered, all her nonverbals indicated to me that we had succeeded.

I knew the main work was over, but since she had come for hypnosis and believed that that was what was going to help her with her problem, I said that we would now, if she was ready, begin our session. She went into trance easily and the hypnosis consisted mainly of suggestions of self-confidence and well-being and future-pacing her thinking of herself and enjoying her freedom of mind. I also had her gain the consent of her unconscious mind to permanently let go of all unhealthy connections with "that other person." When I emerged her, she reported in an excited voice that her mind felt clean and clear and that it was the first time in 10 years that she really felt free. She said that when we started the hypnosis there was an echo of her ex’sname in her head that kept getting softer and softer and then about halfway through it disappeared and she knew that she had succeeded in getting him out of her mind forever. I asked her what it felt like to think about "that person" now and she asserted that she had no interest in him and felt "really good" about herself. Her nonverbals confirmed that assessment of her situation and I sent her home with her friend, who seemed mystified by the entire experience.

The most interesting aspect of this particular session for me as I look back on it is that when I set up the NLP as being a game we would play before the real work began, not only did I ease her performance anxiety but on some level eased my own as well. Then, in the true NLP spirit of fun and exploration it was easy to be in that space where there is no failure, only feedback, and by focusing on the "how" without any thought of the "why," change was rapid, easy and exciting for both.