down to their right, then they will have the standard accessing pattern. If they access their feelings down to their left, then they will tend to have a reversed pattern, in other words remembered images and sounds will be on their right and constructed images and sounds will be on their left.
Other Eye Patterns
Blinking
We blink all the time – it is part of the natural mechanism for lubricating the eyes. Many people blink more when they think. This seems to be a way of chunking information, so blinking may punctuate our thinking.
Certain accessing cues are avoided
This could mean that the person is systematically blocking visual, auditory or kinesthetic information from consciousness, perhaps as a result of earlier trauma.
No obvious accessing cue
Are you sure? Someone may be talking about such familiar and obvious topics that they do not need to access. To get the clearest accessing cues, ask questions that need some thought.
Immediate auditory internal dialogue in response to every question
The person may be first repeating the question and then accessing the answer. This may be part of their habitual thinking strategy. You may even see their lips move as they do this.
Unusual accessing cues
These are probably the result of the person making a synesthesia (a mixture of representational systems simultaneously).
The NLP pattern is a guide and a generalization – and, like all generalizations, will be untrue some of the time!
Remember the answer is in the person in front of you, not in the theory.
Questions for Accessing Cues
Here are some sample questions that will elicit eye accessing cues together with the symbol for the representational system that they will elicit. When you ask these questions, look at the person’s body language before they answer. When they answer is too late – the thinking will have come and gone and so will the accessing cues.
What colour is your front door? (V)
What is it like to bite into a juicy orange? (G)
Can you hear your favourite piece of music in your mind? (A)
What does it feel like to be happy? (K)
What is it like to feel wool next to the skin? (K)
Imagine a purple triangle inside a red square. (V)
What would a chainsaw sound like in a corrugated iron shed? (A)
What would your bedroom look like with pink spotted wallpaper? (V)
When you talk to yourself, where does the sound come from? (A)
If a map is upside-down, which direction is southeast? (V)
Imagine the smell of freshly cut grass. (O)
Which of your friends has the longest hair? (V)
How do you spell your Christian name backwards? (V)
What does it feel like to put on wet socks? (K)
What do onions smell like? (O)
What do you say to yourself when things go wrong? (A)
What is it like to settle down in a nice hot bath? (K)
What is it like to taste a spoonful of very salty soup? (G)
Seeing Mental Pictures
When you use the visual representational system, you see pictures in your mind. This is important in clear thinking, design, creativity and success in most academic subjects. Everyone is able to visualize, although some people claim they do not make any mental images at all. However, everyone must make mental images, otherwise how would they recognize their house or their car? Recognition involves matching what you see with a remembered image. If you had no remembered images, you could not recognize familiar sights. You are not aware of these stored images at the time, as it happens so fast, but they have to be there. The only alternative would be tedious: finding a match by going through a verbal description of all the similar things you remember. Verbal descriptions take a long time. A picture gives you the information in the blink of an eye. Look around and imagine how long it would take to describe your surroundings in words to a friend. Give them a picture and it’s easy.
NLP training helps you to become more aware and have more control of your mental images in order to think in a more creative and flexible way. Many NLP patterns are much easier to understand and learn when you are aware of your mental pictures.
The next exercise will help you develop your visual representational system. Note which parts of it are easy and which are more challenging.
| DEVELOPING VISUALIZATION |  |
What colour was the object?
See the colour as vividly as you can.
Now make your picture even brighter.
Imagine a spotlight on the object making it stand out more clearly.
Imagine making the object smaller so it recedes into the distance.
Now make it zoom up close.