The Milton Model

Milton Erickson 
(aka The Great Purple One)

The Milton model is the way Milton Erickson spoke with clients. Created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Named and modeled after Milton Erickson.  It is often mistakenly described as a mirror image of the Meta Model, using Meta Model violations in a positive way to produce therapeutic trance. While there is significant overlap in language forms, the Milton Model contains forms which do not appear in the Meta Model (various types of ambiguity, pacing and leading, tag questions, etc.), and vice versa.

The NLP Milton Model is a set of language patterns used for inducing trance or an altered state of consciousness and utilizing unconscious resources to make desirable changes and solve difficult problems.

Otherwise described as ‘metaphors for artfully vague suggestions.’

It is the inverse of the Meta Model.

It is talking in Surface Structures.

The Milton Model uses vague language which is delivered specifically (i.e. tonality, inflection, pitch etc.), and the Meta Model uses specific language which is delivered however the therapist wishes.

Ericksonian Hypnosis

Traditional hypnosis uses ritual inductions and direct suggestion. Ericksonian hypnosis on the other hand is conversational and natural, which is why it is sometimes known as Conversational Hypnosis. (... all conversation is hypnosis. From the time we are babies, other humans hypnotize us.) 

Many of his techniques are not what we might think “hypnotic” but create trance states (where we find unconscious resources and choices). Trance being a common altered state we access naturally many times a day.

Erickson believed the unconscious mind was self-generating, positive, and key to successful change. A person usually goes to a hypnotherapist because their conscious resources aren't working. The purpose of therapy is to get the conscious mind out of the way in order to access unconscious resources.

Overall, the concepts of rapport, utilization, confusion, pacing and leading came from modeling Erickson.

The Double Bind

Tertium non datur?*

The double bind is a conversational hypnosis technique unwittingly used by sales people and parents. From your point of view, you are giving the person two choices, where either gives you your outcome.

Similia similibus curantur -- in other words, what has been found to drive people crazy must ultimately be useful in driving them sane.

Setting communication up with an illusion of choice increases cooperation. They focus on which alternative is least bad rather than finding other appealing solutions.

"Would you prefer to have your bath before or after dinner?" "Would you like to pay by cash or credit card?" These are very simple examples we have probably all used.

Can you find the presuppositions in those examples? That the child is having a bath and the customer is buying the product. The other party needs to accept this presupposition unconsciously – may or may not be easy with hypnosis.

“Well actually I am not going to have a bath; I like smelling like pond scum.” “I’m not buying your product, so don’t bother with your thinly disguised manipulation.”

Other Examples: 

"It's now or never."

School and work. "Business or Pleasure?"

Chess.  "A strange game; the only winning move is not to play." ("In every game and con there is always an opponent and there is always a victim; the trick is to know when you're the latter, so you can become the former.") - or not play at all.

Suicide (a permanent solution to a temporary problem.) Hipsters (a styleless style which has become a style, or a way of life which is intentionally unpopular, which has become popular.)

Fight or Flight.

Learning NLP is a double bind in that if one is against it and therefore not learning it, one gets used by it, and if one does learn it, then they are in support of it, and are therefore using it.

Catch 22

"Catch-22" is "a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule."

You might have heard of a Catch 22, which is another term for double bind, or maybe a “no win”. Someone gives you two choices either of which is unpleasant and for some reason you can’t just refuse to choose.

When kids are small, the power difference usually means they are not in a position to refuse the choice. Sometimes as a customer you really need the product – it’s 3AM and this is the only place selling printer ink.

Examples: Lost glasses, car keys locked inside car, "Democracy,"

Doublethink 

The act of ordinary people simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts. Doublethink is related to, but differs from, hypocrisy and neutrality. Somewhat related but almost the opposite is cognitive dissonance, where contradictory beliefs cause conflict in one's mind. Doublethink is notable due to a lack of cognitive dissonance — thus the person is completely unaware of any conflict or contradiction. Coined by George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

"To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget, whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself – that was the ultimate subtlety; consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink."

The three slogans of the Party – War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength – are also examples. The Ministry of Peace is concerned with war, the Ministry of Love is concerned with torture, and the Ministry of Plenty is concerned with starvation.

Moreover, doublethink's self-deception allows the Party to maintain huge goals and realistic expectations: If one is to rule, and to continue ruling, one must be able to dislocate the sense of reality. For the secret of rulership is to combine a belief in one's own infallibility with the power to learn from past mistakes.

Non tantum tertium sed quartum et quintum?**

Life No Wins

Many people set up their lives like this. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. "I hate working for this slime but starving is worse." "I don’t want to stay married, but I don’t want to be alone."

The Middle Way

The Middle Way is a Buddhist term with rich connotations. Most simply, it implies a balanced approach to life and the regulation of one's impulses and behavior, close to Aristotle's idea of the "golden mean" whereby "every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice." Buddhism itself is sometimes referred to as "the Middle Way," indicating a transcendence and reconciliation of the extremes of opposing views.

Therapeutic Use

Milton Erickson used binds to induce trance and offer suggestions particularly with resistant or polarity responding patients. You know the type, you say it’s white and they are compelled to argue that it is black. “I don’t know whether you will make this change immediately, or within the next week”

Many problems are from not wanting to change behavior. Changing can be unpleasant “I don’t want to do my tax return, but leaving it to the last minute is way worse”. By framing the choice, the person gets to choose one and feels good because they have chosen and are in control.

Prescribing The Symptom.

(see Either/Or Terms and Phrases in the Extended Meta Model)


*Is there no third option?
**Not only third, but fourth and fifth?

There always are many alternatives. We only fail to see them, or perhaps don't want to see them. But they always exist. And finding them is the only way to go. To me, though, the third option is to not choose at all; refuse to make the choice of choosing. And the fourth, fifth and so on... would be choosing something completely different (to what's presented) - pure creativity. (This type of thinking is explained more in meta programs.)

Conversational Postulate
(see Tag Questions)

Questions we could answer with a yes or a no, but respond in actions. Usually a behavioral response rather than a literal answer.

Function: A way to avoid creating resistance/minimizing the chances of resistance. Good to ask at the outset of conversation.

Examples: "Do you have the time?" (response: giving the time, rather than answering the question.)

"Will you uncross your legs?" - Erickson (response: uncrosses legs, rather than answering the question.)

"Will you pass the sauce?" (response: passes the sauce, rather than answers the question.)

"Will you open the window?"

"Can you make my food now?"

"Is it possible... ?" "Would it be at all possible... ?"

When a young child is on the phone and you ask, “Can you get Susan?” They will say yes. Meaning “yes I am capable of getting her.” When you ask an adult, “can you get Susan?” Normally they get up and get her.

This pattern is a way to avoid creating resistance. Milton Model Tag questions are another good way, aren’t they? Many of us hate being told what to do and we can react strongly and close down the conversation quickly when someone starts issuing commands.

In trance, when you say, “can you move your leg?” the person interprets this literally and says yes. In a waking state, the person will generally just move their leg. Thus, one excellent test for the depth of trance in many subjects will be their ability not to respond to the additional meaning given by the conversational postulates.

In addition, notice that the behavior of the subject in ignoring the conversational

postulate when in deep trance is totally congruent with his experience at a previous point in his life history, namely, childhood. This technique, then, supports the tendency in subjects who enter deep trance to experience age regression.

Negative Examples:

"Will you please stop telling me that?"

"Would you mind not looking at me like that?"

"Can you move your fat duff over a bit?"

Positive Challenges: No action. A simple 'yes' or 'no' answer, or no answer at all if presuppositions are embedded -- without doing what is implied.

Tag Question
(see Conversational Postulate)

Adding a question to the end of a statement, which changes the focus of the listener's attention to answering the tag question, away from the preceding statement.

Function: This pattern is useful with someone who usually responds to requests by doing the opposite (polarity response). Essentially used when the speaker lacks confidence in the statement, or wants to convince the listener, or for seeking approval/agreement.

Good way to 'stack yes's' (that is, gets people into yes-mode, creating a positive, open, receptive and accepting state, being more willing to cooperate.) Most effective when used as a rhetorical (unchallengable) question. (Socratic Method.)

Examples: "You know it’s safe to relax, don’t you?"

"You have bought her a birthday present, haven’t you?"

"You wouldn’t pick up the groceries on the way home, would you?"

"You understand, don’t you?"

"You don’t agree, do you?"

"It’s a great day, isn’t it?"

"Computers are great fun, aren’t they?"

"Priddy cold, eh?"

"Happens to everyone, right?"

"This is fun, isn’t it?"

"Good examples, aren't they?"

"I love this pattern, don't you?"

Negative Examples:

a. "You always manage to turn the tables on me, don't you?"

b. "You've really done it this time, haven't you?"

c. "You'll never learn, will you?"

Positive Challenges: Return focus to the statement.

a. "Is that what you believe?"

b. "Done what as opposed to which time?"

c. "Is that today's lesson?"

In talking with people, don't begin by discussing the things on which you differ.Begin by emphasising - and keep on emphasising - the things on which you agree. Keep emphasising, if possible, that you are both striving for the same end result, that the only difference is one of method and not of purpose. Get the other person saying 'yes,yes, yes' at the outset, and keep them from saying 'no'.

Switching the Referential Index (the I-you switch)

The language pattern “Switching the Referential Index” is a sentence or paragraph in which the speaker switches of whom they are referring from themselves (“I” or “me”) to “you.” That’s why it can easily be referred to as “The I–You Switch.”

The beauty of this language pattern is that it is a very common turn of phrase that people do without thinking. Thus it is unlikely ever to be picked up by the listener’s conscious awareness.

The following is an actual quote, guaranteed overheard:

“I was driving down the highway feeling fine, making good time, but the constant repetition of the lines on the highway, the hum of the car and the flow of the traffic all work on ya and before you know it you’re just kinda zoning out. I had to stop and get coffee.”

So you see how the speaker started out referring to themselves – “I was driving…” and halfway through the sentence switched to referring to you – “you’re zoning out.” The average person saying such a thing is just describing a common human condition and has no intention of giving a hypnotic command. But we, as savvy linguists, recognize the opportunity to … pause… shift our tonality… and deliver the suggestion.

Here’s how the late, great Dave Dobson used it in his classic “Beach Trip:”

“I like to take a trip on a beach. I like the smell of the salt air, the sound of the waves as they come in and go out. I enjoy the feel of the warm sand as it pushes up between my toes, and you can actually feel the weight of your body shifting as you walk through that warm sand.”

It’s seamless, isn’t it?

Perfect for the Hypnosis practitioner. An easy way to turn just about anything into a suggestion.

One can also imagine a business context…

“Speaking for myself, I particularly like the ease of use of this product. It just fits your hands so nicely and is so instinctive to use you never have to consult the owner’s manual.”

Some might consider a social context…

“I need to sense a psychic kinship with someone before anything can develop. You know? Like in a conversation when you’re feeling a real, deep connection with a person and time just melts away.”

Now, I have always found that you learn best by doing, haven’t you? So I found that if you write them down, and pay close attention to your tonality when you say them, you get better quickly. You can even practice delivering them to another human being.

Embedded Commands

Embedded commands involve making suggestions indirectly within a larger statement. By making your voice lower, slower and louder for instance most statements can include an embedded command. NLP calls this analog marking. Analog communication is delivering a message without words (digital). This is how animals communicate – with sounds and behavior.

By marking out non-verbally some portion of a communication, the unconscious mind identifies and understands this part differently. It signals, “Pay attention to this bit.”

Function: For the unconscious to pay particular attention to a certain part of the statement for the command to be more effective than just asking directly. They are commands hidden within statements. The verbs of sentences marked out non-verbally. They are messages within messages.

Embedded Commands serve the purpose of making suggestions to the client indirectly and, thereby, making it difficult to resist in any way. These constitute a pattern of Surface Structures which include within them a command, just as the preceding pattern included a question. For example:

Children are able to Fred, sit down and relax

I may, Fred, breathe deeply while I speak but you don't mind, do you

People must Fred, sit all the way down in the chair relax

Plants can Fred, feel comfortable and relaxed

These four Surface Structures are one type of embedded command. These are constructed by placing the client’s name after a modal operator such as: can, may, might, must, able to.

Examples: This marking can be behavioral – a body language gesture or movement or using voice tone, volume, speed etc. For instance,

“My friend knows how to feel good about herself”- the “feel good” can be emphasized by speaking it slightly louder, slower or faster.

“There is no need to relax and go into a trance just yet.” “Relax and go into a trance” could be marked with a hand gesture.

“You can talk to me when you are ready.” “Talk to me” could be marked with body movement.

“John, sit down and relax.”  “Sit down and relax” is marked out as a command.

Negative Commands
(Don't keep reading)

Negative commands in The Milton Model hypnotic language patterns is wanting something to occur by stating what you don’t want to occur. This avoids a direct command. People generally don’t like being told what to do and resist the negative command and respond to the wanted command.

Function: To cause a thing to happen by stating that you don't want it to happen.

In Well Formed Outcomes, the first key is to state it in positive terms. If you state what you don’t want, there are three problems:

1. When we think of what we don’t want we usually have to picture it. Try it for yourself. How do you represent not thinking about a pink elephant? Some may picture it and then cross or blank it out.

Negating focuses our mind on what we don’t want and organizes our thinking around it. This can create conflict as we simultaneously think of it and eliminate it at the same time. We can never be sure which representation will win.

2. There are many more ways to not get something than to get it. There are hundreds of ways to not have pizza for dinner. The expression out of the frying pan into the fire is relevant. We may achieve our outcome of not having something but end up somewhere worse.

3. We fail to get in touch with what we do want. Uncovering what is really important to us, what we value, what are our priorities can be challenging. It is easier to think of “not yelling” at the kids rather than consider what this might achieve. Do we want to keep them safe? Do we want them to be able to think for themselves? Do we want them to listen and to learn from us?

Examples: "Don’t think about me too much while you are away."

"Don’t buy my product until you’re sure that it’s suited to your needs."

"Don’t decide right away."

"Don't run!"

"I don't want to be poor."

As a way to influence someone, these “problems” work in our favor.

·         The person has to represent what is not wanted first (Don’t go into trance yet)

·         There are lots of ways to go about it

·         The conscious mind is distracted

·         It doesn’t know which part it should or should not do

·         Does it resist going into trance or not going into trance?

Ambiguities

Ambiguities are words or phrases that have more than one meaning. This distracts the conscious mind because it then tries to figure out which meaning is appropriate. There are four types, phonological, punctuation, syntactic and scope.

Phonological 

These are words that sound alike (homonyms).

·         Write and Right, Heel and Heal

·         Knows and Nose/Know and No, Faux and Foe, Solace and Soulless

·         Hear and Here, Bare and Bear

·         Red and Read, Bored and Board

·         Weight and Wait, Ate and Eight, Weak and Week

·         Dam and Damn/Dammed and Damned, Pour and Poor

·         Flower and Flour, Carrot and Karat, Colonel and Kernal

·         Piece and Peace, Cash and Cache, Coax and Cokes

·         So and Sew, Seen and Scene, Sell and Cell, Seller and Cellar

·         A and Eh, Be and Bee, Been and Bean, By and Buy and Bye, Hi and High/Hire and Higher

·         But and Butt, Lone and Loan, Morning and Mourning

·         Altar and Alter, A part and Apart

·         Days and Daze, Gays and Gaze, Discussed and Disgust, Please and Pleas

"The best women are like drugs. Maybe that's why they're called heroines."

"The pane in my glass heart."

List of True Homonyms.

Punctuation 

This is where two sentences share the same overlapping word.

·         I just bought a new watch what I am doing.

·         I love going to the sea what pictures you get when I say the word relax.

·         Notice what your hand me the glass.

·         Does this tie you in a knot that it matters

Syntactic

Syntax is the rules of language. We understand a sentence by its syntax. The man bit the dog is different from the dog bit the man. There is usually only one way to understand a sentence. Where the function of a word can't be quickly known from the immediate context.

Sentences like “they were milking cows” however are ambiguous. You don’t know whether the person is referring to milking a cow or the type of cow.

"They are visiting relatives" – have they gone to visit relatives or are they relatives who are visiting?

"Man eating fish" – who is eating who?

Scope Ambiguity 

Where the scope of the linguistic context can't be determined. 

Using a modifier in a linguistic context where it is unclear which other part(s) of the sentence the modifier refers to. Here it is unclear how much of the sentence an adjective, verb or adverb refers to.

"Speaking to you as a child" – am I speaking as if I were a child, or as though you were a child?

"Why don’t you come over when you have nothing on?"

"He drew a picture of himself in the nude."

"The older men and women came to the party" – is it older men and older women, or just older men?

"I noticed your messy habits and towels on the hanger." (Are the towels messy? Are the habits on the hanger?)

"Speaking to you as a person of intelligence, language isn't always clear." (Is the speaker a person of intelligence, or is the listener a person of intelligence?)

"There is a time and a place for everything and this is one of them." (Is "this" a time or a place?)

"We finally arrived on the shores of Africa... One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I don't know." -- (Groucho Marx, from the movie, "Animal Crackers", 1930 )

"It was a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater." -- (From the 1958 hit song, "Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley ) [Question: Was it a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple creature that ate people, or a creature that ate one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people?]

Causal Linkages

Causal linkages are hypnotic words that imply a cause-effect relationship between something that is happening and something the communicator wants to happen. They are used not only by hypnotherapists, but advertisers and salespeople.

"This new perfume will make all the guys want you."

"My wonderful soda will not only quench your thirst but make you into a fun loving cool person."

"Having this qualification will make you in demand with employers."

"This energy drink will make life so much easier."

"Buy this game and you won’t ever have to be bored again."

Simple Conjunctions

These are the weakest type of linkage. They connect otherwise unrelated things. They include words such as and, but, not.

"You are sitting here and you feel wonderful."

"And that causes you to relax."

"You are breathing in and out and begin to feel curious."

"You are listening to the sound of my voice and can start to relax."

Implied Causatives

This is where we establish a connection directly. They include words such as, will, so, while, during, before, after.

"As you sit here listening you will relax more and more."

"While you continue to breathe deeply you will notice a certain sensation."

Direct Cause Effect

This is the strongest linkage where we state the causality. Use of predicates which claim a necessary connection between the portions of the speaker's experience such as: causes, forces, requires, because. The general form for this type of causal linkage is:

X (e.g., will make) Y

"Sitting here listening to the sounds outside will make you even more relaxed."

Each of these constructions makes the claim that there is a connection

between two classes of events. The strength of the connection that is claimed varies

from simple co-occurrence to one of necessity. The most typical way in which a hypnotist uses these modeling processes is by linking some portion of the client's on-going experience which the client is able immediately to verify to some experience or behavior which the hypnotist wishes the client to have. These same patterns may be made to appear much more complex by introducing negatives into the general forms presented, as the following examples show:

"You won't be able to keep your eyelids open... as you feel their weight."

"Not talking makes it so easy... To not listen to any sound but my voice."

"Not speaking and not preventing your eyes from closing... Will make... You go even more rapidly into a trance as you listen to the sound of my voice."

Selectional Restriction Violation

A selectional restriction violation is a Milton Model hypnosis pattern. It’s about giving things and beings human qualities they can’t by definition possess. Trees cannot feel sad and men can’t get pregnant. Rocks aren't actually pets.

The person’s unconscious mind then needs to find some way to make sense out of statements like this so may apply the statement to itself. "Trees can’t feel sad, so this must relate to me." "The man can’t be pregnant so it must be a metaphor."

A butterfly takes its time coming out of the cocoon; it knows there’s no rush. The tortoise keeps going, knowing it will get there in the end as long as it perseveres.

When creating metaphors, we often use this pattern. It is a powerful way to induce trance – we can’t use logic and normal conscious processes, so the unconscious has to deal with it. The unconscious knows you are not really discussing butterflies but something to do with the problem.

Milton Erickson once used this pattern with a terminal cancer patient. “A tomato plant can feel good, Joe.”

Attributing conscious awareness to an inanimate object , to an abstraction, to a mode of communication, or to a creature or entity that doesn't have that mode. ("A chair can have feelings.")

Also, Denying conscious awareness in conscious beings, or denying a mode of communication or capability to a creature which does have that mode.

Also, Excluding complementary categories by definite description (gender, race, religion, etc.).

Negative Examples:

a. "You have the personality of a stump."

b. "Your dress probably wishes you were younger."

c. "Men cause wars."

d. "Women are manipulative."

e. "To my parrot I'm just 'The Food Lady'."

f. "It's not fair that I'm so short!"

Positive Challenges: Challenge directly or reframe with the same structure.

a. "Stumps always speak highly of you."

b. "My dress definitely wishes you were smarter."

c. "Believing men cause wars causes a war between the genders."

d. "So then, every woman is always manipulative and no man ever is?"

e. "So then, what are you to the food?"

f. "Who is responsible?  Perhaps you should file a complaint."

NARRATION:  "Born to parents at NASA in 1990, crippled at birth, but completely cured by engineers and astronauts, Hubble has revolutionized our science of the cosmos.  It has become a global superstar and a household name."

-- The Hubble telescope was "born"? What gender is it? -- Selectional Restriction Violation

-- The Hubble has revolutionized? It has a will of its own? -- Selectional Restriction Violation

NARRATION:  "But after years without maintenance, the telescope is desperate for help.  Now it faces the most dramatic and exciting moment in its life: the final visit and farewell from its astronaut rescuers."

-- "A desperate telescope." -- Selectional Restriction Violation

-- "A living telescope." -- Selectional Restriction Violation

"The astronauts are going to do the equivalent of open heart surgery, and doing that level of repair in space has never been done before."

-- Telescopes have a heart? -- Selectional restriction Violation

Quotes Pattern

To use The Milton Model quotes pattern you put a suggestion in either a direct or an indirect quote from some other person.

Function: Quoting what someone else said gives an indirect suggestion to the unconscious mind. We can also use it to insult or complement someone without them realizing. A useful pattern to minimize resistance. Other ways are Tag questions and Conversational Postulates. (Imagine a pause just before the quote.)

Examples:

My father used to tell me “you don’t have to control everything, it’s safe to relax.”

My friends tell me to loosen up when I go out.

I met someone this morning and he said “you look great today.”

My third grade teacher told me “you are an idiot.”

This guy in another car said, “What are you doing?”

All the experts are saying “you really need to buy this gadget.”

Using them in a negative way can convince the listener that the person being quoted is bad. E.g., Last night my mum said to me "you are a worthless human being."

Metaphors and Stories

Shallow-Metaphors

The shallow variety uses more obvious explicit comparisons (like a rat up a drainpipe). Because they are direct, they are also less useful as suggestions for change.

When I say “This game is like watching grass grow” (an analogy), it maps over the meaning of an understood activity (watching grass grow) with one you don’t have experience of (this particular game).

Life influencers

Stories are everywhere in our local and wider culture from childhood. The fairy tales we hear as a child give us strategies to get through life (for better or worse). We often don’t realize what an impact these powerful tales have on our life direction.

For example, that handsome prince always rescuing the princess can influence some women to a deep sense that they are not quite capable of taking care of themselves.

Life is like…

We all develop personal and usually unconscious metaphors to guide us through life. When generalized they become organizing principles for our life as a whole. Have you ever heard someone say something like “Life is like a jungle – it’s survival of the fittest”? Or maybe “Life is just one long treadmill”, or “Life is a huge never ending smorgasbord,” "Life is just a ride." - Bill Hicks. "Life sucks!" - "Is that all life does?"

Some of these come from our important childhood “fairy tales” and some from popular culture. For instance stereotypes in movies and television, the lives of various celebrities and folk heroes.

These stories can have subtle and sneaky effects on how we see ourselves and what is a satisfying life. The macho hero stereotype for instance can leave a man feeling inadequate or being inappropriately aggressive.

The stories and analogies we use effect our interpretations of our experiences. If we think of relating in terms of a battle, then every interaction may be seen as an attack that needs a defense or offense.

Tony Robbins has championed the use of life metaphors as a way to make far reaching generalized changes in a person’s life. Seeing relationships as a dance rather than a battle for instance.

Deep-Metaphors

With the deep variety, we are mapping similarity of the form and relationships. Dreams are deep-metaphors – they are the language of our unconscious or non-dominant hemisphere.

This is why dreams are difficult to interpret – we cannot simply use the same rules of logic and meaning of a literal world. They are about links, relationships and feeling.

The giant strawberry just out of reach but dripping with sweet juice can be a message that our desires are worth the effort rather than needing to buy fruit for instance.

Creating

Creating Metaphors for Change involves firstly mapping out the present situation or problem in terms of relationships and strategies currently used with stand-in characters and situations to build a story. Then the new strategies and resources are woven into the story to lead to the desired outcome.

Summary

The Milton Model is the inverse of The Meta Model in that the meta model uses very specific language, and aims to deprogram people, the Milton model uses very vague language and aims to program people and is more of a directive guide, consisting mostly of commands. And whereas the meta model is entirely questions, the Milton model very rarely uses any questions.