Dear Readers and Friends,
As in every Life Coaching context that we are examining, there are only small explanations and many questions. Finding these answers is our task, discovering ourselves and then improving ourselves and loving ourselves for who we are is the ultimate goal. As has already been said in several articles:
“A question at the right time can change your life or at least your vision of it.”
So let's continue the series of Life Coaching articles with the same pattern.
Last but not least, nobody can deceive themselves, they can believe they can, but if we don't accept ourselves and are honest with ourselves, nothing we're doing will work.
This is the safe place where you can show your True Self without receiving criticism or suggestions, just questions at the right time.
Most of the problems we have in life are emotional and the quality of our relationships is based on our attunement to our emotions. Internal representational processing is how we experience life on a sensory level (i.e. how we internalize our external experiences) and so we must first understand and identify how we process our daily experiences to be more centered, to deal with experiences in a better way.
According to Sandra Rief (1993), research shows that “students remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they say, 90% of what they say and do.”
Our representational processing is not just about how we learn best, but also how we react to others and appreciate differences.
On a global and social scale, we go to war with nations because of differences. When people do not unconditionally accept others' differences, antipathy arises. Antipathy turns into hate, and hate can turn into war. If we judge people based on how they look, sound, and even smell based on our personal representational systems, we will be judging people on a partial, superficial level that ignores more significant aspects of who they are as people.
When we learn to communicate with people in a language they can relate to based on their preferred learning style, people will believe that we are on the same wavelength. All of our relationships require us to choose to connect with someone through their preferred learning style.
The following sections break down the major representation systems, as you read them, try to identify which representation system you use the most.
REPRESENTATIONAL SYSTEMS
VISUAL: An individual who works primarily with a visual representation system uses his sight for memory and decision making, and his primary contact with the world will be through his eyes.
Visual processing absorbs a lot of information, and an image can contain more information than a sound or sensation. Individuals with this representational system preference are often very good at seeing the big picture and planning long-term. For example, Walt Disney, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Albert Einstein were all skilled visualizers.
Here are some clues that might help you identify individuals who have a preference for visual processing.
- You will notice that they pay particular attention to their appearance, that of their home, and that of others.
- They may have difficulty concentrating on many visual tasks at once.
- They speak faster, breathe harder, and often develop tension in their upper body. There is much more information in a picture than in a verbal description.
- They use visual information to remember, plan, and make decisions.
- In most cases they need to see a picture of what you are talking about.
- They are better at remembering faces than names.
- They prefer to see your facial reactions in person, rather than talking on the phone, so they can fully understand what you are saying.
AUDITORY: The auditory system's processing is linear and sequential. The visual system's processing handles much more information. It's like a message recorded as if it were an image.
A person who operates primarily through an auditory representational system usually:
- He is more aware of subtle changes in your tone of voice and is more responsive to certain tones of voice.
- He is easily distracted by noise.
- The best way to learn is to listen and ask questions.
- He enjoys participating in discussions and prefers to communicate through spoken rather than written language.
- He enjoys discussing problems and prefers to have someone available to talk to.
- They have sequential thinking and are able to remember instructions and directions more easily.
- They need to be heard.
KINETHESICAL: A person with a kinesthetic preference focuses predominantly on emotions and therefore has a heightened sense of body awareness.
- Those who have a kinesthetic preference will tend to:
- Become more aware of your body and feelings and more likely to respond to physical rewards and touch.
- They speak more slowly than others because they need time to get in touch with how they feel about the topic.
- They learn by doing, moving or touching
- They make decisions based on how they feel.
- They dress and groom themselves with comfort in mind rather than aesthetics.
READING AND WRITING: People with reading and writing preference maps use the visual style with repetition and emulation. Traditional education is tailored to these types of students and is a learning style imposed on the majority. People who work with the reading and writing system tend to:
- Have a preference for learning through words
- They take copious and detailed notes and are avid readers.
- I am able to translate concepts into written form
- They prefer to express themselves through writing rather than through oral presentations
Below are two exercises you can use to begin becoming more aware of systems representation in the context of your life:
1. Now that you have a better understanding of how different individuals operate from each representational system and how they tend to behave and the different words and phrases they tend to use, start paying more attention to those around you. Observe your friends and family and listen to the words and phrases they predominantly use to see if you can identify their preferred representational system(s).
2. Take two minutes to describe your house using only sight words. Then do the same exercise again using auditory words, then finally kinesthetic words. For example, when you write your sight words you might describe the different colors etc.
IDENTIFYING YOUR REPRESENTATIONAL SYSTEM(S)
Each of us has a preferred representational system or way of representing the world to ourselves. Understanding our preferred representational system allows us to set better and more compelling goals for ourselves and to work in ways that suit our preferences to improve our performance.
Understanding another person's preferred representational system gives us a better idea of how we can communicate with them more effectively.
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