Fifth position – “Now float up above all that, rise up into a fifth position, way out in the universe. If you have a belief in God, then be there with God and all creation.”
Note: I suggest that you find out ahead of time about their spiritual beliefs before mentioning going to God to them. They may have another name for this. You need to respect their beliefs. If they do have a belief in God this will be their ultimate fifth position and a very powerful resource state for them, so use it! Also use their metaphor for where they are moving to. Are they rising up, or moving back, or going beyond …?
“Viewing the experience of blocking from this position, how does the situation change from that position? How do you feel? Do you feel more relaxed and calm being universal, above all that, or way out there?”
“If you believe in God, or some Universal Being, how do you feel being in the presence of God? What happens to the tension, fear, anxiety, that you were experiencing in your body – in your chest, neck, throat or jaw – now that you are in the presence of deity?”
“Had you gone to this position during that block, what would have happened?”
Applying your fifth position to fear and anxiety
“To complete this process be totally and completely in fifth position. Allow this feeling to permeate the whole of your being. And then allow this even more … Allow your universe to be filled with love, acceptance, appreciation and awe. And now simply allow all of this, all the resources that are available to you in this state, to flow down into that you who was experiencing the fear and the anxiety of blocking and stuttering. And notice what happens to that you in first position as they receive these resources … What happens to those fears and anxieties when your fifth position meets your first position?”
Note: Many who have overcome blocking have found the fifth position extremely helpful. They learn how to go there at will through consistent practice. In the fifth position most people are very relaxed and calm which provides the proper state for fluency. If you find this difficult to do in your mind’s eye, you may find that marking out each position on the floor and then physically visiting each position in turn and sensing what each position feels like will enable you to have this experience.
We have now covered the basic skills and essential thinking needed for making changes. However, there are many refinements, many details about how you can do this elegantly, with precision, and we will explore these in the next three chapters.
Chapter Four Stories about Stuttering Models of the world
For sure, the PWS never leaves home without their beliefs relating to blocking and stuttering. These beliefs help construct and define their evolving model of the world which they use to navigate through life and to understand what they experience. If they tell themselves that they are a person of worth, they will live their life one way. If, on the other hand, they view themselves in a negative light with little or no power to navigate their world, they live their life in a more restricted way. A person’s model of the world determines how they experience life at any moment. The good news is that it is possible to change their model of the world, as Linda Rounds did in her story (Appendix B).
We make meaning of our experience through stories which tell us “how things happen”. We have stories for the big things: the story of my life; and for the small things: how to make a cup of coffee. When a PWS anticipates an upcoming conversation, then tell themselves a story that creates the fear in them that they will block. This story is based on past experiences in which they “always” blocked in certain contexts. (The times when they didn’t block got erased from the memory. Only those memories which support their limiting belief that “they have always blocked and they always will” are registered!)
The stories we tell about the events of our lives are important because they have the power to transform and heal or to traumatize and destroy. We use various scripts, plots, and themes to frame things. The narrative structure organizes and maintains a sophisticated belief system which can keep us in distress and limit our choices, or create an empowering and resourceful way of living. How would you describe the story of your life in one word? Would it be: Failure, Victim, Oppressor, Fugitive, Loser … or Hero, Leader, Healer, Explorer, Mentor, Guide …?
As I mentioned in Chapter Two, using one word or a short phrase to encapsulate the meaning of a whole life-time’s experience is both an interesting challenge, and a gross distortion of reality. Therefore treat the result of this exercise as simply a “snapshot” which belongs to the moment in which it was created, rather than being an eternal truth.
So we need to know how the PWS
