http://www.xraylisteni

1. X-Ray Listening
Decoding the native language of the unconscious mind
with Judy Rees of
www.xraylistening.com

2. If you want to:
• Understand yourself and others, so that
• You can be more influential...
• Persuade yourself to do what you know
you should do...
• And so become happier, more successful
and make the world a better place

3. Not for:
• The superficial - you need to be curious
about people and the way they tick
• Scammers and get-rich-quick merchants

4. X-Ray Listening Claim
• The unconscious mind is the part which
actually drives our behaviour
• It has its own language
• You can learn to understand and speak it
• When you do, you open a window onto
how people tick, and become able to
influence them more easily

5. Have you ever tried to:
• Persuade a loved one to change a habit that
you know is harming them (eg smoking,
overeating)
• Tried to understand why you keep doing
things you say you don’t want to (eg
watching TV rather than exercising)
• Then you know the power of the
unconscious mind!

6. In this session you will:
• Be introduced to the native language of the
unconscious mind
• Begin to grasp what’s really going on for
people, so you can relate at a deeper level
• Discover two special questions which
encourage unconscious minds to open up
to you

7. Judy Rees
• Worked with these techniques for six years
• Used them in various business contexts
• Trained hundreds of people worldwide
• Co-author of Clean Language: Revealing
Metaphors and Opening Minds

8. Unconscious mind
• At least 95 per cent of cognition is outside
of conscious awareness
• People don’t behave “rationally” (eg. choose
branded medication for severe symptoms)
• Has been thought of as dark, even
dangerous... because not understood

9. Unconscious mind
• Gerald Zaltman metaphor - heat filter,
cooling bread looks like a rainbow
• "Now imagine a similar filter applied to
consumers' unconscious thoughts. More
colours appear than any firework show
could ever hope to display. These new
colours represent the hidden treasures in
the shadow of the mind."

10. X-Ray Listening
provides such a filter

11. Uses metaphor - the
native language of the
unconscious mind

12. Metaphor = one kind of
thing in terms of
another

13. Example: “The mind is
like a rider on an
elephant.”

14. Metaphor
• Surprising fact - about six metaphors per
minute in ordinary English
• Spill out from the unconscious mind
• We live our metaphors - eg. compare “life is
one long battle” to “life’s like a fairground
ride”

15. Noticing metaphors
• Easiest - on TV or radio
• Next - overhearing live people
• Then - in actual conversation
• Hardest - your own

16. Metaphor influences
• Advertisers, politicians, teachers, artists etc
all use metaphors because they influence us
• eg. Obama: economy is like a car, Republicans
drinking Slurpees while watching us
AND
• New piece of jigsaw: Our own metaphors
influence us more than other people’s

17. Common language?
• Superficial similarity eg. Important = big
• Vs Individual difference eg. “Ditch” - how
big?
• Or complete bafflement and have to guess
eg “Slurpee”

18. Common language?
• Metaphors can have widely different
meanings eg. “Economy is in a ditch” - one
wheel, or upside down and on fire?
• 2 Lazy Jedi Questions reveal differences in
detail, and in meaning

19. 2 Lazy Jedi Qs
• What kind of X (is that)?
• Is there anything else about X?
• From David Grove’s Clean Language

20. Why ask?
• Reveal and clarify details and meaning
• Deepen connection
• Intensify emotion (so beware “negative”
metaphors)
• Metaphors you uncover may be used later,
to influence (with integrity)

21. Example
• Paul: “For you, the NLP Mindfest is like...
what?”
• Ask 2 LJQs

22. How is this used?
• In families - eg father and daughter
• In developing successful groups and teams
• In healthcare - eg doc understand patient
• In therapy - eg addiction
• In technical requirements - E34.8m = $50m
• In coaching - eg find right job or biz niche

23. Things to do
• Notice metaphors people use and how it
enhances your understanding
• Ask 2 Lazy Jedi Questions about metaphors
• Notice your own metaphors and ask
yourself the questions
• Practice and develop skills

24. Embodied metaphor
• In language, we often use our senses and
our bodies to represent abstract ideas
• “He’s falling behind with the payments” -
lateness is like falling behind
• “She’s a pain in the neck”
• “Things are looking up”

25. Less obviously, that’s
because our bodies are
thinking in metaphor

26. “Most of the data available to us from the
external world and from our bodies never
enter consciousness.”
J Allan Hobson, neurophysiologist

27. Examples
• Ask someone to hold a warm drink and they
will feel “warmer” to strangers
• Outdoors or open space help people to do
“blue sky thinking”
• Negotiators seeking win-win sit side-by-side
rather than face-to-face
• Putting distance between you and problem
reduces the emotion involved

28. Play with using physical
metaphor to influence

29. In this session you have:
• Been introduced to the native language of
the unconscious mind
• Begun to grasp what’s really going on for
people, so you can relate at a deeper level
• Discovered two special questions which
encourage unconscious minds to open up
to you

30. Next steps
• Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and
Opening Minds by Wendy Sullivan and Judy
Rees
• Website www.xraylistening.com has more
info about using these ideas for yourself
and to help others
• Connect on Twitter, Facebook,YouTube

31. Takeaways
• Notice metaphors people use and how it
enhances your understanding
• Ask 2 Lazy Jedi Questions about metaphors
• Notice your own metaphors and ask
yourself the questions
• Play with physical metaphors for influence
• Practice and develop skills

32. Let me know what you
achieve using metaphor