Practical tips for use

IN>TELL>ACT is a solution-oriented concept. This means that you should answer the following questions before you start working on your strategy:

What do I want to change?
What goal do I want to achieve, what is my intention?
How will I know that I have achieved my goal?
What would I have to do to achieve this goal?

Then the work with the puzzle begins

I. Listing

The puzzle pieces are placed in order to get to know the path of the information through the system and to visualize one’s own life strategy.
Because this takes the form of a game, the “thinker” relaxes his resistance and does not realize that this is about his own self. He dissociates himself from what is happening, so to speak. This is a very important aspect of the LIFE PUZZLE, as it will contribute to the change in strategy and subsequent de-conditioning.

The building blocks that have to do with the current problem are moved to the outside. The scale drawn on the board helps to classify the intensity.
The following sequence is followed:

Behavior: Which behavior do I want to change?
Inner reaction: What do I feel in my body when I behave like this? (See the “I feel” table.) Behavior and inner reaction are the expression of an underlying strategy.
Social structure: In which social area is my strategy expressed?
Mental structure: What aspiration (desire) is hidden behind my strategy (security, recognition, control, unity, separation)?
Physical structure: Are there any physical symptoms that occur during my strategy or that have become chronic?
Experience filter: On what previous occasions have I used this strategy? Is there a situation where I used it for the first time?
Belief filter: Is there a belief that could be related to my strategy?
Information: What information triggers the strategy? (See further under point II.2.)

If you want, you can write down events or situations that come to mind on small “post it” notes in keywords and stick these notes next to the corresponding puzzle pieces. If there are people involved, they can also be placed on the game board with the people building blocks.

The person concerned now lets the puzzle sink in and observes any additional thoughts and feelings that arise.

II Evaluation

What the person concerned should know after completing the puzzle.

What do my inner and outer reactions mean?

The body’s reactions are part of a survival strategy that serves to maintain the structure of the system. When the system reacts, it has received information that it believes will jeopardize its structure.

Where does the information that triggers the strategy come from?

There are various possibilities here:

a) The information comes via the sensory organs and is consciously recognized as dangerous by the “thinker” at the moment. This case is the rule in everyday life and normally leads immediately to a solution. No problem arises.
b) The information comes via the sensory organs and is not consciously perceived as a danger by the “thinker”. The system, however, unconsciously classifies it as such because it is already present as a negative memory in its filter.
c) The information comes via the sensory organs and is not consciously perceived as a danger by the “thinker” because it is secondary information from a negative memory. For example, as from an experiment with rats in which a light heralds an electric shock (Henri Laborit) (negative). Or the simultaneous ringing of the bell while eating in Pavlov’s experiment (positive). Both pieces of information merge and later become a single trigger.
d) The information is a thought that is consciously thought and recalls a negative event. Instead of realizing that it is a reminder, the system is put on alert because it assumes that the event will happen again soon. The body’s reaction is then triggered preemptively, just in case… you never know…
e) The information is a symbol for an unresolved traumatic experience (e.g. difficult birth), triggered by a word, an image or a situation (e.g. driving through a tunnel).
As it is a symbol (e.g. “tunnel”), it cannot be identified as a danger by the thinker. However, the system reacts to it as if it were a reality, because it symbolically equates the tunnel with the birth canal, for example, and then senses a new danger due to the difficult birth and reacts to it as if it were now present.

Why do we stick to a strategy that makes us uncomfortable?

The system sticks to the previous strategy because it has survived with this strategy up to now. It is therefore important to recognize and welcome this strategy as a survival strategy. This is also the case if you don’t like parts of the strategy because they are associated with physical symptoms or emotions. It is the role of the “thinker” to behave conservatively, that is, to ensure that everything stays the same. His logic would be: “It’s worked up to now, I’ve done everything right up to now”. survived. Why change anything?”

How is a strategy created?

Every strategy is anchored in the system through conditioning.
Example: Conditioning a dog to a bush in the park. The dog finds a packet of dog cookies behind a bush. He eats them.
The next day he goes there again, even though he doesn’t find any more dog cookies. The dog cookies and the bush are now linked and both contain the promise of food. The picture of the hedge with cookies is now stored in the dog system in case he should starve. If he then has to go in search of food in order to survive, he will first go behind the bush before looking elsewhere, because his chances of finding food are greater there than anywhere else. He has found food there before.
It would make no biological sense not to go to the bush first, just because it might waste energy and time.

How can you change a strategy?

Every change in life leads to a de-conditioning of the old strategy that led to the current state.
If you no longer like your own strategy, it makes no sense to behave as if the strategy was a stroke of fate and was unintentionally imposed on you from outside. This puts you in conflict with yourself and prevents any chance of change. Exactly the opposite makes sense: “I’m grateful for the strategy that has kept me alive up to now, but I don’t think it’s adapted to the current situation. That’s why I’m proposing an alternative.
To whom? My body consciousness. Who finds this alternative? Body consciousness, the moment the thinker abandons his conservative attitude and is open to a new strategy.

When does the thinker give up his resistance to a new strategy?

a) When memories are erased by an accident (usually in a coma) (partial amnesia)
b) When parts of the brain are damaged by a stroke or trauma.
c) When it is tricked, e.g. hypnosis of confusion.
d) When it becomes evidence for him that the new strategy also helps to maintain the structure of the system.

This is the only possibility that we can influence with our intellect.

III Steps for de-conditioning

As IN˃TELL˃ACT is not a therapy method, all known techniques can be used for de-conditioning. Of course, every therapist should use the techniques they are familiar with in the way they are used to.
Only guidelines are given here, which are of course incomplete.

The following steps are based on the SEDONA method. They can be supplemented by a tapping technique such as EFT (demo).

Step 1.
I take on the role of the observer of myself (form awareness).

Step 2.
I observe whether I can perceive information that I know has triggered my strategy. In other words: Is there anything at this moment that justifies my reaction and my behavior? This is usually not the case.

Step 3.
I observe what thoughts are going through my head. If they are thoughts about an event or situation from the past, ask whether they are current now. This is usually not the case. It is nothing more than a memory. What happens if I tell myself the same story by starting it with: “Once upon a time.”? (The system usually responds by letting go.)

Visualization: I imagine the story of the past as a soap bubble, as a form without content. I imagine tapping my finger against the soap bubble. It bursts and I realize that it was empty. The “thinker” lets go.

Step 4.
I observe whether I am not unconsciously projecting an old story into the future, i.e. whether my system has not unconsciously prepared itself for the situation to happen again. If this were not the case, there would be no point in keeping the old story alive. How certain (in %) am I that something will happen? When points 1-4 are clear, the de-conditioning begins, if this is still necessary at all.

Step 5.
Actual de-conditioning based on the Sedona method

a) “I welcome my current strategy.” (The more precise the description of what you want to change, the greater the chance of success).
e.g. “I welcome the fact that I feel trapped in a pipe “
Take time to observe and accept your inner reactions.

b) “I allow myself to accept an alternative strategy for a second
“e.g. “I allow myself to feel free for a second.” “Could I let go of this feeling of being trapped?
“Observe the reactions of the body and the thinker.
Follow up: “Would I die if I were outside the tunnel?”

Repeat points a and b until the system has accepted the alternative solution. You can tell that the solution has been accepted by the images or thoughts that appear.
To speed up the de-conditioning process, you can also ask about the real reason that energized the old strategy (5 building blocks of mental structure).

Question: “What is the aspiration behind my desire to change my strategy? Is it the desire for security, for recognition, for control, for unity or for separation?”

Select the relevant aspiration, e.g. not to exercise control.

If the person does not find an aspiration, simply ask: “If it were an aspiration, what would it be?” (guess)
Then build the de-conditioning on this aspiration.

a) “I welcome the aspiration for control.”

b) “Could I let go of this desire for control?”

Repeat until the “thinker” knows that they don’t need control all the time.

Step 6.
Becoming aware of previous events and/or situations

Pick up on an event and then ask whether it still has a connection to the present.
Then de-condition the event or belief by alternating the current belief with the opposite belief as often as necessary.
Visualization: To do this, you can write the opposites (strategies, beliefs, aspirations…) on the front and back of a card or draw them as a picture. The person concerned then first looks at the front side with the current situation and observes the reactions of their system. Then he turns the card over in his hand and looks at the opposite situation. By holding the card in his hand, he also determines the time during which he looks at the reverse side. If his reactions are strong, he has the option of turning the card over again immediately. The more often he does this, the longer he can look at the back of the card, until he no longer feels any reactions or resistance in his system, regardless of which side he is looking at.

How long does it take for the new strategy to become established?

Do not work with a crowbar If you realize that the system is not yet ready to change the strategy, then you should respect that and stop!
The change in awareness turns the unconscious automatism into a suggestion. Over time, the new suggestion becomes a strategy.
By understanding how our strategies are created and how they work, we gradually come to realize that we are no longer victims of chance, but that we can control our own lives.

You become an observer of your thoughts, feelings, reactions and behaviors instead of identifying with their content. I am not my problem!