6 – The Movie of Your Life

“Great achievements are only accomplished by great people; and a person is great only when they are determined to be great.”

Charles de Gaulle

In this chapter I’ll introduce you to an NLP delicacy—submodalities. Don’t be intimidated by the term; you’ve unconsciously known what it means for years. With submodalities, you can transform old, gray, demotivating memories into vibrant, colorful, empowering ones. You’ll learn how to “direct” your own mental movies and later watch them like a videotape. You already have a vast collection of inner films—beautiful, sad, imaginative, frightening, loving, erotic, suspenseful, funny, thrilling, serious, and comic—neatly stored in a gigantic imaginary cabinet inside your head. These mental movies are often more gripping and emotional than any feature film, because you play the lead role. They may depict tragic moments, joyful milestones, your first great love, or your first day of school. Such films can shift your mood in an instant—turning a bad day into a wonderful one, or vice versa. If you can’t choose which film runs in your inner cinema, you lose control over your states and thus your behavior. In a good state, you can move mountains and inspire others.

Remember the last time you were utterly in love? The world seemed too small for you—you would have risked anything to please that person. And recall the last time you were abandoned? Perhaps you couldn’t bear to look anyone in the eye, your food sat untouched, and you couldn’t think of the future. Your emotional state directs your behavior. If you learn to control your states, you gain control over your actions—and ultimately your life. Whether you choose to maintain that control forever or occasionally let go is up to you. What matters is that you can always regain control when you choose. Submodalities are the key. Once you master them, the only question is: which movie do you want to play, and which state do you want to enter? Think of it like browsing a video store filled only with your favorite films—more than enough of them. To do this, you’ll need to re‑record old tapes or lock them away—something you achieve by altering submodalities.

What exactly are submodalities? We know modalities describe the sensory channel—visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, gustatory—through which we experience something. But each sight, sound, or feeling also has qualities: Is the image large or small, near or far, colorful or black & white? Does the voice sound loud or soft, high or low, rhythmic or staccato? Does the surface feel smooth or rough, warm or cool? These qualities are submodalities—the building blocks of our mental images, sounds, and feelings. They don’t describe what we experience, only how it’s represented.

Exercise: Your Inner Movie

Choose one of your favorite mental scenes—one that lifts your mood. Close your eyes and notice:

Do you see images? Sounds? Feelings? Are you inside the scene (associated) or watching yourself from outside (dissociated)?
Is it a flowing movie or a series of still frames?
Color or black & white? Bright or dim?
Sounds—loud or soft, near or far, stereo or mono?
What emotions arise? How intense are they? Any physical sensations?

Now play with those qualities: zoom the image in or out, switch to black & white and back to color, speed it up or slow it down. Notice how your feelings shift.

Examples of Submodalities

	Visual
Distance (near–far)	Brightness (bright–dark)	Image size
Sharp–blurred	Associated–dissociated	Scale of focal object
Position (left, right, up, down)	Perspective	Panorama vs. narrow view
Color vs. black & white	Focus	2D vs. 3D
Tilted vs. straight	Framed vs. unframed	Movie vs. still
Contrast	Movement	Foreground vs. background

	Auditory
Volume (loud–soft)	Pitch (high–low)	Rhythmic vs. arrhythmic
External vs. internal source	Tempo	Continuous vs. interrupted
Distance (near–far)	Sound type (voice, music, noise)	Speed
Clear vs. muffled	Pauses	Timbre
Source position	Modulation	Stereo vs. mono

	Kinesthetic
Temperature	Density	Weight
Movement	Intensity	Vibration
Duration	Texture	Pressure

	Olfactory / Gustatory
Salty–bitter–spicy	Pleasant vs. foul	Heavy vs. fruity vs. earthy
Sweet vs. sour	Floral vs. tart vs. earthy	Scent of…

Contrast Exercise

Pick one strong positive and one strong negative memory. List five key submodalities for each. Then apply the positive submodalities to the negative image. Notice how the associated feelings fade.

Submodality	Positive Memory	Negative Memory
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Swish Technique: A Quick‑Change Formula

The Swish technique rapidly links an unwanted trigger to a positive outcome. Follow these steps:

Identify the trigger image (associated).
Create a dissociated, positive outcome image.
Visualize the trigger huge on the screen, with the outcome tiny in a corner.
In a flash, make the outcome large and bright while shrinking and darkening the trigger, saying “Swish!” Repeat 5–10 times.

After a few repetitions, your brain will automatically produce the positive outcome when the trigger appears.

Design‑Swish

This variation uses your own critical submodalities (e.g. distance, color) for an even more powerful, tailored transformation.

Shifting Your Values via Submodalities

Submodalities can re‑order your values. Note the submodalities of your top value, then swap them with those of another value you want to rank higher. Watch how your inner hierarchy realigns itself.

Your Life’s Blockbuster

Imagine your life as a film:

Title:
Key scenes (visual, auditory, kinesthetic):
Hero/Heroine & plot:
Main emotional tone:

Channel the epic energy of a great adventure—don’t settle for a B‑movie life when you can be the star of your own blockbuster!

Celebrate Your Success!

Once you’ve crafted your personal masterpiece, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Toast your vision and be proud of the film you’re creating called “Your Life.”