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Feel free to make a few notes if you would like to. Or just allow your mind to wander, exploring the amazing landscape of thoughts. Occasionally, particularly if you notice your thoughts drifting towards something you’d like less of, ask yourself:

“And when all of that, what would I like to have happen?”

Stay with the metaphor. There’s no requirement to figure out how these ‘fantasies’ relate to the ‘resolution’ you first thought of. You may find that your ideas develop and change as you go through this process. For example, my Star Wars victory parade might transform from a march to a dance, the music from massed trumpets to acid house.

That’s fine. Your own imagination holds a much wilder and more far-reaching idea of your potential than any Government-sponsored health campaign! These are your dreams, your hopes, your thoughts.

Spend all the time you need to develop your metaphorical desired outcome in exactly the way that is right for you. You might even find yourself curious about: “What kind of ‘I’ is the ‘I’ that would like that to happen?”

Use some extra Clean Language questions to find out about the sequence in which things happen within the metaphor, if that is relevant.

• And what happens just before X?

• And then what happens?

• And what happens next?

The answers to these questions can help to set this piece of exploration within a wider context, to check that this is an appropriate change for you to make.

Finally, give your metaphor a name, a label, so that you can refer to it in the next part of the exercise.

Step 5: What needs to happen?

OK, you’ve developed a big dream, a metaphor, for the thing you’d like to have happen, and you’ve given it a label. Now ask yourself:

- And what needs to happen for X?

(where X is the label of your metaphor.)

Make a written list. And ask yourself the question again, several times, about each thing that needs to happen, ‘drilling down’ to a fundamental level.

For example, if your first answer to “And what needs to happen for X?” was “A and B,” then ask “And what needs to happen for A?” This time your answer is “C”, so the next question is “And what needs to happen for C?” and so on. You’ll know when to stop when you have the sense that it is achievable.

Once you’ve completed what needs to happen for A, then begin the process again, asking about B.

And when you think you’re finally done, ask:

- “And is there anything else that needs to happen?”

Your list may be metaphorical (“I need to fly over the rainbow”), or it may refer to real-world actions (“I need to buy a ticket”), or it may be a mixture of the two. The exercise will work just as well either way – your other-than-conscious mind knows what it all means.

TIP: It’s best not to have the conditions in the form of abstract concepts. Instead, transform them into metaphors (That’s like what?) or solid, real-world actions that can be easily observed.

Step 6: Ready for action

Once you have a complete list of what needs to happen, ask yourself:

“And can I?” (do the actions that need to happen?) You can go through them one at a time if necessary, to check. 

If you can’t (or you won’t) do them, just acknowledge this, give yourself a pat on the back for being so honest with yourself, and return to Step 1 to adjust your desired outcome so that it takes account of your reservations.

Ask: “And when I would like <label> and I can’t or I won’t (do the actions that need to happen), what would I like to have happen now?”

And, as Bruce Forsyth used to say, that’s all there is to it!

If you would like to explore further:

For more general information on Clean Language and its applications, go to www.cleanlanguage.co.uk

For details of workshops with Caitlin Walker, go to www.trainingattention.co.uk

For details on Nick Pole’s courses contact him at nickpole@madasafish.com

For details of Clean Language training with Judy Rees, go to www.cleanchange.co.uk

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