Chapter 14
Chapter 14: Smooth Running Below Decks
In This Chapter
▶ Finding out that parts of your unconscious mind may be in conflict
▶ Discovering how to overcome self-sabotaging behaviour
▶ Experimenting with integrating parts of the unconscious mind
▶ Extrapolating personal conflict resolution to teams and organisations
C
an you remember participating in or watching a tug-of-war? Both sides
expend an inordinate amount of energy but don’t manage to move very
far. Conflict, whether within yourself or with someone else, is like a tug-of-war
with two sides pulling in opposite directions and getting nowhere.Conflict within yourself usually occurs between a conscious part of your
mind and an unconscious part. Phrases such as ‘I don’t know what came over
me’, ‘I just wasn’t myself’, ‘part of me wants... and another part wants.. .’
provide a clue to parts of your unconscious mind; parts of which you may
be unaware. Take the example of a person who knows at a conscious level
that smoking’s bad for their health and yet continues to smoke because
unconsciously they crave the companionship of their friends, most of
whom smoke.The NLP Encyclopedia of Systemic NLP and NLP New Coding (which you can
access at http://www.nlpu.com) defines conflict as follows: ‘Psychologically, con-
flict is a mental struggle, sometimes unconscious, resulting when different
representations of the world are held in opposition or exclusivity.’ In other
words, conflict occurs when two maps of the world collide. By reconciling
these two different maps, you can eliminate the conflict. This chapter shows
you how.