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June Exercise of the Month

We have just completed our Spring 2004 Practitioner programme, and once more our participants have made fantastic discoveries personally and about themselves as Learners.

Arising from this, as part of our closure, we looked at Being a Learner, Learning, and the relationship between the two. Now for the astute amongst you, you will have immediately noticed the pattern - 1st position, 2nd position and 3rd position.

Out of this emerged an interesting little process, which is offered to you in two stages. If you truly are a learner, then you will proceed without the desire to look at the second stage. If you do, you know it will influence your thinking and you will never discover what the differences would have been for you - which would indeed be a lost learning opportunity!

STAGE 1

1st Position - Being a Learner

1. Think of at least three situations when you were learning in a way that was effective and pleasing to you. They may be quite different in their nature.

2. Allow yourself to experience each experience fully. As you do, come up with a metaphor for each of them which sums you up as the Learner. As a Learner I am ….

3. Now looking at all three, what common features emerge?

ANSWER 1

2nd Position - Learning

1. Now become your concept of learning, from each of these situations.

2. As you do, come up with a metaphor which describes each of these. This Learning is like ….

3. Now looking at all three, what common features emerge?

ANSWER 2

3rd Position - The Relationship between Me the Learner and Learning

1. With each of the metaphors for each of the situations, look at the relationship between You the Learner and Your Learning.

2. As you do, come up with a metaphor which describes each of them. This Learning Relationship is like ….

3. Now looking at all three, what common features emerge?

ANSWER 3

4th Position - ?

1. Place your three answers at the points of a triangle.

2. Starting with Answer 1, connect with the structure of You as a Learner. Without breaking state, move to Answer 2, and connect with your structure for Learning. And once more without breaking state, move to Answer 3 and connect with your structure for your Relationship with Learning.

3. And when you are ready, stand in the centre of the triangle, and notice whatever emerges. If it feels significant and powerful, anchor it.

STAGE 2

What's on offer is the model which emerged from our group of Learner Exemplars.

(It is worth noting that these answers came from a group of individuals who are very aware of themselves as Learners. They would be the first to say that their answers would have been very different at the start of the programme.)

1. You may notice some similarities and differences between your Answers and those given here.

2. Taking on another's model can bring new information. So Repeat the last part - 4th Position - ?, this time using the Exemplar Answers. Step fully into the landscape of the metaphor, and act as if it is true for you. Stay with it long enough that you gain a real experience of the possibilities offered.

3. When you step into the centre of the triangle, notice what comes up. How significant is it for you? Anchor it if you feel it is valuable to keep.

4. Now notice the differences between your initial experience and this one.

5. What label would you give to these differences.

6. What has to be true for you for this label to be valid?

I would be delighted to hear from you regarding your experiences of working with this model. Do email me on admin@nlpand.co.uk

All the best

Fran Burgess
Director of Training