Depression: an obstacle to learning LO11063

Keith Cowan (72212.51@CompuServe.COM)
19 Nov 96 12:30:16 EST

Replying to LO10976 --

"Mnr AM de Lange" <AMDELANGE@gold.up.ac.za> discusses a tactic to get
out of a state of depression:

>... Then I went to lay down on the floor to sank into the bottemless
>pit of desolation. Ten minutes later I discovered that I was recovering
>while listening to Beethoven's violin concerto. My depression was
>vapourising like water in the sun. ...

I believe you are touching on the NLP technique of "anchoring". If we
repeatedly associate a set of feelings with an event, then the event can
stir the feelings. This is why certain music passages can have such a mood
altering affect. e.g. Auld Lange Syne, christmas carols, favorite songs
from our youth.

Knowing this, we often use these artifacts to change the mood, like
standing on our chairs in a meeting, singing, shouting, exercises... El
Condor Pasa was played repeatedly when I was handling the passing on of my
mother. Whenever it plays, even after all these years, I get an immediate
feeling of melancholy. These anchors are very powerful.

Now NLP teaches us that we can master these anchors, change them, and use
them to our advantage. Can we use them in a learning organization to
invoke positive motion collectively?

Then John Constantine <Rainbird@TRAIL.COM> added:

>... I remember particularly one individual who was a GM who, when it was
>suggested that he appeared not to relish his responsibilities, burst into
>tears, and as I sat stunned as he eventually composed himself, admitted
>that he didn't want this job, that he had been depressed for months over
>what he felt were awesome responsibilities for the lives of others, and
>wished that it would all just go away....

The relevance to me of John's observation is that many executives who are
struggling with how to move their organizations forward may be dealing
with their own demons. Many who appear uncaring have adiopted that as a
strategy to survive their awesome (to them) responsibilities?

This insight can help us to indeed move an organization forward by an
improved understanding of those at the helm. Cheers....Keith

K.C. Cowan - President - YTI
<a href="http://OurWorld.CompuServe.Com/HomePages/YTI">YTI Web Site</a>
Created at 8:12 AM, on Tuesday, November 19, 1996 with WinCIM EMail/Assist

-- 

Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>