GaugeWork - Getting To 100% In Energy Psychology Treatments

GaugeWork was developed just a few months ago by Lifeworks therapist Astra Johnston and may be thought of as using the metaphor of a “gauge” or “meter” which is nominalised or labelled with the name of a desired state.

GaugeWork - A quantum leap in changing your reality

What is GaugeWork?

GaugeWork was developed just a few months ago by Lifeworks therapist Astra Johnston and may be thought of as using the metaphor of a “gauge” or “meter” which is nominalised or labelled with the name of a desired state. The gauge itself is then “treated” with your favourite technique, or simply by picturing it set at 100%, or by commanding the unconscious mind to “set” the gauge on 100%. 100% represents the acquisition of the desired mental or physical state.

Eg: Here is a gauge which might represent a desired state of being totally comfortable speaking in front of groups:

The “Speaking with Total Comfort in Front of Groups” Gauge

_____/_________________________

0% 50% 100%

Here, we have a gauge which runs from 0% to 100%, with the slash representing where we think we are now in relation to the desired state. Oftentimes it is necessary only to give your unconscious mind a command to “set this gauge at 100%” and that is done immediately and automatically. It has been surprising to all of us just how quickly this works and how powerful its effect. Astra has used this method to eliminate phobias and trauma in just seconds. She is particularly interesting in using GaugeWork to modify brain function and we are doing some interesting experiments with that at the moment. DHEers will be particularly interested because this clearly short-cuts a great deal of submodality shifting.

Here is Astra Johnston’s story of her development of GaugeWork:

Born out of Frustration

Hello, my name is Astra Johnston and I developed GaugeWork out of a frustration of seeming to not make headway with a problem I was treating in late March 2001. My frustration in this instance was because I wasn’t aware of why I was feeling the way I was or where the feelings were coming from, and I also wanted to know if I was actually making any progress, that is, how much of the WHOLE problem had been treated and how much more I had to do. I also wanted to know how on earth I was going to get to the aspects that I didn’t even know about. This would have been much simpler if I was helping a client treat a problem but not so easy on myself. The most difficult problems to treat are usually our own, so using techniques which work well on ourselves indicates that they are very easily applied to someone else’s problem.

The Happiness Quota

I also felt that sometimes treating a problem would lead to greater happiness for a short time but that something else would happen to ‘balance that out’. It seems like some type of monitoring system running in our unconscious minds that allows us only ‘so much’ happiness - like a belief that a certain amount of our experiences are pleasant and the rest are not (or for some people very few are pleasant and most are not, and vice versa). This system is more than a belief though, it’s more the whole picture of who we are. Therefore if I have a very pleasant experience my unconscious mind may cause me to subsequently experience something very unpleasant or to have several mildly unpleasant experiences OR to perceive an experience which would normally be positive or neutral, as negative.

So we now we can easily construct a “Absolute Happiness” gauge that we set at 100%!

An Accurate Representation of Progress

This technique is a way of being aware or ‘gauging’ how much of a problem has been treated (e.g. half of it, none of it , all of it, 23% of it, etc.), and dealing with it very simply and quickly so that it is 100% treated. It’s also a way of gauging how much of a positive belief, feeling, etc. that we have.

What Does the Gauge Stand For?

A gauge represents ALL aspects of the problem. We may never be consciously aware of all aspects of a problem, whereas the unconscious mind knows every single thing that has contributed to it. The problem can include beliefs, feelings/emotions, thoughts, memories, associations, fears from past, present and future, and perceptions - things that have been heard, seen, felt, tasted, smelt and maybe sensed in other ways.

The Aim is Always 100%

Treatment of gauges is always with 100% being the desired result. It’s important to have uniformity and this way all gauges can be treated together. A result of “100%” also has positive connotations of completion and excellence. When we treat positives such as self worth, happiness, comfort, etc. we of course want these to be set at 100%. When we treat negatives such as worry and fear we describe the gauge as ‘total lack of worry’ or no fear whatsoever’ and so on, still treating for these to be set at 100%.

The “Total Lack of Worry” Gauge

____________/__________________

0% 50% 100%

If the problem is sadness over an incident we can create a ‘No sadness whatsoever to do with this incident’ gauge. If muscle testing indicates that the gauge is currently set at 14% this means that there is still 86% of the problem to be treated. This is shown on the gauge as follows.

The “No Sadness Whatsoever to do with this Incident” Gauge

____/__________________________

0% 50% 100%

This is how my gauges look to me. Other people may have gauges like this or have a different perception of a gauge altogether.

To set the gauge, simply imagine a gauge marked with 0% at one end and 100% at the other and move a red indicator from wherever it had been straight to the 100% mark. Alternatively, instruct the unconscious mind to set the gauge.

After treatment the gauge is set at 100% and looks like this:

_________________________________/

0% 50% 100%

I started using this technique with BSFF to treat each gauge until it was set at 100%. Once I accepted that I could set it in my mind, and that it could really be this easy, it was, and continues to be.

Treat the Gauge, Not the Problem!

It is important to treat the gauge, not the problem. The unconscious mind will readily correct a gauge whereas the mind may avoid treating the actual problem. The problem is completely treated when the gauge is set to 100%. If there is a blockage, i.e. the gauge won’t go higher than, say, 85%, the blockage is removed (again in the mind) from the gauge. If there is still discomfort when the gauge is set at 100%, confirmed by muscle testing, there is probably a different aspect which needs another gauge, and muscle testing will help to determine this.

Using GaugeWork to Treat Big Chunks of Problems at Once

A client that I recently treated brought a mind map of the problem to be treated to the session. It was extremely useful as it depicted many aspects of the problem, smaller related problems and emotions involved. We started by treating a couple of the areas individually with great success, so we created a gauge of ‘no negative feelings whatsoever about anything on that page’ and it was set to 100%. SUDS was zero for every single thing on the page and muscle testing supported that. We backed this up with a ‘no reason to ever have those feelings again’ gauge set at 100%.

How Many Gauges Can We Have?

We have an infinite number of gauges. You might like to keep a record of the gauges you have worked on, and also construct a “Meta-gauge” which represents all gauges. This record can be handy because sometimes gauges sneak back down. It is even quicker and easier to re-treat until soon they are stuck solidly at 100%

Surrogate GaugeWork

Those of us who work in the energy psychology field realise that just about any technique can be run surrogately, and this is one of them. We can easily construct and treat gauges for others, leading to more success and happiness all round.

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