Time is such a central concept in most cultures. But did you know that there are two different kinds of time? And that the type of time you experience will drastically impact upon your personality? It determines whether you run early or late to appointments, how you linguistically talk about time and your type of time has an interestingly high correlation between whether you have a judging or perceiving personality trait! It seems that there are essentially two different ways of storing time in the human mind:

Arabic Time

Arabic Time is most common in areas such as the Middle East, India, the South Pacific, Caribbean and Africa. This notion of time suggests that time is what is happening now. They don’t strongly grasp the concept of appointments and if you run late (or early) that is okay. They won’t tend to notice if they are running late or mind at all if you arrive much later than arranged. If you are trying to find out when something will be done then watch out for the word ‘tomorrow’. Tomorrow for people running on Arabic Time means anytime in the future beyond tonight’s sunset up until months from now. They’ll get there, just don’t expect it done within 48 hours or you’ll be likely to be disappointed.

If we had an appointment with someone running on Arabic Time for 10AM on Thursday you shouldn’t be surprised if they turned up 30 minutes or an hour late. They are likely to walk in without a worry on their face about being late and stay with you as long as it takes to complete the task, regardless of how long was scheduled for the meeting.

Anglo-European Time

Anglo-European Time is a gift created by the Industrial Revolution. The problem that the Industrial Revolution faced is that to run a production line in a factory you need everybody in position at the same time. If somebody is running 30 minutes late it throws the production line into disarray. Not only does Anglo-European Time extremely value punctuality, it also values things done in a linear fashion, one after the other.

If we had an appointment with someone running on Anglo-European Time for 10AM on Thursday you would be expected to be 5 minutes early. You shouldn’t be surprised if they are phoning you to find out where you are if you are running 5 minutes late without letting them know. Expect them to be very judgmental of you if you run late. Interestingly, if a meeting is scheduled for an hour expect the meeting to conclude an hour after it was scheduled to start, regardless of whether you finished what you were meeting about or not.

How does this apply to Time Line Therapy?

One of the first processes in Time Line Therapy is the process of eliciting your Time Line. There is a strong correlation between Through Time people, who have a Time Line that does not pass through their body, running on Anglo-European Time. It is also very likely that an In Time person will run on Arabic Time and have a Time Line that does pass through their body.

Time Line Therapy^TM is a technique that utilises both Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Eriksonian Hypnosis that was first developed in 1985 by Tad James. It is based on the premise that there is the past, now and the future, but in reality there is only the now. We hold an idea of the past and the future in our minds. That idea includes our memories, our decisions and our good/bad experiences. Because we hold this idea in our mind we can change that idea to have a profound and lasting impact on how we feel right now about things in the past or the future.

Eliciting Your Time Line

Before any work can be done using Time Line Therapy^TM your time line must be elicited. This process is usually quick and simple. Many people have never thought about it but we have a way or organising things that have happened in the past, and a way of organising things that we believe will happen in the future. Most people, when they think about it, can even point in the direction of their past, and the direction of their future. And they can notice that those two directions sort of form a line between their past and future. This process is best done formally by a Time Line Practitioner.

Releasing Negative Emotions

Time Line Therapy^TM is a really good way to release negative emotions from the unconscious mind. Because the unconscious mind can only Generalise, Delete or Distort what happens to us we store emotions in the mind in a structure called a Gestalt. The Gestalt is a generalisation of each emotion and it has a First Event, the first time we felt that emotion, and then subsequent Significant Emotional Events that have been generalised to be like the first event. When using Time Line Therapy^TM it normally only takes a release of the First Event for the entire Gestalt to begin to release, taking with it the negative emotions. The main negative emotions that Time Line Therapy^TM is used with are:

• Anger
• Sadness
• Fear
• Guilt

Although these are the main four, it is possible to use Time Line Therapy^TM with any emotion that the clients mind has a linguistic label for.

Releasing Anxiety

While most negative emotions appear in the past, Anxiety is an emotion that appears in the future. Time Line Therapy^TM is a very useful way for resolving Anxiety with a client. In my personal experience Anxiety can be resolved using Time Line Therapy^TM in as little as 2 to 5 minutes on most events. It is important for the Time Line Therapy^TM Practitioner to clearly differentiate between Anxiety and Fear as Fear must be treated in the past although the presenting symptoms may be similar.

Releasing Limiting Decisions

Limiting Decisions are also sometimes called Limiting Beliefs. They are things that we have decided in the past, or currently believe about ourselves, that mean that we don’t reach our full potential. For example, if you believed you were stupid you would be less likely to expect good results from your studies. While, if the belief/decision that you were stupid was released then you would approach your studies differently. Time Line Therapy^TM is much more effective than the traditional NLP Method of Submodality changes for making long lasting changes to limiting beliefs. While the submodality changes will change how you feel about the belief, Time Line Therapy^TM will release the Gestalt with that belief in it.

What else?

This article only touches on the basics of what Time Line Therapy^TM can do. The truth is that Time Line Therapy^TM can also be used to place goals in your future, remove phobias, facilitate forgiveness of people in your life and much much more. People are increasingly recognising the role that emotions play in illness and disease – imagine the role that Time Line Therapy^TM can play in health by releasing negative emotions.

Interested in Time Line Therapy^TM?

If you are interested in Time Line Therapy^TM then please get in touch. I am a Certified Time Line Therapy^TM Practitioner and was taught by the creator, Tad James. I regularly conduct Time Line Therapy^TM sessions both face-to-face and over the phone. If you have read this article and you are interested in finding out more or interested in experiencing the benefits for yourself then please get in touch. My Contact Details are available here.

Disclaimer…

WARNING: Time Line Therapy^TM is extremely powerful and has the possibility of changing a person’s personality totally and completely in a very short period of time. It is therefore important, for your safety, that any therapeutic use of these techniques be done by someone trained in Time Line Therapy^TM.

Further Reading

- Time Line Therapy^TM and The Basis of Personality by Tad James and Wyatt Woodsmall