Would you like to change how you feel about tasks like housework or paperwork so that you feel as positively about them as you do about dancing or some other enjoyable activity? Or perhaps you already enjoy housework and want to transfer that positive feeling to dancing? The Mapping Across technique helps by transferring the qualities—called submodalities—of one emotional state or experience to another. This is especially helpful when you want to make a positive, resourceful state accessible in a different context.
Two helpful videos illustrate this technique: one addresses overcoming a chocolate craving, while the other shows how it can be used to change feelings from liking something to disliking it.
How the Process Works (also known as Overlapping)
- Identify the experience you want to change: First, immerse yourself fully in the experience you wish to alter, re-experiencing it as if you are there. This “association” with the experience is crucial for effective submodality work. For example, in one video, a woman was feeling a strong craving for chocolate late at night.
- Find a structurally similar experience to map to: Next, locate another experience that shares some structure but is very different in feeling or response. In the video example, the contrasting experience was something highly unpleasant—fresh dog poo. Interestingly, it shared similar color and texture qualities (similar to caramel), and both experiences activated overlapping sensory pathways (smell and taste).
- Compare the differences in submodalities: Identify the submodalities that differ between the two experiences. Many elements may be the same and can be ignored; usually, only one or two key differences matter. For instance, one might be experienced vividly and in color, while the other appears as a small, black-and-white still image. One experience might be closely associated (fully felt), while the other is viewed more distantly (dissociated).
- Adjust the key differences in the first experience: Change the key differing elements in the first experience to match those of the second. For example, convert the vivid color representation of the chocolate craving to black and white, or change its location or temperature sensations.
- Additional adjustments: Sometimes, sounds or other sensory elements are involved. The trainer might blend or modify these sensory qualities to enhance the effect, even if it doesn’t strictly fit the “mapping across” definition.
By shifting these sensory components, the emotional response linked to the original experience can be transformed, allowing a change in feelings or behaviors connected to it.