Steffan_Effenburg
04-06-2007, 06:18 AM
I have just viewed a TLT demonstration on youtube which really floored me in terms of its psychological insight; I know virtually nothing of TLT so it was quite an enlightening experience.
In the demonstration a subject was asked, ‘where is 1 week ago in your mind?’ I paused the video and tried this myself, it was slightly out to the left, the subject on the video reported the same phenomena. The practitioner continued with the subject - one month, one year, ten years etc., all to which he replied further away to the left, I was quite surprised at this point as I had the exact same process, the past was further and further away to the left and the future was way out to the right.
The practitioner went on to give an explanation of the two types of time representation and the general character traits the go with them. He explained that the ‘vertical people’ tend be more extrovert living for the moment with the past firmly behind them always living for the now. Conversely, the horizontal people are more inclined towards introversion, partly because the past affects a lot of what they do thus they tend to be wearier of potential consequences. On the flip side it was claimed vertical people tend to repeat the same mistakes and be late for their appointments whilst the horizontal are more effective learners and are generally the more organised of the two.
I’ve never favoured the stamp-like labelling of introvert / extrovert because of its naïve simplicity and overwhelming power to categorise a person into a certain type for which there whole experience can be interpreted from. The above explanation however, to me, seems like a valid theory explaining a key subjective difference between ‘introverts’ and ‘extroverts’ and perhaps more interestingly, how shifting the way a person represents time can be a powerful tool for change.
I would like to ask those who have some experience with TLT whether the above holds any validity in the introvert / extrovert experience and more to the point, can these time orientations actually be changed?
In the demonstration a subject was asked, ‘where is 1 week ago in your mind?’ I paused the video and tried this myself, it was slightly out to the left, the subject on the video reported the same phenomena. The practitioner continued with the subject - one month, one year, ten years etc., all to which he replied further away to the left, I was quite surprised at this point as I had the exact same process, the past was further and further away to the left and the future was way out to the right.
The practitioner went on to give an explanation of the two types of time representation and the general character traits the go with them. He explained that the ‘vertical people’ tend be more extrovert living for the moment with the past firmly behind them always living for the now. Conversely, the horizontal people are more inclined towards introversion, partly because the past affects a lot of what they do thus they tend to be wearier of potential consequences. On the flip side it was claimed vertical people tend to repeat the same mistakes and be late for their appointments whilst the horizontal are more effective learners and are generally the more organised of the two.
I’ve never favoured the stamp-like labelling of introvert / extrovert because of its naïve simplicity and overwhelming power to categorise a person into a certain type for which there whole experience can be interpreted from. The above explanation however, to me, seems like a valid theory explaining a key subjective difference between ‘introverts’ and ‘extroverts’ and perhaps more interestingly, how shifting the way a person represents time can be a powerful tool for change.
I would like to ask those who have some experience with TLT whether the above holds any validity in the introvert / extrovert experience and more to the point, can these time orientations actually be changed?