Discovering The Root Cause

Twelve years ago, I was sitting on the steps leading to the conference room that was being used for our NLP, Time Line Therapy and Hypnosis practitioner course. We were having a morning break after having had a lecture on Time Line Therapy and discovering the root cause of present behavioural problems. I was drinking a much needed cup of coffee and pondering what I had just learnt.

For as long as I could remember I suffered from low self- esteem, fear of failure and a sense that I didn’t have what it takes to succeed. This was despite the fact that the evidence in my life pointed to the contrary. So what was the root cause of this problem? Just like that and without warning a memory was presented to me that had the very answer I was looking for.

It was early morning and I had just been woken up by a noise in the bedroom, a room I shared with two of my cousins. It was my aunt waking us up to get ready for nursery school. I sat up bolt upright, flung the bed covers off and looked down at my bed. I was instantly filled with dread as I realised that I had wet my bed yet again. At the same time my aunt could sniff the faint smell of stale urine and so looked at my face, filled with guilt and said:

 “You did it again, didn’t you? Shame, shame on you!” she shouted disapprovingly.

 My cousins threw pitiful glances in my direction. I felt so worthless, so ashamed. I have failed once again in the simple task of keeping my bed dry during the night. My cousins who were younger than me could do it. Why can’t I? I haven’t got what it takes to succeed.

 I came back to the room and was astounded. So that was it. That was the answer.

And so it happened that an incident in the first five years of my life has led me to make a limiting decision that influenced my thoughts and actions in adult life.

Becoming aware of the root cause of my present behaviour and using Time Line Therapy to remove my limiting decision was the start for me to regain my self-esteem, to let go of my fear of failure and be able to see that I had all the resources I needed to succeed.

Wouldn’t be great if you could also discover the root cause of what is holding you back from achieving what you want in life?

Time Line Therapy helps you do just that.

Why go back to the root cause?

 Depending on our experiences we sometimes make decisions early in life as a way of coping or surviving with the existing situation.

“Often, decisions that are made early in childhood persist into adulthood, long after they have become obsolete, and interfere with our relationships and our happiness”, says Chloe Madanes, an internationally regarded innovator in family therapy.

In other words, decisions that were made in the past offer some sort of protection and serve as a kind of coping mechanism in difficult circumstances but then later in life when that situation is no longer present they, at an unconscious level, become limiting and stop us from achieving what we desire in life. . Therefore decisions such as “I’m not good enough,” or “I can’t get things right,” or in my case “I don’t have what it takes to succeed,” create false limitations and hamper your ability to create reachable and attainable goals and outcomes.

Becoming aware of what leads us to make such a decision is the first step towards change.

So what is Time Line Therapy®?

 Time Line Therapy®, developed by Tad James, is a specific process designed to trace a particular negative feeling, belief or limiting decision back to the first time in memory that it can be found. 

The theory behind this is that problems in the present day are likely to have their roots in the past.  So, what is bothering us now is not what is happening now but what it has, at an unconscious level, reminded us of from the past.

Time Line Therapy® allows us to go back to the very root cause of a problem and resolve the problem at that point in time. This process allows you to gain emotional balance in your life and brings to your awareness choices that you were unable to access previously.

Recommended reading:
Relationship Breakthrough by Cloe Madanes
Time Line Therapy by Tad James & Wyatt Woodsmall