Disappointment, the Springboard to Success

Many people have difficulty dealing with disappointment. When something they really want or worked hard for doesn’t come through, they get overwhelmed by disappointment, give up hope and stop dead in their tracks. Interestingly, when used well, disappointment can become a powerful motivating energy, and here’s a Neuro-Linguistic Programming technique for doing just that!

Step 1: Recognize that you feel disappointed. Is it a sinking feeling in your heart, a nauseous or empty feeling in your stomach? Recognize how disappointment registers in your body.

Step 2: With respect and appreciation, recognize that your feeling of disappointment is a signal that you need to reevaluate your results.

Step 3: With a feeling of curiosity, evaluate whether what you wanted and did not get is worth continuing to want. If you decide it’s still worth pursuing, remember times where you got creative, persevered, and eventually found ways to get what you wanted. Know that you can always do that again, so feel reassured about your ability to do that.

Step 4: If what you wanted and did not get is no longer worth wanting, consider what would be more worthwhile to want under the circumstances. If it is time to find other things to pursue, recall times when you changed goals and eventually succeeded at getting what you wanted, and feel reassured about your ability to do that.

Step 5: Imagine doing what you need to do to eventually get what you want, adding detail and vividness until you feel confident about that future.

Isn’t this a brilliant strategy? With Healing from the Body Level Up methodology, you can install this strategy directly into your unconscious mind so it automatically becomes a habit! Just place one hand gently across your forehead and the other hand gently across the back of your head and let your head move however it wants to while listening to me read the strategy to you again. Are you ready? Here we go.

Recognize that you feel disappointed.

With respect and appreciation, recognize that your feeling of disappointment is a signal that you need to reevaluate your results.

With a feeling of curiosity, evaluate whether what you wanted and did not get is worth continuing to want. If you decide it’s still worth pursuing, remember times where you got creative, persevered, and eventually found ways to get what you wanted, and feel reassured about your ability to do that.

If what you wanted and did not get is no longer worth wanting, consider what would be more worthwhile to want under the circumstances. If it is time to find other things to pursue, recall times when you changed goals and eventually succeeded at getting what you wanted, and feel reassured about your ability to do that.

Imagine doing what you need to do to eventually get what you want, adding detail and vividness until you feel confident about that future.

Repeat this exercise two more times to make sure it’s now a habit. And good luck with creating a more satisfying future.

I would like to acknowledge Leslie Cameron Bandler and Michael LeBeau for describing the elegant strategies for processing disappointment as well as other emotions in their book “The Emotional Hostage”, San Rafael, CA: Future Pace, Inc. 1986.

HBLU™ is an innovative, rapid, and powerful new mind/body/spirit healing methodology developed by Judith A. Swack, Ph.D., a Ph.D. Biochemist/ Immunologist, Master NLP Practitioner, and Mind/ Body Healer. HBLU™ integrates biomedical science, psychology, applied kinesiology, hypnosis, Neuro Linguistic Programming, and other energy psychology techniques with original research on the structure of complex damage patterns. HBLU is so effective because:


1. The client’s deepest wisdom dictates all the healing work and is thus specific for that individual,
2. It has a menu of well characterized damage patterns and easy protocols for clearing them,
3. It has a comprehensive menu of quick and effective techniques, and
4. It clears blocks to success at the conscious, unconscious, body, and soul levels simultaneously.