1 Copyright 2025

As you’re sitting here…

You might begin to notice that there’s a now happening right now…
And the moment I just said that…
That now is already gone…
Replaced by another now…
Which itself… slips into the past… before you can even catch it.

And I wonder… where is the past?

If you try to point to it…
You can’t touch it…
You can’t hold it…
You can only remember it…
And isn’t it strange… that you can remember something that doesn’t exist anymore?

And what about the future?

It’s not here yet…
And yet you can imagine it…
With such vividness that your body can respond to it…
As if it’s real…
So if your mind and body can respond to something that hasn’t happened…
And also to something that no longer exists…
Where exactly… does your life happen?

Because if the past is gone… and the future isn’t here…

The only place left… is this thin slice called now…
And even that… is just a doorway.

And you can step through that doorway…

Into a moment that hasn’t happened yet…
Or back into a moment you thought was over…
And if you can do that…
What’s to stop you from changing it?

You could take a memory…

One that once held weight or pain…
And turn it into something so different…
That the you who lived it would be shocked to see it now.

Or… you could take a moment from the future…

And feel it now so completely…
That it becomes inevitable…
As if time… bends around your decision.

And as you drift here…

It’s possible to notice that time is not what the clock says…
Clocks measure only themselves…
2 Copyright 2025

Not the way you experience an hour that feels like a second…
Or a second that feels like an hour.

And I’m not saying there is no time…

I’m just wondering if what you call time…
Is simply the way your mind stacks experiences in order…
And if you changed that order…
Or mixed those stacks…
You could live your life in any sequence you choose.

So as you listen to my voice…

It can feel as if you’ve been here for much longer than you have…
Or maybe it’s only been moments…
And yet so much has happened inside you…
That it couldn’t possibly be just moments.

And the more you think about this…

The harder it becomes to think about time at all…
Because every time you try to nd it…
It’s already slipped away.

So maybe…
The real magic is not in having more time…
But in stepping outside of it…
And bringing back whatever you need…
From wherever you nd it.

And as you come back to this room…

You may notice…
That this now feels a little different…
Because now… you know you can move through time…
Any way you like.
fi
fi
 3 Copyright 2025

What Is Time, Really?

• Scienti c View: In physics, time is de ned as a measurable progression of events from
past → present → future. We measure it with repeating physical processes — the swing
of a pendulum, the oscillation of a cesium atom, the movement of Earth around the sun.
Clocks don’t measure “time” directly — they measure change.

• Psychological View: The brain doesn’t have a “time organ.” Instead, we infer time from
sequences, memory encoding, and attention shifts. Time in the mind is a construction, not
a constant.

Why the Measurement Doesn’t Match Experience

• The second on your watch is the same length every time.

• But the second in your head? That changes constantly.

• A “long” minute waiting for test results isn’t the same as a “short” minute laughing with a
friend.

• The clock doesn’t change — you do. Your emotional state, focus, and novelty of
experience all bend your perception of time.

The Subjective Box Problem

• We try to t life into neat units: minutes, hours, days.

• But these are arbitrary human boxes — and our experience leaks over the edges.

• The more we think about time, the more we distort it.

◦ When you’re hyper-aware of it (“Is it over yet?”), time stretches.

◦ When you’re absorbed (“How is it 3 hours later already?”), time contracts.

• That means time is elastic — it conforms to perception, not just to the clock.

The Paradox
• We measure time to keep life predictable.

• But in reality, our most meaningful experiences ignore those measurements entirely.
fi
fi
fi
4 Copyright 2025

• If time is a mental construction, then by changing the way we think about it, we can
change the way we live inside it.

Chronesthesia is the ability to mentally project oneself through time — to re-experience the past
and pre-experience the future — often called mental time travel.

The term was introduced by Canadian cognitive neuroscientist Endel Tulving in 1985, who is
also known for pioneering research on episodic memory. Chronesthesia isn’t just remembering
facts (semantic memory) or reliving events (episodic memory); it’s the capacity to be aware that
those events exist in a personal timeline and to place oneself within them.

This awareness allows humans to imagine future scenarios, plan, and change behavior based on
possible outcomes.

While clocks and calendars measure time externally, chronesthesia describes the brain’s
subjective navigation of time — and research suggests it’s linked to the brain’s default mode
network, especially regions like the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex, which integrate
memory, imagination, and self-awareness.

What This Means About Human Perception of Time

• Time is subjective — not xed like the tick of a clock.

• We don’t just measure it; we map it, attaching meaning, emotion, and prediction to points
along it.

• Past and future only “exist” for us through memory and imagination, and those can be
edited, reframed, or enhanced.

• Because it’s self-referential, time perception can change our identity — a person’s sense
of who they are depends on how they organize their past and anticipate their future.

How to Use This to Your Bene t

1. Future-Pacing Motivation

◦ Imagine a speci c, vivid moment in your future where you’ve already succeeded
at a goal.
fi
fi
fi
5 Copyright 2025

◦ The more sensory-rich and emotionally charged the image, the more your brain
will orient present behavior toward making it real.

2. Rewriting the Past to Free the Present

◦ Return to a memory that still in uences you negatively.

◦ Change the sensory details, perspective, or meaning until it feels resourceful —

this alters how you respond now.

3. Time Expansion for Savoring

◦ In moments you want to deepen (pleasure, achievement, connection), slow your

internal sense of time by increasing sensory awareness — make each second
“larger.”

4. Time Compression for Productivity

◦ For dreaded or tedious tasks, shrink the mental “space” they take up — imagine
them done in fast-forward and complete them before the dread builds.

5. Breaking the Present Habit Loop

◦ If you feel stuck, mentally step into a version of yourself a year from now who
already broke the pattern — then bring that mindset back to today.
fl
 6 Copyright 2025

And as you’re sitting here…

Noticing how you’re breathing…
Noticing how your body rests in the chair…
It’s interesting to realize that the present moment — this now — feels like the only thing there
is…
And yet… it’s not xed… not solid at all.

Because this now is simply the after-image of the past and the pre-image of the future…
And all the patterns you’re living right now…
are just echoes of decisions made long ago…
running on repeat…
as if they were the only option available.

But what if they weren’t?

What if this now wasn’t a trap…
but a doorway…
one you can step through…
into a different sequence entirely?

So I’d like you to imagine…

oating just a little above your timeline…
noticing the line of your past stretching back…
the line of your future reaching ahead…
And in a moment, we’ll move forward — past today, past this week…
into a point in time where the habit that’s been looping… is already gone.

And as you travel forward…

notice how that old pattern fades in the distance…
the way scenery fades when you leave it far behind.
Notice what replaces it…
the actions, the feelings, the choices that this version of you makes instead.

And when you arrive there…

step fully into that future self.
See through their eyes…
hear their voice…
feel the steadiness in their body…
the way they move through the day without that old loop running.

Look back at the path you just traveled…

See how small that old habit seems from here…
how it’s not even part of your rhythm anymore.
And feel how natural it is to be this way now…
Not a struggle, not a ght…
just different.
fl
fi
fi
7 Copyright 2025

Now, gather up the sensations of being here — the con dence, the clarity, the freedom —
and begin to walk back toward the present…
bringing all of it with you…
step by step…
until you arrive right here… in this moment…
with that future already woven into the way you breathe…
the way you think…
the way you move.

And maybe you’ve already noticed…

the present moment isn’t the same as it was when we began…
Because you’ve stepped into a different sequence…
and that loop… is no longer yours to live.
fi
8 Copyright 2025

Chronesthesia: Time-Space Mapping &

Alternative History Exploration

1. Orientation: Your Personal Time Map

A. Anchor Points
Write down 3 key events in each category:

Past (Already Happened)

1.
2.
3.
Present (Now / Recent)

1.
2.
3.
Future (Imagined / Planned)

1.
2.
3.

B. Spatializing Time
Close your eyes and notice:

• Where in space is your past? (Behind you? Left? Right?)

• Where is your future?

• Where is your present moment?

Draw a simple map of your time line below:

2. Shifting Perspective: Alternative History Exercise

9 Copyright 2025

Scenario:
Pick one event from your past anchor points. Imagine it happened differently — a completely
alternative outcome.

Original Event: _____________________________

Alternative Version: _________________________

How does your present change if that alternative past was real?

How does your future shift as a result?

3. Chronesthesia Drill: Moving Through Time

Use this thought experiment to experience time exibly.

• Step 1: Imagine you are oating above your timeline.

• Step 2: Glide to a point in the future where you’ve already achieved a major goal.

• Step 3: Observe your future self in detail:

◦ What are you wearing?

◦ Who is with you?

◦ What feelings are present?

◦ What do you know now that you didn’t before?

Write your observations:

4. Time Compression / Expansion

Pick a situation you want to make feel faster and one you want to make feel slower.

Faster: ___________________________________________
Slower: ___________________________________________

Mental Techniques:

• Shrink or speed up the “mental movie” for faster.

fl
fl
10 Copyright 2025

• Expand sensory detail for slower.

5. Hypothetical Futures: Branching Paths

Write down 3 potential future paths starting from today:

1. Path A (Likely) __________________________

2. Path B (Wild Card) ________________________

3. Path C (Ideal) ____________________________

Circle the one you want to explore in more detail.

6. Integration Prompt
After exploring, write:

"I now see time as ________ instead of ________, and that changes how I ________."

7. Next Steps
• Use this worksheet once a week to update your mental time map.

• Practice time travel perspective shifts for decision-making.

• Notice how often you think about time as a place you can walk through rather than a
ticking clock.
11 Copyright 2025

When people don’t follow through, it’s often because they never place the task in an actual
moment in their future. Their brain hasn’t slotted it into “tomorrow at 3 PM” — it’s oating in
mental limbo. Even the submodalities shift when you really picture tomorrow compared to just
thinking “someday.”

And here’s a twist most people miss: which eye they unconsciously favor when they imagine the
future changes how they think about it. Squint through the right eye and you’re more likely to
focus on the logistics, the judgments, the “how” and “should.” Look through the left eye and
you’re tapping into the creative, imaginative “what if” space that makes things feel possible.

Association in timeline - Associative task

1. Identify the Task

• Make sure the task is speci c and measurable (e.g., “completing the proposal” instead of
“work on the proposal”).

2. Locate Their Timeline

• Have them imagine a straight line representing their life — past behind them, future
ahead of them.

• Ask: “If your past is behind you and your future is ahead, which direction feels like
tomorrow? Which feels like last week?”

• This orients where their mind stores time.

3. Place the Event

• Guide them: “Step into the part of your future where this task is already done. Notice
where that is in relation to where you are now.”

• Make them imagine looking around from that point in the future — who’s there, what
they’re feeling, what’s different now that it’s done.

4. Associate Fully

• Have them see through their own eyes (associated) in that future moment.

• Add sensory detail — sights, sounds, feelings, even smells — to make it richer and more
believable.

• Link the task to feelings of pride, relief, or satisfaction.

fi
fl
 12 Copyright 2025

5. Bring the Feeling Back to Now

• Tell them to “ oat back” into the present carrying that feeling and certainty.

• Suggest: “As you move forward in time, that feeling just keeps pulling you toward
completing it… naturally… effortlessly.”

6. Anchor It

• Add a physical anchor (touch, gesture, or word) while they’re in the state of certainty.

• This lets them trigger that same state anytime they start the task.
fl
 13 Copyright 2025

Timeline Rewrite: Changing the Event

Purpose: To alter the meaning, feeling, or outcome of a past or future event so the person
responds differently now.

Step 1 – Orient Their Timeline

• Ask:
“If your past is somewhere around you, where is it? And where is your future?”

• Have them gesture or describe the direction (past behind, future ahead, or however they
store it).

• This tells you their unconscious storage direction.

Step 2 – Identify the Event to Change

• Pick the moment they want to shift. Could be:

◦ A past failure

◦ A future task they dread

◦ A moment of hesitation

• Ask them to oat above their timeline so they can see the event from the outside
(dissociated).

Step 3 – Extract the Learning

• Ask:
“From up here, looking at that moment, what could you learn from it now that would
completely change how you feel about it?”

• Have them name the resource (con dence, humor, decisiveness, playfulness).

Step 4 – Rewrite the Event

• Float them into the moment (associated).

• Guide them to imagine it playing out differently:

fl
fi
 14 Copyright 2025

◦ They use the new resource.

◦ See themselves handling it effortlessly.

◦ Notice the other person reacting differently.

• Example language:
“See yourself in that moment now… notice how you stand… what you say… how you feel
as that resource ows through you.”

Step 5 – Install the New Version

• Have them watch the new event from start to nish in their timeline.

• Then, oat them back above the timeline and replace the old event with this new one
— like sliding a new scene into a lm reel.

Step 6 – Future Pace

• Float them forward along their timeline, past today, and notice how all future events
connected to this moment shift now that the new version exists.

• Let them see a future where:

◦ The new version is reality.

◦ All similar situations automatically trigger the new response.

Step 7 – Lock It In

• Have them oat back to now.

• Anchor the new feeling with a physical gesture ( st clench, hand touch).

• Suggest:
“Any time you think of that moment, you remember it this way. And every similar moment
in the future naturally unfolds like this.”
fl
fl
fl
fi
fi
fi
15 Copyright 2025

Timeline Therapy Glossary

1. Timeline
The unconscious representation of time — how a person mentally organizes past, present, and
future events in space. This can be linear (past behind, future ahead) or non-linear (stacked,
spiral, scattered).

2. Associated
Experiencing an event through your own eyes, hearing through your own ears, and feeling the
emotions directly — as if you are “in” the memory or future scene.

3. Dissociated
Experiencing an event as an observer, watching yourself in the scene. This creates emotional
distance and objectivity.

4. Float
The imagined act of rising above the timeline to gain perspective, often used to travel to different
points without re-experiencing them fully.

5. Submodalities
The sensory qualities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.) of an internal representation — such as
brightness, color, size, volume, distance, speed. Altering submodalities changes how the mind
encodes the event.

6. Root Cause
The earliest event in the timeline that initiated a particular belief, emotion, or behavior pattern —
changing the root changes the chain of events that followed.

7. Future Pace
Mentally rehearsing an event in the future with the desired feelings, behaviors, and results to
“install” the new pattern in the unconscious.

8. Reframe
Changing the meaning assigned to an event so it’s interpreted in a more resourceful or
empowering way.

9. Elicitation
The process of discovering how a person stores time, including direction, spacing, and
submodalities of events.

10. Gestalt
In Timeline Therapy, refers to a chain of similar emotions or experiences linked together in the
unconscious — resolving the rst in the chain can collapse the entire set.

11. Chunking
Shifting focus to broader (chunk up) or more detailed (chunk down) perspectives to change
perception and meaning in the timeline.
fi
 16 Copyright 2025

12. Bridge Event

An event that connects a present emotional trigger to its root cause in the past.

Time Distortion — De nition and Breakdown

De nition:
In NLP, Timeline Therapy, and hypnosis, time distortion refers to the subjective change in the
perception of time — either feeling like it passes more quickly, more slowly, or that the sequence
of events has changed.

Breakdown:

• Neurological Basis:
Time perception is regulated by attention, emotional intensity, and memory encoding.
High focus and absorption (e.g., trance) make time feel shorter, while low stimulation or
discomfort make it feel longer.

• In Timeline Work:

◦ Compression: Large stretches of time are perceived as shorter, making a change

feel “instant” even if the person is editing events from decades ago.

◦ Expansion: A single moment can be slowed down internally so the person can
change it in detail (e.g., adding resources to a memory).

◦ Reordering: Changing the sequence of events in the mind so that the person
experiences them in a different, more empowering order.

• Hypnotic Use:
By distorting time, you can:

◦ Make the past feel further away and less intense.

◦ Make the future feel closer and more urgent.

◦ Create a sense of “already done” for a task or transformation.

Example:
A traumatic event can be altered so that in the mind it plays at double speed, in black-and-white,
from a distant, dissociated angle — stripping it of its emotional charge. Conversely, a desired
future event can be played in rich color, with ampli ed sound and slow-motion moments to make
it feel inevitable and compelling.
fi
fi
fi
17 Copyright 2025

1. Movement & Navigation Verbs (to move along a timeline)

• Float

• Drift

• Slide

• Travel

• Step into

• Step out of

• Walk forward

• Move backward

• Rise above

• Drop down into

• Glide

• Flow toward

• Shift into

• Lift away

• Sink into

2. Time Compression Words (to make the past feel further

away / the future closer)
• Compress

• Shorten

• Collapse

• Shrink

• Snap into

• Fold time
18 Copyright 2025

• Bridge

• Jump to

• Blink forward

• Blur

• Warp

3. Time Expansion Words (to slow time for detailed editing)

• Expand

• Stretch

• Elongate

• Slow down

• Open up

• Unfold

• Linger

• Draw out

• Suspend

• Extend

4. Sensory Ampli ers (to deepen association in a moment)

• Vivid

• Bright

• Saturated

• Rich

• Sharp

• Crisp
fi
 19 Copyright 2025

• Clear

• Intense

• Detailed

• Alive

5. Sensory Dampeners (to weaken or neutralize an event)

• Faded

• Dim

• Distant

• Blurred

• Muted

• Washed-out

• Gray

• Disconnected

• Quiet

• Softened

6. Emotional State Changers (to alter the feeling of an event)

• Empowered

• Con dent

• Certain

• Playful

• Curious

• Relaxed

• Calm
fi
20 Copyright 2025

• Secure

• Energized

• Detached

7. Integration & Installation Words (to lock in changes)

• Anchor

• Install

• Embed

• Merge

• Absorb

• Integrate

• Weave in

• Link

• Connect

• Bind

8. Hypnotic Time Distortion Phrases (drop into scripts

verbatim)
• “Notice how quickly you can move to that moment…”

• “And as you look back from the future, this all seems like it happened instantly…”

• “Let the years in between fold away, as if they never existed…”

• “Float above this point and see it all rearranging below you…”

• “Slow this moment until you can notice every detail…”

• “Or speed it up so the scene ickers and fades before you can catch it…”

• “The past can feel further away than it’s ever felt before…”
fl
 21 Copyright 2025

• “The future can be so close you can almost reach out and touch it…”

• “And all the steps in between happen automatically…”

• “Until you nd yourself already there.”

fi
22 Copyright 2025

Importance Elicitation Process

(How to discover their “importance code” so you can later place new tasks on their timeline
with that same emotional weight.)

Step 1 – Pick Two Contrasts

• Ask them to recall:

1. Something that was extremely important to them and they followed through on.

2. Something that wasn’t important, easy to ignore or forget.

(The contrast is essential — it reveals how the brain stores each type differently.)

Step 2 – Fully Associate into Each

• For the important example:

◦ “Step into that moment when you knew this mattered. See what you saw, hear
what you heard, feel what you felt in your body.”

• For the not important example:

◦ “Now step into that moment when it just didn’t matter… and you could let it drift
away.”

Step 3 – Explore Submodalities

Ask questions to map the differences:

Visual:

• Where in space is the image located? (Near/far, above/below, left/right)

• Is it color or black-and-white?

• Bright or dim?

• Focused or blurry?

• Still or moving?
 23 Copyright 2025

• Large or small frame?

Auditory:

• Are there sounds? Voices?

• Volume level?

• Tone — serious or casual?

• Internal dialogue — what did you say to yourself?

Kinesthetic:

• Location of feeling in body?

• Intensity?

• Temperature?

• Pressure, movement, or stillness?

Step 4 – Identify the Key Differences

• Compare:
“When it’s important, it’s ___, ___, and ___. When it’s unimportant, it’s ___, ___, and
___.”

• You’re looking for the leverage points — often location, brightness, and proximity are
the big ones.

Step 5 – Test the Code

• Take something neutral and change its submodalities to match the “important” map.

• Ask them how it feels now.

• If done right, it will instantly feel more compelling, more “must-do.”

Step 6 – Anchor the Feeling

• Once they’re in the important state, anchor it physically (touch, gesture, phrase).

• Later, you can re this anchor before placing a new event on their timeline.
fi
 24 Copyright 2025

"Placing It on the Timeline" Induction (~5 minutes)

And you can begin by thinking of something important — or perhaps something you’d like to
become important…
Because in a moment, we’re going to give it a place in time so solid, so certain, that your mind
will carry you to it naturally.

You might have noticed… that the things you absolutely had to do…
The moments that carried weight…
The ones that mattered…
Somehow, you always remembered them.
It wasn’t chance.
It was because they were anchored to a very speci c when.

So right now, I’d like you to choose a moment in your future — the exact day, even the hour,
when this thing will happen.
See yourself there.
Noticing the surroundings, the light, the colors, the people (or the absence of people).
Hear the sounds in that moment…
Feel the air on your skin…
And let that awareness deepen until the now begins to fade and the then becomes more real.

And as you see yourself there…

Make it brighter…
Make it closer…
Increase the detail until it’s so vivid your body knows it’s coming.
Because the more alive it is, the more it pulls you forward into it.

And you might notice that with every breath…

It becomes yours.
Your moment.
Your time.
It carries weight.
It matters.
And because it matters, it belongs on your timeline.
Not oating in “someday”… but anchored… glowing… already waiting for you.

Now, as you drift back to the present, you can feel the path between now and then lling itself in
—
With the steps, the decisions, the little cues that lead you there without effort…
Because the unconscious mind, once it knows where you’re going, will take you there…
Every single time.
fl
fi
fi