SEMANTICALLY LOADED

“Semantically loaded” is a phrase that we use in Neuro-Semantics when we want to speak about the quantity of meaning that we invest in something. So when we ask, “How much meaning have you invested in this idea, person, experience, etc.?” we are asking about the quantity of meaning. This is also true when we ask, “How intense is this for you?” That’s because the more meaning that you invest in something, the more it means to you, the more you will feel it, the more it will drive you, the more energy it will produce, and the more it will govern your thinking, perceiving, valuing, etc.

• How much meaning have you attributed to your past experience with that person?

• How much meaning do you attribute to your past?

• How much meaning do you give to food, to eating, to eating out and socializing?

Name your subject and ask the question. Whatever the answer, it speaks about how semantically loaded that thought, concept, person, or experience is for you. Is it highly loaded or is it just barely loaded with meaning? Does it need more meaning? Does it need less?

Often we fail to semantically load an experience, idea, concept, etc. with enough meaning. It is “just” whatever it is and not semantically significant enough to provide the drive, the passion, and the motivation that we need. Take exercise. “It is just exercise.” So, how much meaning do you invest in exercise? Very much? Or is the problem with getting yourself to exercise the very fact that it means so little to you?

I think I can safely say that around the world, most people have given far too much meaning to food and eating. And during the holidays, people give even more meaning to food. And so they over-eat. They don’t over-eat to get fat. They don’t over-eat to ruin their health. They over-eat because they have a belief frame that semantically loads the food and the eating so that holding back and refusing to eat seems like, and feels like, self-denial, ascetism, even starvation. So most of us psycho-eat. That is, we eat for purposes other than health, energy, and vitality. We eat for love, reward, de-stressing, the good life, being social, following the customs, etc. When we do so, our eating is semantically loaded.

Because, as a meaning-maker you are always giving meaning to things, asking about the quantity or intensity of your meaning enables you to discover if you have invested enough or too much meaning. Knowing that, you can then adjust the amount of meaning you have attributed. Yet beyond the amount of quantity, you can also look at meaning in terms of quality. This gives us another set of questions:

• What is the quality of the meanings that you have invested in X?

• Is the quality of the meaning poor, low, high, rich, robust, delightful, etc.?

• Is the quality of the meaning you give to X rich and robust enough?

• Do you feel that something is meaningless, futile, or trivial?

Sometimes the problem with exercising having such low meaning and needing to be more semantically loaded isn’t about the quantity of meaning but the quality. So now we can ask, “What would be the richest and most exciting meaning I could give to exercise?” If I asked you that question, would you immediately spew out 5 or 10 really great answers to that question? Or would you stutter? Would you be stopped in your steps? Would my question leave you feeling “blank?” Sometimes we just have not thought hard enough, long enough, or explored the possibilities of great enough meanings. No wonder we haven’t meta-stated the experience with more meaning!

What is the quality of your meanings about food? If you load it up with a lot of rich psychological meanings like “good life,” “reward,” “love,” etc., not only is there a lot of meaning, but the meanings are also rich, significant, expansive, even transcendental. No wonder the experience of eating is so semantically loaded. It has both a high quantity and quality of meanings.

How can you tell if something is semantically loaded for yourself or another person? Well, there will be a lot of emotion and affect with it! As a person talks about the experience or thought, he or she will be animated. And whether the animation is positive or negative, the key is the energy in the body, the voice, the eyes, and other expressions. That’s because emotion is how we feel meaning. Meaning shows up in our bodies as emotions. So where there is emotion, where there is a “button” that can be pushed that “gets” us, there is meaning and semantic loadedness.

And there are other signs. Look for what the person stresses or emphasizes in language; listen for embedded words, commands, questions, and statements. These typically indicate that the person has semantically loaded those particular words. Observe also patterns— actions, gestures, words, etc. that are repeated several times typically indicates that something is semantically loaded. Repetition of repeated behaviors (patterns) indicate the loading of meaning.

So what have you semantically loaded? How did you do that? How much have you semantically loaded it? Does it work to support you and enhance your life or does it undermine and diminish you? To what extent do you, or have you, taken control of your meaning-making power of semantically loading? Do you know how? If not, then contact the nearest Neuro-Semanticist and power-up with Neuro-Semantic training or coaching with this central power of your humanity! You’ll be glad you did!

To your highest and best meaning-making!