On YouTube recently, I came across a song that I remember very well from my childhood. It’s a great little song by Brendan Grace, an Irish singer, which tunefully taught us to cross the road safely. It’s also a lovely metaphor for creating rapport and raising your sensory acuity in NLP work. First, have a listen to the song (the lyrics are below the video):
And here are the lyrics:
Remember,
one, look for a safe place
two, don’t hurry, stop and wait,
three look all around and listen
before you cross the road,
remember,
four, let all the traffic pass you
five, then walking straight across you
six, keep watching,
that’s the safe cross code!!!!!
safe place, stop and wait
safe place, stop and wait
safe ground, look around, listen for a traffic sound
if traffic’s coming let it pass
until the road is clear at last
then walking straight across the road
keep watching, that’s the code.
remember,
one, look for a safe place
two, don’t hurry, stop and wait,
three look all around and listen
before you cross the road,
remember,
four, let all the traffic pass you
five, then walking straight across you
six, keep watching,
that’s the safe cross code
that’s the safe cross code
know the safe cross code
know the code!
—
Isn’t that a lovely metaphor for rapport? Set up a safe environment … don’t hurry … keep looking … keep listening. And let all the traffic pass you because there are a lot of things out there that can cause you to get off course from the client’s outcome. When you cross towards that outcome, you want to go straight across, as quickly and smoothly as possible.
And I wouldn’t like to suggest that the song goes around in your head until you’ve got it drilled into your unconscious behaviour – which is of course how I managed to survive past childhood and the crazy Irish drivers.