Module #11: Weaving Your ELS
Version 5.15
Summary
In this module you’ll be bringing your ELS into balance and then weaving your newly clarified
messages throughout. Bringing your ELS into balance means you will be reducing fat as well as
adding what’s missing. To reduce fat, you will pare negative experiences down to the essential
truths that are necessary for your ELS. You will make sure there’s roughly the same amount of
content before and after your Story Core. This allows your positive Story Core, and the good
feelings it gives you, to reign over your story, and thus your mind as well. Reduce fat by looking
for any negative experiences you over-focus on, and use the Expand and Distill Technique. Get
all your thoughts and feelings about this experience out on a separate sheet of paper, and then
shorten down the description to its most concise form, which reveals essential truths. Ask
yourself, how does this experience relate to any of my Old/New Messages? Write that connection
down in your ELS. If you are unclear about something in your story, just ask yourself, “What’s
the real truth here?” And the answer will soon come to you, either in a few moments or maybe
the next day. Write only that essential truth about the experience in your ELS.
You can also reduce fat by distilling descriptions of your old relationships down to only what
feels necessary to provide evidence for your Old/New Messages. If it feels difficult to distill any
of your relationship descriptions, write a set of FBLs regarding that person. If you have already,
ask yourself: Is there anything I need to say in my FBLs that I haven’t already? Anything else I
need to hear? Make sure you’ve read your FBLs out loud with someone. It will help
tremendously in reducing the space you feel inclined to dedicate to them in your ELS.
We only want to talk about negative experiences as long as necessary to establish Old
Messages—that’s all. You don’t have to say anything more about negative experiences than
what’s necessary to communicate the Old Message clearly. This is where we get into weaving.
Weaving your ELS means making sure each set of Old/New Messages shows up in the
beginning, middle and end of your ELS. If for example, you have an Old Message that Family is
unsafe, tell us just enough in the beginning of the story to illustrate how and when this message
was born. Then tells us when this started changing into your New Message, Family is my
sanctuary for example, by revealing how and when it did in the middle and end of your ELS.
Copyright © 2015. The Evolving Artist, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
It’s very important to remember, while you are reducing fat, you are not erasing the negative
things that have happened to you. A whitewashed story is not a powerful one. Don’t be afraid to
name the dark truths—just make sure they are connected to your New Messages in the middle
and end of your ELS. The darker your past, the brighter your New Messages can shine. Though,
this is not a competition for darkness either! Another reason it’s critical not to eliminate negative
experiences and the Old Messages attached to them, is because some parts of you might still buy
into them, even parts you’re unaware of. When your ELS includes each of your Old Messages
and tracks their evolution into New Messages, it has a profound affect on your mind. Your mind
will always try to fit every new life experience into the context of your story and its messages—
that’s what it does. When your Old Messages convincingly evolve into New Messages through
your ELS, your mind will automatically interpret new experiences as evidence for the New
Messages instead of the old—because that’s what your ELS instructs it to do. Your mind will
always fall in line with the strongest, most current version of your story. It will always look for
how the New Messages are true, all on its own, to the extent they are evidenced in your ELS.
That’s why it’s also very important to also make sure your dreams show up loud and clear in
your ELS—especially at the end. Spend time strengthening the New Messages anywhere you can
and ensure they fully support your dreams coming true. You can find evidence to back up any
New Message in your story and your life will transform to the degree that you do. Also include
any dreams from the past that have already come true, as evidence your currently unrealized
dreams will come true too. Plan on staying in this module for at least three separate rounds of
edits, addressing each question below each time. Every session will bring insights and changes.
Exercise: Weave Your ELS
Create a sacred place for yourself before you begin. Turn off your cell phone, make sure you
won’t be interrupted, and make sure you feel comfortable. Read your ELS Intention out loud,
and update it if needed. Print out your ELS draft so you can have it with you as you write your
exercise responses by hand.
1. Balance out your ELS by reducing fat—distilling down any negative experiences into
more concise truths, ideally connected in some way to your Old Messages
2. Make sure that the dreams you listed in Module 8 that haven’t come true quite yet are
clearly and specifically described toward the end of your ELS.
3. Check that each challenge or negative experience is connected to the thread of your
dreams coming true, either by citing the gift of the experience, how it prepared you for
your dreams, or how it played a role in the evolution of your New Messages (that support
your dreams). This doesn’t have to be said right where you describe the negative
experience, it can be later in looking back
Copyright © 2015. The Evolving Artist, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
4. Specifically name and appreciate your dreams that have already come true, wherever
feels most relevant in your story. Draw a connection to your expectation that your
currently unrealized dreams will come true too, toward the end of your ELS.
5. For each New Message, ask, “What other evidence can I site from my own history that
this New Message is true?” You’ll be surprised how much you can come up with that
isn’t in your ELS now. Add each piece of evidence chronologically, whether it’s one line
or an entire paragraph.
6. Can you think of any other experiences you’ve had that support the manifestation of your
ELS Intention that aren’t currently in your ELS? If so, add them in chronologically as
supporting evidence
7. Make sure to show us anything essential about how and why each Old Message was born,
and then evolve it into the New Message by citing all evidence that the New Message is
true.
8. Read your ELS out loud, and note any sections that make you feel bad. This will happen
when an Old Message is alive and dominant. Ask yourself, “What Old/New Message
Pair is connected to this experience?” If you don’t see one, create one. If you do, make
the connection between this experience and the message pair stronger. It doesn’t have to
be poetic or eloquent, you just need to create a way out of the bad feeling past experience
by giving yourself a life line, in the form of a New Message.
9. Read through your ELS, looking for anywhere you could word things a little differently
to strengthen New Messages.
10. Keep playing with the words so that in the beginning of your story, you mention the Old
Messages and how they were born. For example, if one of your Old Messages is: I’m a
loser. Tell us how that Old Message got in your head. Did someone tell you that and you
believed it? If so, just tell us: My dad called me a loser, and I came to believe it. Or
perhaps it was something you inferred through experience. If so, tell us: I was always last
because I was the youngest in my class, so I felt like a loser. Either of these statements is
enough to establish the Old Message. You don’t need any more than one line, though it’s
OK to say more. What’s most important is that each Old Messages is established in your
ELS in the beginning, before the Story Core.
11. As the story progresses, tell us how and when each Old Message started to become a
New Message. Make sure the transformation of each Old Message into its New Message
counterpart is touched on at least once in the beginning, middle, and end of your ELS.
Copyright © 2015. The Evolving Artist, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
This will help you really believe in the New Messages, without having to convince
yourself. You can always find evidence in your own history that any message you can
think of, is true.
12. For each New Message, ask yourself if there are any other experiences in your life you
haven’t written about—or written about enough—that really bring those New Messages
home. See if you can bring them home in an even more compelling way. Notice how you
feel when you strengthen your New Messages. And notice how your thoughts begin to
change all on their own to support the New Messages.
13. Have another participant, trusted friend, or ELS Coach read over your ELS and verify the
above.
14. Complete this entire module at least three times, addressing everything on this list. You
won’t catch everything each time, and each time you will make great improvements, each
change in writing leads to changes in your life.
Remember to edit your ELS both on the computer and by hand—you’ll see things one way that
you won’t another. It’s also a great practice to read it out loud and anything that sounds out of
sync with how you’d actually say the story to a friend, update it in writing to reflect your actual
voice.
Copyright © 2015. The Evolving Artist, LLC. All Rights Reserved.