This is not strictly a group exercise; it can be done in pairs or even alone.

To perform exercises to develop associative thinking, it is advisable to have a voice recorder and a notepad with a pen on hand for subsequent decoding and analysis of the sound recording. You should not rely on memory when performing such exercises. Exercises. Working with a chain of associations, akin to dream analysis. And everyone knows: a dream needs to be written down without delay if you don’t want to immediately forget 70% of its details.

It's the same with associations.

I suggest doing three simple exercises that help develop associative thinking in those who do them fairly regularly.

So, let's start with the simplest thing - the preparatory exercise. I recommend starting any intellectual workout with it.

Exercise to develop associative thinking No. 1

It consists of two equal parts. In the first part we play related associations. In the second part - into unrelated associations.

Related associations

The presenter asks the floor. This word should (preferably) be a common noun in the nominative case.

Then, in a circle, each player (or you alone), under a dictaphone recording, continues the chain of associations - that is, he names another word, clearly associative related to the previous one.

• journey,
• railway carriage,
• ticket,
• conductor,
• suitcase,
• passenger,
• companion,
• window,
• station...

In the next round of the game we play

Unrelated associations

• journey,
• consumption,
• sunset,
• bombing,
• polyethylene,
• mask,
• child,
• horror,
• collar

In both the first and second cases, after the end of the game, sharing occurs, an exchange of opinions, which is mandatory for any psychological games.

During sharing, each participant in the game must explain how and why he decided that it was appropriate to continue the chain of associations (sometimes strictly connected, but especially blurred) with his word.

For example

I said “View” after “fellow traveler” because I guess I don’t want to look at people, I’d rather admire the view from the window.

I said “fellow traveler” after “passenger” because I wanted to clarify that I am on the same path as this person, we are going in the same direction.

I said “polyethylene” after “bombing” because “bombing” implies corpses, and corpses (in my opinion) are wrapped in plastic.

I said “collar” after “horror” because I feel horror when something is strangling me, and the collar has the ability to “strangle”.

During sharing, those very “psychotherapeutic insights” occur, during which the players have an epiphany - an understanding of their situation, as well as the release of negative emotions and fears.

Exercise to develop associative thinking No. 2

"Running Association"

The presenter calls the word. For example, "wardrobe".

Within five minutes, each player must write down in his personal notebook a chain of associations evoked by this word. The goal is to let go of your thought, allowing it to jump from one association to another.

For example: Wardrobe,

• skeleton,
• pharmacy,
• scales,
• sky,
• rocket,
• cartoon,
• childhood,
• Romania,
• tambourine,
• jack,
• pudding,
• hills...

During sharing, each player must explain (briefly) their associations. (This explanation is recorded on a voice recorder.)

Exercise to develop associative thinking No. 3

"Strapped Association"

The presenter asks the word and gives the task: for five minutes, try to keep your thoughts on this image (without being distracted by other topics and images). Then the Presenter turns on the song composition. While the song is playing, each participant must keep the given word in memory.

In order to do this (not to forget a word and not to be distracted by thoughts on other objects and topics), we turn on our imagination and create a whole plot in our thoughts, which helps us stay in the field of a given image. We write down the main moves of this plot in a notebook.

After time has passed, each player tells the story that was born in his head, which helped him focus on this word.

The host and other players at the time of sharing can ask leading questions, provoke, disagree, or vice versa, agree, supporting the player.

Good luck with your association games, friends! Develop your associative thinking.

Elena Nazarenko

Jung's “16 Associations” Test will help you find the key to the unconscious

Carl Jung used free association as a lie detector because it helped determine a person's motivation. Thanks to this technique, a person can come to the realization of what is gnawing at him and begin to eliminate his psychological problems. The “16 Associations” exercise works similar to Jung’s association test, and it will not take more than 15 minutes to complete. If you want to better understand your own feelings and understand what you really need, Jung’s association test is an unrivaled assistant in this matter.

The human brain is designed in such a way that, if it is necessary to remember something, it is encoded by a set of visual images, information from the senses and associated sensations in the body and emotions.

What will you get from the “16 associations” exercise?

1. Awareness what influences your perception and subconscious attitude towards a situation/phenomenon/fact. Even if you make no attempt to work on the area from which the word was chosen, after 3-6 months you will get a completely different result when you take the test again. This is all the work of the subconscious - when thoughts and associations are put on paper, a person begins to analyze them in any case.

1. Transformational effect. Through conscious perception, a change in attitude occurs and there is a reasonable scientific explanation for this. A person remembers not the event itself, but the last memory associated with it. The more new associations we apply to a keyword, the more the circuit that is activated by that word will change. Depending on what emotions arise during associations, the change in the future emotional color of the chain and the feelings that will arise the next time this word is remembered depends. Thus, the brighter the emotion, the stronger the rewriting effect.

1. You receive a ready-made map for further work on yourself– it becomes clear what can be used as a resource and what should be changed. The higher the awareness, the more determined a person is to change - this will help achieve maximum results after passing the Jung association test.

Jung's association test: exercise “16 associations”

For the exercise to be effective, it should be performed in absolute peace and solitude.

• Think about what word you would like to work with. For example, if you think that you are currently experiencing financial difficulties, let it be the word “money,” and if you think you are lonely, write the word “love.” Draw the following sign on a piece of paper:

Research word

• As quickly as possible, without hesitation, enter in the left column all the associations that you have with this word - any phrases, catchphrases, words.
• Next, fill out the second column - you need to combine words into pairs - 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc. In the second column you need to enter associations that arise when combining words into pairs.
• To fill the third column, you need to do the same thing - combine the 8 words received in pairs and display associations; we do the same with the 4th column.
• As a result, you get a key word - something with which you can unravel the tangle of problems and get rid of negative attitudes.

If over the next few days you do not let the keyword out of your head, trying to apply it to various areas of your life, then many thoughts may appear that will help you better understand yourself and your subconscious.

Related information:

1. Bauhaus and its contribution to the development of world design. which can only be achieved through the joint and interpenetrating activity of all creative workers

The main role of associations in memorization is that we link new knowledge to information we already know. To build a good association, you need to know some useful criteria for finding connections between things, as well as develop your associative thinking and creative imagination. It is equally important to learn how to build associative series and connections to stimulate figurative memory. This lesson will show you how to use the association method to remember information.

What are associations?

Association- this is a connection between individual facts, events, objects or phenomena reflected in a person’s consciousness and enshrined in his memory. Associative perception and human thinking lead to the fact that the appearance of one element, under certain conditions, evokes the image of another associated with it.

The ability to make associations is the most important ability of our mind. There is even such a direction: associative psychology (or associationism), which tries to explain a person’s mental processes by studying his associations in connection with certain objects (stimulus - response); the process of memorizing information can also be considered from this point of view.

Types of associations

To find associations, there are several ways to build associative links between any objects:

1. Adjacency in time or space: table and chair, winter and snow;
2. Similarity (similarity): earth and ball, lamp and pear;
3. Contrast (opposite): good and evil, black and white;
4. Cause-and-effect relationships: thunder and lightning, lamp and light;
5. Summary: tomato and vegetable, dog and animal;
6. Subordination: vegetable and cucumber, animal and cat;
7. Subordination to one object: car and motorcycle;
8. Part and whole: seconds and minutes, car and engine;
9. Addition: toothpaste and toothbrush.

Depending on the application of these methods, as well as on various modifications and conditions of their use, different types of associations can be found. For example, associations are:

• thematic, in which objects are related to a single theme (marketing and advertising);
• phonetic, in which there is consonance between objects (lie and rye, night and daughter);
• word-forming, based on the unity of the root or other parts of the word (laziness and laziness).

It is worth noting that the associative processes occurring in our consciousness depend on the degree of participation of different sensory organs in them. Thus, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, gustatory and olfactory associations are distinguished. Depending on a person’s predisposition and the characteristics of his sensory representational system, it will be useful for him to build associations that are suitable specifically for him.

Some people have motor memory, like Napoleon (who wrote down each new name three times, threw away the note and remembered the name forever). Some people, due to their developed auditory memory, prefer to speak information out loud. The basis of memory for people tuned to visual perception (and these are the majority) is, for example, the purposeful highlighting of key words in the memorized text (underlining, coloring, creating diagrams and drawings).

With the development of memory techniques, people have already developed associative techniques that are suitable for most of us. These techniques are called mnemonics, and they will be discussed in one of the following lessons.

How to develop associative thinking?

Despite the fact that today there are many mnemonics that make it easier to build associations for memorizing various types of information, there is no universal technique that would be suitable for all cases. Often you have to create associations and systematize material for memorization on your own. Not everyone is good at associative memory, but it can be learned. Associative thinking is built, first of all, on our creative abilities, namely, on the ability to create something new, modifying what already exists.

The development of associative thinking is closely related to the imagination and a person’s ability to find similar elements even in the most different things, as well as to the training of figurative memory. On our website there is a special lesson on developing imagination in the course of creative thinking. You can familiarize yourself with this lesson by following the link.

In addition, expanding the range of associations can be achieved through targeted training. Below we offer you some simple exercises:

Exercises

Exercise 2. Drawing up a chain of associations. Choose any word and start building a chain of associations from it, writing them down on paper. Try to write down associations as quickly as possible, and make the connections as unusual as possible.

Exercise 3. Search for missing associations. Choose any two words or phrases that should have as little in common as possible. Try to build an association that connects these two words. For example, for the words “morning” and “food” the element complementing the associative series will be the word “breakfast”. Try to find the missing link for the words: film and dream, elevator and car, flower and skyscraper.

Exercise 4. Suitable associations. Choose two words and try to name associations that are suitable for each of these words at the same time. For example, for the words “white” and “light” one can name the following associations: snow, fluff, feather, etc. To complicate the exercise, you can choose not two, but three or even more words.

Exercise 5. Unusual associations. To develop associative thinking for the purpose of better memorization, it is useful to be able to look for the most striking and non-standard associations. In this case, the image will be better fixed in memory. Most people will give the following associations for these words and phrases:

• Russian poet - Pushkin
• Poultry - chicken
• Fruit - apple
• Part of the face - nose

Try to come up with other, less popular associations with the same words.

Exercise 6. Drawing up mental maps. A useful exercise for developing associative memory is mental maps. One of the creators of the idea of ​​compiling such maps, Tony Buzan, wrote in his book “Super Memory” that “... if you want to remember something new, you just need to relate it to some already known fact, calling on your imagination to help.” You can read more about the technique of drawing up mental maps consisting of associative series in the next lesson on memory development.

If you do at least some of these exercises for 10-15 minutes a day, then after a few days the workout will become easier and more exciting, and most importantly, you will be able to remember any new material faster.

To develop associative thinking in order to improve memorization of material, it is also useful to use the following recommendations. The associative connection should:

1. arouse your genuine interest (how to achieve this was written in the previous lesson);
2. touch various senses;
3. be unusual, but meaningful to you;
4. contain the most detailed picture (size, color, etc.).

And the main thing is that the association is bright and easy to remember.

So, the second rule of remembering:

To remember certain information well, find suitable vivid associations that will be an indispensable assistant in the process of representation (reproduction of information).

Test your knowledge

If you want to test your knowledge on the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on completion. Please note that the questions are different each time and the options are mixed.

EXERCISE-TEST “16 ASSOCIATIONS”

The “16 Associations” exercise-test helps to identify the deep roots of any problem, to get to the bottom, the real cause of your problem,as well as other people’s life programs that prevent you from achieving success in a certain area of ​​life.

The test is quite simple and takes 10-15 minutes to complete. What is needed to carry it out? You need a piece of paper and a pen. On a piece of paper you need to draw the following sign:

Research word

1	1	1	1	1
2
3	2
4
5	3	2
6
7	4
8
9	5	3	2
10
11	6
12
13	7	4
14
15	8
26

Now comes the fun part! You need to take any area where you think you have a problem: family, health, happiness, love, man, woman, children, sex, work, leisure, vocation, money...

That is, it can be anything. The test is universal and allows you to identify the source of imbalance in any area that you decide to explore.

Let’s take the topic “MONEY” as an example. And if you haven’t chosen any area for research, then also stop at money. I am sure that the results of the study will surprise you and allow you to look at the area of ​​your personal finances from a completely different perspective.

Now quickly, without much thinking, write in the first (left) column of the table 16 associations associated with the word MONEY (your word under study).

I hope it’s clear what an association is. It can be any word, phrase, catchphrase, interjection... And it is not necessarily related in meaning to the main word - money!
Did you manage? Great!

Don’t read further until you do this, otherwise I know you, the main thing is to run through the text diagonally and run further. Don’t do this, otherwise you will get everything again as always - zilch on vegetable oil. Thought must end in action.Once in her book “Where they distribute unconditional faith in themselves,” Tatyana Morozova wrote about what real understanding of something is.

“Understanding leads to the fact that a person PHYSICALLY cannot remain who he was before. Otherwise understanding is just an illusion. I understood - that means I did it. Anyone who has once experienced what it means to do what is yours will never agree to a surrogate. For example, when a person understands that the cause of his illness is hyper-touchiness, then he physically cannot continue to be offended by anyone. Understanding is necessarily supported by actions. No action - no understanding.
Understanding comes to the head through the heart, i.e. through feelings, which give a person the necessary energy to translate understanding into action. It’s as if a person has an internal source of energy and finds ways to bring his plans to life.”

This quote makes you look at some things differently. Why do you seem to understand everything, but don’t do anything? This means that this is really an illusion of understanding, and you yourself are still far from it! Now you have a valuable criterion of understanding; if it is not met, then it is an illusion.

After we got rid of illusions and still completed this simple task - we wrote 16 associations that first came to mind for the word under study, we go further and fill out the second column.

It is also easy to fill out - now connect the first word with the second, the third with the fourth, the fifth with the sixth, etc. and write in the second column from the left the KEY ASSOCIATION DERIVED FROM A PAIR OF WORDS!

Example:

By the way, an association is not a conclusion! That is, the association can be anything, not necessarily logically connected with the previous words. The words “rest” and “health” may cause someone to associate “resort”, while others may associate it with “sanatorium” (I remember my first holiday on a package holiday, where I improved my health). The most important thing here is to feel that it is this word, and no other, that jumps out of the subconscious as uniting this pair of words.

So, in the second column you have 8 words.

The next stage (have you guessed it yet?) is to again connect the first word with the second, the third with the fourth, and so on, and write key associations in the third column in the same way. Now there will be 4 of them!

And then, as you might guess, combine the words again, derive associations again (2 in total). And finally, by combining the last two words you get the final association. What do you associate the word MONEY with (your research word)!

The last word is the key!
How do you like this word? Are you surprised or is this the expected result? How did you feel while doing this task? And were you interested? Have you discovered something new about yourself?

Quite often it turns out to be a complete surprise what kind of associations can jump out of the subconscious. What can you say about the last word? What does it mean to you?

To decipher the results, let’s take the interpretation outlined by Elena Shubina in her book “How to Attract Money.”
The general decryption looks like this:

Analyzing the first column

The first column of words reflects several points at once:

1. Our “level of reality”. This is what fills our daily lives. At the level of reality, our “stamps” “live”, beliefs that have no serious basis, but nevertheless influence our lives.

For example, a good half of city residents claim that they are afraid of mice, rats, snakes, and enter the entrance almost with their eyes closed, but rarely have any of them ever seen a live mouse in their entrance! Why are they afraid of them? This is a cliche - “women are afraid of mice,” and since I’m a woman, I should be afraid.

The same thing happens with money (any other word being studied). We think in cliches and these cliches are clearly visible in the first column.

Money is dirt, money is a lie, money is a test, money is pity, money is charity, big money is obtained dishonestly, etc.

It's interesting that money is such a topic that everyone has something to say about. But few of those who talk about money actually have money. Therefore, discussions about money are, by definition, the most stupid. Few of the debaters understand what they are talking about, but nevertheless, everyone has cliches in their heads.

2. At the first level of our test, the strategy for obtaining what we are studying is also very visible. In our example, the strategy for getting money.

Someone is an honest hard worker and his words: “Work, plow, hard, tired, don’t give, boss, salary...”.
And someone thinks that money should fall from the sky: “I want it, give it to me, a bank, a yacht, a plane, a cruise, an inheritance...”.

Analyze how you are doing with the way you receive money.
The first person from my example will most likely work hard and conscientiously all his life, but if easy money comes into his life (let’s say he receives an inheritance), he will not know what to do with it, and “out of grief” he will get sick or will drink.
The second one will continue to wait for the weather by the sea, be angry that the yachts still don’t arrive, and be offended by the world. But it is unlikely that it would occur to him that money can simply be earned.

It happens that a person has already outgrown the previous strategy, like short pants, but still does not understand that it is time to abandon it. So the Ugly Duckling, who had long ago become a Swan, out of habit hid from the swan flock in the bushes.

3. Also, the first column of words allows you to assess the level of pessimism- optimism regarding your money situation.

To determine it, read 16 words and try to evaluate - as you get closer to the end, do the words become more optimistic or less optimistic?

Example:

Optimism levels are rising	Optimism levels are going down
Paper	Wealth
Few	Greed
Where to get	Poverty
I can	Embezzlement
Liberty	a lack of

If the level of optimism goes up - good! This means that no matter what financial situation you are in now, you will overcome everything! You are on the right path and everything will be fine for you.

If the level of optimism goes down - bad! But I hope that thanks to the test results, you will reconsider some of your beliefs and achieve success in a timely manner!

4. The next thing we analyze in the first column is - these are induced (transposed, imposed) fears and beliefs on us. Sometimes they are also called “mind viruses.” This is something that for some reason you took into account, although if you think about it, it has nothing to do with you.

So, parents very often transfer their fears onto their children! A lot of money is a shame. But my parents picked up this belief at a time when it was completely impossible to earn a lot by honest work unless you belonged to a very narrow bohemian or scientific stratum. Therefore, they sincerely believed in it. But for what reason do you still carry this belief with you?

There is simply a darkness of false and alien attitudes floating in our consciousness! We are saturated through and through with other people's ideas, plans, motives and fears. Now we have a difficult task ahead of us - to catch these OTHERS' problems in our test!

I asked you to write this test by hand on a piece of paper! And this is very important precisely in order to detect “strangers”!
Interesting! People often identify handwritten “virus words” using hidden signs (mistakes, blots, a word is written with a capital letter, and all the rest are written with a small letter, or, conversely, the word is written smaller or larger).

When I performed this test myself, it turned out that I wrote all the words carefully and completely, and only one word was not completely written - responsibility. When I began to think about him, my mother immediately appeared before my eyes, telling me that big money is always a responsibility.

But analyzing what is written by hand is not the only way to detect “strangers”. Do the following - read the first column out loud, quickly, in one breath, trying to pronounce the words clearly and tracking your emotions and bodily sensations.

Most likely, at some word, a wave of disagreement will rise in you, as if it was not you who wrote it. You may even feel a drop in energy, instant fatigue and apathy.

Among the 16 words I wrote down, the word “labor” became such a word. And then again the picture of my mother surfaced, as she said that you need to work hard so that everything in your life is good.

Elena Shubina gives the following example in her book:

Even without being an expert in psychology, you can feel that the person who wrote this set of associations is a hard worker, standing firmly on his feet, understanding a lot about earthly pleasures, and oriented towards the future.

But where did this terrible word “begging” come from? It rudely breaks into the list of associations linguistically (if this word belonged to the person himself, he would have written - poverty). And it breaks the connection between the logical block, where the main motives and strategy of this person are clearly visible (work well - have a good rest, and don’t forget about the children). It becomes clear what this person spends his energy on. To avoid this very “begging” at any cost.

When I asked the person who wrote this column about the origin of the word “begging,” he remembered that as a child his mother often yelled at him: “Study, you stupid thing, if you don’t learn, they won’t hire you, you’ll be begging!” He studied, graduated from two universities, works hard in a management position at a state enterprise, because he is sure that it is more stable. Many times he received invitations to go into private business, both on a salary and as a “partner,” but he always refused. Why? He says that he doesn’t like to take risks, but at the same time he drives a car at great speed, one goes into the taiga to hunt a bear, that is You can't call him a risk-taker. He says he's slowed down. He promises himself to change something, but doesn't find the strength.

Is he afraid of poverty? Yes, but he tries not to think about it; if such a thought comes, he drowns it out with a shot of good vodka. This is a typical case. After working with the test and removing maternal programming, I tried to combine my main job with management in a private business. Now he runs a large timber processing plant in Siberia.

Other people's fears and beliefs take away much more strength and energy from us than our own, and force us to do completely unthinkable things! It has been noticed that the most common way to drown out the “voice” of someone else’s beliefs is alcohol. Is this why in our country, where everyone lived only according to orders, there are so many people who drink heavily?

But let's get back to the test.

When you find thought-form viruses on your list, think about their origin. Perhaps you will remember the edifying look of the old teacher, the instructions of the father and the admonitions of the grandparents. But oddly enough, most often we all remember our mother. That's who basically puts everything in our heads.

Now that you understand where you got it from and, perhaps, even remembered how much you had to lose or not do because of it, give up this word - belief!

How? Just cross it out and write a new one in its place! Any word, not necessarily close in meaning, but chosen by you personally.

Let's move on to analyzing the second column

The second column is the level of intelligence! That's what I think about it! Let me explain... The fact is that most people do not think about their problems at all. They bathe in them, live in them, worry about them, talk a lot, but think very little! But in vain... Sometimes a good, strong, unemotional analysis would give much more than hours of exciting conversations.

At this level, your own limiting beliefs come out!

Example:
Not sure
Equality
Age
Asking is bad

In decoding it would sound like this:
This won't work for me.
I don't have enough education... start-up capital... experience...
Wrong age... It's too late... Etc.

Analyze the second column of your test and find limiting beliefs and obstacles in it. If there are any, think about them by asking: “Why do I think this is so?”

Each time, ask yourself a clarifying question until you are convinced that you have arrived at the absurd. Having caught yourself on the absurdity of the arguments, laugh at them and part with your conviction, like shoes that have gone out of fashion.

Here is an example of a typical dialogue between a psychologist and a person stuck in his belief:

- Belief: I’m not the same age anymore.
- What is “that” age?
- Well, 20 years.
- When you were 20 years old, what could you do?
- Nothing.
- And now?
- Now I can, I have education and experience.
- So why do you think that the age is wrong?
- Health is not the same.
- What does “that” health mean?
- Young.
- There were rich people in your family
- Yes, my great-grandfather was very rich, he returned from the mines at the age of 40, opened a shop, became a merchant...
- How old was your grandfather when he started, and was he in good health?
Yes, no, he returned from the mines, completely ill.
So it's not a matter of health or age?
- It turns out that yes...

This is the kind of dialogue you need to have with yourself for every limiting belief. It is better if the dialogue is conducted in writing.

Let's look at the third column - What is the reason?

The third column is the level of feelings! It shows our “emotional hooks”! “Tails” of the past, fears, causes of emotional conflicts.

Example:
Want
Afraid
Lie
Mother

These are the words from a young woman's test. At the time of testing, she was planning to marry a rich man and move abroad. Her parents categorically did not approve of her choice. This was already the third candidate for husband, the previous two were rejected thanks to their parents. The woman was afraid of her parents, afraid of men, their money, possible changes in life, everything... But the reason lay precisely in the fear of her mother’s condemnation.

Take a careful look at this column of just four words, and perhaps you will understand the true reasons for not only financial, but also general trouble.

Interesting! From the words in the third column you can usually create an expression that can be used as a kind of “slogan” or motto! Play with words and make up a phrase. Sometimes it’s just a call to action, even if it’s written in capital letters and hung on the wall. And sometimes, as in the case of our heroine, the quintessence of internal experiences.

I had 4 words in the third column:
Target
Confidence
Job
Luck

The slogan turned out to be as follows: My goal gives confidence that work will bring good luck

Analysis of the fourth and fifth columns is the key to yourself

What are these last key words for you? Think about it!

There is no standard transcript for the last three words. Usually this is a tool for analysis or a hint for further psychological work. There, a person’s key fears, true and not far-fetched causes of problems, as well as genuine motives can “pop out”. One thing is clear, if the meaning of the words - the keys - is far from the associated concept (in our case, this is money), the root of the problem lies in spheres and planes that are far from the sphere of money as such.

This means that the financial situation will not improve until the real problem is worked out and solved. As a rule, it is organically tied to one of three:
problem of parent-child relationships;
self-esteem;
system of values

Now take a piece of paper and draw the last word!

If it's good, save the drawing! This is your energy resource!
If it’s bad, look at it for a while, say goodbye and solemnly burn it!

The work with the test is now complete. I hope it led you to some useful discoveries!

Carl Jung used free association as a lie detector because it helped determine a person's motivation. Thanks to this technique, a person can come to the realization of what is gnawing at him and begin to eliminate his psychological problems.

The “16 Associations” exercise works similar to Jung’s association test, and it will not take more than 15 minutes to complete. If you want to better understand your own feelings and understand what you really need, Jung's association test is an unrivaled assistant in this matter.

The human brain is designed in such a way that, if it is necessary to remember something, it is encoded by a set of visual images, information from the senses and associated sensations in the body and emotions.

What will you get from the “16 associations” exercise?

• Awareness of what influences your perception and subconscious attitude towards a situation/phenomenon/fact. Even if you make no attempt to work on the area from which the word was chosen, after 3-6 months you will get a completely different result when you take the test again. This is all the work of the subconscious - when thoughts and associations are put on paper, a person begins to analyze them in any case.
• Transformational effect. Through conscious perception, a change in attitude occurs and there is a reasonable scientific explanation for this. A person remembers not the event itself, but the last memory associated with it. The more new associations we apply to a keyword, the more the circuit that is activated by that word will change. Depending on what emotions arise during associations, the change in the future emotional color of the chain and the feelings that will arise the next time this word is remembered depends. Thus, the brighter the emotion, the stronger the rewriting effect.
• You receive a ready-made map for further work on yourself - it becomes clear what can be used as a resource and what should be changed. The higher the awareness, the more determined a person is to change - this will help achieve maximum results after passing the Jung association test.

Jung's association test: exercise “16 associations”
For the exercise to be effective, it should be performed in absolute peace and solitude.

It’s easy to fill out - connect the first word with the second, the third with the fourth, the fifth with the sixth, etc. and write in the second column from the left the Association derived from the pair of words.

• Think about what word you would like to work with. For example, if you think that you are currently experiencing financial difficulties, let it be the word “money,” and if you think you are lonely, write the word “love.” Draw the following sign on a piece of paper:

Research word

• As quickly as possible, without hesitation, enter in the left column all the associations that you have with this word - any phrases, catchphrases, words.
• Next, fill out the second column - you need to combine the words into pairs - 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc. In the second column you need to enter associations that arise when combining words into pairs.
• To fill out the third column, you need to do the same thing - combine the 8 words received in pairs and display associations; we do the same with the 4th column.
• As a result, you get a key word - something with which you can unravel the tangle of problems and get rid of negative attitudes.

If over the next few days you do not let the keyword out of your head, trying to apply it to various areas of your life, then many thoughts may appear that will help you better understand yourself and your subconscious.

Analyzing the first column
The first column of words reflects several points at once:
1. Our “level of reality”. This is what fills our daily lives. At the level of reality, our “stamps” “live”, beliefs that have no serious basis, but nevertheless influence our lives.

For example, a good half of city residents claim that they are afraid of mice, rats, snakes, and enter the entrance almost with their eyes closed, but rarely have any of them ever seen a live mouse in their entrance! Why are they afraid of them? This is a cliche - “women are afraid of mice,” and since I’m a woman, I should be afraid.

The same thing happens with money (any other word being studied). We think in cliches and these cliches are clearly visible in the first column.

Money is dirt, money is a lie, money is a test, money is pity, money is charity, big money is obtained dishonestly, etc.

It's interesting that money is such a topic that everyone has something to say about. But few of those who talk about money actually have money. Therefore, discussions about money are, by definition, the most stupid. Few of the debaters understand what they are talking about, but nevertheless, everyone has cliches in their heads.

2. At the first level of our test, the strategy for obtaining what we are studying is also very visible. In our example, the strategy for getting money.

• Someone is an honest hard worker and his words: “Work, plow, hard, tired, don’t give, boss, salary...”.
• And someone thinks that money should fall from the sky: “I want it, give it to me, a bank, a yacht, a plane, a cruise, an inheritance...”.

Analyze how you are doing with the way you receive money.
The first person from my example will most likely work hard and conscientiously all his life, but if easy money comes into his life (let’s say he receives an inheritance), he will not know what to do with it, and “out of grief” he will get sick or will drink.
The second one will continue to wait for the weather by the sea, be angry that the yachts still don’t arrive, and be offended by the world. But it is unlikely that it would occur to him that money can simply be earned.

It happens that a person has already outgrown the previous strategy, like short pants, but still does not understand that it is time to abandon it. So the Ugly Duckling, who had long ago become a Swan, out of habit hid from the swan flock in the bushes.

3. Also, the first column of words allows you to assess the level of pessimism - optimism in relation to your money situation.
To determine it, read 16 words and try to evaluate - as you get closer to the end, do the words become more optimistic or less optimistic?

Optimism levels are rising	Optimism levels are going down
Paper	Wealth
Few	Greed
Where to get	Poverty
I can	Embezzlement
Liberty	a lack of

If the level of optimism goes up, good! This means that no matter what financial situation you are in now, you will overcome everything! You are on the right path and everything will be fine for you.

If the level of optimism goes down - bad! But I hope that thanks to the test results, you will reconsider some of your beliefs and achieve success in a timely manner!

4. The next thing we analyze in the first column is induced (transposed, imposed) fears and beliefs on us. Sometimes they are also called “mind viruses”. This is something that for some reason you took into account, although if you think about it, it has nothing to do with you.

So, parents very often transfer their fears onto their children! A lot of money is a shame. But my parents picked up this belief at a time when it was completely impossible to earn a lot by honest work unless you belonged to a very narrow bohemian or scientific stratum. Therefore, they sincerely believed in it. But for what reason do you still carry this belief with you?

There is simply a darkness of false and alien attitudes floating in our consciousness! We are saturated through and through with other people's ideas, plans, motives and fears. Now we have a difficult task ahead of us - to catch these ALIEN'S problems in our test!

Write this test by hand on a piece of paper! And this is very important precisely in order to detect “strangers”!
Interesting! People often identify handwritten “virus words” using hidden signs (mistakes, blots, a word is written with a capital letter, and all the rest are written with a small letter, or, conversely, the word is written smaller or larger).

When I performed this test myself, it turned out that I wrote all the words accurately and completely, and only one word was not written completely - responsibility. When I began to think about him, my mother immediately appeared before my eyes, telling me that big money is always a responsibility.

But analyzing what is written by hand is not the only way to detect “strangers”. Do the following - read the first column out loud, quickly, in one breath, trying to pronounce the words clearly and tracking your emotions and bodily sensations.

Most likely, at some word, a wave of disagreement will rise in you, as if it was not you who wrote it. You may even feel a drop in energy, instant fatigue and apathy.

Among the 16 words I wrote down, the word “labor” became such a word. And then again the picture of my mother surfaced, as she said that you need to work hard so that everything in your life is good.

Next example:

Job

a lot of

I love

bliss

begging

hotel

greenery

car

children

education

Even without being an expert in psychology, you can feel that the person who wrote this set of associations is a hard worker, standing firmly on his feet, understanding a lot about earthly pleasures, and oriented towards the future.

But where did this terrible word “begging” come from? It rudely breaks into the list of associations linguistically (if this word belonged to the person himself, he would have written - poverty). And it breaks the connection between the logical block, where the main motives and strategy of this person are clearly visible (work well - have a good rest, and don’t forget about the children). It becomes clear what this person spends his energy on. To avoid this very “begging” at any cost.

When I asked the person who wrote this column about the origin of the word “begging,” he remembered that as a child his mother often yelled at him: “Study, you idiot, if you don’t learn, they won’t hire you, you’ll be begging!” He studied, graduated from two universities, works hard in a management position at a state enterprise, because he is sure that it is more stable. Many times he received invitations to go into private business, both on a salary and as a “partner,” but he always refused. Why? He says that he doesn’t like to take risks, but at the same time he drives a car at great speed, one goes into the taiga to hunt a bear, that is You can't call him a risk-taker. He says he's slowed down. He promises himself to change something, but doesn't find the strength.

Is he afraid of poverty? Yes, but he tries not to think about it; if such a thought comes, he drowns it out with a shot of good vodka. This is a typical case. After working with the test and removing maternal programming, I tried to combine my main job with management in a private business. Now he runs a large timber processing plant.

Other people's fears and beliefs take away much more strength and energy from us than our own, and force us to do completely unthinkable things! It has been noticed that the most common way to drown out the “voice” of someone else’s beliefs is alcohol. Is this why in our country, where everyone lived only according to orders, there are so many people who drink heavily?

But let's get back to the test.
When you find thought-form viruses on your list, think about their origin . Perhaps you will remember the edifying look of the old teacher, the instructions of the father and the admonitions of the grandparents. But oddly enough, most often we all remember our mother. That's who basically puts everything in our heads.
Now that you understand where you got it from and, perhaps, even remember how much you had to lose or not do because of it, give up this word - belief!

How? Just cross it out and write a new one in its place! Any word, not necessarily close in meaning, but chosen by you personally.

Let's move on to analyzing the second column

The second column is the level of intelligence! That's what I think about it! Let me explain... The fact is that most people do not think about their problems at all. They bathe in them, live in them, worry about them, talk a lot, but think very little! But in vain... Sometimes a good, strong, unemotional analysis would give much more than hours of exciting conversations.

At this level, your own limiting beliefs come out!
Example:

• Not sure
• Equality
• Age
• Asking is bad

In decoding it would sound like this:

• This won't work for me.
• I don't have enough education... start-up capital... experience...
• Wrong age... It's too late... Etc.

Analyze the second column of your test and find limiting beliefs and obstacles in it. If there are any, think about them by asking: “Why do I think this is so?”

Each time, ask yourself a clarifying question until you are convinced that you have arrived at the absurd. Having caught yourself on the absurdity of the arguments, laugh at them and part with your conviction, like shoes that have gone out of fashion.

Here is an example of a typical dialogue between a psychologist and a person stuck in his belief:
- Belief: I’m not the same age anymore.
- What is “that” age?
- Well, 20 years.
- When you were 20 years old, what could you do?
- Nothing.
- And now?
- Now I can, I have education and experience.
- So why do you think that the age is wrong?
- Health is not the same.
- What does “that” health mean?
- Young.
- There were rich people in your family
- Yes, my great-grandfather was very rich, he returned from the mines at the age of 40, opened a shop, became a merchant...
- How old was your grandfather when he started, and was he in good health?
Yes, no, he returned from the mines, completely ill.
So it's not a matter of health or age?
- It turns out that yes...

This is the kind of dialogue you need to have with yourself for every limiting belief. It is better if the dialogue is conducted in writing.

Let's look at the third column - What is the reason?

The third column is the level of feelings! It shows our “emotional hooks”! “Tails” of the past, fears, causes of emotional conflicts.
Example:

• Afraid

These are the words from a young woman's test. At the time of testing, she was planning to marry a rich man and move abroad. Her parents categorically did not approve of her choice. This was already the third candidate for husband, the previous two were rejected thanks to their parents. The woman was afraid of her parents, afraid of men, their money, possible changes in life, everything... But the reason lay precisely in the fear of her mother’s condemnation.

Take a careful look at this column of just four words, and perhaps you will understand the true reasons for not only financial, but also general trouble.

Interesting! From the words in the third column you can usually create an expression that can be used as a kind of “slogan” or motto! Play with words and make up a phrase. Sometimes it’s just a call to action, even if it’s written in capital letters and hung on the wall. And sometimes, as in the case of our heroine, the quintessence of internal experiences.

I had 4 words in the third column:

• Confidence
• Job
• Luck

The slogan turned out to be as follows: My goal gives confidence that work will bring good luck

Analysis of the fourth and fifth columns is the key to yourself
What are these last key words for you? Think about it!

There is no standard transcript for the last three words. Usually this is a tool for analysis or a hint for further psychological work. There, a person’s key fears, true and not far-fetched causes of problems, as well as genuine motives can “pop out”. One thing is clear, if the meaning of the words - the keys - is far from the associated concept (in our case, this is money), the root of the problem lies in spheres and planes that are far from the sphere of money as such.

This means that the financial situation will not improve until the real problem is worked out and solved. As a rule, it is organically tied to one of three:

• problem of parent-child relationships;
• self-esteem;
• system of values

Now take a piece of paper and draw the last word!

• If it's good, save the drawing! This is your energy resource!
• If it’s bad, look at it for a while, say goodbye and solemnly burn it!

The work with the test is now complete. I hope it led you to some useful discoveries!