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[if !supportLists]A.    [endif] The Push Statement

Ihave deliberately saved the Push Statement until last in this section. This isbecause it is without doubt the hardest element to explain clearly. It is alsoone of the most powerful.

Theelements I have listed so far are designed to obtain a hit, i.e. agreement fromthe client that the psychic's pronouncements are accurate, or at leastplausible. Push Statements are quite different. They are intentionally designedto be rejected by the client. That is, to be rejected at first. However, theycan almost always be made to fit if the psychic pushes with sufficient confidenceand, at the same time, subtly expands the scope for agreement.

Pushstatements are hard to make up, and generally evolve with experience over manyreadings. I only have one or two that I trust, and I use them sparingly. Onethat I have used quite a lot is 'the red floor'. It goes something like this:

"Aboutthree months ago, I see you standing in a room, and it seems a strange detailto mention, but for whatever reason I have to mention that I see a red orred-ish floor. I don't think it's your home or where you work - it's somewhereelse. And there's this red colour around you, and this is a place of somesignificance to you. Now I can only tell you what I'm getting, whether or notit seems to make sense, and what I'm getting is that you are there for ameeting of some kind. I don't know if there's one other person involved or agroup, but I sense that someone's expecting you to be there, and you're havingto wait for them."

Thisalmost always gets a negative response from the client - which is the intention.I then begin to push the statement, and appear highly confident that eventuallythe meaning will become clear. This sense of confidence is important, and helpsto place the onus on the client to find something that matches. As I continueto push my initial statement, I start to subtly include more options. Thecolour might have been a kind of rusty brown, or an autumnal shade. It mightnot have been actually the floor that was significant, so much as the generalenvironment which employed a red-ish colour scheme, or a danger zone (red =danger). The meeting could have been intentional or accidental, significant ortrivial, routine or a one-off. It could have been social, professional, familyor romantic.

Sooneror later, in a very high percentage of cases, the client will remembersomething that fits. The whole point of a Push Statement is that the psychicseems to be aware of something which the client herself had forgotten about.This is devastatingly impressive when it works. It is one thing for a psychicto detect things the client is aware of. It is quite another for the psychic toapparently 'see' things the client herself had more or less forgotten.

Itis not easy to devise new Push Statements that are likely to work. The detailshave to be just sufficiently unusual to lie beyond guesswork, but justsufficiently common to stand a chance of being right. The details must also becapable of being expanded and re-interpreted in progressively broader terms, sothat the chances of success are improved as the psychic 'helps' the client toremember.

Theshoe and the party

Anotherexample is 'the shoe and the party', which I have used more than once on femaleclients aged under 35. It goes like this:

"I'mgetting the impression of a party or a celebration that I think took placearound the festive season, Christmas and all that, but not necessarily anactual Christmas party. There's a car involved, and a problem with this car orwith transportation. And I can see you holding a shoe, or having problems with oneof your shoes. It could be something like a broken heel, which is quite common,but I sense something not quite as common as that, such as a strap that hasbroken or caught in something, or something has damaged this shoe and you'reobviously not pleased. And I can sense that you are making your feelings aboutthis very clear to the people around you! Is this making sense?"

Naturally,this element sometimes leads nowhere, and in the face of persistent rejectionan escape tunnel is needed. The simplest options are to suggest that if it hasnot happened yet then it is going to soon, or to ask the client to carry ontrying to think back, because the meaning may come to her later. Other ways ofescaping from misses are covered later in 'The Win-Win Game'.

Asuccessful push

Iwas once demonstrating cold reading in a TV production meeting. In the courseof a reading for one of the production assistants, I used 'the shoe and theparty' and added the name 'Charles'. She was unable to find any match.

Tenminutes after I had ended the reading, and while I was in conversation withsomeone else, the girl suddenly became very excited. In tones of sheerdisbelief, she exclaimed that she had just remembered a party from her teenageyears during which she had indeed broken her shoe while dancing with one of herfriends who was called... 'Charlie'! Although this was by no means a completesuccess, the girl simply could not believe that I had managed to 'perceive'this long-distant event so accurately.

Ihave had my successes and failures with Push Statements, but on balance Ibelieve they are worthwhile.