NLP

Tools for personal development

Neurolinguistic programming is a rather overblown name for a system originally developed in the '70s for 're-writing' core beliefs held in the subconscious mind. It is based on research that showed that people who are successful in various different areas have distinct 'beliefs' and ways of thinking which are not shared by otherwise comparable individuals who were generally unsuccessful in those areas. By areas, is meant different aspects of life such as social success, wealth building, personal achievement and so on.

The phrase - often shortened to 'NLP' - comes from 'neuro' (of the nervous system, primarily the brain), 'linguistic' (language, the power of the language to represent external realities, and how that language affects our minds and the minds of others) and 'programming' (the way in which incoming information is manipulated by the brain - our internal 'programs'). The basic premise of NLP is that the words we use reflect an inner, subconscious perception of our circumstances. If these words and perceptions are inaccurate, they will literally create problems and cause us to overlook or avoid opportunities, as long as we continue to use and to think them.

So our preconceptions comprise a self-fulfilling prophecy - "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you are right" as Henry Ford said. The fact that our behaviour is a result of our internal 'programs' is fairly self evident. Given identical sets of circumstances, some people clearly are able to create successful outcomes, while others don't for one ‘reason’ or another. And these are not 'one-offs' -  the same people tend to repeat their successes or their failures over and over.

This is simply because of the way they perceive their situations, NOT the circumstances themselves. If an average office worker were to stand alongside an experienced mountaineer on the edge of a very high cliff, the former is likely to perceive extreme danger and to experience paralysing fear and an overwhelming desire to retreat, while the other sees a beautiful view and experiences a sense of elation at being literally above and away from the troubles of the world.

They both sensed exactly the same things, but their internal programming took them to very different places.

NLP is therefore a means of analysing and re-shaping our perception of external reality in order to alter our behavior.  Perhaps the easiest way to think of NLP is to see it as a way to analyze the thought patterns of the mountaineer, and transfer at least some of these to the office worker. When this is successful, the office worker will then be able to stand on the cliff with much less fear and may even share some of the sense of elation felt by the mountaineer.

Of course this isn't any king of science fiction 'thought transfer' - NLP is simply a system of structuring language in such a way that it becomes possible to 'talk' directly to the subconscious mind using metaphor and other language forms to convey information in a way that is meaningful to the subconscious mind, in order to create rapid and beneficial change.  Because NLP is able to bypass the conscious mind in this way, the messages embedded in a well-structured recording that makes use of NLP principles is able to address the subconscious mind - and through it our higher self or ‘superconscious mind’ - to bring about personal change automatically and reliably.

So what does this mean in practical terms?

In the nearly forty years it has taken to develop fully, NLP has become a subtle but immensely powerful tool for transformation. It can be used to change habitual ways of thinking by using very special forms of language designed to alter the way our subconscious minds interpret information - it can be used to change the way we feel about ourselves, our perceptions of opportunity and risk, the way we relate to other people, our sense of ‘deserving’, even the way our bodies look and perform. And through these changes of perception it can be used as a tool to directly engage ‘Law of Attraction’ principles in a way that is simply beyond the ability of the conscious mind using ‘affirmation’ or ‘visualisation’ techniques.

A core principle of NLP is that “People respond to their map of reality, not to reality itself”. Much of the methodology of NLP depends on highly-trained therapists who are able to seek out root causes of problems and to devise therapy sessions that address each of these on a one-to-one basis. However, as NLP practioners compared notes over the years, certain common factors began to emerge in large groups of people who wanted to change their lives in particular areas, whether these involved social, business or health concerns. This has enabled sets of very common unproductive thinking patterns to be identified which are common to whole groups of 'under-achievers' and which lead to an inability to make progress in the areas concerned.

So with these false beliefs identified, it has also become possible to create powerful language-based programs designed to show the subconscious mind that these patterns are erroneous, and to use the language of metaphor and imagery to create whole new belief systems without resistance. Once accepted by the subconscious mind these new perceptions are matched to external reality by the superconscious mind, in ways that are simply beyond our conscious understanding.

Unlike other systems for reprogramming the mind, NLP uses persuasion to gain the cooperation of the subconscious mind, rather than repetition and instruction. NLP will often open the way to ‘paradigm shifts’ - changes in viewpoint which may occur suddenly or almost unnoticed over time, but which will change your behaviour forever. The example below may help to illustrate how this can come about:

Perception is everything

Suppose you were in the early stages of a relationship with someone, and everything seemed to be going very well, to the point where you were seriously beginning to consider them as a potential life partner. But then suddenly the relationship seemed to cool for no reason as the other person became more distant, didn’t contact you for long periods and generally seemed to have lost interest. You might experience feelings of rejection and hurt, possibly suspect that the object of your passions was seeing someone else, and could even end up in a state of self-blame or depression, thinking that the ‘failure’ is yours - that you are inadequate in some way. Worse, you could react defensively by withdrawing from the relationship yourself, or even by openly expressing negative emotions such as anger and hostility.

But then you find out from a mutual acquaintance that at the time the relationship had seemed to cool, the person concerned had learned that their mother had been diagnosed with a serious illness, and the worry had caused them to put their life on hold. Mysterious absences are now clearly explained by visits to the sick parent, and suddenly you are able to reinterpret everything from the date of diagnosis onward in an entirely new light. So now, instead of moping in dejection and a sense of failure, or feeling betrayed, you suddenly feel sympathy and understanding and can take steps to re-establish emotional contact so you can provide whatever support you are able, and perhaps later resume the relationship fully. 

Although your feelings and behavior will from now on be completely different, the fact is that nothing will have actually changed except your perception of the circumstances surrounding the relationship. Just the fact of your shift in viewpoint is enough to completely transform the outcome of the situation by dumping in an instant the old negative responses and engaging a series of positive behaviour patterns that were in fact potentially available all along, but had been blocked by the old, false assumptions.

And so it is with properly formatted NLP ‘therapy’: all that changes is your perception. But that in turn changes everything - especially how positively and effectively you will behave in response to events in your life. So if you have stubborn ‘issues’ that have not responded to conventional self help techniques, now may be the right time to try the power of NLP.

NLP Products
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