What is NLP?
Presuppositions of NLP
For the most part, NLP was developed through practical experience rather than theories. There are a range of ideas that are 'pre-supposed' or assumed within NLP referred to as the Presuppositions of NLP.
Here is an outline of many of those presuppositions and how to make sense of them in relation to personal change. They tend to be misunderstood at times, but do actually offer a useful insight into the thinking behind NLP and practical guidelines for creating positive change.
If you go on doing what you're doing now, you are very likely to go on getting the same results as you are getting now. 'A definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results', Albert Einstein.
When behaviour doesn't seem positive, this may not always be easy to understand, however the person 'doing a behaviour' has a positive intention at a deep structural level. In order to change this kind of inappropriate behaviour, it is necessary to identify that intention at a deep level and find a way of satisfying it by more appropriate means. This creates new and better choices that serve that intention in a healthy way.
We each live from our own map or interpretation of reality, not reality itself. Our map (our views, perceptions, understandings) is not depicting the territory (reality). We create what we think is reality in the words and symbols we use, rather than responding to what is actually happening around us. NLP is about understanding and changing maps.
Everything we do, whether a success in our eyes or not, is an opportunity to learn about what works and what doesn't work. Sometimes we get upset, angry, worried, etc, none of which serves a useful purpose. When something doesn't go as we'd hoped, we're provided with a real life demonstration of how not to do something. Although we can get annoyed about it, we are in fact free to form a new plan of action and try again. Wonderful books, music and inventions wouldn't have touched our lives if their creators had been concerned about failure.
In the 1930-40's the medical profession developed the idea that the mind and body are separate entities. Research in the last couple of decades has reoriented our thinking with evidence to the contrary, which shows there are integral links with the brain throughout the whole body. For example, research shows that the performance of the immune system can be inhibited by mental stress and lead to lowering of general bodily health.
NLP acknowledges that changing our behaviour ultimately affects those around us. It is as simple as the ripple effect of a pebble thrown into a pond, in that when one part of a system changes, the whole system must change in order to adapt to that change.
The element or person in a system with the most flexibility has the most control. The person with the greatest number of choices in a given situation is likely to get the best outcome, so when we can be flexible and adaptable to situations, we get better results.
There are often better choices than the ones we make. NLP helps us discover more effective choices and how to create more useful or desirable actions and beliefs.
People often respond to what they think you mean, which may or may not match what you intended to communicate (and note that 'communicate' relates to the whole message - both verbal and non-verbal). If we want people to respond appropriately to what we say then we need to talk with them rather than at them. We need to ask and listen to seek clarification.
We each have the resources inside ourselves we need to grow and change, and NLP teaches us how to access and use these resources in appropriate ways.
NLP models excellence. The success of NLP demonstrates that it is possible to discover how someone achieves excellence in a specific activity and to teach it to anyone else. It is worth noting that the person learning the skill must have the necessary aptitude, and be willing to carry out the necessary self-development.
We are constantly communicating by what we do, what we say, and what we don't do and say. NLP helps us check for congruence in these messages.
When we have that feeling of 'can't see the wood for the trees' or 'I just don't know what to do with myself' we need to 'chunk down' to smaller pieces of the issue that are more manageable. We need to identify the first step to take, and the one after that, and the one after that.
You are in charge of your mind and therefore your results. This is based on the belief that Richard Bolstad, one of my NLP trainers has written about: since you are able to choose what you think about, you can create your own future (read more here).
And:
Quantum physics and other areas of new science tell us that what we pay attention to determines what we experience. So, if this means that you get what you focus on, focus on what you want, not what you don't want! When setting goals, say it how you want it. Your unconscious mind pays attention to what you think about, including the things you don't want in your life. In this case, don't spend time thinking about those things, think about what you want instead, thus attracting that instead! Louise Hay said 'what we give out returns to us multiplied'.
