An Introduction to NLP
What is NLP?
NLP has been around since the 1970s and arrived from San Francisco. Dr. John Grinder was a professor of linguistics at UCLA and Dr. Richard Bandler a psychology student at the time noticed that patterns were common to all disciplines, and that new learning came from discovering new models in one area and testing them in another. Together they modelled three expert therapists: Fritz Perls, who originated Gestalt Therapy; Virginia Satir, a family therapist; and the ground-breaking hypnotherapist Milton Erickson; and the anthropologist Gregory Bateson, who studied communication and systems theory. As a result of these initial models NLP has developed into the study of effective ways of thinking and communicating in achieving excellence. Many other eminent developers also continue to add to the tools and techniques.
There are many well known tools and techniques that underpin NLP, here are some of them:
1. Eye Accessing Cues
2. Timeline
3. Anchoring
4. Representational Systems
5. Sub-modalities
7. Outcome Frames
8. Parts
9. Chunking
10. Meta Model
11; Milton Model
12. Re-framing
13. Slight-Of-Mouth
14. Strategies for Behaviour
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NLP describes patterns that are common to all disciplines, and presupposes that new learning comes from discovering new models in one area and testing them in another.
NLP focuses on outcome frames rather than problems and requests that you ask yourself how you know something to be the 'true' or putting it another way, "how are you successfully maintaining your presenting problem?" The other shift that NLP helps us make is to be able to view all the information we receive as feedback rather than failure - there is no such thing as failure only feedback - so if what you're currently doing isn't working do something else. To create endless possibilities we no longer talk about necessity, there is only potentiality, nothing is necessary. NLP has one final request, that you develop your curiosity, a good question to ask yourself is, "what if....?" Rather than limiting your options this helps you expand what's possible.
The knowledge of NLP continues to be added to and has helped people all over the world become even more excellent at what they do.
The rich knowledge that has now become known as NLP is made up of:
Neuro - our neurology, brain and nervous system. The body and mind are the tools through which our consciousness operates and like any tools they needs to be maintained.
Linguistic - are the language patterns we use to sort our world and make sense of experience.
Programming - are the instinctive responses we have to internal and external events, these can also get in our way, however, they can be altered.
Ethics
The use NLP has to be ethical and has three demands to make of you:
1. That you attend to your personal needs
2. That you balance your needs with those of others
3. That you consider the needs of the wider community.
Ecology is about doing the right thing and making the best decisions that on the whole satisfy the three demands above. It is the study of consequences.
Modelling
NLP has been described as a tool for effective communication, but it is much more than this.
NLP can be described as a methodology for effective communication, and it is much more than this. NLP offers a way to discovering how someone structures their world. The process of MODELLING is the basic building block to understanding NLP. We can self-model to find out new ways we can do things, or we can model others to take on new patterns
Based on the presuppositions of NLP you can reprogram the way you experience the world. With the technology of NLP you can achieve results that you once thought were unavailable to you.
Put simply NLP is about taking you from your present state to a more desired state.
How Can Learning NLP Benefit You?:
Learning and practising NLP can help you:
1. Be better able to make more informed decisions
2. Enhance your communication skills
3. Develop a set of skills for modelling excellence in others
4. Negotiate with integrity
5. Utilise proven questioning techniques
6. Find quicker ways of influencing others
7. Improve your presentation skills
8. Develop more fulfilling relationships
9. Resolve conflict
10. Coach others
11. Facilitate change more effectively
12. Manage difficult relationships
For some people learning NLP simply offers the opportunity for self exploration and for others it provides a time to review a life transition. In short there is something for everyone who wants to improve their performance at work.
NLP Presuppositions
There a number of presuppositions in NLP:
1. Every behaviour serves a purpose and has a positive intention
2. Every behaviour is useful in some context
3. The meaning of your behaviour is the response you get
4. There is no failure only feedback
5. The person with the most flexibility will determine the outcome
6. The map is not the territory
7. There are no resistant people only inflexible communication
8. Rapport creates influence
9. If one person has done something then it is humanly possible for others to do it
10. Excellence can be learned
11. We have all the resources we need
12. We create our own experience of reality and are responsible for ourselves
13. Anything that happens in the body also happens in the mind and visa versa
These presuppositions are not claiming to be true, only that if you live your life as though they were true, then you are more likely to live a life of outstanding and amazing success.