What is NLP ?
NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
Steve Andreas, an early pioneer of and a leading authority on, NLP, when writing on the subject of ‘What is NLP ? ‘ said to ask such a question is akin to asking ‘What is physics?’ as there are so many ways of answering the question.
He stated that one way that NLP could be described is :
“a practical way of understanding our thinking and our behaviour that can be used to make rapid changes in our lives.”
This description identifies a number of important elements which if you sincerely wish to feel good about yourself are truly uplifting. He states that it is “practical”, if it’s practical then you can do it, I can do it, it means it is open to all of us to be able to progress using it.
He also states that it is a way “of understanding our thinking and our behaviour”, from personal experience you may be aware of how if you don’t understand something how much more confusing everything associated with it can be. So if that confusion somehow enters into your life, affecting your actions and your reactions to what happens around you it is understandable that some difficulties may arise.
As an example, if you tried to drive a car, repeatedly, without knowing what happens when you push any, all or each of the pedals, buttons or levers you would become increasingly unsure of what your next move should be, you’d probably in the end avoid the whole process of driving, not because of your ability, you have plenty enough to be successful, but rather because the basics had not been established. In contrast when they are established then you can develop your abilities at your own speed and in your own way until you feel so good that you can drive to wherever you wish to go, as free as you wish to be.
NLP can “can be used to make rapid changes in our lives”. NLP works very quickly basically because human beings have the ability to learn very quickly. This ability to learn very quickly and thoroughly is put to good use in the techniques of NLP. It can be difficult sometimes for people to believe that they themselves can learn quickly and thoroughly something which they wish to learn so that they feel good about themselves. However if you think of an authority figure from your past, for example a parent, a teacher, or a boss who could simply say your name in such a way that a shiver ran down your back and a “what now?” thought raced through your mind then you already know that you learnt that that tone of voice meant something and often something not so pleasant. NLP makes that quick style of learning useful to feel good about things and if you want can even turn those unpleasant memories into something else so that they are less troublesome.
To experience the speed with which change can occur using NLP is truly incredible. The desired change can happen so rapidly that it can often defy what someone previously believed to be actually possible. It can be so quick and so ‘uneventful’ that at first it is easy to wonder if anything has actually happened or changed but as soon as the person, and I have been that person, tests it for him or herself, in respect of the change they were looking for, then they know for certain that change has happened.
Another description which Steve Andreas uses refers to comparisons between NLP and CBT and in doing so refers to the accelerated speed of change possible using NLP compared with CBT whilst maintaining its effectiveness:
“Someone once described NLP as ‘Cognitive Behavioural Therapy on steroids’ because although it is fundamentally similar in orientation, NLP makes much finer distinctions and has many specific processes, principles, and presuppositions that make change much faster.”
People who are accredited NLP practitioners have been tested in their knowledge of the principles of NLP as well as in applying these principles in practical situations. Accredited NLP Practitioners have studied how humans experience their lives and the world in which they experience them. This study ensures the practitioner is capable of working with people in the way that best suits them, the practitioner adapts to the person they are helping not the other way round.
The fundamental principles underpinning NLP has led to the development of techniques which have a tremendous degree of flexibility in their practical usage. It has resulted in many methods becoming available for attaining specific personal outcomes which are achieved by the person making changes in their own experience, perception, thinking, actions and feeling responses to events.
NLP is noted for its benefits in many fields of human activity.
With respect to personal therapeutic benefits it is noted for being useful and effective to transform unpleasant feelings, change unwanted habits, cure phobias, fears and anxieties, resolve grief, shame, guilt and other internal conflicts as well as eliminate addictions, compulsions and assist with trauma.
NLP principles, understanding and methods can also be applied in many other ways, not limited to those mentioned here, to other fields of human activity. These include Communication, Sports Performance and Business in respect of personal development, skill enhancement, problem solving and decision making. Within education it is noted amongst other things for helping people recall facts more easily and spell more accurately.
By way of a conclusion to this brief overview of the question of ‘What is NLP?‘‘ consider another two paragraphs from Steve Andreas:
“Someone once pointed out that “The human brain is the only self-maintaining, general purpose computer that can be manufactured by unskilled labour.” It is also the only computer that is only partially programmed at the factory. A child’s brain doesn’t have the kinds of programs that we have as adults, and there is no operating manual that would explain the operating system, and how to program it well.”
“So another definition of NLP is that it is an operating manual for the human brain, providing “software for wetware,” that can be used to reprogram ourselves when we are less than fully satisfied with our responses.”
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