NLP
Neuro
NEUROLOGY
The physical components as well as the mental and emotional components of our neurology
Linguistic
LANGUAGE
Linguistics pertains to the language that you use, and more specifically, how you communicate with others and more importantly, how you communicate with yourself
Programming
FUNCTION
Perceiving your mind as your internal operating system, Programming is the way our past experiences, thoughts and emotions affect all areas of our lives
We cannot change other people; we can only change ourselves. Our environment is tempered by our mental models. There are some people who only see good in others. They have no representation for bad. In their world bad doesn’t exist.
Our thoughts leak out in everything we do, often in ways that are outside our consciousness. These thoughts send out signals to the world about what we want, what we believe and who we are. And the world responds to those signals. Consequently, the key to influencing the responses is to change the inner signals.
NLP offers us the opportunity to manage these inner representations and signals. In doing so we begin to tap into the potential of the world’s most powerful computer – our mind. By learning how to manage our thoughts we can:
- Change our experience of situations and people.
- Influence the reaction we get.
- Hold memories in a way that supports the person we want to be.
- Create the future we want.
- Build the relationship we would really like.
- Discover the thinking that releases our unique excellence.
That list is only for starters. We can learn to manage our mind in ways that work for us and help us lead the life we are meant to lead.
Excerpt courtesy of NLP At WORK by Sue Knight
One of the greatest challenges we all face is managing our own internal emotional state, especially in difficult situations. How do you deal with challenges? Do you like your friends to console you? Do you feel the boil of anger rise followed by a verbal or physical outburst or do you throw yourself head first into activity to stop you from thinking about the difficult situation?
In NLP, there is no such thing as an un-resourceful person, just an un-resourceful state. Being able to manage your state so that you are able to remain resourceful even in the most challenging situations is clearly something that is of huge value wherever you work, whatever you do and whoever you are!
Whatever task you have to perform, whatever you want the outcome to be, ask yourself – “what state do I want to be in to make this easy?”
If you do want to or need to change your state in order to help you perform at your optimum level then there are many ways to do so using NLP techniques.
To get you started, here are 3 easy ways to help you manage your emotional state:
Focus
Change the pictures you are creating for yourself – not just what you are picturing, but how you are picturing it. Change the sounds you can hear, become more aware and zone in for the best picture possible. Ever noticed what happens if you’re feeling low or a bit off centre and then you hear your favourite piece of uplifting music? Change the sounds and how you imagine your end-result to be.
Physiology
Change your body radically – Move, do anything that pushes different chemicals around your nervous system whether this could be doing more exercise or simply taking the stairs instead of the lift. Change your posture, stand tall, high and successful, not only will you look confident, but you’ll feel more confident. Consider changing your facial expression too and your breathing, even the smallest amends will help you manage your state.
Self-Talk
Change your internal dialogue or self-talk. You can change the content or the language of your mind chatter, so you become your own champion. How about changing your internal critic that tells you you’re not good enough? Imagine how funny you might find it if your inner critic had the voice of Mickey Mouse or the Donkey from Shrek? Or move the location of the voices so it comes from your left big toe!
All states are caused by the interaction between your thinking patterns, your physiology and your neurochemicals. Changing any of these can influence your state.
The ability to change your state and choose how you feel is one of the skills for emotional freedom and a happy life. Emotional freedom does not mean never feeling negative but does mean you are more aware of negative states and can choose your response.
There are many ways in which people can develop the self-awareness to effectively manage their states. This is just one of the many powerful techniques in NLP to help you perform at your best no matter what is going on in your environment.
