Monday, August 23, 2010
NLP Presuppositions. The 19 Golden "Keys"
With just these presuppositions and the right attitude you can do better than the thousands of people out there that think they know what NLP is.
1. “THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY” OR “THE MENU IS NOT THE MEAL”
What we see, hear, and feel is not reality, but our brain’s interpretation of it. Right now there are thousands of radio waves flowing through the air around you. When you turn on your radio, you hear only one wavelength- that one station. Your radio doesn’t play all the stations simultaneously it would be too confusing. Also, your radio isn’t set up to receive microwaves or any of the millions of other wavelengths available.
Humans are very similar. We have five basic instruments to pick up wavelengths. These instruments (the five senses- human antennae) take in information which is then interpreted by our nervous system (similar to radio circuitry), which then assembles the information in a way we can comprehend it. Everything you think you see hear or feel is created by your brain in response to real external stimuli. Reality out there does exist. We just never get to experience it first hand.
So our brain creates a virtual reality for us- a map. Just like a map of your town. The map is not the town. But, if you want to get to the corner store and the map tells you how to get there- it’s useful.
Humans are very similar. We have five basic instruments to pick up wavelengths. These instruments (the five senses- human antennae) take in information which is then interpreted by our nervous system (similar to radio circuitry), which then assembles the information in a way we can comprehend it. Everything you think you see hear or feel is created by your brain in response to real external stimuli. Reality out there does exist. We just never get to experience it first hand.
So our brain creates a virtual reality for us- a map. Just like a map of your town. The map is not the town. But, if you want to get to the corner store and the map tells you how to get there- it’s useful.
2. PEOPLE RESPOND ACCORDING TO THEIR “MAPS”
The human mind has a very special capability. It can give meaning to things. As we grow up in the world we experience things and give meaning to them. Michael Jordan gave a different meaning to getting kicked off his high school basketball team than other people in a similar situation did. So, not only does our mind body system make it’s own interpretation of what’s really out there, but then we interpret it again by creating our own individual meanings for things. From these interpreted meanings we create our own maps. We move through the world and respond using these maps we create based on the meanings we have given to various experiences. Michael Jordan’s map didn’t label getting kicked off the basketball team as “failure” he mapped a different meaning to it. Look where he is today.
3. MEANING OPERATES CONTEXT DEPENDENTLY
If I call my girlfriend "sweetheart" and then call a waitress I don't know "sweetheart" I am saying the same thing. Yet, I may get a completely different reaction from each person.
No word or behavior is an island. Everything we do or say occurs within some context. The meaning we give to what people say and do is altered by the context.
No word or behavior is an island. Everything we do or say occurs within some context. The meaning we give to what people say and do is altered by the context.
4. MIND/BODY INEVITABLY AFFECT EACH OTHER
If I cut you with a knife your mind knows about it. If I say certain things to you, I can make you feel bad. Well where exactly do you “FEEL bad”? In your body of course. MINDBODY acts a whole.
Korzybski talks in depth about how language maps our reality and that separating things that really shouldn’t be separated by using two different words has a major impact on how we respond and function in the world. It’s really MINDBODY. Just like Einstein's SPACETIME.
Korzybski talks in depth about how language maps our reality and that separating things that really shouldn’t be separated by using two different words has a major impact on how we respond and function in the world. It’s really MINDBODY. Just like Einstein's SPACETIME.
5. INDIVIDUAL SKILLS FUNCTION BY DEVELOPING AND SEQUENCING REPRESENTATION SYSTEMS
We have five senses or antennae by which our brain receives “human radio waves”. Once our brain converts those waves into something it can work with, we start sorting the information in our mind to give it structure.
Everything we do has a sequence to it. Before you decide to buy something you may picture yourself using the widget, then you may say to yourself “this widget would be really cool when I go widgeting”, then you may feel a good feeling about the widget and you buy it. This would be called a buying strategy and it consists of the 3 major representational systems- SEEING, HEARING AND FEELING or VISUAL (V), AUDITORY (A), AND KINESTHETIC (K). Most of the time we use these 3 antennae more often than the two others. The way we sequence these in our mind enables us to exhibit certain skills. Certain sequences work better than others. If your phone number is (876) 716-5512 and I dial (678) 551-2617, I’m not going to get you on the phone. It’s the same numbers, but the sequencing gives dramatically different results.
Richard Bandler uses a very funny example of this (paraphrased): “There’s all these books out there and they all have the same 26 letters. $15 or $20 and all I get are the same 26 letters over and over. I’m getting ripped off!” Sequencing the letters the right way creates the right words and sequencing the right words creates a masterpiece. We do the same at a very unconscious level with the VAK (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic.) The way we string together the representations of each sense in our mind will create very specific results. The spelling strategy of NLP was created from this presupposition.
Everything we do has a sequence to it. Before you decide to buy something you may picture yourself using the widget, then you may say to yourself “this widget would be really cool when I go widgeting”, then you may feel a good feeling about the widget and you buy it. This would be called a buying strategy and it consists of the 3 major representational systems- SEEING, HEARING AND FEELING or VISUAL (V), AUDITORY (A), AND KINESTHETIC (K). Most of the time we use these 3 antennae more often than the two others. The way we sequence these in our mind enables us to exhibit certain skills. Certain sequences work better than others. If your phone number is (876) 716-5512 and I dial (678) 551-2617, I’m not going to get you on the phone. It’s the same numbers, but the sequencing gives dramatically different results.
Richard Bandler uses a very funny example of this (paraphrased): “There’s all these books out there and they all have the same 26 letters. $15 or $20 and all I get are the same 26 letters over and over. I’m getting ripped off!” Sequencing the letters the right way creates the right words and sequencing the right words creates a masterpiece. We do the same at a very unconscious level with the VAK (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic.) The way we string together the representations of each sense in our mind will create very specific results. The spelling strategy of NLP was created from this presupposition.
6. RESPECT EACH PERSON’S MODEL OF THE WORLD
Now that you know that we operate in a virtual reality of our own creation, you can respect that every other person on the planet is doing the same. The difference is you now know you are working through a map. Most people think everything they think and feel is REAL and it is for them. Respect that.
Rapport is created when you can step into that person’s model of the world (even if you don’t want to stay there). Leading is when you gently expand their map of the world.
NLP is all about more choices. So respect someone else’s model of the world and if you want to change it always make sure you are installing a map that allows greater flexibility. Much of NLP is based on systems theory, which basically says that the system with the most flexibility and options wins.
Rapport is created when you can step into that person’s model of the world (even if you don’t want to stay there). Leading is when you gently expand their map of the world.
NLP is all about more choices. So respect someone else’s model of the world and if you want to change it always make sure you are installing a map that allows greater flexibility. Much of NLP is based on systems theory, which basically says that the system with the most flexibility and options wins.
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