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NLP In a Nutshell

First, what in heck does it stand for, and second what does that mean?

The letters stand for “Neuro-Linguistic Programming” which in my view is a very un-sexy name for one of the most brilliant psychological innovations of the 20th Century, possibly of all time.

It was “created” by two men, Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the early 70’s. Their joint interest, (one was a mathematician, the other a Professor of Linguistics), was the study of human excellence. To them it seemed curious that although the vast majority of human beings are endowed with similar faculties – a healthy body and working nervous system - only a few ever rise to the top in any field of endeavour, though many try. What was the difference?

Their research led them to see and define patterns of thought, (which gives rise to behaviour), and that these patterns were relatively easy to change once identified. For instance, one thing that NLP is famed for is rapid phobia cures. (I once cured a woman of a 30 year phobia in under fifteen minutes!). Suppose you’re afraid of spiders. Where traditional therapies might delve into childhood, or even what a spider means to you symbolically, NLP is not interested in any of that. What it says is this:

The behaviour is consistent. You don’t see a spider one day and say, “Oh, it’s okay. I’m not afraid of them on Wednesdays.”

If you’re afraid of them, you’re afraid every time. But there are other things you do at which you are totally competent every time, like crossing the road. Using very approachable and easy to understand principles, an NLP practitioner would show you how to access the resource of competence and transpose it to the situation of seeing spiders. Thereafter, whenever you saw a spider you would feel as competent about handling the situation as you do when crossing the road.

The beauty of NLP is that it’s simplicity makes it enormously adaptable. It’s ability to help build rapport skills is almost legendary too. Therefore it is helpful in fields as diverse as selling, (NLP is everywhere in the world of executive training), to overcoming shyness or working with marital difficulties.

Whereas most people spend their lives feeling they are “driven” by their moods and emotions, NLP puts you in the driver’s seat so that you become master of your life and master of your destiny! Many people have also been helped (again very rapidly) to overcome lifelong pain caused by trauma of abuse, or even rape.

(Many thanks to Trevor Emdon who has contributed this introduction to NLP)

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