What can NLP be used for? I think a better question is what cannot NLP be used for?
Since NLP is comprised of a collection of techniques for liberating the mind, and the mind is the primary tool for achieving anything you want, let’s see how this works.
First of all let us talk about the untrained minds. The perception of the world for the untrained mind is clouded by the commonly accepted views, beliefs, decisions, values and attitudes which may be their own or imposed onto them by society itself. The problem with this arises when they cannot perceive anything else but the notions impressed upon them by the “accepted” all-inclusive and often restrictive ways of thinking about self and others.
You, the reader of this article have had this experience. There was a time in your life, when you were surrounded by a group of people (and this could include close members of your family) who agreed on a belief that it is hard or even impossible to have what you want. Or that only “the lucky others” could be successful in life. Or that you are not really good enough, no matter how hard you try. Did that make you feel good and optimistic about your life?
If you’re honest the answer must be no. However what you may not be conscious of is that all these beliefs are influencing you bit by bit, and that by accepting these restrictions you start making them into your reality. You start solidifying them into your “truth”, into your mind and thinking patterns. The result? You become exactly what you think you are and your life will precisely reflect back to you those limitations you accepted …. from others! And as a result your life becomes a series of often frustrating experiences, unfulfilled expectations, broken relationships, unsatisfactory careers and lack… of money, satisfaction, happiness and optimism.
This mostly happens not because of the lack of comprehension of the societal framework, or the specialized terminology as in different sectors of economy, science, politics, what have you, but rather because of the lack of knowledge of the working of the “mind” and how it operates.
This is no small problem, since every man and woman and child has a mind. To control and manage the mind is to provide voluntary influence with will and intelligence to an otherwise unconscious set of responses taking place in the mind.
Being able to command the minds and therefore the behaviors of masses of people denotes a special ability not available to the common people. NLP is used to command the PR campaigns, the slogans, the art of social engineering of society. Here is how it works.
The average person on the street has little reason to suspect that his/her mind is being manipulated on a daily basis by marvelously crafted language patterns present in the mass media, political campaigns, corporate lingo, different scientific domains or financial institutions to name only a few. Consequently most people are blissfully unaware of the importance of language as a tool for social manipulation and control. Confronted with the barely intelligible financial, legal, political, scientific and economical terms, most people give up and resort to simple entertainment.
Little do they understand that the jargon pertaining to each industry is designed to keep the “unenlightened” person confused to a degree to which he or she is unable to figure out the process taking place.
Subsequently a big percentage of the population simply gives up and resorts to brain numbing entertaining. For many people this is used as an escape from the maze of conflicting and contradictory presentation of events and from the cognitive dissonance experienced between the presented news and reality of their own lives.
Very few people (regardless of their level of education) are able to understand how their personal way of thinking which leads to systems of beliefs and attitudes influence the quality of their lives. The first time you tried to drive a car and you had no instructions to guide you, how far do you think you’d get before driving into a ditch? So how are you going to operate your own mind if nobody teaches you the “how to” do it?
Make no mistake about it, without your own control over your mind, you are unable to enjoy the full capabilities for which your brain is having the requisite qualities. I wrote once elsewhere that either you have control over your own mind or somebody else will.
A system of beliefs which is often incomplete, biased, or limited, can become detrimental if not downright harmful to the individual; such a system is not getting useful or effective results.
When you are ignorant of how your mind works and the processes taking place when you make decisions or when you believe wholeheartedly what you believe, or when you get (de)motivated you become stuck in unconscious reflex responses. And so throughout time your present status quo just keeps going and no improvement seems possible. There seems to be no escape from ever rotating loops and patterns in which you seem to be caught.
There is another problem though: you then become “sold” into your own model of the world with its own limitations about your own capabilities (or lack thereof). Then you seem to really find no way out of your fixed ideas and mistaken basic assumptions about what’s going on. As time passes you become more and more uncertain, unsteady and shaky, unhappy and unable to change anything. And I know many people who finally gave up. “This is how it is” they say, “Nothing I can do. I better resign myself to a mediocre life because that’s all there is for me.”
Very few people are aware of the fact that it is possible to change these conditions and reach a state of increased control over those values, beliefs and decisions and so over their own lives. Even fewer people are aware that you can actually change all the beliefs inserted there over time, the beliefs which were not even yours to being with and which now define the satisfaction and success of your life.
So, how do NLP-ers create the knowledge necessary to learn how to operate their own minds?
The Conscious Mind operates on certain principles. It has clearly defined internal filters which can be discovered, cleaned or replaced. You have beliefs, decisions, strategies, values, Negative Emotions and Limiting Decisions which you got accustomed to. You think “this is how I am” and put up with it.
Nobody questions the importance of using good gasoline for a good car, however how many people are aware of the quality of their mind processes? If your car engine is running unevenly, you would immediately try to find out what is the problem and fix it. What are you doing when a part of your mind (that sets limitations for you) is running unevenly? Do you know what to do? Or do you put up with it telling yourself: “This is how it is, there is nothing I can do to change the situation, I am simply not good enough!”
If you don’t service your car, eventually it will break down. So will your mind. Eventually it will settle in mental lethargy and the enormous power you could have available for your goals and life purposes will remain unfamiliar, unused, and subject to great wear and tear. The new strategies for success, the releasing of old habits that made you fail in the past, the discovery of how many great unused strategies you already you have and their full implementation…all of this and so much more is present in an NLP Training.
Oh and one more thing: when your mind is full of fears, anxieties, all sorts of Negative Emotions and Limiting Decisions and Limiting Beliefs about yourself and the world, it is almost impossible to control the processes going on within. Time Line Therapy® is the tool we employ to get rid of all that “junk” that wears us down and tears us apart. As many of the readers are well aware, we don’t teach only NLP on its own. Together with NLP we teach Time Line Therapy®, NLP Coaching and Hypnosis. To see what each and every one of these modalities can offer you click on the words themselves and you will be directed to the corresponding page on our website.
This is why taking an NLP Training is so useful. You gain control over your mind and this is the first step in creating a life you want and desire, a life under your control. Remember if you don’t control your mind, somebody else will.
I would suggest it rather be you!
Until next time, be well.