The Ultimate Introduction to NLP

It’s Like You’re Attending a Workshop

"A good map is a map that gets you to see things from different perspectives and that helps you feel as resourceful as possible about your situation."- The Ultimate Introduction to NLP, page 14

Meet Joe. We will track him as he attends a one-day introductory course with Dr. Bandler, listens to Richard teaching, practices the techniques and learns with fellow participants how to apply the content personally as well as professionally.

To begin, we discover the basics. In order to understand our world, we need to realize that we map it in our brains through three basic processes. First, we delete part of the information (just as we would not draw on a city map what the cars look like). Next, we generalize (when you see a blue shape, you expect it to be a lake or sea). Last, we distort part of the information. For instance, a subtle way people distort things is to attach meaning to something that happened or to something that someone said/did.

To have better options, feelings and interactions with others, we need to expand our maps. We must look at the same things from different perspectives. Instead of generalizing our experiences and projecting them into the future, we would be wise to realize (for example) that not all people will stab us in the back.

Get Rid of Bad Memories

"The important thing is this: when you get rid of that problem, what are you going to do with all of the spare time that you’ll have?"- The Ultimate Introduction to NLP, page 107

Distilled, here is a sequence of steps by which to eliminate negative associations:

1. Think of something that recently happened to you and that still bothers you – something you don’t want to think of anymore. Focus on the visual representation of the memory – the image or movie that you see in your mind’s eye.
2. Take that picture, make it smaller, move it off into the distance and drain the colour plus brightness out of it.
3. If you hear the voices and sounds of the scene, make them fade away.
4. Make the picture so small you have to squint to see what’s in there, and then make it even smaller.
5. When it’s the size of a breadcrumb, you can just brush it away.

There! How was that? Easy…right?

Building a Better Future

"How good can you feel for no reason whatsoever?"- The Ultimate Introduction to NLP, page 34

Having released what is not working, how about we concentrate on what we DO desire for our lives? Here’s the process:

1. Allow your breathing to slow down. Let yourself go effortlessly into a state of comfort.
2. Imagine time stretched out in front of you and behind you. See yourself drifting above your timeline and looking down on your past, present and future.
3. As you look down, you can see all those times you had a bad experience. As you do so, you realize each was a training ground for your future success.
4. Notice the useful information that emerges from each of those experiences. Take that “light” with you and leave the rest behind, in the past, where it belongs.
5. Next, think of a time when you were feeling on top of the world. Immerse yourself in that situation and let that fantastic sensation grow. Move it through your body.
6. Take this feeling, give it a colour of your choice and imagine it spraying through your past so that it covers every negative memory and bad experience.
7. Imagine looking down and realizing how good you feel about those past experiences. Whatever troubled you is now behind you and getting farther away by the second.
8. As you feel good about your past, imagine looking down at your future. Picture the best kinds of feelings raining down on it. See your future looking better than ever.
9. Float slowly back into your body. Feel full of excitement and anticipation for your most amazing future – full of new people, opportunities and possibilities.