Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP has as its foundation a set of beliefs known as presuppositions. These beliefs form the basis of the many practical applications derived from NLP that are so incredibly useful in helping people achieve positive change in their lives. These beliefs are incorporated into NLP as presuppositions not because they are always true 100% of the time, but rather because holding the belief that they are true provides the most useful approach to understanding how people create and interpret the structure of their experience and ultimately make the choices they do.
Over the next few posts I will explore these presuppositions in order to help familiarize you with them. In doing so I hope to provide you with a better idea of exactly what NLP is and how it’s utilized to help people make positive changes in their lives.
The meaning of communication is the response it gets
From a practical standpoint, how your communication is received by the listener is more relevant than your intent. If you intend to communicate one thing but your listener receives a different message, it is up to YOU to adjust your communication until it is received in the manner that you intend. Relying upon the other person to figure out what you mean and complaining that they don’t “get it” takes all responsibility for the communication out of your hands and leaves you without any options of getting your message across. If the way you are trying to get your message across doesn’t work, try other ways of saying/demonstrating what you mean until you have successfully communicated your intended message.
The map is not the territory
What we view as reality is not ultimate reality. Objective experience is first filtered through our senses to the extent we are able to perceive it, then filtered through our belief systems, moods, opinions and experiences of others to construct in our minds “maps” of reality which we then file away to rely upon as the basis of our future experiences.
Map making is incredibly time saving when it helps us achieve the things we want in life, and just as effective in a negative way when we unintentionally create maps that limit choices and hold us back. No matter how accurate the map, it is still only a representation of the territory it strives to represent. By changing a your map to one that is either closer to objective experience or more useful in achieving the outcomes you desire (or both), your experience of reality and the outcomes you generate can be changed.
Every behavior has a positive intent
Given their models of reality and the perception of possible choices, people make the best choices for themselves to achieve the outcomes they desire. Even when a persons choices objectively seem self destructive, short sighted, hurtful, etc, they are selected by the individual as the best perceived option to meet their needs at the time the choice is made. Helping people perceive a greater range of available choices is a major aspect of NLP, since having a greater range of choice provides a better inventory of options from which exists the possibility of making better decisions.
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