Welcome!

Hello and welcome! I created this blog to do exactly what it says above - to understand and utilize the ideas and methods of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).

First off, a few definitions.

understand

ʌndəˈstand/verb

1. perceive the intended meaning of (words, a language, or a speaker).
"he didn't understand a word I said"

2. interpret or view (something) in a particular way.
"as the term is usually understood, legislation refers to regulations and directives"

utilize

ˈjuːtɪlʌɪz/verb

make practical and effective use of.
"vitamin C helps your body utilize the iron present in your diet"

synonyms:

make use of, put to use, use, employ, avail oneself of, have recourse to, resort to, look to, bring into service, take advantage of, exploit, turn to account, bring into effective action, deploy "concrete had long been utilized as a bonding and covering material"

OK, got that. So what is NLP?



NLP is a name. It's a name that stands for Neuro-linguistic Programming. Sounds cool, but what does it mean?

From the Oxford English Dictionary: Neuro-Linguistic Programming: "a model of interpersonal communication chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behavior and the subjective experiences (esp. patterns of thought) underlying them" and "a system of alternative therapy based on this which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective communication, and to change their patterns of mental and emotional behavior."

Neuro-Linguistic Programming refers to 1. the Neurology/neuroscience of human experience, and 2. Linguistic, which refers to the use of language (externally/verbally, and internally), and finally 3. Programming, which is where we combine the use of language with our mental representations to change our neurology, and thus our experience. 

Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the study of the structure of subjectivity.

What is the purpose of using NLP and how can it help me?

Simply put: the purpose of using NLP is to unlock one's limitations, whether they be mental, emotional, or physical. It is about giving people the freedom to choose how to behave. The main ways in which NLP can and does help people are: removing phobias and limiting beliefs, installing new, empowering beliefs, overcoming bad memories, getting rid of addictions, generating states of consciousness, like motivation, inspiration, and drive, whenever it is desired, and not to be at the mercy of states like depression, sorrow, guilt and sadness etc. If you look at it in terms of a computer, ultimately NLP is about deleting the bad stuff, and installing the good stuff, and tweaking everything in between.

A brief history

NLP was created in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, in California. Basically what they did was study certain people who were the best in their field at the time; the main ones being Milton Erickson, a hypnotherapist, Virginia Satir, a family therapist, and Fritz Perls, a German psychotherapist who coined the term 'Gestalt therapy'. Specifically, what they wanted to find out is how they were able to do what it is they did. And Bandler and Grinder found that these people had certain things in common to do with the way that they communicated. While doing this they essentially extrapolated formulas and simple to use information, set out explicitly in order for anyone to learn in a step-by-step manner. So what they did was model people whom they considered to be geniuses and developed a model which would be possible to be installed into other people. 

So basically, NLP is a form of therapy and has its roots in modelling, with Richard and his knowledge of computer science (which is what most of NLPs terminology is based on) and John with his knowledge in linguistics. Before NLP started to become popular, Richard was studying at the university where John worked (as a professor of linguistics), and during his study years Richard would spend time with Virginia and visit mental hospitals to learn as much as he could, and being the non-conventional person he was (and still is) he always had his own ways of trying out different methods, because he knew - apparently more than anyone else - that all these psychiatrists and psychotherapists were repeatedly failing, with the exception of a few, but when he tried to do things his way he always got told that he couldn't do this and wasn't allowed to do that. For example, one time he was about to see a patient and the psychiatrist handed him this huge case history of all the notes on this guy, all the things wrong with him and all the reasons why, etc. and as he took hold of the case history he immediately threw it in the trash, and said he doesn't need it. Why? Because his way of thinking and getting results has nothing to do with a person's past, or why they're the way they are. He knew that all that kind of knowledge on an individual doesn't help with changing them. With NLP the reasons why people are messed up are irrelevant to change. Everyone has a million and one reasons as to why they have problems, but it doesn't solve the problem, does it? 

So with the methods of NLP what Richard and John aimed to do was to find out how, specifically to change people. And so when Richard was repeatedly told he wasn't allowed to do the things he wanted to do (even though he actually got results) he got the idea of creating his own field of research. That way he would only be limited to his own imagination. So he got to thinking "if I had my own field, what would I want in it", and what he wanted was "to be able to do whatever the fuck I want." And so he did. This led to what is today a multi-billion dollar industry you've probably never heard of, helping millions of people all around the globe with every kind of problem you can imagine. 

Learn more about the origins of NLP here.

Summary

NLP is a field of research made up of human neurology, language and how we process every aspect of life. It is a field that not many people have heard of, yet it's also a phenomenon that literally every human being does, every day! The only difference is that NLP is designed to be used consciously to do the things we already do, but better. And to remove the things we don't want. It is the process by which we extracted techniques from the minds of the original role models. It is a set of formulaic tools for personal mastery, that can be used pretty much in all human endeavors.

In my future posts I will explain the core concepts, ideas and fundamentals of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, in a way that can be easily understood and utilized for maximum benefits. 

Stay tuned...