The development of NLP has resulted in a number of presuppositions that seem to be useful in our attitude towards the world and to the development of ourselves. It is important to remember that there is no claim that these presuppositions are true – what is important is to try them out and act as if you believe that they are true.
NLP is not about fixed ways of doing things. It is about being willing to experiment and open up choices and try other ways of thinking and behaving.
It will be useful to concentrate on the following. Test them out and act as if they are true and notice the difference.
- The map is not the territory.
- There is no failure, only feedback.
- The mind and body affect each other.
- You are in charge of your mind and therefore of your results.
- People have all the resources that they need to make the changes that they want.
- It is better to increase your number of choices.
- If what you are doing isn’t working – DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
- The meaning of your communication is the response that you get
- Respect other people’s model of the world
- Language does not describe reality. It is a result of an external stimulus, followed by a personal internal representation
- The person with the most flexible behaviour will control the outcome of an interaction (In cybernetics this is known as the Law of Requisite Variety)
- The highest quality information about other people is their behaviour
- A person’s behaviour in a given situation is the best choice available to them
- A person’s behaviour is contextual and is not their self or identity
15. There is no such thing as a resistant client – only a lack of rapport