Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Each of us in our bodies possess one of the most sophisticated computers in the world and no one even thought to leave us an instruction manual on how to work it. So we've been doing the best that we can up until now by using our 5 senses to guide us. After all our 5 senses are the "reality". Right? .. Wrong!
Our 5 senses make up about 5% of what is really going on. Take for example your ears. They can only hear a certain frequency range. We cannot hear a dog whistle because the frequency is out of our range, however a dog can hear it just fine. That isn't to say that when someone is blowing on a dog whistle that the sound does not exist! It certainly exists but we just do not know about it. This type of event occurs continuously and is everywhere. In fact our senses only give us about 5% of the true picture of what is going on right now in the room that you are in! The other 95% we cannot hear/see/touch or perceive because our senses don't pick them up.
Neuro linguistic programming or NLP for short covers many methods for changing your perception of something. We will be touching on only one of these methods (also known as models). Isn't it funny how one person can be scared of a spider and the other person has no fear what so ever? The person who is scared of the spider has an image in their mind of a spider RIGHT UP CLOSE to them, where as the person who is not afraid has an image in their minds of a spider in the right proportion. So how do we get to be like the person who is not afraid?
We can change the language we use! By changing the language to something that we are not afraid of or do not carry negative emotions attached to them, we can start to change our perception. In the case of marijuana abuse and trying to quit smoking, we can try changing the following language...
- "I have quit smoking" .. becomes .. "I prefer not to smoke"
Do you see how that simple change in language can make all the difference? You see when you say "quit smoking" it most likely scares you because you remember negative feelings and emotions associated to quitting. But when you say "I prefer not to smoke", your mind relates the word "prefer" to something you enjoy and like. It takes the fear away and makes you feel more comfortable and at ease. Try practising this on your own words that make you feel anxious, tense and worried.
We have only briefly touched on NLP on this page and more information will be updated onto this page soon. In the meantime we recommend that you do your own due diligence and research on NLP, to start you off take a look at NLPInfo.com.
