NLP or Learning how to say “just get over it” in publicity speak
Richard Bandler asks, would you rather buy a book for $12.95 or spend 10 years and upwards of $50,000 to cure your phobias? The answer’s simple right? Well, that’s exactly Dr. Bandler’s point! And, so is his no-nonsense problem solving system, NLP.
Richard Bandler is the co-creator of NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which has been around for four decades. Lots of people you’ve heard of use this technique. Tony Robbins comes to mind. So does Paul McKenna. It’s also used by teachers, architects, engineers. Almost anywhere where brains are used. (And, if it isn’t, it probably should be.)
I will do my best to explain at least a sliver of NLP to you. Probably several times as I am sill in the process of explaining it to myself!
What I’ve learned thus far I brought back from two days of a nine day NLP seminar. I also get to help bring out Bandler’s two new books this fall, the first he’s published in the U.S. in ten years.
I’m psyched.
The first book, slated for September is called Get the Life You Want and in November, the second title to be released is, Richard Bandler’s Guide to Trance-formation: Hypnosis for Everybody.
(Come with me on my journey to synthesize a huge, hard-to-describe subject into media-ready bytes. With NLP, not an easy task, but a good example of the challenges we publicists face. How do we respectfully simplify complex systems with minimal “dumbed down” language? Lucky for me, I have a couple of months.)
Bandler believes that if people can learn to have fear in a short period of time, there’s no reason why the unlearning of that fear should be a long, drawn out process. He has been known to turn around people with serious phobias in twenty minutes.
Bandler doesn’t dwell on the “why” of a person’s issue. Instead, he works backwards by having first observed what has taken place when his research subjects “got over” something, extracting the “how” and then applying that knowledge to the current subject. He’s perfected the science of “getting over it!”
In the introduction of Richard Bandler’s Guide to Personal Trance-formation, he says,”Once you understand how your mind works and how your thinking works, you will become aware of why you’ll be able to make such powerful and permanent change in your life.”
The good news is, in both books, Bandler guides us to some mental tools that we already have at our disposal.
It’s not about analysis, insight, understanding or reliving problems. Think about it. Do we really want to suffer a trauma more than once? I don’t. One of the things Bandler said to me at the seminar was, “The best thing about the past is that it’s over.”
I like that.
I’d rather learn how to access different states of mind that will get me through – now. I saw a glimpse of some of how that works in the seminar.
There’s a lot of visualization. The idea of our “pictures” is very important in NLP. Where they’re located, how they make us feel, if they’re big, small. Do they move? It goes on and on.
NLP’s big on breaking down our representational systems.The trainer’s manual reads:
“All distinctions human beings are able to make concerning our environment and our behavior can be usefully represented through the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory senses.”
As individuals we typically lean towards one of these more than the others. (Listen when people speak to their choice of words like “I see”, “I hear”, and “I feel.”)
Knowing our own proclivities as well as others’ gives us information that can bridge us in our communication. How bad can that be?
(As I looked around the seminar room, I noticed more than half of the participants were from outside of the U.S. Mixed cultures communicating peacefully. Nice idea, I thought.)
There’s a whole lot more to this NLP stuff that I need to learn and you’ll get to watch.
So, let’s just say that I am immensely impressed from what I witnessed and learned this weekend, still think I’m in a Bandler trance trying to make sense of it, and look forward to playing with NLP myself and helping bring it forward to all of you.
In these scary economic times, even if we subscribe to traditional therapy, it’s damn expensive. The price tag of $12.95 – $19.95 for a book sounds a lot more affordable.
And, the experience of taking responsibility for changing our own lives — priceless.
Check out Dr. Richard Bandler’s website at: http://www.richardbandler.com
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You have a very lively mind and promoting Bandler’s work is a real terrific opportunity. He has a very lively mind too. I have enjoyed his other books and look forward to these new ones! Thanks!