Principles of NLP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Principles of NLP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"NLP is sometimes described as an empirical epistemology. That is, it is a way of knowing whose evidence is experiment and observation, rather than results derived from some overall theory. It is eclectic, that is, it draws heavily on results from other fields if felt useful, and acts as a 'toolbox' [REF] in the sense that it is silent as to any pre-specified purpose or application, leaving that ultimately to the end user(s) to decide.

NLP is a divergent subject, and so different individuals will have different formulations for what they consider 'principles of NLP'. However there is common agreement that some principles, which date from very early on and in some cases were borrowed from other fields can be identified as 'principles of NLP' with annotation describing their universality if need be.

The map is not the territory

"NLP epistemology" follows Alfred Korzybski (1933) and Gregory Bateson's (1972, 1979) postulations that there is no such thing as "objective experience." The subjective nature of our experience never fully captures the objective world.

Behind every behavior is a positive intention

There is no failure, only feedback

Choice is better than no choice (and flexibility is the way one gets choice) - The ability to change the process by which we experience reality is more often valuable than changing the content of our experience of reality.

The meaning of your communication is the response you get

Meaning is in the eye of the recipient. This is an "As-if" concept: it may not be true, it may be that the recipient is mistaken, but if you work on the basis that the recipient's understanding of what you say (and not yours) is the important one, it will lead you to communicate in a way that gets the actual message across and heard, even if linguistic gymnastics [ie flexibility] are needed to do so.

Multiple descriptions are better than one

Because of the systemic nature of human's lives, often a person in a situation cannot see answers that a person standing outside can. So by moving between different perceptual positions, it is claimed that one can see a problem in new ways, or with less emotional attachment, and thus gather more information and develop new choices of response.

If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you always got

Use whatever works

NLP incorporates the body as well as the mind - the body impacts on the mind, as the mind impacts on the body. How one stands, walks, moves, breathes, and holds muscle tensions, will have an impact on a person's emotional state.

Conscious understanding is not always needed - unlike traditional therapies, effective change, and/or learning at an unconscious level, are emphasised over and above conscious understanding. According to NLP, change does not always require interpretation and analysis, it requires development of ones map of beliefs about the world and oneself, so that what was previously inaccessible becomes possible, and this can be effected in very many ways."