Neuro – our thoughts
The nervous system relates to our mind and sensory organs which receive and filter information through our five senses.
We have over 60,000 thoughts a day which form our internal world of pictures, sounds and feelings. It is these conversations, dialogues and arguments we have with ourselves in our thinking processes that drive how we feel, contribute to our mood and how we respond to things. These are called ‘internal representations’.
It is important to realise that our thoughts can be controlled. How we feel, our behaviour and the results we get are combinations of these internal representations which form our repeating patterns or habits. We run these repeating patterns or habits over and over again until they interrupted or re-directed. Sometimes these patterns are helpful but often they limit or even sabotage our potential success.
Linguistic – verbal and non-verbal
Language is how we communicate with ourselves and others. It is also how we label experiences. Empowering language generates empowering behaviour. Negative language, such as excuses, is the result of dis-empowering thoughts and often we are not aware of them. It is negative language that limits our choices.
It is estimated that 93% of communication is non-verbal. This means that how you say what you say (intonation, speed, volume) carries five times more information than the words spoken. And how you use your body (gestures, facial expressions, posture) is even more influential.
Programming – our behaviour
Programming relates to the way we construct personal programmes of thought, communication and behaviour. We all run programmes in our minds all of the time, These programmes, patterns of behaviour and strategies drive the way we behave, our performance and ultimately our results. We have one brain but two minds: the unconscious which remembers all the things you do automatically (walking, driving a car, making a cup of tea etc.) and the conscious which is concerned with the here and now.
NLP techniques provide us with the opportunity to grow and develop, helping us to fulfil our potential and be the best we can be. Our specific thoughts, actions and feelings consistently produce specific results. We may be happy or unhappy with the results but if we repeat the same thoughts, actions and feelings, we will get the same results. If we want to change our results, we need to change the thoughts, actions and words that go into producing them.