[Neurons] 2011 Meta Reflections #24

[L. Michael Hall]

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Meta Reflections 2011 - #24

May 23, 2011

 

I'M A NEURO-SEMANTICIST

 

 

"Who are you?"  That's what he asked.  And because I was working on an
article on Neuro-Semantics, I looked up from my seat on the plane and said,
"I'm a Neuro-Semanticist."

 

When I said that, I didn't know if it would be a conversation stopper or
opener.  I soon found out.  It did not stop the conversation.  He wanted to
know if I was in medicine or the neuro-sciences.  And so the conversation
began.  A bit later, he asked me why I was a Neuro-Semanticist.  

 

I'm a Neuro-Semanticist because most essentially I'm a meaning-maker, as is
every human being and as with everyone else, my life is one of creating and
embodying meanings.  Of these two facets, the first is that I create
meaning.  It is inevitable.  To think is to create meaning.  It is to define
what things are (identification meaning), how things work (cause-effect
meaning), and what results from what we do (consequential meaning).  There
are many other kinds of meanings, yet these are front and center to
everything.  To know how to respond to anything, you first have to define
what it is.  Then, once you know what it is, you have to know how it works,
what it does.   And when you know what it does, you will want to know what
it leads to.

 

Second my life is that of embodying the meanings that I create.  That is,
the meanings I accept and invent become the messages I send to my body and
the commands to my nervous systems.  And those messages become my emotions.
That's because the human body is designed to actualize meanings and the
first actualization occurs as felt meaning or emotions.

It is from my soma (body) that I receive and invent my semantics and then
those 

semantics creates my somatic states and experiences.

 

All emotions make sense.  They may not be useful, they may not make you or
me resourceful, they may not be accurate, they make not make life pleasant,
but they always make sense.  They make sense because they are expressions of
meanings.  Yes they are influenced by many other factors; yes there are
other contributing factors (eating, exercising, sleeping, health, sickness,
etc.), yet primarily and essentially, you feel as you think.  You create
your emotions (your somatic states and experiences) and your inner semantic
world (your matrix of frames).

 

In Neuro-Semantics one of our central models is the Meaning-Performance Axes
model.  This model has two axes (meaning and performance) and from it
emerges another model, the Self-Actualization Quadrants.  We use this for a
diagnosis of both individuals and organizations (See Unleashed,
Self-Actualization Psychology, and Unleashing Leadership).  So when it comes
to my semantics (my meanings), as a Neuro-Semanticist, I have several ways
to think about and understand the range and kinds and levels of meanings
that govern my life.  That's because on the Meaning Axes, there are at least
three scales that you can use in thinking about meaning-making.

1) Kinds of Meanings: This is the contribution of the NLP model.  We have
representational meaning, editorial (sub-modality) meaning, associative,
metaphorical, intentional, evaluative, etc.  There is meanings made up of
beliefs, values, understandings, decisions, permissions, prohibitions, etc.

 

2) Number of Meanings: This refers to the quantity of meanings that you can
create about any given thing.  Since nothing inherently means something, it
can mean a whole range of things.  We can give anything 5 meanings, 10, 20,
perhaps even 100.  The more meanings you can give to something, the more
choice you have to give it the meanings that will be empowering to you as a
person and enhancing your life.

 

3) Quality of Meanings: This refers to the quality of meanings from
meaninglessness to meaningfulness.  The degrees of quality range at the
bottom with futility up to triviality, then to the middle range of
conventionality, and on up to the higher range of unique and individual
meanings, up to the highest meanings of all, those that are special and
sacred because you have now found something that is bigger than yourself,
something to invest yourself into, something that will outlast you.

 

I am a Neuro-Semanticist because I translate from mind (meaning) to muscle
(performance).  I do not allow myself to know more and more and more without
translating what I know into action.  To do so increases the gap between
knowing-and-doing.  By taking what I know and doing something about it no
matter how small creates a momentum of implementation and it is that habit
of implementation that defines a real Neuro-Semanticist.  This closes the
knowing-doing gap.  It creates a bias for action.  It mobilizes the
proactive strategy and enables people to do what they say.

 

I am a Neuro-Semanticist because by creating new and rich meanings and
implementing them in practical and pragmatic action that makes the meanings
real in real life, I can easily find, detect, and begin to suspend any
meaning that is not enhancing and eliminate any performance that does not
contribute to the expression of my highest meanings.  This is the third
thing that I do.  I release and suspend meaning.  I release and replace
performances that do not enhance or empower.

 

 

 

The First International Neuro-Semantic Conference

.        Open to everybody --- especially NLP people, Neuro-Semanticists,
and people interested in self-development, self-actualization, Coaching, and
Business development.                              

 

.        July 1-3 and then July 4 on "Secrets about Mastery" By Colin Cox
--- Neuro-Semantic Master Trainer, 3 times winner of Strongest Man Contest
in New Zealand.

 

.        Schedule of Workshops: See the website, www.neurosemantics.com for
the three tracks ---coaching, business, self-development.  See the 22
speakers and workshop titles.

 

.        This is the inaugural Conference which will travel to various
countries around the world (Malaysia in 2013 and Hong Kong/ China 2015).

 

.        Only 5 weeks away --- now is the time to register for the
conference.  See attachment (Registration form).

 

 

 

 

 

 

L.  Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Neuro-Semantics Executive Director  ----   <http://www.neurosemantics.com/>
www.neurosemantics.com

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO.  81520 USA                             ----
<http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org

1 970-523-7877                                               ----
<http://www.meta-coaching.org/> www.meta-coaching.org

 

     

For a free subscription to Neurons--- the International  egroup of
Neuro-Semantics, go to the front page of  <http://www.neurosemantics.com/>
www.neurosemantics.com.   You can  subscribe and unsubscribe there.   Meta
Reflection articles by Dr. Hall are sent out every Monday (Colorado time).
Trainers' Reflections are on Tuesdays and Meta-Coach Reflections on
Wednesdays.   Contact Dr. Hall at  meta at acsol.net  

 

 

 

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