[Neurons] 2016 "Neurons" #48 An Attitude is a Meta-State

Mon Oct 17 08:13:51 EDT 2016

From: L. Michael Hall

2016 "Neurons" Meta Reflections - #48

October 17, 2016

AN ATTITUDE IS A META-STATE

We know that attitude is important.  But how important?  And why is attitude
so important?  We all have heard that attitude makes the difference.  But
what difference does it make?  For that matter, what is an attitude anyway?

Here are a set of questions that the original NLP could not and did not
answer.  That's why for the first 20 years, there was nothing done in the
field of NLP on attitude.  Perhaps that's because, as the dictionary
indicates, an attitude is a very rich, complex gestalt made up of the
disposition of one's mind, emotions, and body and "the position of something
in relation to a frame of reference."  Then, in 1994, upon discovering the
Meta-States model, it became obvious that an attitude is a meta-state.

Take optimism as an attitude.  The optimistic person is a person who
accesses and applies positive thinking and feeling toward something.  Then
having access this positive state of thinking about possibilities and
opportunities, the person speaks and acts accordingly.  Yet this is not a
primary state like fear, anger, joy, relaxation, tension, love, hate, etc.
In a primary state you can point to the body parts (to your physiology)
where you feel the state.  But, where do you feel "optimism?"  This reveals
that it is not in the body as much as it is in the mind.  It is a belief.
The optimist believes in possibilities and in thinking positively.

Because of this, the person repeatedly brings this belief to many
experiences in life.  This reveals the meta-level nature of optimism.  By
repeatedly applying this state to one's everyday states, the person
meta-states himself or herself with optimism.  The habituation then turns
the meta-state into a meta-program.  Now it is in the person's eyes as his
lens for perceiving things.

This is the case with every attitude- a timid, fearful attitude, a go-for-it
proactive attitude, a racist attitude, a procrastination attitude of putting
things off, a looking for the path of least resistence attitude, a critical
attitude, an attitude of gratitude, and so on.  These are gestalt states
made up of multiple states-about-states.  This explains the power of an
attitude.  It is not just a thought, but much more than a thought.  An
attitude is a disposition of mind-and-emotion, a meta-level self-organizing
attractor and belief.

This explains why attitudes are so important.  They organize us.  They
control our perceptions.  They induce us into states.  They establish our
internal motives and motivation.  They make up one of the most significant
variables in our personality.  Your attitude, and mine, can prevent us from
even considering opposing information.  Attitude can limit you from
accessing some resources.

Given all of this, what attitudes do you have that do not serve you well?
Do you have a grumpy attitude when you get into traffic?  Do you have a
fearful and apprehensive attitude when you see or hear others in conflict?
What's your attitude about mistakes, errors, and failures?  How robust is
your attitude in bouncing back in a resilient way from a set-back?  What's
your attitude about learning new things?  Obviously, attitude plays a very
significant role in our lives and therefore we need to have a way to change
our attitudes, refresh them, make them more robust, eliminate negative
attitudes, and create new attitudes as the need arises.  How do we do that?
Here's a recommended process.

1) First identify and detect your attitudes.

Take time to begin an attitude search in your life.  Three or four times a
day stop and identify the attitude that you are experiencing or have
experienced.  Make a record of the attitudes that you find yourself
experiencing.   You can not change what you are not aware of.  So this is
first.

2) Decide which of your attitudes need some help.

Which of your attitudes do you no longer need?  Which undermine your
effectiveness?  Which ones reduce your joy and gratitude in life?  Which
ones increase your sense of grumpiness and misery?  Which attitudes are good
but need to be refreshed or rejuvenated or made more robust and courageous?
To do this you will need to rise above the attitude as it were and run a
quality control on it.  Does the attitude give your life higher quality or
does it lessen the quality of your life?  Does it work to enhance your life,
empower you as a person, reflect your best values?

3) Explore the variables inside the attitude. 

Your attitude is made up of thoughts, emotions, beliefs, etc. that you have
built over the years from your experiences.  They develop from the
conclusions you have drawn ... and some of your conclusions were made by a
five-year-old mind, others by a fourteen-year-old mind, etc.  So which ones
are limiting?  What changes do you need to make in your representations?  In
your beliefs.

4) Use the basic NLP and Neuro-Semantic patterns to make changes.

There are lots of patterns for making changes: Sub-modality shifts, Change
Personal History, Movie Rewind, Meta-Yes Belief Change, Reframing,
Super-Charging Your Attitude, etc.  See any Introducing NLP, Sourcebook of
Magic, User's Manual of the Brain, etc.

Structurally, your attitudes, as your outlook on the world, are your
meta-programs and your meta-states.  Knowing that, you now have several ways
by which you can refine your attitudes to make them richer and more
resourceful.  

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

               Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

               Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net

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