[Neurons] 2020 Neurons #43 NLP IS ENOUGH -- IF YOU HAVE THE SPIRIT

Sun Aug 30 22:02:25 EDT 2020

From: L. Michael Hall   

2020 Neurons #43

August 31, 2020

A Good Word for NLP series #3

NLP IS ENOUGH

IF YOU HAVE THE SPIRIT!

I wrote that "NLP is enough" and now I have to qualify that.  NLP is enough
is actually only valid if you have the spirit.  What spirit is that?  The
spirit of NLP.  I began developing that idea in 1989 when I was taking notes
of the Bandler Master Practitioner Training in San Diego.  Eventually I
decided to make that the theme of the notes which we turned into a book with
the same title, The Spirit of NLP (1996, Crown House Publications).

I think I was very fortunate to pick up on that in those years when I was
first learning NLP because, above and beyond the content information of NLP,
I learned the spirit.  I learned the spirit that brought about the
surprising and unexpected discovery of NLP itself ... and which later
enabled me to continue the creative discovery of more aspects of NLP leading
eventually to Neuro-Semantics. 

What is the spirit of NLP?  First and foremost it is an intense curiosity
that asks all kinds of questions right out of the gate, even "crazy"
questions- questions that you might not suspect would lead anywhere.  To
understand that, remember that the three individuals responsible for NLP
were outsiders to the field of psychology.  They hardly knew the current
paradigms of psychology and so when they met two incredible therapeutic
communicators (Fritz and Virginia), because they didn't know so much of the
content (Gestalt or Family Systems), they asked a lot of crazy questions
which enabled them to see things others had not. 

The spirit of NLP is also one of skepticism.  Instead of believing
everything presented in psychology as "the truth," they doubted it and they
questioned it.  Of course, too much skepticism can lead to cynicism,
disbelief, and even subversiveness.  And that is something that the founders
actually had far too much of!  The founders so happened to live at a time in
the cultural environment of the US in the 1960s / 1970s where all sorts of
things were being turned up-side-down.  Everything was being questioned and
doubted.  There was the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Right Movement,
the Anti-War Movement, and with that the anti-government movement.  It was
the time of Rock'n Roll, Drugs, Dropping Out, and being skeptical about
anything anyone over 30 said (they were all under 30!).  So the founders
brought a subversiveness to the field of Psychology.  [A negative
consequence of that was the negative image that NLP created in that field.
Something we are still trying to overcome and undo to this very day.]

The spirit of NLP is one of experimentation.  It is one of try it and see
what happens.  This is a spirit that considers there's no such thing as
failure, only feedback about what works and what doesn't and a willingness
to give it a go.   This active pragmatism, in turn, led the founders to
wildly experiment with their original groups long before they formalized
their discoveries.  Three years they experimented with the language patterns
of Perls and Satir and then the hypnotic language patterns of Erickson ...
long before any publications.

When you add these factors together- intense curiosity, skepticism, wild
experimentation- what do you get?  You get a person who is passionate for
"going for it" trying new and untested things, and being willing to examine
one's own assumptions.  And if you take on this spirit- you will create an
intense committed state that's flexible, playful, and proactive.  Do that -
and you'll discover how NLP is enough today for you to become masterful in
your field.

Is that all?  No.  If you read The Spirit of NLP, you will find more- 

Ferocious Resolve                     Openness to Feedback             

                             Flexibility
Playfulness and Humor

                             Solution focus
Installing with trance

               Search for excellence              Persistence 

Yet while the original founders had a pretty wild and wonderful spirit that
generated such an incredible model in such a short time, the original
founders also lacked certain qualities.  They lacked a true sense of
community.  They lacked a spirit of collaboration and they failed to model
healthy leaders who pull people together for a vision greater than
themselves.  That was their Achilles Heel.  The result was conflict,
division, egos getting in the way, people refusing to acknowledge each
other's contributions, and the lack of ethics.  They failed to model healthy
communities and to build in ethics, accountability and responsibility.

These additional qualities give us some more elements for a healthy spirit
of NLP - or shall I say, of Neuro-Semantics or Neuro-Semantic NLP.

For more, check out The Spirit of NLP.

 <http://www.neurosemantics.com/products/the-spirit-of-nlp/>
www.neurosemantics.com/products/the-spirit-of-nlp/           

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com   

The stunning new history of NLP--- NLP Secrets.  

Investigative Journalism which has exposed what has been kept secrets for
decades. 

http://www.neurosemantics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/NLP-Secrets-2_sml2.
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