[Neurons] 2020 Neurons #52 NLP IS ENOUGH TO BE MINDFUL

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall   

2020 Neurons #52

September 28, 2020

A Good Word for NLP series #7

 

 

NLP IS ENOUGH

TO BE MINDFUL & KNOW YOURSELF

 

 

I'm often asked questions about the many other things that come along as
possible self-development techniques.  The question I'm asked concerns the
relationship of NLP to these other things especially when the next "fad of
the month" is getting lots of publicity in the media.  Knowing NLP and
Neuro-Semantics as I do and thinking of Neuro-Semantic NLP in a systemic way
as I do- the answer that I've always ended up with is that NLP is enough.
Here are some examples.

 

Mindfulness

The idea of being mindful has surged in the past decade or more and all
sorts of programs for mindfulness have made the rounds.  It sounds new and
sexy and therefore appealing.  Yet what are we talking about?  What are
these programs actually about?

 

The great majority of such programs focus on good stuff- being calm and cool
(relaxed), in sensory awareness, and meditation of one kind or another.  All
good stuff!  And all of that-is basic NLP.  When you study NLP 101- you
study sensory awareness, "losing your mind and coming to your senses"
(Perls), representational systems and becoming truly aware of how you are
thinking.  You also learn about states- learning, motivation, decision, and
relaxation.  And with your Milton Model training, you learn about trance-
mediation.

 

The better Mindfulness programs also implicitly offer some of the
meta-stating processes- stepping back and observing your state.  But (and
this is a big but!) they do not make it explicit and so while the processes
are incorporated within their program- because they do not present the
structure of mindfulness, participants for the most part do not really
understand how it works.  They may have a good experience, but without
explicitly learning the structure (which is what we do), they remain
dependent on the program and do not become independent and self-determining.

 

So what all of the programs for Mindfulness offer is precisely what we
already have in NLP. Actually, it is not something new at all.  It is only
the packaging that they present that seems new.  Now there are some forms of
mindfulness that actually do the opposite.  What they mean by mindfulness is
getting out of, and eliminating, conscious awareness.  Good luck!  You are a
thinking being and thinking you do!  You cannot not think.  You cannot turn
off your brain doing what brains do- process information.  Further, the
problem is not thinking- if there is a problem it goes to the kind and
quality of thinking- thinking with cognitive distortions and fallacies and
not knowing how to manage one's thinking.

That's where the Meta-States Model comes in.  This is what all of the
programs on mindfulness does not have.  To truly and authentically become
mindful- you need to become aware of your awareness, to think about your
thinking.  We call that meta-thinking, meta-cognition, meta-awareness.  We
know the process for doing that- meta-stating.  We bring a state of
observation, curiosity, wonder, learning, etc. to our first level thinking.
That makes us meta-mindful.  

 

The value?  Now you can quality control your thinking.  Now you can check
out the quality of your thinking to make sure that you are not bringing
judging, fear, anger, hatefulness, etc. to your thinking.  That's what
creates problems.  Mindfulness ... and advanced mindfulness is built into
Neuro-Semantic NLP.  And when you know that- you know that what you have is
far richer.  

[And if you want more- See Chapter 12 in Neuro-Semantics (2012) "Actualizing
Reflective Mindfulness."]

 

The Enneagram

Organizations and business people want things quick and simple and this is
actually the hidden frame that creates so many problems in business.  But
most in business do not even know it!  It is a blind-spot for them.
Therefore they are easy hits for people who over-promise using the ideas of
fast and simple.  The Enneagram and other typology programs are examples.

 

Here is an ancient typology system that they are dusting off and selling.
This nine pointed model (ennea-gram) presents nine personality types in a
circle and triangle.  Of course, the problem is the whole idea of types.
Typology is the assumption is that people are types and they can be divided
and classified into types or kinds of people.  Oh, if only it was that
simple!  So any of the popular typology models- Myers Briggs, Taylor
Johnson, DiSC (from William Moulton Marston, 1920s)- the problem is the
assumption that you are a certain type of person and you will always be that
type.

 

But people are not types.  People can and do change.  And people are so
flexible that in different contexts with different people and for different
purposes, they function in different ways.  That's why no typology fits with
NLP.  As a model of communication and change, NLP is about enabling people
to change and adapt to be more effective.  I detailed the reason NLP view
personality in terms of states - flexible, changeable states, not types in
The Structure of Personality (2001).

 

And precisely because of this, in Neuro-Semantic NLP we use the
Meta-Programs Model to help us work with, match, and facilitate change in
people.  With meta-programs, you can profile a job, a task, a role ... and
then profile the people who are already operating in the ways that best fit.
Is it as simple?  No.  Is it as fast?  No.  But then again, we are working
with human personalities - which are complex systems, not fixed pieces that
can be put into a box.

              [See The Structure of Personality and/or  Figuring Out
People.]

 




 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

 

To unsubscribe to Neurons, send request to meta at acsol.net 

Humor is a meta-perspective about incongruity, exaggeration, playfulness,
and even absurdity.

For a touch of humor --- see the new book --- HUMOROUS THINKING  (2020)

 

 



 

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