One of the commonest questions asked is just what is NLP anyway?
It started out in the 1970's, when Dr Richard Bandler and Dr John Grinder started out modeling (see the Society of NLP's Glossary of NLP™ Terms for an explanation of modeling) people such as Virginia Satir, Fritz Perlz, Frank Farrelly and Milton H. Erickson.
There are multiple explanations out there, and I could go on and on giving one jargonized explanation after another - but I won't.
Instead I'll just give you my two favourite definitions and a few thoughts I have on it myself.
The first definition is almost more of a confusional hypnotic induction than an explanation, and is one I heard Dr Richard Bandler give at his seminars:
"NLP is an attitude that leaves behind a trail of techniques." To appreciate what this means, see the Society of NLP's definition here and here.
My other favourite is the story that Dr John Grinder is reportedly said to have told to his son when he asked him what NLP was.
John asked his son to go and speak to his Grandmother, and to ask her how she was today and then come back and tell him what she said. His son asked his Grandmother how she was, and she thanked him very much for asking and being such a thoughtful boy. She then told him that she was doing OK, but that her lumbago was playing up and that she had many aches and pains, but then she wasn't as young as she used to be... and that she really felt she just needed to rest now.
When his son reported this to John, he asked him to go back and ask his Grandmother what John had been like as a child. Dutifully, John's son asked his Grandmother: 'What was Daddy like when he was my age?" His Grandmother broke into a grin, and became animated as she told him stories of what his Father had been like as a child. When he left her to go back to John, she was smiling and laughing and had forgotten about all those old aches and pains.
When his son told John just what had happened, John looked at him and said: "That's what NLP is."
Take what you will out of either definition... to me NLP is the ability to understand how your brain copes with everyday issues and this enables you to make any necessary changes for personal development. It is also a way to find out what works best and copy, or model, it (although modeling is more than simply copying... its much more effective than that... but that's a whole different topic).
Page last updated: 26th April 2009
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