Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) looks at how an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and actions produce the results they get right now.
NLP is used for peak performance, overcoming phobias, and building unstoppable confidence to name a few of its endless applications. The technology can change how you live every second because it is based on the mental software that runs your brain.
NLP practitioners have a set of rules known as “NLP presuppositions” that form the foundations for the technology. They are beliefs that govern NLP. The presuppositions give you the foundation to understand how you perceive the world and presents you with the opportunity to change your reality. It is not that the presuppositions have been proven, but rather they give us opportunities and freedom to produce for effective living and better communication.
In other words, we don't know for sure whether they are true, but if we choose to believe they are true, then you really can change your reality.
While few people agree on exact NLP presuppositions, the following presuppositions are ones I frequently stumble upon. They appear to be widely accepted. Though the presuppositions are simple, and hence can appear idealistic, think of how they can be applied to your life to change your reality:
1. The map is not the territory
This could be the most important presupposition to understand. “The map is not the territory” means we are separate from reality. The menu is not the food. The road map is not the city. The map of the world we have in our minds is not the real world.
We short-change ourselves of our full potential when we believe our mental map of the world is the territory we deal with everyday. If you take your assumptions of people’s behaviors, your position in the world, how people perceive you, or anything as reality – when it is merely your mental map painted from abstract understandings – you cheat yourself from what you can become.
Instead of interacting with the world, you interact with your map. How you treat people and yourself is dependent on the map you hold. Your map can be more quickly and easily changed than the world it attempts to describe.
How do you change your map? Get curious about your own map, and the maps of others. You might believe vanilla ice cream is the best , someone else might like chocolate ice cream, both are possible, both exist simultaneously, both are not wrong. Get curious about why your reality is different to theirs, and vice versa, and you will have a bigger map to interact with.
More presuppositions to follow....