All distinctions human beings are able to make concerning our environment and our behavior can be usefully represented through the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory senses

This is one of the many NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) presuppositions and one of the original 8 of Richard Bandler.

What does NLP mean with the presupposition?
This presupposition is rather long and uses a lot of difficult words. To translate it into easier language: “Humans observe (changes in) behavior and environment by using the five senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting).” It’s not exactly the same, but similar and easier to understand (and remember).

The key elements of this presupposition are our five senses, and they are used a lot in NLP. The first three (visual, auditory and kinesthetic - seeing, hearing and feeling) are the ones that are used the most.

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This is one of the many NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) presuppositions and one of the original 8 of Richard Bandler.

NLP presupposition in full
Feedback vs. Failure - All results and behaviors are achievements, whether they are desired outcomes for a given task/context, or not.

What does NLP mean with the presupposition?
Basically it says that you have created everything as far as results and behavior is concerned. It says that no matter what result you get, you can use it as feedback on what to do next or what to do differently. This is important! If you are not getting the response you get, regard that as feedback not as failure. There’s no such thing as failure.

This is one of the central themes of popular movies as What the Bleep Do We Know!? and The Secret. But it is also in different forms part of most self improvement books. A lot of these gurus will tell you that you are in control, and this presupposition is an underlying principle.

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Last week I had another weekend of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) training. During lunch break one day we had a discussion on what our motivation was to start studying NLP. And while I was listening to my fellow students, it struck me that their motivation was different than mine. Rooted in the same desire to help people, but from an entirely different perspective.

Solving problems
My fellow students have translated their desire to help people into a problem solving mode. They want to work with people who got into trouble and help them take care of it by guiding them through the process of solving it. Along the way they want to teach them some skills and techniques that can help in the future to make sure that the problem stays solved.

The problems need not be very complex emotional or behavioral problems, but might also deal with everyday stuff like getting a job, or staying in one. Yet all of my fellow students had their desire to help rooted in a problem situation, a situation that makes people unhappy.

Growing possibilities
My desire to help people is rooted in a fascination for human potential. People are so much more talented and gifted than they realize, they are powerful beyond measure. Yet something is holding them back, and most of the time people are holding themselves back. This is where my motivation comes from, I want to help people discover that potential and live their life to the fullest. How they do that or what ‘the fullest’ means for people differs from person to person, but the desire to achieve it is a common factor in people.

I don’t focus on problem situations and solving them, I focus on future situations and achieving them. NLP is a great technique to help people discover their limiting beliefs and overcoming them. The interaction between language and the way our brains responds to it is fascinating. And this process provides a lot of opportunities to consciously work on putting that interaction to work for you, unconsciously.

Both approaches are viable and they both serve their purpose. The second approach matches my character best, so that’s the approach I choose. Which would you choose?

This is one of the many NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) presuppositions and one of the original 8 of Richard Bandler.

What does NLP mean with the presupposition?
This is a tough one. I have re-read this presupposition many times, and to be frank, it’s not an easy to understand statement. I’m cutting it in pieces to take a closer look.

The ability to change the process by which we experience reality
So there is a process by which we experience reality. Makes sense, this is acquiring and processing all the sensory information, consciously and unconsciously. The phrase ‘experience reality’ is a reflection upon another presupposition ‘The map is not the territory’. Our experience and reality are not the same.

is often more valuable than changing the content of our experience of reality
The tricky part is in the end of this sentence: ‘the content of our experience of reality’. There is a hidden assumption in this presupposition, that it is possible to change the content of our experience of reality. Can we do that? If we can’t, this presupposition won’t make any sense at all.

Changing the content of our experience of reality, this can be done in two ways I guess. Prevent and ‘forget’. First we can change reality by prevention. If for instance you always get nauseous riding a bus, stop taking the bus, and you won’t get nauseous anymore.

But we can also change our memory of reality. If the content of our experience is ‘nauseous’, we can do our best to change our memory to ‘uncomfortable’ or even ‘happy’. Some people are very good at reframing their memories. This is also changing the content of our experience of reality, but about the past.

Now that we understand what it is about, this presupposition states that changing the process is more valuable than changing the content. So this means that working on how we deal with reality is more valuable than avoiding reality or altering memories about reality.

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This is one of the many NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) presuppositions and one of the original 8 of Richard Bandler.

What does NLP mean with the presupposition?
Quite like it says actually. This presupposition tells us that we already have what it takes to change. We might not know how to use these resources or where to find them, but they are already within you. You have experiences, feelings and attitudes now and in the past, that you can use to change what you want to change.

This presupposition says that you have experiences where you felt strong, proud, assertive, caring, loved, inspired and so on. We can tap into those past experiences and use them as a resource for the change we want to establish.

In a way this presupposition says: ‘Yes you can…because you already have before!‘

This presupposition does not say that you have everything available. It’s quite possible that you don’t have any experience with a certain resource, but that a combination of other resources works for you as well. There is no generic answer to what resource is the best, that can only be determined by the individuals themselves. Click to continue »