Let’s face it change is hard. Why do so a lot of people struggle to proceed from intention to action?
By way of instance, let’s imagine you would like to quit smoking. You say to yourself: It’s such a terrible habit — that I need to stop. But wait, my birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. I must wait. I understand I’ll be too tempted. I don’t have enough time to make any progress between then and now.
Can you see what occurred there? In a matter of moments, your ideas spiralled out of control. As you started to consider a goal you wanted to accomplish, you jumped extremely far ahead. Because you felt stressed, you procrastinated. You decided not to take action.
From a scientific perspective, procrastination is our mind’s way of handling anxiety. Designed to protect us, our brains stop us from doing things that could be dangerous — things we perceive as being a real threat.
To create change, we need to change the way we think. Together with neurolinguistic programming (NLP), we can rewire our thoughts and behaviour.
What is NLP?
Neurolinguistic programming is a methodology that uses communication techniques and speech processing to change behaviour patterns. “Neuro” refers to the brain, “linguistic” refers to speech and”programming” is the way we process that information. To put it simply, NLP is the way verbal and non-verbal communicating influence the human mind.
Among the main responsibilities of an NLP therapist or therapist is to recognize an individual’s preferred representational system (PRS) — a person’s inclination towards one sensory system. This can be decided via language. By way of instance, if you generally say phrases more along the lines of”I hear everything you are saying” versus”I see what you mean” that signalled you have more of the auditory PRS instead of a visual PRS.
The five representational systems comprise:
- Visual (sight)
- Auditory (noise )
- Olfactory (smell)
- Gustatory (taste)
- Kinesthetic (touch)
Our language reflects our subconscious perception of ourselves and the world. If our perception is wrong, this creates a false inner belief system. Considering our thoughts directly influence the way we think and act, optimistic lasting change begins with rewiring your mind.
“The thing about beliefs is that they are like an app that keeps running, where you keep checking things against whether it matches your beliefs or not, states Dr Richard Bandler, co-creator of NLP. “And when your beliefs say that things are possible, and things will make you feel good, then what is likely to happen is that it is going to impact you physiologically in a really different manner than if you believe it is hopeless. When you think that things are impossible, you don’t really try and you certainly don’t attempt with each fibre into your spirit and every cell in your entire body.”
Your beliefs are more powerful than you understand. When your beliefs are powerful enough, you can literally change your biochemistry. “When you believe that a medical therapy is truly going to heal you and really get the job done, then you open yourself up to each possibility,” Bandler explains. Also, check out the Certification Courses in NLP Training.
Listed below are a couple of powerful NLP Ideas You can try today:
1. Practice Positive Affirmations
The reason affirmations are so effective is because they operate at each stage of goal-setting. By way of example, let us say your affirmation is”I’m positive about my love life. I am confident I’ll find someone who will make me feel happy and loved.”
Saying the affirmation in the present tense is critical because your subconscious mind will function to turn the positive intention into reality; hence, rewiring your brain faster.
Affirmations improve your self-awareness. Through repeat, the new notions replace the previous ones, getting ingrained into your mind. With enough practice, you can change your perception system. This technique is also useful with addiction, such as the smoking example mentioned previously. When it comes to change, your mind should get on board first, then over time, your system will follow.
Interesting fact: According to research published in the journal of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, practising affirmations helps you perform better in the workplace. Participants who repeatedly remind themselves of their occupation strengths performed with more confidence under stress in their work environments.
2. Visualization
Were you aware that your mind can not tell the difference between something fanciful and something real? To put it differently, if your imagination is vivid enough, then you can trick your brain into undergoing the positive emotions that go together with a positive cognitive or memory picture.
Ask yourself: What images align with achieving your objective? To continue using the example above, if you are looking for romance, you should envision what being in a connection will feel like. Be as specific as you can and try to acquire as many senses involved as you can. Smell, taste, sound, touch, anything you can – the point is to completely immerse yourself in the visualization therefore it seems as real as you can.
Abigail Brenner, M.D. clarifies, “Thought contrasts creation; the thought guides energy from the physical universe to be able to produce certain behaviours.” For visualization to succeed there are 3 requirements, which include”
1.) The desire to make exactly what you have opted to picture,
2.) The belief in that which you have chosen to achieve during your visualization and the certainty you will achieve this, and
3) The acceptance of having whatever you’ve envisioned as your objective.”
The more positive visualizations we have, the more optimistic ideas we have, which will finally result in positive behaviour.
3. Content Reframing
Everything is encompassed by the significance we give it. Think back to a time if you are feeling angry or upset. For instance, let us say you lost your job ended a relationship. When you consider it, you probably feel negative emotions. To completely change your negative emotions to positive ones, you reframe the circumstance.
As an example, you’re open to some project or relationship that’s a better match. You’ve got the liberty to explore new options, and you have emerged from this hardship as a more powerful, better version of the.
It’s natural to panic when you lose work or break up, but that only creates more emotional chaos. By shifting your focus and changing your perspective, you will feel more at peace.
In 1 study, researchers examined several nursing and midwifery students who had been split into two groups. NLP training was given in five 2-hour sessions along with also the classes were examined.
Both the nursing and midwifery group” revealed a substantial gap in the scores of psychological health, physical signals, anxiety, social function and depression.” Results concluded, “NLP plans are successful in the improvement of overall health and its various dimensions.”
4. Anchoring
This NLP technique involves connecting a positive emotion or thought to a specific phrase or gesture. This trains your brain to associate a positive atmosphere with the gesture or phrase.
First, think of what emotion you want to experience. Would you want to be confident? Happier? Calmer?
Next, imagine the last time you believed that emotion. Make this mental image as brilliant as you can.
After that, pick an anchoring phrase such as”I am happy. I’m calm. I am confident” or clench your fist.
Repeat every day until finally, it’s possible to say the anchoring term or clenches your fist and your mood changes to joyful, calm, or positive almost instantly.
“Each time you make a new decision that’s in alignment with your future, you’re priming your brain to put in the neural components to actually think, behave, and feel like the individual that you want to be in your future,” says Dr Joe Dispenza, researcher and author of Breaking the Habit of Becoming Yourself. “If you keep firing and wiring these networks in your brain, the hardware eventually becomes the software application and making choices that are in alignment with your potential becomes much more automatic.”
Repetition is all. The longer you practice the practices, the more they could become more expressive in your mind. When you think, feel, visualize and act in accordance with your intention you’ll break the cycle of unwanted habits.
Most of all, remember that these techniques are simply tools. You need to continuously place the work in to go through the positive results. To be able to change, you have to genuinely want to modify.
“You don’t push a ratchet wrench. You use it to tighten an engine along with the tools which we generated are the tools to be able to tune up your thoughts and optimize your thoughts so you receive the maximum out of your neurology,” states Bandler.
More importantly, you can use your sense of smell as an anchoring technique. Were you aware Jordan Belfort (more commonly known as the Wolf of Wall Street) uses anchoring? When he concludes a deal and experiences the unbelievable feeling that comes with success, he chooses a whiff of the fundamental oil inhaler into an anchor in that positive emotional state.