Welcome to this free NLP Ezine
Hi everybody, and welcome to "NLP: The Secret Science of Self- Empowerment." This Ezine is designed to bring to you techniques, theories and exercises from the fascinating field of Neurolinguistic Programming.
NLP offers concepts that can help you develop better relationships with others and yourself - and focuses on bringing forth the unlimited powers of genius that lie withing each one of us.
About This Issue
In the last 3 issues of this Ezine we have discovered that eye movements are closely related to mental processes, and, more specifically, to the kind of representational systems (visual, audio, kinesthetic, or VAK) we are accessing when we think. In the last issue we started a new, but closely related topic called 'strategies.' This week's issue is going to give some examples of how strategies are reflected in our eye movements. To refresh your memory on what strategies are, read the last issue of this Ezine.
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This Issues Article: Strategies 2
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When you think about something, your thoughts will have a certain structure, follow a certain path. And as one thought lead to another, our eyes will change positions, according to the kind of thoughts we are having (eye movement chart). Consider the following examples of how eye movements and thoughts "dance" with each other:
Example 1: Martin has had his new job for 3 weeks now. He has been working on different projects with a large number of different people. He has always found it hard to remember people's names, especially in business situations. For the last weeks, he has been struggling harder than ever to remember everyone's name. Just 5 minutes ago he walked out of an important meeting and returned to his office. As he sits down it hits him. He forgot the name of an important team member that he has been working with for over a week now.
Here is how his eye movements reflect his thoughts:
Example 2: Gabrielle has had long hair all her life. But she has always been wondering what she would look like with short hair. Just this morning on the bus she saw a woman who had short hair. Gabrielle thought that woman looked great with short hair and started wondering if she might cut her hair, too, one day. But then she immediately thought of her husband. Would he be fine with her cutting her hair? Did she have to consider his opinion?
Here is how her eye movements reflect her thoughts:
As you can see, our eyes are constantly moving in accordance with our thoughts. We can't identify someone's thoughts, but we can determine the representational system in which someone is thinking, by watching their eyes. So what has all of this to do with strategies? A strategy is a goal-oriented series of thoughts, just like you saw in the two examples above, that is habitual or systematic. In other words, a way of thinking that you use to achieve a certain goal over and over again.
John's line of thought when he realizes he doesn't remember his colleagues name is not a one time thing. In fact, he has had the exact same sequence of thoughts and related eye movements many times in his life. First he tries to remember the sound of the name of the other person. Then, after realizing he can't remember the name, he starts beating himself up over it. Next, he experiences the future embarrassment his bad memory is going to cause him. Finally, he remembers all the faces of people who might be able to tell him the needed name without telling on him.
Gabrielle doesn't just watch other women's haircuts. In fact, she has been fantasizing about using different makeup, dressing differently, even walking differently. She loves to observe other women and visualize herself copying their style. And each and every time she does it, she ends up wondering about her husbands opinion. Would he like it, if she changed her style? And every time she wonders about how he would feel about it, she ends up debating with herself if his opinion really mattered and if she had to take it into consideration at all.
Some strategies are very useful, others are a great limitation. Have you ever thought about what kind of strategies you are using? I encourage you to pay attention to the way you think your way through your day. Are there any thought patterns or strategies you use over and over again. What are these strategies achieving for you? Are they getting you what they are supposed to get you? Or are they limiting you? In our next issue, we will take a closer look at how to develop strategies for success.
References:
Roots of NLP, Dilts, R., 1983.
NLP Vol I., Dilts, R., Grinder, J., Bandler, R. and DeLozier, J., 1980.
All the best,
Christoph Schertler
NLP Trainer/Coach - Founder PEC, LLC
Christoph Schertler has published an ebook on how to use NLP to build confidence. The NLP Confidence Builder
contains over 100 pages of powerful NLP techniques and concepts that can help you overcome limiting beliefs and bring forth the life-transforming power of confidence from deep within you.
Christoph Schertler was recently published in "101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Vol. 2" alongside John Gray, Jack Canfield, Richard Carlson, Bob Proctor, Alan Cohen and many other leading Self Improvement experts.
Get your copy today:
About the Author
Christoph Schertler is a certified NLP Trainer and NLP Coach with a passion for helping others to empower themselves and bring forth their power and genius from within. He has trained with some of the biggest names in the field and is a firm believer in the transformational powers of NLP.
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