Can NLP Help You to Heal Your Life for Good

Can NLP Help You to Heal Your Life for Good

NLP, short for Neuro Linguistic Programming, holds the power to deliver happiness. Happiness for most is their Everest. Conquer it and everything falls into place. Though many ask, can NLP help you to heal your life for good?

Though if you’re not feeling right or you think that you’ve lost your mojo then sound the trumpets, because I’ve got some great news for you! If you can’t seem to generate the success you desire, you’ve got money challenges or you can’t start or keep your relationships? Read on because I’ve found the answer to all of your problems (well most of them I hope).

NLP means you can completely change your thinking and so improve your life.

Can NLP help you to heal? Well, let’s start with money problems.

About 15 years ago I had a serious poverty mentality. My parents were poor immigrants and money seemed to be a real problem in our family. I can certainly recall many flighty emotions around that topic. However, my problems didn’t stop there.

I used to be a target to bullies. So I also developed anger issues, sadness issues, anxiety, and numerous phobias which led to depression. I was a wreck. I seriously thought I was a mental mess. I have since discovered that we all need a friend. When you don’t serve the inner friend, you go looking for one outside of you to fill that hole. I found alcohol and drugs. While my situation was pretty crappy already, the drugs and alcohol made them much, much worse.

I needed a solution. I so wanted to start feeling ‘normal’, though in truth back then I couldn’t tell you what normal was. I couldn’t even tell you who I was!

“I felt like a keg of dynamite and my fuse was getting shorter!”

I tried the traditional medical system without success. It just seemed that for every problem there was a pill. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti pharmaceuticals as I believe everything has its place and use, it’s just that I already had a whole lot going on in my mind and body and I didn’t want to create any further chemical disruptions. My anger issues were getting worse and I felt like a keg of dynamite and the fuse was getting shorter.

A good friend suggested some alternate therapies and I tried many of them, far too many of them to list here. Nothing seemed to get me feeling ‘normal’.

Again, I’m not poo-pooing alternate therapies either, as I believe they certainly have their place in our society too, they just didn’t seem to get me on my feet. I then came across an article in Psychology Today Magazine that said, “NLP is the most powerful vehicle for personal change in existence.” It got my attention! I read on and discovered that NLP was an acronym for “Neuro Linguistic Programming”. I had heard of it, but frankly, I didn’t know much about it. It’s amazing how when you’re really committed to finding an answer, the right one soon arrives. I wanted to know, “Can NLP help you to heal for good?”

The answer came from a trusted friend who offered me a ticket to an NLP introductory weekend and within just hours of hearing all about NLP and experiencing it live, I was gob-smacked by what you could do with NLP. I immediately signed up for all the trainings; “NLP Practitioner, Masters and Trainers training” – you’ve got to remember, I was desperate and this seemed like a positive way forward and thankfully it turned out perfect!

The decision was so right that not only did I move forward, I never looked back. In Practitioner training I learned how to actually speak to my mind so that I could alter the programming that was causing my issues and giving me so much grief. I didn’t realise that your brain only responds to 6 methods of communication and your language must be structured in a specific way to get great results.

I also learned to change my core beliefs that are responsible for so many unwanted behaviours. I saw the proof in changed outcomes. A very exciting moment for me was learning how to change how I viewed the past; it was like a massive weight was removed from my shoulders. Then another life changing shift occurred when I learned how to shift my values in my Master’s training. This helped me to more than double my income. Mind you, the rapport and communication training in NLP Practitioner and changing (in essence) my operating system had a huge influence too.

My relationships are much better these days, with others and myself. Anxiety, depression, sadness and anger issues are gone. I’m not saying I don’t get a little low or angry from time to time, but these days I can manage my emotions and things don’t seem to affect me as they once did.

I became so impassioned by NLP that I kept learning it until I ran out of training and my only option was to start teaching it. My life is like chalk and cheese these days and I’m so happy that I can help others by helping them to make a positive influence in their lives. I can now produce the income I used to earn in a year, in just a weekend. I know that might be hard to believe for some of you – and that’s the very reason you don’t achieve it. My trainer used to make between $3 million and $6 million in a weekend – at the time I hardly could believe that, even though the evidence was right before my eyes!

I now live where I want to live (by the beach in southern NSW), I live with the love of my life and my two gorgeous girls. Though let me dull the picture for you a bit. I still have my challenges from time to time, but I now have NLP tools to help me. Each tool is designed to reimprint your past; change your beliefs; remove conflicts; build rapport; illicit your values; improve the quality of your communication; see more than most will ever see; and help you to create your ideal self.

If you’re interested in learning NLP, let me share one disclaimer. NLP is a set of powerful tools and insights and you may hear of some negative publicity around it. Just as there are good teachers, there are also bad ones. In the wrong hands, these powerful tools can be used to manipulate so my suggestion to you, is find someone to teach you NLP that you get a sense that they’ve got a big heart and they really care about people and the future of the planet and its well-being.

So if you’re having some challenges take heart, there is a solution, give NLP a go. Trust your instincts and reinvigorate your faith in yourself because there is always an answer and a solution. I love the question that Neale Donald Walsch asks when a problem arises, “What would love do now?” Yes, Tony Robbins is certainly right, “The quality of your life comes down to the quality of the questions you ask yourself every day.” I urge you to follow your heart, learn NLP and you’ll conquer your Everest and find happiness. It will be somewhere on your journey. Just keep looking, it’s closer than you think.

Rik Schnabel is an internationally recognised and nationally accredited NLP Trainer.

You can learn NLP in the comfort of your own home.

Change your focus, change your life

Change your focus, change your life

focusIf you change your focus, you change your life. Nothing is simpler. Though where do you start in the process of change? How can you improve your life in profound and positive ways? Your answers are hidden in your values and beliefs. Though the first step of change is to get off your RAS! (but I’ll explain that later…)

“Whatever you focus upon expands,” is something we say in NLP circles. Does that mean if you ‘focus’ on being happy you will have more happiness? We’ll yes. As long as your focus is on all the things that make you happy; instead of the aspects of your life that don’t. So how does that really work?

We can change our focus by getting off our RAS!

The catalyst to focus is your “Reticular Activating System” or your “RAS.”  It is the name given to part of the brain (the Reticular Formation and its connections) that arouses and motivates you. The RAS in essence, determines how you view yourself and the world around you.  It is situated at the core of the brain stem between the myelencephalon (medulla) and metencephalon (midbrain).

The RAS is that little bundle of cells you have in the back of your brain known as the “control centre.”  It serves as the filter for what enters your conscious and unconscious mind.  This makes sense why after watching a horror movie, the darkness takes on a more sinister aura.

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, “We filter around 2 million bits of information per second down to 7 plus or minus 2 chunks of information.” In other words, the data available to your central nervous system goes through a process of deletion, distortion and generalisation. Today with the regular bombardment of sensory data, your RAS helps you to make sense of all the information swarming around you like bees. Our RAS defines how we treat the swarms of data and makes sense why some people always get stung, while others get the honey.

Your beliefs and values guide what your RAS focuses upon.

The system in charge of sorting the information is your RAS. The RAS is a self-filtering function that chooses what you accept and reject based upon your beliefs, values and prejudices. So wherever you focus, determines what you experience and don’t experience. In other words, “Whatever you focus upon expands.”

Focusing on two or three key areas of business or a singular goal does something special to your behaviour. It triggers your RAS to be on alert. Your brain is assaulted by thousands of messages each second. Everything you see, hear, smell, feel and touch is a message entering your brain. The RAS filters through all these messages and decides which ones will get page one treatment – that is, arouse the brain.

One of the things we’ve learned from working with students in our NLP Practitioner Training program, is that you tend to pay attention to the things which are important to you at the time. If your dominant thoughts are about creating a new business, you’ll start seeing other what other businesses do and you will get ideas. You’ll hear conversations about new business models. You’ll pick up ideas relating to new business ventures and even see things around you in a different way and relate it back to business.

Your RAS is programmed to determine what is important to you.

In other words, the RAS will reject or ignore anything unrelated to your focus and bring to your attention anything that is even remotely related to your focus. This makes sense why starting a new business will often mean that relationships and health for example, take a back seat for some time until the business is up and running.

From a practical point of view, this means that, if you want to solve a problem or achieve a goal, keep it top of mind. Think about it, talk about it, write about it and imagine it completed. This is one of the reasons why affirmations can work and why it is important to review your goals frequently. Affirmations simply direct your focus in the area of your desires. They help you to keep focused and paying attention.

If you focus on improving a specific key area of your business for example, your RAS will pass through sights, sounds, people and ideas that are related to your point of focus. It is said that simply creating a budget will save you between ten and thirty percent of your expenditure! How can simply budgeting achieve such a task? In other words, if you measure that area of your focus visibly, frequently and attentively, it will likely improve. You may find yourself saying, “I don’t need to spend so much on treats” and your spending pattern improves.

Set simple goals and include metrics.

Here’s my suggestion: Identify the two to five key measurements and key indicators that are important and essential for your business or your life. Set up an active system to measure and track these indicators. An exercise plan or health plan for example. Talk to your employees or friends about it at every opportunity. Put charts and graphs of these indicators on your wall. Make your interest in these metrics very active and visible.

If you set up measurements that indicate if your activities are working or not, chances are, you’ll get what you’re looking for; improvements in these areas. In fact, you can count on it.

Last year for example I programmed my RAS (using NLP) to attune my focus towards health. Since then I have lost 9 kilograms (19.84 pounds) and I am fitter and much healthier. I set simple goals; to actively exercise for a minimum of one-hour a day (one metric), take a minimum of 5,000 steps each day (two metrics), and I weigh myself (three metrics), look in the mirror (four metrics) and check in with my overall feelings of well-being (five metrics).

From a scientific point of view, the RAS is involved with the sleep/wake cycle and damage to the RAS can lead to permanent coma. It is thought to be the area affected by many psychotropic drugs. General anaesthetics work through their effect on the Reticular Formation. Fibres from the Reticular Formation are also vital in controlling respiratory and cardiac rhythms and other essential functions.

The Reticular Activating System has received attention from neuroscientists interested in various pathological conditions affecting behaviour, such as Alzheimer’s Disease. More recently, results of research on the area has prompted extrapolations from the data into various areas such as motivational programmes (for example, Getting Things Done) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

The RAS is a structure in the brain stem that is responsible for arousal and sleep. The RAS is responsible for getting you up in the morning and putting you asleep at night – it makes sense then why your RAS awakens you, alerts you like an alarm to those things that are in the forefront of your consciousness. So in closing – set your RAS to what you would like to manifest into your life. Make a decision to focus in an area of your life that you wish to vastly improve. Set up your measurements that tell you that you are progressing and if your behaviour doesn’t change, consider learning or mastering NLP.