neuro-linguistic programming Archives

One of my teen-aged friends, Alex, was asking me about NLP today. I must admit, I got so excited about him asking that I dropped into a shameless teaching mode and we chatted through at least an hour of content before I asked what prompted his questioning.

He had seen something on TV where someone claimed to use NLP to pull off the stunt of "paying" for purchases in NYC with blank pieces of paper. Many details were lost in the retelling, but I got enough to recognize some conversational hypnosis, embedded commands, and use/abuse of metaphor.

Once he'd shared what he remembered from the TV show he asked the golden question: is that real or just stage magic?

I assumed that in this case it was some of both. Having recognized several real patterns from the very human retelling I had to admit that there was likely to be real influence going on and that it was leveraging some NLP concepts.

We went on to talk about some of the language patterns and meta programs we use to interact with the world. It was interesting to be able to refer back to what we talked about when we were interacting with the 4-5 year olds at the Lego table a few minutes later.

There was some whining over the Legos. I asked my 4yo daughter to use a good voice. Alex encouraged his 5yo brother to stop whining. Both patterns are useful at different times. I took the time to make it a teaching moment and pointed out the "towards" of my request versus the "away" of his. The light went on immediately and I saw a (permanent?) shift in Alex's awareness of the towards-away meta program and his use of the negative command language pattern.

I love experiencing those profound shifts in awareness and behavior that occur because of sharing knowledge. In this case, I venture to guess that the effects will be far ranging.

I also find it apropos that I'll be adding Alex to the NLP Space Monkey group as the first beneficiary of the NLP Training for Volunteers since his family are the ones who run Shily's Promise Youth Ranch! (If SPYR doesn't ring a bell, check out the story at the IndieGoGo project.)

I'll admit I'm biased, but go check out the benefits of NLP Training for Volunteers and do what you're feeling lead to do to join in -- you never know how quickly you'll benefit from NLP Training yourself!

Even NLP Training can't make resources infinite

I recently realized that I am limited -- as we all are. The interesting part of this realization is that it was specifically in relation to quality in packaging my information. Our lovely friends (including the horses) at Shily's Promise Youth Ranch prompted this thought when I realized that their volunteers could really use the information I've been producing. The trouble, as I see it, is that as much as we'd like to reject it a book is judged by it's cover and similarly my audios would need to be edited and packaged well to be received in the way intended.

I've been running a "beta test" of an NLP Training home study course for a few Space Monkeys with the unedited audios as I recorded them. The feedback I've been getting on the content has all been positive. So I'm ready to ramp up this endeavor and I finally recognized that while I can do it all, I can't do it all in a reasonable time frame. This is where you come in -- I need help to be able to equip volunteers with more positive communication skills so that the kids benefit even more from the outreach program at places like SPYR.

Why I am doing this NLP Training for Volunteers project

My purpose in life is to "Change the world from the inside out" and what better way than to support our disadvantaged and at-risk youth. I have the honor of supporting two outreach programs locally that work with kids: Shily’s Promise Youth Ranch (SPYR) and I Believe I Can (IBIC). Both of these programs enable youth and their families to connect with their own strengths.

One of the struggles of these sorts of outreach programs is recruiting skilled volunteers. I have a cunning plan to help with both quantity and quality of volunteers — and therefore the quality of interaction with the kids — for these outreach programs and beyond.

Here's where you help

Go fund the project, join us as an editor/artist, and tell others about the project.
It's all there at the NLP Training for Volunteers page over at IndieGoGo -- including the perks for funding this gift to at-risk youth (as if the warm fuzzy feeling wasn't enough!).

Now, go out there and do your part to bring this NLP Training to volunteers and the kids they serve!