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March/April 2008 Alternative Health
Change Your Mind and Keep the Change

by Lindagail Campbell

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is about getting top results. The techniques have been gathered by modelling experts in the fields of psychotherapy, personal development, education, health, business, parenting and the helping professions. As they say, success leaves clues.

To start with, it is important to know what you want and to state it in positive language such as, "I want to be healthy." This is a stretch for those people who are good at knowing what they don't want. "I don't want to binge on food." "I don't want to be depressed." "I don't want to be shy." 

Research shows that physically writing your goals down and stating them in the positive sets a direction in your brain that makes the outcome much more likely. Think about the future effects of achieving what you want, make your ideas real in terms of what you'll see, hear, feel, taste and smell, and share them with a good listener, draw a picture or make a collage.

Your physiology is closely linked to the way you think and feel so your physiology plays a key role in keeping your body and mind both flexible and creative. Getting regular exercise and enough sleep is important. When you want to think creatively, stand or sit leaning back slightly with eyes looking upward, breathing in the upper chest. When you want to find out how to make it happen, move to a different spot and sit or stand upright with your head balanced on the top of your spine looking forward. When you want to analyze your ideas, move to another location, lean back slightly with your head to one side, and maybe bring your hand to your chin.

Try in vain to think of something sad while you are standing or sitting up straight and looking up with both arms raised up to the ceiling. Write down what you discover.

Notice how you talk to yourself. We speak aloud at about 125 words per minute and we can think to ourselves at about 500 words per minute, so fast we are hardly aware of how we can undermine ourselves. Take five minutes and write down everything you are saying to yourself in relation to your day or a project. Is what you have written true and still valid? Whose voice are you hearing, anyway? Do you want to carry the negative voice of another person with you all day?

By learning NLP change work processes, you can make new choices, where none seem to exist now. Experiment with the tone of voice that you use to talk to yourself - make the tone pleasant and encouraging and add some stirring music. If you have something negative to say, notice what happens when you use a fast cartoon character voice or make the voice ridiculously slow.

If you are worried about an interview or meeting with a colleague, stop and notice how you are picturing them. In your mind's eye move them farther away or change their height and discover the effect it has on you.

Keep a daily diary to explore which ideas work best for you.

Lindagail Campbell is an NLP trainer and coach, and founder of the NLP Institute of Oregon. Visit www.nlporegon.com.