NLP, Meanings, and States

“Things” are neutral until we assign meaning to them. We can barely help ourselves from doing so unless we consciously train ourselves, and even then, it is almost impossible not to be making or assigning meaning to things. We assign meaning based on a point of reference, usually, something we know or an experience we’ve had that left an impact and remained ingrained in our neuronal circuit. Other times it may have been a past experience that has repeated itself, and the brain picks it up as the “new normal” and makes the process of meaning-making automatic. In either case, the moment anything associated with such a memory presents itself, we perceive it through the lens of our past memories and experiences.

What this tells us, then, is that our mind is preoccupied with past thoughts. Our feelings and emotions are the product of past-based thoughts, and whether we are dealing with things in the present or future, we are making decisions or projecting, or making meaning, all based on our past.

We dedicated the first few sections of our Psychotherapy Certificate Course to this concept. Now, NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming), the Science of Life, which touches upon everything related to Neuroscience, and to our psychology, and beyond, brings us a set of insights about meaning. One of them is that the meaning we make of things is based not only on the past but also on our state of mind. This means, being in a helpful state is more likely to result in helpful meanings, though still based on the past, while being in an unhelpful state of mind is more likely to lead to an unhelpful meaning.

On an intellectual level, most of us appreciate that we are the ones assigning meaning to things. However, it usually stops there. Understanding the ramifications of this is profound when we take the time to look at the ripple effect. If we considered that we assign meaning to things, situations, circumstances, events, or experiences, then we would also have to consider that we can choose a meaning that works for us.? Of course, for this to happen, we are to first become more aware of when we are assigning meaning, how we are assigning meaning, and how fast it happens, especially when we are not paying attention.

“Anchoring: Forming New and Breaking Old” is a powerful tool in NLP that can help us master the above understanding. If you are interested in the mastery of such transformative tools, please join us for our next NLP class.

We look forward to seeing you then,

Karen and Mardoche