Unlock your potential

Unlock Your Potential: How NLP Can Help You Access Your Unlimited Inner Resources

Have you ever found yourself stuck in situations where you’ve thought to yourself, “I could have done this, if only I had the means to”? What if you were to learn that you already do?

We Already Have the Resources We Need

“We already have all the resources we need, or we can create them” is a core presupposition that underlies the practice of Neuro-linguistic programming. Here, resources are anything that supports us in achieving our goals, whether it is a skill, an emotional state, or knowledge.

James Clear, the author of the best-selling book #AtomicHabits , exemplifies this idea. In his book, Clear describes how he was able to overcome a life-threatening injury and a multitude of other challenges and build a successful career as a writer and entrepreneur. His philosophy of personal development is rooted in the belief that anyone can be successful by harnessing the power of their habits and behaviors.

We have the ability to do extraordinary things, but we need to take that initial leap of faith. By no means is it easy; excuses sneak up on us and make us freeze. “I am not trained for this”, “I have never been good at tasks like this”, “I will never master self-discipline” — take your pick. Our limiting beliefs, more than anything else, hinder our potential to succeed in whatever we want to. #NLP can help us recognize our inner resources, amplify them, and utilize them in situations where we may need them most.

According to NLP, our mind is akin to a computer — the output is dependent on the input. If a programmer feeds in faulty code, the program won’t run. This is true for our minds as well. Unconsciously or consciously, if we keep feeding our minds that we are incapable and lack the ability and capacity to achieve our goals, we fall into the trap of self-fulfilling prophecy. We set our own selves up for failure.

But if we pull a 180 and tell ourselves that yes, we can indeed do whatever we set out to do and can harness and expand our inner capacities to change for the better, we may truly surprise ourselves. Regardless of who you are and where you come from, you have the power to transform your situation.

Discovering & Creating Our Inner Resources

NLP offers a multitude of techniques to help you discover and create your inner resources - that are accessible to you at any given time. Notice how the following techniques hone our own pre-existing capacities to bring about change.

1. Future Pacing: How would you like yourself to be during your big presentation next week? You can create the experience in your mind now, for your future reality. Future pacing involves visualizing a future scenario where the goal has finally been achieved in detail. This vivid mental image can help motivate the client by making them acknowledge how incredible it would be to finally do what they have always wanted to. It also makes the goal much more tangible. And it helps our unconscious minds create its own path towards the goal.
2. Anchoring: Our nervous system has the ability to anchor memories and emotions to a body gesture. With this technique you can 'set' your anchor with most powerful emotions you may have felt in the past, strongly stacking them on to a finger if you may, and then 'fire' the anchor in a situation you need to feel that strength. The moment you fire the anchor, the memorized neuron connections fire, and create the experience of strength for you. So the next time you go in for a meeting, you can 'fire' your way into feeling resourceful.
3. Reframing: This technique helps you harness the power of perspective. There can be infinite interpretations of things that happen to us, and sometimes we tend to cling to the most negative ones. For example, if we perceive someone as being curt with us during a meeting, we may automatically assume that they don’t like us. But if we delve deeper, we could also attribute it to them having a bad day, or simply having a different way of communicating. People and situations are multi-dimensional, and we have no way of knowing what is truly going on. So, instead of giving into harmful interpretations, we can reframe our mindset to ensure more positive outcomes.
4. Incantations: Incantations involve repeating positive affirmations while evoking strong emotions such as joy, gratitude, or confidence and making physical movements like clenching fists or jumping. This concoction of words, actions, and emotions creates a powerful and memorable experience that can reprogram the subconscious mind. Consistently practicing incantations can lead to a lasting change in our mindset. Even during a feedback session, when you feel shaky, you can remind yourself of an affirmation, say it internally, and create the sensations in your body - to feel resourceful.
5. Breaking The Spell: Once, on my mother’s death anniversary, I was reminiscing about her to my own coach, telling her how much I missed her and how I wished I could be more like her. My mother was an immensely calm person who loved people unconditionally. I teared up as I narrated my emotions, when suddenly, she asked me “What was your mother’s height?”.

The abruptness of the question made me burst out laughing, breaking the gloomy spell I was in. In an instant, I felt more grounded, and I recognized just how different we both were as people. She was this tiny package, almost six inches shorter than me; I could never be her, but only a better version of my own self. This simple act of asking an unusual question transformed the state I was in.

You may realize, that you can also step off the derailer treadmill, and stop yourself from feeling low. Ask yourself a crazy question, or visualize the screaming boss as a little baby crying or imagine a volume controlling dial in your head and turn it down during a rowdy meeting. All of these will break the state and allow you to feel more resourceful.

The presupposition that “We already have all the resources we need, or we can create them,” is an important reminder that we have the power to move beyond our limiting beliefs, to the end of the tunnel where we may finally find what we are looking for.

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a methodology to use the language of the mind, to consistently achieve our desired specific outcomes.

Neuro Linguistic programming can help us unlock our hidden capabilities and achieve our greatest potential. Time for us to use it on a daily basis using practical tools and techniques.

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WINGS Team