NLP: The Toolbox for the Brain

Recently I attended an excellent seminar on speed reading by Terry Small in which he asked us if we had a toolbox for our brains. I was the only one in the audience to raise my hand. I believe that NLP acts as a very useful toolbox for the brain because it allows us to repair things in the brain such as traumas, adjust things such as learning to make them more efficient, and build useful things like a brighter future. So if NLP is a toolbox, I began to consider what the major tools might be–what are the hammers, screwdrivers, drill bits and other bits and pieces that we can find in the toolbox called NLP. In this short article, I give a brief description of just some of these tools and hope that you will eventually find them to be useful additions to your own toolbox.

Tool 1: VAK

Your brain deals with the world in several different ways including seeing, hearing, and feeling. Information comes to you from the world and you perceive it as pictures, sounds, or feelings. Or this information can come from your own memory and again come to you as pictures, sounds, or feelings. In NLP, these are called Visual (V), Auditory (A), and Kinesthetic (K), and a truly rich perception of the world involves the use of all three. For example, when a person falls in love, he or she will look at the other’s beauty, enjoy the sound of their voice, and feel the pleasure of being with that person intimately. Because all three modalities are engaged, the perception is extremely strong and these moments of being in love tend to become very strong memories. Learning to use these modalities effectively is a powerful tool in living an enjoyable life.

Tool 2: Submodalities

The modalities of VAK can also be broken down into finer distinctions which we call submodalities. These are particularly useful when we examine our memories and perceptions and use these finer distinctions to shape them in exactly the way that we want. For example, if you remember a happy event you will probably see a picture of the event. You may also have related sounds and feelings. Take a moment to notice whether the picture is big or small, whether it is bright or dark, whether it is near you or far away. These distinctions are examples of submodalities. Next, remember an event that was less happy for you, and one that you would like to make better with your NLP toolbox. Begin to change the submodalities of the unhappy memory. If it is bright, you might try making it darker. If it is near you, you might try moving it further away or making it smaller, or reducing the volume, or moving it out of sight altogether. Memories are not static – they can change every time that we bring them back into our consciousness and using the toolbox to change them in ways that make us happier makes a lot of sense. As someone once said, “It is never too late to have a happy childhood.”

Tool 3: Perceptual Positions

When you remembered the happy memory, did you see it out of your own eyes or did you actually see yourself in the picture? This is an important distinction and in NLP we call them perceptual positions. Looking out of your own eyes is known as “first position” or “associated” and it means that you are immersed in the memory, reliving it as it happened and probably feeling the same things as you felt at that time. When you see yourself in the picture, the memory is dissociated, and it is as if you are watching the event happening to someone else and therefore not necessarily feeling the same way that you felt in the original experience. Both association and dissociation are valuable tools in your NLP toolbox and they each have their own use. In general, it is useful to associate into happy experiences and memories so that we can really immerse ourselves and enjoy them fully. In contrast, it is generally more useful to dissociate from unhappy memories so that we do not have to go through the same negative emotions every time that we remember the event.

Tool 4: Timeline

Our brains can represent time in different ways. If you ask someone to point to the future, many people will point out in front of them and behind them to indicate the past. We call these people “In Time.” Other people have the future on their right and the past on their left. These people are called “Through Time.” Just like association and dissociation, neither of these arrangements is intrinsically better than the other. People who are In Time tend to allow events in their lives to unfold naturally without making intricate plans. Conversely, people who are Through Time tend to make much more detailed plans. Understanding your timeline is a very useful addition to the toolbox for your brain and NLP provides many ways to use it effectively in creating the life that you want.

Tool 5: Interaction with the Unconscious

Most people know that the unconscious mind is the bigger part of the brain, but many are not aware of quite how much bigger it is. One metaphor is to think of a glass of water which is three-quarters full. Is the conscious mind the top quarter of the glass? No, it is better to think of the conscious mind as just the rim of the glass – the small section of the activity of our brains that actually makes it into conscious awareness. Your conscious mind is smart, but your unconscious mind is much much smarter, and NLP offers many tools for interacting with the unconscious mind in order to achieve your goals more easily.

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This article has just been a short introduction to some of the tools that can be found in NLP, a toolbox for your brain. The best way to learn more is to get training in NLP where you can experience these tools and begin to implement them in your life so that you can repair, adjust, and build your brain in exactly the most appropriate way to live the life that you really want.
Copyright © 2010 by Dr. Brian Cullen,
Associate Professor, Nagoya Institute of Technology
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NLP Coaching and Training
www.standinginspirit.com