While talking of NLP, it is imperative to know what forms the basis of it and what fundamentally drives its tools and techniques. The fundamental principles of NLP are chiefly called as ‘NLP Presuppositions’. Although authors around the world have proposed many presuppositions, there are necessarily only two presuppositions that form the basis of all the tools and techniques used in NLP worldwide.

अगर आप यह ब्लॉग हिंदी में पढ़ना चाहते हैं, तो यहाँ क्लिक करें ।

Presupposition 1- The ‘map’ is not the ‘territory.’

The world is a sophisticated space, and there is no easy way to understand it. However, as we live our life, we create a map of this world in our minds, as we understand it. This map not only directs our thoughts and emotions but our life in its entirety. Thus, our response is directed by the perception and mapping of the world and not on how the world really is.

This map is responsible for the formation of our beliefs, principles, perceptions, language, experiences, memories and all five senses that help us collect the information. Commonly known as ‘thoughts’, these maps, along with our five senses, form our mindset. They affect our behaviour, which ultimately constitutes to our actions.

In 1970, Dr Maxwell, a renowned plastic surgeon, had written a book titled ‘Psycho-Cybernetics’. As a plastic surgeon, he observed and proposed that after plastic surgery, the patients undergo a tremendous change in terms of their personality. They develop a positive approach towards life, become more enthusiastic and confident. They felt happy and content.

However, not every patient showed the same results. Some of them did not experience any psychological benefit of the surgery; neither did they become more confident, nor did they feel any excitement towards life. However, the operation had utterly changed their physical appearance.

There was a girl from quite a well off family. Her crooked nose always made her stay away from the crowd, in solitude. After plastic surgery, she did get a beautiful nose; however, she did not experience any positive change in her life. She still continued to avoid meeting people and stayed surrounded in melancholy.

This physical change was visible to the entire world but the patient. For them, nothing changes. After years of examination, Dr Maxwell proposed that the physical change in the patient might not necessarily bring a psychological shift, as not all of them registered the transformation mentally. The maps in their minds underwent no change, and hence, the outer change didn’t make any difference to them.

The map of this world that we construct in our minds is what directs our experiences and the way we would perceive the changes in our lives, what kind of choices we would have and what kind of resources we shall be using while leading our lives. The map becomes our way of leading our lives. It also keeps changing over time, changing our habits, and how we live. It eventually contributes to an ecosystem where we all live together. Yet we have our own worlds in our minds; each one different from the other, and is continually changing with time.

Let’s understand through a different example. A few years back, a woman named Smita had come to me for counselling. After staying for five years in an unhealthy marriage, she had divorced her husband. Her experience with marriage had been painful. I remember she had once said to me, “All men are the same. They are selfish and exploit women for their own good. I hate men.”

Smita had created a map in her mind based on her past experiences, where all the men are evil. However, with this mindset, she will barely be able to stay happy or indulge in a loving relationship. What stops Smita from having love in her life, is her own mental blockades that bar the men from entering her world. To create a prospect for love and happiness, Smita will have to redo the map. She will have to alter the construct of her horrifying experiences from the past. Without doing so, she will probably never realise the happiness a loving relationship can bring to her.

While living our lives, we often forget that the maps created in our head are mere maps of the world and not the territory. We start treating them like reality when they are a sheer reflection of our perception of this world. And, when the maps made are wrong, they can never take us to the right destination. The maps are not the territory; the mere understanding of this NLP Presupposition can bring a revolutionary change within your life. If you really implement this Presupposition in your life, you will observe the following three events:

1. You will stop indulging in your negative thoughts; they will be more simplified and thus, will not cause you pain

2. You will learn to take control of your emotions and will not spare any undue attention towards your negative thoughts

3. You will stop imposing your realities on others for; you will be completely aware of the fact that everyone lives their own truth which can be different from yours, but not always wrong.

NLP Presupposition 2- Mind and brain works under a system

Whatever happens in our brain, which affects our life occurs within a system. Even feeling happy is also a process that primarily is the result of some process that occurs in our brain. If remembering a person makes you feel jovial, it is because the process happening in your mind that makes you happy. Everything happens as per the system weaved in your head, if not, the person should have sometimes made you feel happy, sometimes sad or irritated. The system is set though, and if there is a system at work, it is understandable and even unpredictable.

About ten years ago, Rajesh had gone to see a waterfall with his wife and two children. They all were happy and enjoying under the waterfall when suddenly the flow of the water gained speed. It did not catch anyone’s attention, though. In no time the current got so strong that it carried the entire family with it. Fortunately, the family got the support of a tree that stood in the middle of the waterfall. The family kept howling and crying for help. Soon the villagers, police and fire brigade gathered at the spot, and after six hours of constant efforts, they could get the family out of the waterfall.

The ghastly memory that Rajesh has of the accident still haunts him. Within this event, whatever happens in Rajesh’s mind occurs within a system. Every time he recollects it, fear spikes up, and his eyes start pooling up with water. Whenever our mind recreates any such event, it follows a system; a specific structure which when understood can be broken and restructured to have its control with us, which eventually enables us to drive the method according to our will.

Every tool and technique that has been developed in NLP is based on these two presuppositions. In NLP, we believe the fact that as human beings, we can never know or be sure of what reality is and thus, nothing can assert which map in mind is right and which one is wrong. We only aim at having a map that holds endless possibilities, keeps scope for multiple approaches, liberates us, through which we can move ahead and make a better future for ourselves. An impactful person will always have a map with maximum possibilities and better perceptions. Through NLP, we build a future with options and widen the scope of looking at things in a better way.

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog! Do share it with your near & dear ones. Let’s meet at the next Blog. Till then…….

‘Enjoy Your Life & Live with Passion!’

(This blog is originally written in Hindi by the Master Trainer Mranal Gupta and later translated in English by Zeba Ali, an NLP Practitioner & a psychology professor.)

Click the links below to read more articles written by Master Trainer Mranal Gupta about NLP & its application in various walks of our life:

Summary:

Fundamentals of NLP – NLP Presuppositions

There are so many questions asked frequently about NLP & NLP Training like, 

There are some basic assumptions of NLP, which are called NLP Presuppositions:

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