An article in this week's Sunday Times highlights the benefits of NLP in helping people overcome habits and negative behaviours. As Anita Chaudhuri reports, NLP is a way of reprogramming the mind in order to change negative behaviour.
It works by identifying subconscious pessimistic patterns, then zaps them by replacing them with new thoughts and images. A typical example would be the habitual smoker who is prone to lighting up when sipping a morning espresso or a glass of wine at the end of the day. An NLP therapist would program their brain to desire something other than a cigarette at those trigger moments.
NLP is just high-tech hypnosis says, Paul McKenna. Your brain is like a computer, and it?s as if you are installing new software to overwrite programs that no longer work. The key programs of human behaviour are habit and imagination, and they are far more powerful than logic or willpower. I?ve seen people make astounding changes in their thoughts and behaviour quickly.
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Sunday Times - 5th February 2006)
The article then goes on to describe five of the most popular area where NLP can give fast results:
Finding love
When people have unconscious anxieties, insecurities or limiting beliefs, these can often be communicated via body language - such as nervous giggling, getting tongue tied, or feeling awkward. NLP can help to reconnect you to a time you felt powerful and confident so that this positive state is available to you when you need it.
Fear of public speaking
People often list speaking in public as their biggest fear, second only to death. As with love, NLP can be used to help the person to feel more confident and relaxed by allowing them to shortcut the negative feelings and replace them with positive ones.
Stopping smoking
It is a well known fact that the physical addiction to nicotine subsides within days of quitting - it is the mental addiction which causes cravings long afterwards. NLP can help people to change the mental pictures which arise when they think about giving up, reducing the cravings.
Weight loss
We often eat for reasons other than hunger, and compulsions to eat come from our subconscious mind. For example, if you view food as a comfort, you might crave a bar of chocolate after a stressful day at work. NLP can help you to overcome your mental blind spots and work to eradicate them.
Fear of flying
Our minds can often present us with vivid pictures, and thanks to disaster movies and television news footage, there is no shortage of imagery surrounding the negatives of flying. NLP can help flight phobics by providing the brain with an alternative 'movie'.
If you would like to know more about about how hypnotherapy and NLP can help you to overcome your negative habits, please
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