NLP for Positive Thinking

I've recently been travelling in Central America and whilst we were on an early morning hike, one of my group started jumping in puddles like a young child, declaring “If you’re ever feeling sad, just put on your wellies!”

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As she said this, I recalled a similar incident of an Autumn walk through a forest when one of my companions pointed out “You can't help but smile when you're kicking up leaves”, as she determinedly kicked through all the leaves she could find.

Both of these sentiments are true and the memories of each image make me smile time and time again. This, in turn, got me thinking about the power and simplicity of thoughts and feelings.

A question: Have you ever tried to think of the word ‘Happy’ without then feeling that emotion and smiling because of this? Try it now and see what happens.

What about if you look upwards? I find that I giggle whilst feeling bright and positive. What did you think and feel?

When you break it down, our brain is an incredible thought processor. If we choose to focus on defining and prioritising the most beneficial processes, we can harness the power of our thoughts to our personal advantage. This may manifest in many ways; from my perspective, it is about creating success and happiness for me and others, to produce the best version of themselves and their life that they can imagine.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) helps us to understand the processes our brain follows and gives us a focused, repeatable approach to apply proactive energy into producing the best desired results.

Using an NLP framework has proved invaluable to me to structure this positive approach to mine and others’ success, all through the power of thought.

As a first step, I have considered and asked others to consider which visions they have for the future, i.e. what would that best version contain. To do this, I asked myself which values and successes I think would make me happy. What would the future look like, if I achieved these visions and goals? What would it feel and sound like? This doesn't need to be set in stone, goals and life are fluid, yet it helps to have an original output for the thought processes which will next be defined.

Next, as a minimum, I take each vision in turn and formalise the detail of what achievement would look, feel and sound like. This exercise would include the identification of the valuable beliefs which will help me get there and the useful states which will provide me with the power to be positive each day and overcome any challenges along the way.
If you're interested, a top tip is that I have found MindMaps to be invaluable for keeping track of these visions, goals, values, beliefs and useful states. There are apps available which make these flexible allowing additions, deletions and amendments so that your map lives and
breathes as you progress to and through your successes. Within mine, I also include a branch for actions, tasks and activities that I want to achieve in the short, medium and long term.

It is also useful to allow at least 5 minutes each day to review your useful states and achievements as this forms the habit required to harness and increase the potency, success and application of your powerful thoughts.

If you'd like to know more or talk further on anything - success, happiness or NLP, please get in touch.

Kellie Lucas
Happiness Engineer