To "not" think about chocolate pudding, your unconscious has to first think of chocolate pudding and then mentally cross it out. By then it's too late, you are already thinking of chocolate pudding.
Have you ever managed to fail an exam you were perfectly capable of passing with flying colours? In worrying about failing you mentally rehearse your own failure. Just like a child, your unconscious mind is very literal - be careful what messages it receives.
Helen Doyle
Your unconscious is highly resourceful and creative. It is the place of memory and imagination. Your unconscious is intuitive, experimental and it isn't hemmed in by rules and regulations. It can hold millions of chunks of information - whilst your conscious mind can only hold around 7-9 chunks at a time.
In contrast, your conscious mind is analytical, structured and aware - it's who you say you are, it's what you say you do. Your conscious mind is reading these words now while your unconscious mind is already running rampant with the endless possibilities they create in your mind.
The famous American psychiatrist Milton Erickson said there are no un-resourceful people, only un-resourceful states. All the resources you need are held within your unconscious - you just need to open the door.
The key is in understanding how you communicate with both your conscious and unconscious mind. Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP as it is popularly known, provides the key.
Described as "the owner's manual for the brain", NLP has come to Stamford and Rutland. Already an NLP Practitioner, Helen Doyle, has recently qualified as a Master Practitioner, certified by John Grinder, NLP's co-founder.
Helen has founded SpringBoard NLP, a coaching and therapy business helping individuals and organisations achieve their own chosen forms of excellence. Excellence can be anything from quitting smoking, weight-loss and overcoming phobias to dealing with past issues, increasing self-confidence and achieving personal or sporting success.
It might mean increasing sales performance, making a major life transition or simply changing your reaction to coming home to an untidy house at night.
Helen's 10-year background in financial services in the City might seem a million miles from the world of Neuro-Linguistic Programming but she explains that this is a very natural transition for her.
Helen helped to set up the London-based European operations for a North American corporate foreign exchange provider, becoming the highest achieving sales person globally and consistently exceeding target year on year.
"Five years later and we were recognised as one of the leading foreign exchange providers with an annual turnover of £5 billion in the UK alone."
"I believe you create your own destiny. I don't believe in unnecessary boundaries or pigeon-holing people."
In the NLP world, this is called the "know-nothing" or the "ambiguous" state. As a Practitioner, you suspend your own map of the world and use all your senses to understand how a client experiences their world. Creating rapport is essential to a respectful relationship. Using linguistic patterns you can create more choice for the client.
Helen's sister Wendy was her first perfect model in the study of excellence. In January 2006, Wendy became the first ever woman to complete the Antarctic Ice Marathon, competing in temperatures as low as -40C, kitted out in full Arctic gear and facing 45-knot winds.
It's easy to understand why Helen has used Wendy's Antarctic race finish photo as the inspiration for SpringBoard NLP.
"My sister is adamant that she is just a normal person. What makes her unique is her own unconscious strategy that enables her to do what she does. She is equally as prone to the same fear of physical set-backs, worry and self-doubt that would stop the rest of us in our tracks. She turns those negative feelings into resources that are her motivation."
In October 2007, Wendy participated in the 125-mile ultra Amazon Jungle Marathon. She ran in 70% humidity, carrying all her food and camping equipment whilst risking encounters with anacondas and jaguars.
A core belief of NLP is that excellence is not the domain of a favoured few - "excellence" can be modelled and coded and then taught to anybody who desires the same performance. It can be replicated in any field; with top sales performers, the top performing students, the highest try-scorers in a rugby team.
"I come from a long history of sales to Financial Directors and Heads of Treasury and have long-since learned to deal in tangibles. NLP is a specific set of processes that engineer positive change in a client. Each step is carefully tested and measured to ensure that it is both appropriate and on-track. NLP is an incredibly powerful tool for all walks of life."
In her own pursuit of personal excellence, Helen is due to spend September 2008 working with John Grinder, the co-founder of NLP.
"NLP is a constantly evolving field and to study with John Grinder is a huge privilege. I'm so excited to have this chance. John Grinder is 68; he won't be actively involved in NLP indefinitely. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from NLP's original co-developer before he hands it over to the next generation forever."
Helen is now taking bookings for January. Please contact: Helen Doyle, SpringBoard NLP Tel 07949 217539 Email helen@springboardnlp.co.uk www.springboardnlp.co.uk
NEURO - refers to neurology, our nervous system - the mental pathways our five senses take which allow us to see, hear, feel, taste and smell. It is through some, or all of our five senses that we experience the world.
LINGUISTIC - refers to our language ability; how we put together words and phrases to express ourselves, as well as how our "silent language" of movement and gestures reveals our states, thinking styles and more.
PROGRAMMING - refers to the idea that our thoughts, feelings and actions are like computer software programs. The programs are created and installed depending on our own unique experience of the world (neuro) and how we express ourselves (linguistic). When we change those programs, just as when we change or upgrade software, we get immediate improvements in how we think, feel, act and live.
Dr Richard Bandler (mathematician, Psychologist & Philosopher) and Dr John grinder (Psychologist & Associate Professor of Linguistics) carried out extensive research at the university of california in the 1970s. They were looking to answer one simple question:
"What is it that makes the difference between somebody who is just competent and someone who excels at the same skill?"
They began their work by modelling the language, physiology and mental processes of a few top communicators and therapists. They identified patterns of behaviour which could be explicitly taught to others. This was the birth of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
Some of the first people to be studied included, Fritz Perls (gestalt Therapy), Virginia Satir (Family Therapy) and milton Erickson (world renowned psychiatrist who gave his name to a form of hypnosis). However, the modelling process that Bandler and grinder developed could just as easily have been applied to outstanding individuals in business, sports, scientists or any indeed, achievers of excellence in any field.
Often unrecognised at a conscious level, we translate the world through our inner thoughts, in words, pictures, feelings or beliefs. These unknown elements determine how we behave and react to the world - by using NLP they can be identified and put to work or altered to provide the choice of a different set of behaviours. NLP can create rapid and immediate change that often happens so elegantly a person does not actually feel "changed" - the change process is naturally adopted. understanding why problems have arisen doesn't necessarily solve the problem. NLP focuses on changing the behaviour. Not the why, but the how. This is particularly relevant in treating phobias.
BUSINESS - rapport building, negotiation skills, modelling top performers
EDUCATION - understanding learning behaviours, goal-setting, creating high performance states & combating exam stress
HEALTHCARE - use alongside conventional treatments to help manage physical symptoms by changing a person's beliefs and attitudes towards them.
RELATIONSHIPS - improve communication & understanding to acquire a different choice of behaviours in reacting to certain situations.
CREATIVITY - offers powerful ways to free & stimulate creativity
SPORT - excel to new levels of personal excellence, establish clear, achievable goals. create focus and motivation, modelling top performers.
PARENTING - understand how your child constructs their world, help them to manage their own states to deal with a variety of situations, help them to excel in mainstream education
PERSONAL CHAMGE - overcome phobias. Relief from personal limitations & patterns of behaviours, freedom from old habits, fears and limiting beliefs, acquire new and empowering ways, gain choice to make better decisions.
contact Helen Doyle at SpringBoard NLP Tel 07949 217539 Email helen@springboardnlp.co.uk www.springboardnlp.co.uk