How To Expand Your Thinking

By Author: nlpmind
Total Articles: 6
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Robert Dilts has made and will probably continue to make, contributions to the field of NLP. I have not made a complete survey or study of precisely what he has contributed. At a glance, I'd say he has elicited many strategies for applying NLP. These are not actually NLP, they are application strategies. If utilizing the strategy requires prior training in NLP, then the strategy can be called an NLP strategy.

The old questioning strategy for expanding thinking; Asking: When? Where? What? How? Why? Who? and Who else? has been hijacked by Dilts, renamed, associated to brain neurology and categorized as an NLP model.

The questioning strategy works as well today as it ever has. It expands one's thinking about the topic in question.

A useful exercise is to apply the questions, to Dilts version of the questioning strategy. This reveals that Dilts did not develop the strategy and it has nothing to do with a person's neurology beyond the neuropathways a person uses to ask such questions. Applying logic, reveals that what Dilts proposes are "Logical Levels"... are not. They are categories of information and ...
... types of questions one can use to elicit that information.

A few years ago during a coaching session I was providing for a local golf pro, he hit eight balls in a row dead on a target he had chosen. Everyone watching was amazed and then they were even more amazed when the golf pro refused to believe he had just done it. He insisted he couldn't have and that I must have hypnotized him into believing he had. No amount of convincing would change his mind. Some people refuse to believe what's right before their eyes.

In Canada we have a "Rickyism" that accurately describes this common phenomenon, it's called "Denial and error". We could argue whether or not "logical Levels" are logical, all day long with someone experiencing "Denial and error", and still not get anywhere.

"Logical Levels" is not an "NLP Model", it is a strategy for gathering information. I refer to it as "Categories Of Thinking".What? When? Where? How? Who? Who else? Why?

These are standard questions all reporters are taught to ask. Asking those questions helps expand whatever information the reporter already has. I call it "Using NLP to expand your thinking".

In the NLP Trainings I provide, Practitioners and Master Practitioners do an exercise using these questions. The intent of the exercise is to have delegates experience the process of expanding their thinking about any topic. I use several examples and go through the list of questions to demonstrate how easily they help a person expand their thinking on that topic. Delegates are then asked to form small groups and explore the answers to those questions for a topic of their choice. The questions do not have to be asked in any particular order.

The following is an example of the above being put into practical application.

We are often faced with meeting new people. In that context it is also often useful to be able to gather information about them in a fluid and conversational manner. A LOGICAL place to start is at the level of Identity, who?. I've provided some examples below. The questions you use will change to suit the subject you focus on.

(These examples employ the balance principle of "give then take and/or take then give". Give information then ask for similar information and/or ask for information then give similar information)

Hello, I'm _____. Who are you?

I'm with _____. Who are you with?

What's your mission/roll _____? My mission/roll is _____.

I'm _____ because _____. Why are you _____?

How do you think _____ will turn out? I think _____.

What are you going to do to achieve that?

Where and when does _____ happen?

Conversation moves fluidly from one type of information to another and does not have to adhere to the sequence of information types that are presented. Questions, answers and other statements may also involve more than just one type of information.

Steve Boyley, JAFS. NLPT. MCHt.NLP training courses renowned worldwide.

NLP Training courses seminar. Neuro Linguistic Programming - NLP training in Canada, USA, UK and worldwide. NLP is defined as a practical model of the processes we experience to experience reality. NLP describes how to recognize, use and change mental programming. For more information please visit: http://www.nlpmind.com/