NLP has been defined as "study of subjective experience" and has been presented and taught as a "model" for implementing change rather than a theory due to the emphasis on its usefulness and practical application rather than its truthfulness. The presuppositions of NLP are the underlying beliefs and assumptions that have been found to have positive effects on the process of change and provide the invisible framework for the structure of excellence. The presuppositions follow that life and mind are systemic processes and all human interactions occur as a cybernetic system, and interactions between people form feedback loops.
The Map Is Not the Territory - Human beings do not operate on the world itself but operate instead, upon a map or model of what they believe the world to be. Each person's experience of the world is subjectively filtered through his or her nervous system and the constraints of his or her sociological and personal background. Beliefs about reality are reflected in a person's behavior and communication patterns. Limiting beliefs are a result of a poor internal "map" of reality. Experience is not reality. Reality is the physical environment that you are subjected to every moment of everyday. You interpret whatever of it has meaning for you to create your experience. Interpreting reality in a different way changes your experience of it.
We Cannot Not Communicate - It is impossible to not communicate and all behavior is communication. People are affected by the results their actions have on other people. This presupposition supports that human interaction is systemic in nature.
There Is No Such Thing As Failure, Only Feedback. - There are no mistakes only outcomes; failure is only one form of feedback. Failure is nothing more than an outcome that supplies a person with important feedback. In a cybernetic system Failure is not an end in itself; it is simply an experience that can be learned from. This perspective assists one in being more resourceful and curious about testing, operating and testing until they get the feedback they seek. Feedback sets direction for appropriate action. Feedback = food for thought. Failure produces results that allow you to improve. Results are the means by which you measure your progress and adjust your behavior to achieve your worthy ideal. Feed-forward. There is no failure, only feedback
At Some Level, All Behavior Is Positively Intended - People always make the best choices available to them given the choices they perceive available to them given the resources and insights that are available to them in any given context. People usually do what they believe is right and in accordance to how they experience things. All behavior has a positive intention for the person behaving. A limited view of the world results in a limited amount of choices. Every behavior is usefull in some context. No behavior is wrong in itself; it is perhaps just not the most appropriate behavior for the context. People are not defective. Although some behaviors may not be very useful.
The Law of Requisite Variety - This presupposition assumes that the more variety a person has in choices the better off they are. The territory is everchanging and we must be flexible when creating maps made out of moving targets. Whoever has the most flexibility will more likely endure. The person with the most flexibility and choices of behavior will rule the system. In order to get different results, you need to keep doing different things. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
The Meaning Of Your Communication Is The Response It Elicits - The road to hell is paved with good intentions. It does not matter what you think you mean, what matters is what actually results from your words, tone and actions. Your intended communication is not always what is perceived. You can change your communication until your desired results are obtained. In interactions among people, the person with most flexibility and variation of behavior can control the outcome of the interaction. The resistance you get is a comment about your inflexibility as communicator; if what you are doing is not working, do something different.
"We must separate the intended meaning of a word from the accepted meaning if we would achieve accurate transmission. " Dr. Paul Brunton
Resistance in a person is a sign of lack of rapport. - We will move heaven and earth for those we love and want to impress. When you have rapport you have massive influence, and then you can find out what moves and motivates that person. If you get resistance, build rapport.
Experience has a structure. - All genius, excellence and amazing achievement has structure and a strategy, and for this reason it can be learned, likewise for ignorance and stubborness. If one human has done it, it means that it is humanly possible. And if it is humanly possible, most any human can learn to do it.
Changing experience has more value than changing reality. - If thought is the cause of what we experience now, then what we think now will be the cause of what we experience in the future. Having choices about how to think about reality now, changes your experience of it.
Anything can be accomplished if we break it down into small enough pieces. (Chunking)- Individual skills function through the developing and sequencing of the representation systems.
People already have most of the resources they need. - Everything a person needs to effect a change is already in them, nudging it in the right direction will get the ball rolling. All the resources we need are inherent to our own physiology.
All distinctions use our senses. - There is a distinct sense that this is plainly obvious. How else indeed, you do experience reality with your senses of sight, sound, touch / feel, smell and taste. It only makes sense. There is no substitute for clean, open sensory channels.
