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A New Years Resolution

Achieve Results in the New Year by Setting Intention vs A Resolution

New Year's Eve has always been a time for reviewing the past, as we decide and reflect on the changes we want, or need to make and how to follow through on those changes. This is traditionally the time when about 1 billion people (or more) will venture down a well-traveled path paved with bold and sometimes hastily conceived New Year's resolutions.

According to research fewer than 10% of people who set resolutions achieve them. As most people are serious about making changes in their lives, how can you turn your Resolutions into a reality?

Science is providing us with some insight on how the mind and brain work. Whatever you think, say and do becomes our reality. Even if it is outside of your conscious awareness. Even if you do not really mean it, your unconscious mind is constantly eve-dropping to make these things real. Like they say "be careful what you wish for." Words are very powerful and as Freud once said. "..Words and magic are one in the same." It's how we use them in our lives that make the difference.

An Intention is a purpose or an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides you to with a planned action versus a resolution which is often what you do not want and can be based on deprivation, loss and lack. By making a simple adjustment and turning your resolutions into intentions puts the focus and attention on what you do want. This draws your inner mind and body to become congruent with what you want and makes it happen.

For instance: According to a recent survey, the top 5 New Years Resolutions are:

1. Get Fit

2. Lose Weight

3. Quit smoking

4. Quit drinking

5. Get out of debt

Are any of your resolutions on this list? And have they been resolutions of years gone by?

By stating them in this way your mind/brain has to focus on what you do not want and this adds to what you have to push through to achieve your resolution.

By re-stating this list as an Intention, focuses the inner and outer self on what you do want.

1. Be fit, in shape, flexible and strong, healthy

2. Be XXkgs by___ (date) free, relaxed, in shape, healthy

3. Breathe fresh clean air, be free relaxed, natural and healthy, eat in moderation4. Drink 2/4 liters of water daily, focused, clear, be active and free 5. Generate income that exceeds outgoings, prosperous, free

Make Intentions statements that describe what you will achieve once you release the old habit or behaviour. Make an action plan; take time to adhere to what you really want.

Make this year the year it happens. Use these tips to make it even more powerful and easy to achieve.

1 Have a strong commitment to make a change. Imagine what you look like, feel like and what you will hear when you get it.

2 Have strategies to deal with challenges and problems that will come up.

3 Keep track of your progress. The more feedback you get, the better you will do.

Remember to give yourself a pat on the back for the time and effort you do put in and reward yourself from time to time. Use moderation instead of deprivation. Some people use the 80/20 program where they stick to their intentions 80% of the time and give themselves time outs 20% of the time. Make this your new life style plan and see how well this works for you. You will get results and find the balance you've been looking for. Have a Happy New Year!!

Living Your Life With Intention

The movie "What the BLEEP Do We Know!? ™ hit the World at exactly the right time for many people. We NLP'ers thought "finally an intellegent way to mainstream what we have been espousing." For those who haven't seen it yet, we recommend you do. Perhaps you could rent it, and we know you can purchase a copy from Amazon. We're not saying it's the best film, but it is delightfully informative.

For me there were a lot of parts in the movie that solidified our teaching especially the quote by Dr Joe Dispenza when he talks about "Creating his day." As you know we believe that setting our daily intention, as it does create your day and your reality. So we'd like to share the transcript of this part of his interview to perhaps remind you to create your day.

"I wake up in the morning and I consciously create my day the way I want it to happen. Now sometimes, because my mind is examining all the things that I need to get done, it takes me a little bit to settle down and get to the point of where I'm actually intentionally creating my day. But here's the thing: When I create my day and out of nowhere little things happen that are so unexplainable, I know that they are the process or the result of my creation. And the more I do that, the more I build a neural net in my brain that I accept that that's possible. (This) gives me the power and the incentive to do it the next day.

"So if we're consciously designing our destiny, and if we're consciously from a spiritual standpoint throwing in with the idea that our thoughts can affect our reality or affect our life -- because reality equals life -- then I have this little pact that I have when I create my day. I say, 'I'm taking this time to create my day and I'm infecting the quantum field. Now if (it) is in fact the observer's watching me the whole time that I'm doing this and there is a spiritual aspect to myself, then show me a sign today that you paid attention to any one of these things that I created, and bring them in a way that I won't expect, so I'm as surprised at my ability to be able to experience these things. And make it so that I have no doubt that it's come from you,' and so I live my life, in a sense, all day long thinking about being a genius or thinking about being the glory and the power of God or thinking about being unconditional love.

"I'll use living as a genius, for example. And as I do that during parts of the day, I'll have thoughts that are so amazing, that cause a chill in my physical body, that have come from nowhere. But then I remember that that thought has an associated energy that's produced an effect in my physical body. Now that's a subjective experience, but the truth is is that I don't think that unless I was creating my day to have unlimited thought, that that thought would come."

By - Dr. Joe Dispenza in What the BLEEP Do We Know!?

What is NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)?

Where did it come from?

The term NLP was first coined in the early 1970's by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. They began their research and experiments with simple techniques gathered from the psychotherapy world. The major foundational NLP techniques were developed from this earlier work with significant additions made in the last two decades. Most NLP techniques were simply modelled on techniques used and researched from other field such as Ericksionian Hypnosis, Classical Conditioning, Gestalt Therapy, and Family Therapy.

From other areas of psychology theoretical techniques were also developed. For instance in psychology there are an abundance of theories, each having different perspectives and techniques. Just as Albert Einstein sought a "unified field theory" for physics, which would tie all physical theories into a single model of how the universe operated; NLP also began as a unified field theory or an operational framework that synthesized the fields of neurology, linguistic and artificial intelligence (programming)

In this way NLP became an accelerated methodology for learning these techniques rather than the originator of them.

NLP techniques and distinctions emerged as expressions and manifestations of these principles. As NLP was developed into specific applications then reduced to chunks, the teachings of NLP moved from the systemic model towards a linear step-by-step approach.

NLP has 3 main elements that tell you not only what it is but how it operates.

Neuro, which refers to Neurology and how the mind and body link through the nervous system which affects the Linguistic or the language we speak internally, externally and physically. This develops and affects our Programming.

Another way to describe NLP is to ask, "How much do I know about what's going on inside myself and other people?" Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is about that.

" Why should a therapist up skill and learn NLP?

Most of the NLP developers and many of the present NLP trainers have graduate educations in standard clinical psychology. In the early days of NLP it was only taught to medical doctors, practitioners, dentists etc. And finally the trainings were opened to anyone who had any interest in change.

NLP is outcome solution based and has a purpose setting specific measurable outcomes. Its emphasis on internal subjective experience seems to consider a wider range of outcomes than behavioural therapy.

There are 3 things that seem to be in place for someone to be drawn to NLP and to become a good Therapist.

1. In inner knowingness that people and things can change

2. A calling to help people and being curious and interested in what makes people 'tick'.

3. People already come to you for assistance, now you want to have a set of guidelines and tools to "really" help them.

NLP can play a key role in effective therapy. Many professionals already utilize many applications that are integrated into what they already do seamlessly. Often therapist find they can only help people so far as people can have blocks or resistance to change. When this happens a most effective set of tools from NLP can clear and unlock them.

" How is NLP becoming respectable?

NLP is used in every walk of life. It has overcome the negative connotations of "brain washing" as people become more aware and sophisticated in their understanding of the brain functionality. If people have negatives about NLP it is usually comes from not knowing what it is.

Nowadays it is difficult not to turn on the television or read in mainstream media neurological brain/mind/body information. Whereas 20 or 30 years ago what was far-fetched, now is conceivable and acceptable.

The movie "What the Bleep Do We Know," is a fine example of how much people know and understand emotions and their connection to the thoughts and actions of a person. NLP gives us the tools to do something with them.

In my (Laureli's) twenty plus years of NLP experience, I have seen NLP grow and become respected all around the world. From hardly anyone knowing anything about NLP to now… "Oh yes, I learned some applications in a course I took." Or "I saw or read about that the other day."

We have the opportunity to teach NLP in Europe, South America, North America, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. (And we boast students from UK, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, France, Russia, China, Middle East, and Africa.

NLP & Personal Development

Whatever you learn applying it to self is a matter of importance. In our NLP Practitioner Certification Training we find what our students area of life is that they are consciously working on. Not surprising a large percentage of people say Personal Development.

Our society has encouraged us to believe that if we take care of our own needs and keep ourselves satisfied we will be fulfilled. This for the most part is an illusion. For a period of time people appease themselves and their families by adding more and more external things and clutter that eventually rusts, disintegrates or loses its lustre by a better bigger toy or item. All this does is add to the confusion of keeping momentarily fulfilled.

NLPers know that being 'fulfilled' is only relative to how specifically and getting more definite about what it means and how we'll know when we've got it. This gives us our first application of paying attention to what we are really trying to find or obtain.

If you are trying to attain fulfilment, happiness, satisfaction, a sense of worth or whatever Personal Development means to you, then it implies that the state you are in is not achieving those results. It may mean that something is missing or wrong or blocked.

The brain and mind get so involved in the habitual neurological pathways of acting and reacting that they become wired to a chemical rush or effect. Whether positive or negative we become addicted to this chemical cocktail. This happens unconsciously and as human beings we pay the price getting stuck in ruts and doing "things" over and over and over again. That is until we finally STOP and decide the price we are paying is too high.

Personal Development starts with taking the appropriate steps and using the NLP Formula combined with simple NLP techniques. As they say, it's the journey not the destination that is important. Whether you are new to NLP or an old timer, remember the applications apply to us first before we can really help others. Then before you know it you are congruently in the flow and that's when "Magic" starts to manifest in your life.

The Art of Balance

Our ability to stand without falling over is something that we seldom think about everyday. If it is windy we automatically lean into the wind to keep our balance and we keep going. Getting through our daily challenges is a lot like leaning in the wind. We realistically acknowledge the circumstance and adjust to find our centre of balance. When we do this we can maintain our balance and keep moving forward. If we don't we can not progress and may end up stuck, going backwards or losing our balance entirely.

During these times of challenges we sometimes fail to coordinate our inner knowingness and action and we get out of sync and act irrationally. Sometimes we await someone else to bail us out or save the day. How many times have you heard "next year it'll be better, or soon it'll change."

If we can't stop the wind then we can lean in and keep moving through it. It's using the "law of requisite variety."

Carl Jung, the renown psychologist, wrote, " I have often seen individuals simply outgrow a problem which had destroyed others." This "outgrowing" was seen to consist a new level of consciousness. Some higher or wider interest came into the person's horizon and through this new view point the insoluble problem lost its urgency. It was not repressed and made unconscious, but merely appeared in a different light and so it did indeed become different. What had in the past been panicky outbursts, wild conflicts, now viewed from a different level seemed like a storm in a teacup.

There will come a time, while leaning into the wind that we will find we can use the wind to lift us up higher into a state of consciousness and spiritual understanding. Here we discover we can use the power of the wind to sustain us. After all, it is the wind around an airplane's wing that lifts it into the air and holds it there. We too have wings which are composed not only of our characteristics, qualities and experiences but of hope, faith and trust that our tomorrows will be bright and sunny.

The next time you feel as though you are in a personal challenge and the wind is blowing, fling yourself forward with confidence and enthusiasm and soar like a bird with the spirit of who you are beneath your wings.

How do you Use your Anchors?

Anchors are triggers for what happens when you respond to a stimulus. It activates a mood or emotion that can have a positive or a negative effect.

In our studies of NLP and subjective experiences of human behaviour we know that these anchors are what occurs when your mood changes and these anchored responses are learned versus innately inherited.

For Example: Let's say you're walking through a shopping mall and you pass a bakery, you smell the freshly baked bread and see the display counter full of assorted lovely cakes, donuts, croissants and Danish pasteries. Then you start to salivate and have an inner discussion about how you might like to induldge yourself. This is a typical example of anchoring.

The reason this happens is you have been conditioned (if this scenario appealed to you) to a response that propelled you to get into a certain state or mood. Just as Pavlov with his dogs.

Anchors work almost instantly and usually within 60 seconds They operate unconsciously, bypassing rational thought. Positive thinking and positive intentions has little impact on anchors unless it is continued over a long time.

Once an anchor has provoked a negative mood in you the best you can do is to, as quickly as possible, reduce the unpleasant state that gets triggered.

You may have both positive and negative anchors at work.

If you would like to feel more in charge of yourself and your moods begin by anchor tracking. Become consciously aware of the anchors that propel you into unpleasant or negative moods and emotional states.

As long as these anchors are operating out of conscious awareness you will not be in charge of your own moods. Uncovering them will not, in itself, get rid of them. It provides you with a clear understanding of how you have been getting into undesirable moods as you recognise the triggers that provoke them.

How can you begin to uncover theser un-useful anchors?

Start noticeing when you have mood changes and if it is a negative mood ask yourself "How did I know it was time to do that?" Then back-track until you come to the moment when the mood changed and 'bada bing bada boom!' a negative anchor is revealed.