Here’s a great article: Teaching Cops to See, from the Smithsonian Institute. The article describes how Amy Herman uses Art History is used to teach policemen better observation skills!

No, really!

It demonstrates how difficult it is to make sense of a scene because our model of the world tells us what it means.

She says:

The officers, all captains or higher in rank, were attending “The Art of Perception,” a course designed to fine-tune their attention to visual details, some of which might prove critical in solving or preventing a crime. Herman laid out the ground rules. “First, there are two words that are not allowed—’obviously’ and ‘clearly’—since what’s obvious to you may not be obvious to someone else.

Amen to that.

The officers offer their interpretations of what they are seeing in each picture.

A Caravaggio appeared on the screen. In it, five men in 17th-century dress are seated around a table. Two others stand nearby, and one of them, barely discernible in shadow, points a finger—accusingly?—at a young man at the table with some coins.

Among the officers a discussion arose about who robbed whom, but they soon learned there could be no verdict. No one was being accused or arrested, Herman said. The painting was The Calling of St. Matthew, and the man in the shadow was Jesus Christ. The cops fell silent.

Later, Deputy Inspector Donna Allen said, “I can see where this would be useful in sizing up the big picture.”

We spend lots of time in our NLP Practitioner trainings emphasising observation over interpretation, even so our own models of the world are so persuasive it’s easy to fall for what we think rather than what we see (hear, feel, taste and smell).

Tip of the hat to Mike DeBusk and the nlphilia blog for discovering the article.

There’s an interesting article in the New Scientist about Daniel Tammet a young man with autism and a number of other gifts.

Autistic savant Daniel Tammet shot to fame when he set a European record for the number of digits of pi he recited from memory (22,514). For afters, he learned Icelandic in a week. But unlike many savants, he’s able to tell us how he does it. We could all unleash extraordinary mental abilities by getting inside the savant mind, he tells Celeste Biever

If you are interested in other models of the world, and which NLPer isn’t? You might find it a very interesting read.

Fear and Uncertainty are stalking the land, if you give em credence!

One of the best DVD’s I have seen for comedy, and real life feel good factors is DodgeBall. Its a comedy masterpiece. But don’t stop feeling the recession fear and uncertainty just yet.

Think about it…

Nothing in life is certain… It never has been.  And its OK to upset the status quo

Yeh, yeh maybe death and taxes are certain, but what about all the rest, what are you doing about it now?

Your state, the sum total of your physical, emotional and bio-chemical and bio-electrical activity may dictate to a large extent what you are going to achieve.

The often horrific truth is you, yes you, you are totally and utterly responsible for how you feel. This effects how you go about your business and operate in this world.

A gem, A jewel of inspiration is Lance Armstrong.

Watch this clip of Dodge Ball for a perspective on reality…

Now I want to invite you do participate in a little experiment. Its all about how you feel. In a nut shell its your feelings, your perspective on reality that MASSIVELY influences how you behave in this world.

This exercise, that I invite you to experience is based on ‘NLP Solitaire’ that my good friend Andy Hunt created. This has a little twist.

I am making a big assumption that your have a bunch of photographs that capture exquisite and inspiring events in your life. Go and find them. Now, find at least 10 photos that capture everything that can be excellent in your life. The very best…

Now for each not so good experience, like the so called recession make one singal representation, a mental image. Experience it fully and completely. Get that negative state. Now before you get something else…

While you can hold that negative state, look at each one of your positive experiences, encapsulated in a photograph, then look at the next photograph. Keep trumping your photos until your old negative state dramatically shifts to something extremely positive. One after another… Keep adding, trumping positive experiences, look at the photos…

Its like top trumps, keep adding excellent photos, one on top of another until you are feeling very good. Repeat the exercise until you are feeling damn positive.

Sorry, but this will not make the world OK. But…

This has the strong possibility of creating a positive state in you. In you. Your state MASSIVELY effects how you act in this world so being in a great, resourceful state will effect how you go about your business in this world.

Do the exercise, repeating it, until you notice a very positive change in how you feel.

When you are feeling really good and positive, start to act, in ways that make a positive difference in your life.

The more you do this, the more you will take positive charge in how you experience the world. The more you do this the more you will create you own positive destiny.

You are totally responsible for how you feel, truth. The way you feel massively influences how you act and operate in the world, which may just lead to how you want to be…

Originally posted from Communicating Excellence

One of the recurrent themes in any excellent NLP Practitioner course , or great application of therapy is to create the context for your own or your clients beneficial change. Another description for this is Reframing. Reframing is about changing how experiences are being perceived.

This clearly dovetails into the concepts of Description, Interpretation and Evaluation, three of the most important distinctions you can make, now,

One of the most thought provoking and exceptional people of the 21st century is Robert Anton Wilson. Bob Wilson has written many many books on many many varied subjects. One particularly excellent book ‘Quantum Psychology‘ gives us a wonderful example of these types of so very necessary distinctions.

The example cited comes in the form of the work of Albert Ellis. Here are two examples of less than positive and enabling statements about a persons ‘reality’. In NLP terms a seemingly impoverished model of the world, in every day language an interpretation of actuality.

1. My boss is a male chauvinist drunk, and this is making me sick.
2. My secretary is an incompetent, whining bitch, and I have no choice but to fire her.

By simply reformulating the verbal description, the complex equivalents and cause effects diffuse, some generalisations, distortions and deletions are alleviated BUT even more importantly the distinctions between descriptions, evaluations and interpretations become clearer.

1. I perceive my boss as a male chauvinist drunk, and right now I do not ( or will not ) perceive or remember anything else about him, and framing my experience this way, ignoring other factors, makes me feel unwell.
2. I perceive my secretary as an incompetent, whining bitch, and right now I do not ( or will not ) perceive or remember anything else about her, and framing my experience this way, ignoring other factors, inclines me to make the choice of firing her.

All NLP and therapy is essentially reframing. This is just yet way to make it so.

nigel hetherington

Communicating Excellence
Excellence in Neuro Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy