During the early days of NLP certain beliefs and ideas were developed and adopted as general principles that we can follow that will help us develop higher levels of communication with both ourselves and others. If we 'pre suppose' them to be 'true' they can serve as useful tools in our search for improved communication.

"THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY" Alfred Korzybski

all experience of the world is subjective and therefore it is true to say when 'I describe the taste of an apple or the colour of a sunset not one of us on the planet can know what I experience when I taste or see these things'. Although we all share the same territory we all have our own maps of our version of reality. This is invariably founded on our belief structures.

PEOPLE CAN CREATE THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES

We are all conditioned to respond in ways that are unique to us and to a greater extant it is this conditioning that makes an experience what it is. However understanding how we create experiences internally gives us the key to changing and therefore creating experiences that are far more resourceful.

PEOPLE ARE NOT THEIR BEHAVIOUR

Whatever behaviour people demonstrate can be changed. Look at the previous presupposition. Our behaviours are created by the response we have to events. If we can change the effect they have on us it is therefore possible to change our behaviour.

THE MEANING OF COMMUNICATION IS THE RESPONSE YOU GET

When you are talking to a group of people or just one person we will get a reaction. That reaction is a result of our communication. If you illicit no response that is still a response. It is the duty of a good communicator to realise that whatever response we get is the result of this interaction. If it's not working out that is your fault not theirs.

ALL EXPERIENCE HAS A DISTINCT STRUCTURE

All experience can be broken down into the 5 senses or modalities. These in turn can be broken down in to what we know as submodalities. For example Sight can be made up of size, shape, colour, brightness, 3D, 2D, bordered or panoramic, close or distant and so on. Once you understand this you can go inside and change that experience using the submodalities of a more resourceful state.

ALL BEHAVIOUR HAS A POSITIVE INTENT

No matter what happens in your life it is the best thing your unconscious can do for you at that time. In retrospect this may seem hard to believe but when a person has, what they believe to be limited resources it is the best they've got to work with. Understanding this means we can now go and change things, utilising resources from other areas of our lives.

MIND AND BODY ARE INTERDEPENDENT AND THEREFORE AFFECT EACH OTHER

What we do to the body affects the mind and vice versa. If we think in negative ways we usually get our desired outcome! The opposite is also true.

PEOPLE MAKE THE BEST CHOICES AVAILABLE TO THEM

If you feel you have limited resources and there fore. Limiting beliefs about yourself you can only make choices based on this map of reality. Therefore all the choices you make WILL be the best choices available!

PEOPLE WORK PERFECTLY

Whatever their behaviour people do the best things they can with the information they have. Therefore, it could be said that no behaviour is irrational. You are doing the only thing you can with the internal resources you have. However if you are given more choice you will be able to achieve so much more.

THERE IS NO FAILURE ONLY FEEDBACK

If we live our lives according to this presupposition we can do no worse than learn from our experiences. If we view everything as feedback we feel better about our situation and can therefore utilise resources that empower us rather than demotivate us.

HAVING CHOICE IS BETTER THAN NOT HAVING CHOICE

Living your life with choices is far more empowering than not. When we have choices in our lives we start to use the internal resources in a positive way.

PEOPLE HAVE ALL THE RESOURCES THEY NEED TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE

We all have choice and resources to help us make the changes necessary to improve our lives. If you haven't got a resource you can always model the resources of others. After all, NLP was built on modelling the excellence of others.