NLP Mapping

Print PDF

The Map of your World

Your Maps Of Your WorldNLP is very much about exquisite communication skills. However, during the early days of NLP, the elegance and effectiveness of NLP was often hidden under a barrage of jargon. So much so, that it took Antonia Boyle (Master Practitioner NLP) three years to find a trainer who made sense to her. In those early days struggling with the jargon, using a dictionary wasn't much help because NLP seemed to have a language of its own. Unless you had the key, it was very difficult to unlock its mysteries! However, things have greatly improved and there are now many excellent, accessible and readable books on the subject.

One NLP term you might come across is: "The map is not the territory". This might be easy for some people to grasp, but to Antonia it was as 'clear as mud'. What this means is that our perception of reality is not reality itself but our own version of it. According to the father of general semantics, Alford Korsybski "A Map is not the territory it represents, but if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness".

Simply put, it means that we all have our own sense of reality. How we experience what is happening to us is the only reality that counts for us as individuals. We might believe that we really understand what goes on in another person's mind and life, but what we see is informed by our own past experiences, beliefs, upbringing etc. Even if we do have an inkling about another person's sense of reality (because we know them very well), ultimately they will have their own map of the world and will manage their lives according to it.

As a consequence, individuals operate totally from their perspective of their world - they draw their own maps and their own horizons. Often these maps are useful and give them guidance, while at other times they might come adrift and lose their sense of direction. When this happens they often feel helpless; they don't know where they are or even where they want to go. A good NLP Practitioner can help them to find their own way and change their map. They will gain a new perspective and their map will become richer and offer more opportunities and possibilities for change. They will discover a map which offers more resources for achieving what they want from their lives.

Results are often achieved very quickly and can also be startling in their effectiveness. Clients are left feeling they have more options than before and different opportunities. But most importantly, they are actually capable of making these choices and are once more in control of their lives and their destiny.

NLP Practitioners are trained to fully appreciate that client's maps are to be respected at all costs. They learn not to assume that they understand other people's maps as they understand their own. Their role is to identify obvious patterns or programmes a client uses and often this happens unconsciously. They will help individuals to make changes in those patterns so that clients gain a clearer view of their own capabilities, beliefs and values. In turn, clients will then make the changes that are appropriate to them, depending on their own lives (lifestyle, beliefs and environment). Sessions involve the use of powerful tried and tested NLP techniques, which take the form of 'mind' exercises. If the Practitioner is experienced and skilled changes are made conversationally, so that it is not obvious to the client that any 'work' is being done, until they find that magically their life and map is changing!

A NLP Practitioner should never offer their own personal understanding of how the world works (i.e. using their own map, as an example to a client). As a client, one should never hear a Practitioner say things like: "If I were you..." or "What I would do in your place..." In that case the client would be advised to seek an alternative practitioner who would allow them to keep hold of their own map and to expand their own horizons.

A skilled and experienced NLP Practitioner will help you to map out a reality that is more constructive and valuable to you.

You will learn how to use this new, more resourceful map.

If you like what you achieve, you can stay on the road to success and excellence, using your new map as your guide.


Road to success