RT® News
A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education
No 120 March 15 2012
Hello teachers,
Today we chunk up and take a look at just what NLP has emerged for at this time in our evolution on Earth. It is one possible interpretation influenced by the changes and trends present in modern society.
NLP is an investment for the future in that it gives us more than simply a few techniques to identify learning styles in class. It is actually a tool set for life to help us understand where we are and get to where we want to go in life.
Our new Practitioner course begins on Saturday March 31 and it can be taken inEnglish or in Spanish. We already have a steady flow of enrolments so be sure to contact us for more information or to ensure your place before enrolments close.
More information is in section 2 below.
Warm wishes,
Laura and Jamie
1. Evolution and NLP/Customising/Pimp my Ride (Enchúlame la máquina)
2. NLP Practitioner courses
3. Calendar of activities for 2012
4. Workshops and coaching
5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and an invitation to visit
1. Evolution and NLP/Customising/Pimp my Ride
This article has three titles, just to be different, so let’s deal with them in reverse order.
Pimp my Ride was an MTV show in which a participant’s car was transformed from a dull, often run-down vehicle into something bright and original, full of modern gadgets, décor and accessories to match the owner’s needs and tastes. This TV exercise was a glossy more expensive version of what young men who love cars have done for decades.
We know this as customising, or producing something that is custom built, i.e., produced or adapted to suit the customer.
So, where does NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) come into this? Or perhaps the better question is why did NLP emerge as a technology for growth and communication, among other purposes? The key to the answer comes in the word “Programming”, a word that has had its share of detractors. Most people can accept that neuro and linguistic accurately describe areas in which NLP operates but surely the word programming is too mechanical a word to be applied to human beings? The word programming forms part of the name NLP precisely because co-founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder were able to appreciate the analogy between the computer and its hard and software and the brain with its physical dimension and all its processes, beliefs, habits, and capacity. These last things would be the programmes of the computer that we acquire, learn and adapt throughout our lifetimes. In other words, the software. The human brain is, of course, capable of infinitely more subtleties of action, thought and process than a machine at this moment of history but the analogy used by Bandler and Grinder is a very functional one.
And now lets move on to evolution. We cannot deny that the last few decades have brought enormous changes in our technology and in our capacity to do things on this planet. Far more changes than in the whole of the previous tens of thousands of years. Among them are such innovations as the personal computer, the cellphone, genetic engineering and the like. Why is this happening now? Well, for one, we have the technology to do it, as the films would say. We can now build the bionic man or woman or at least most of him or her. But one suspects there is more to it than that. Internet is allowing us to be in touch with far more people than we would ever have imagined a few decades back and for all the negative aspects of this tool, there is no doubt that it allows us to cooperate and collaborate globally on projects like never before. It allows people from remote communities to keep up to date with the rest of the world and for city dwellers to know what is beyond the immediate horizon.
We now have access to huge quantities of learning and information. A very small part of this was once compressed into wall-long sets of encyclopedia. Now, the information we can find on internet seems infinite. If we want to locate an expert in a certain field, or simply like-minded enthusiasts, it is at the click of a mouse.
So, what is the point of having all this? Or perhaps what has NLP got to with it all?
What seems to be happening now is that we are being given the tools and the choices to determine our own lives. In the past, the vast majority of people were brought up following the traditions of the culture they lived in and mostly they accepted this with the exception of a few rebels (geniuses, madmen and women and people who seemed to be born before their time, etc). You did what you were told and carried on living life the way your parents and grandparents did. Sure, there were changes from time to time as new religions and new continents were discovered and new technology appeared, but for the most part, people lived in a very similar fashion to their parents.
Suddenly, in the 21st century, we are faced with a world in which a significant number of us can now CHOOSE how we live our lives. There is no one agreed way of living life and even tribes in the most far-off parts of the world are aware that there are other styles of life.
And what did NLP emerge for in the 1970’s at a similar time to many other self-help methods? Why do humans have this body of knowledge and techniques available in an ordered format now and not 200 years ago? One suspects it is because now we are ready for it. The conditions are in place for it to be used effectively. Of course, much of what NLP offers us just as with other new philosophies and learning is nothing new. It has just been remembered, revamped, polished and put together so that we can use it in our 21st century world.
Because now, we are in a position as individuals to customize our lives, something that many conservative societies would not have permitted in the past. Having NLP tools to help us find out HOW to change what we don’t like in our lives (as long as they are things which depend on our actions). It gives us the freedom to find and do what we wish to do. The world is slowly waking up to the obvious – that each and every one of us is unique and that whatever similarities we may have, we can no longer be expected to do, think or act exactly the same as our neighbor. Each of us has a mission (or more) in life and it is ours alone to fulfil, we do not share it with our neighbour. Until now, if we have had a special talent, we have often had to look far and hard to find a teacher to help us discover and exploit it. Sometimes we haven’t even been allowed to develop it due to social pressures and while these are still influential today, many more people are finding that indeed it is possible to be one’s unique self and live out one’s dreams.
This is one of the goals education is supposed to be preparing us for – our own individual growth, maturity and plenitude to be the unique person we are. Not to live another’s life or another’s dreams.
At the moment, this quest to find out who we really are and to fulfill our potential is more likely to take place outside the mainstream educational systems. Which is possibly a good thing as until we have a real debate about what education is or should be and what function it should serve in a society, playing around too much with conventional schooling may lead to unforeseen consequences. Probably this learning we are doing outside traditional schools, which is often related to who we are, what we want and to really connecting to life on this planet, will eventually start to influence school programmes, but for now it is most likely to be found in the attitudes and approaches of individual teachers.
There are many paths to greater understanding of oneself and the world we live in, many roads to greater enlightenment and awareness. In the West we are seeing a resurgence in Oriental philosophies and practices as one way of learning.
NLP represents another very practical and functional way of understanding the processes we use to navigate our way around life. It focuses on the way we do things so once we discover a pattern of thought and behavior, we can decide if we want to keep it or change it. NLP has made it clear that what goes on inside each person’s brain is supremely unique because each person’s experience of the world is uniquely subjective. With 100 people doing the same task, what happens internally in the minds and bodies of those 100 people will be different for each and every one of them. And that is one of the few universal truths!
So, as we start to head towards more customized learning, which in the future will mean that each person, even within a state education system, will follow a path either subtly or vastly different from the student next to him, NLP is giving us a helping hand to see how this can work in practice. It helps us identify the way we see and interpret the world, our preferences for communication, how we experience and store “external reality”, how we motivate or demotivate ourselves, what consciously and unconsciously are our priorities and much much more.
And it has two really useful features. One is the emphasis on finding what works in any given situation and the other is providing tools and methods to model what processes work supremely well for others so that we can acquire the excellence that we perceive in our neighbour (or indeed inside ourselves in another context!) This is thefoundation of NLP and is called MODELING. It is based on the presupposition that if someone else can do something great, we all can. It is a question of discovering the programmes of that other person to discover what makes them perform so well. And this discovery can occur with very close and trained observation that is within the reach of us all.
We wouldn’t have these tools, techniques and insights if we weren’t meant to make use of them. As our world changes so quickly, it is precisely our abilities to identify andmanage processes that will make the difference, not how much static information we know. So here they are, ready to be used to maximize our potential and to help our students fulfill their wishes and desires too. Ready for the day when each and every human being on this planet will custom-build his or her life in a society co-created by us all.
Are you ready to pimp your life?
© Resourceful Teaching 2012 Ó, Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan
2. NLP Practitioner courses
Practitioner Certificate in NLP for Education
Our next Practitioner Certificate course starts on March 31 and consists of 16 modules to be held on Saturdays on a monthly basis in 2012 and 2013. This first level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.
The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!
To enrol or for further information: send a mail to jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com
Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00
Start Date: Saturday March 31
Investment: 380 pesos per module
The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.
NB: This course is also being offered in Spanish
3. Calendar of Activities 2012
We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.
March 31 2011 Practitioner Certificate in NLP applied to Education, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The courses in English and Spanish commence on this day.
4. Workshops and Coaching
If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year.
We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contactjamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.
Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com
5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit
To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.
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