The Proposition that our beliefs and attitudes have an effect on the outcome is growing in popularity. A movie, "The Secret" favors this proposition with a simple equivalency "the expectations that we put out into the universe is equal to what the universe will deliver back to us."
However our world view is very complex. We are often unaware of large parts of what we are communicating to the universe.
Presuppositions are components of our stance in the world that may strongly influence our communication to the universe. We all have presuppositions. They are basically assumptions that underpin our approach to the world. Below You will find some common NLP presuppositions and suggest a corresponding alternative that Murphy would have to get the luck that he has.
Murphy’s Presuppositions
You’ve heard of Murphy’s Law? Murphy’s Law is this: IF anything can go wrong, it will.” I recently learned that Murphy’s bad luck stems from his model of the world which includes the following presuppositions: | NLP Presuppositions("The Secret")
NLP was founded on a set of “presuppositions,’ or useful assumptions about people and the world. We don’t necessarily believe that all of these are “true” in every instance, but acting as if they were true is very useful. |
Which presupposition governs my action now?
Which presupposition is better to practice? | |
| The map is the territory. We all have the same map of the world and it is the correct one. Our map reflects the world completely and accurately. | The map is not the territory. We all have different maps of the world. No map reflects the world completely and accurately. |
| Mind and body are completely separate systems which are not connected in any way. Mind and body do not affect each other. | Mind and body are part of the same cybernetic system. Mind and body affect each other. |
| The meaning of the communication is what the sender intends. The response of the receiver is irrelevant. Resistance is a comment about the receiver. If someone is insulted by the communication; it is because they did not pay enough attention to the intended message. | The meaning of the communication is the response the communicator elicits. Resistance is a comment about the communicator. Communicators are responsible for communicating what they intend |
| If what you’re doing isn’t working1 keep doing it. | If what you’re doing isn’t working, do anything else. |
| People make the worst choices with the information they have. Everybody could make better choices if they would just try harder | People make the best possible choices with the information they have. |
| The element with the most rigidity will be the most controlling element in a system | The element with the most flexibility will be the most controlling element in a system. |
| Behind every behavior is an evil intention. | Behind every behavior is a positive intention. |
| There is no feedback, only failure. If something doesn’t work, you have failed. Give up. Don’t try anything else. | There is no failure, only feedback. If something doesn’t work, you can utilize that as feedback and try anything else. |
| If one person can learn to do something, no one else can. | If one person can learn to do something. anyone else can. |
| People work terribly. Everyone is broken. Everyone needs to be fixed. | People work perfectly. No one is broken. |
| Most behaviors have absolutely nouseful context. | Every behavior is useful in some context. |
| No choice is better than choice. | Choice is better than no choice. |
| People just don’t have enough resources. They need to get their resources from others. | People have within them all the resources they need. |
| Anything can be accomplished if the task is taken in big enough chunks. | Anything can be accomplished if the task is taken in small enough chunks. |
