In the posting, “The NLP Process of Generalization”, I made reference to your values, beliefs, attitudes, memories, decisions, the language you use, and your meta-programs.

What you delete, distort and generalize depends upon your internal filters.

See the great graphic within the article to illustrate your internal filters.

For your convenience, there is an AUDIO of 4.18 minutes.

These internal filters determine upon what you focus, look for, as well as what you leave out of your perceived experiences of reality.

With itYour internal filters are created by previous experiences you’ve had in the following three areas:

• Your upbringing

• Your environments

• And the significant emotional experiences you have had within the above two areas

These internal experiences are the criteria by which you sort the 10 million bits of information attempting to enter your neurology through your five senses.

It’s important to get familiar with the graphic below as each box represents an important internal filter, and illustrates the processes that information undergoes when it comes through your five sensory channels, and what happens to it as it enters your neurology.

As you know a picture says a thousand words, in this case, this picture represents 10 million words and experiences.

The totality of all the internal filters is actually evidenced by the mindsets you exhibit to the world by your words and by your behaviours.

What’s fascinating is that you aren’t even aware of when you decided to have these mindsets yet now they rule your life and attempt to influence everyone you interact with.

Every time you try to convince someone that you are right, and by implication, that they are wrong, you are enforcing your mindset on them.

Now, I’m not saying that there is anything right or wrong about this, it just is.

These mindsets and ‘truths’ were established so long ago and that they are completely hidden from your conscious awareness.

Most of these you operate on automatic pilot, in a trance, so to speak.

What’s interesting is that most people assume that their reality is really ‘the truth’ and as a result curtain themselves off by being set in their way of thinking.

The idea is to always keep an open mind, and at least consider other points of view when it seems that there are a few people who differ with you – as I said, at least consider.

If you feel that you are not achieving at the level that you would like, then perhaps it’s time to look at what internal filters you are clinging to that could be holding you back.

After all, a problem cannot be solved with the same mind that created it.

This is a really testing the boundaries and requires you to leap out of your comfort zone, and not just step out of your comfort zone.