Inherent in the study of NLP are the NLP Presuppositions, ie the Beliefs behind NLP.

‘Presuppositions’ is another way of expressing the word ‘assumptions’ which we use in day-to-day English.

NLP Presuppositions presuppose that what we are saying does not necessarily have to be true, but if we act as though they were true, life is markedly enriched, and the way we ‘see’ people is decidedly different.

There is a lot of evidence that suggests, how we perceive someone to be or how we expect them to behave, that is going to be our experience of them.

In all, I am going to mention fifteen presuppositions, three in this article and the remainder over four other articles, five in total. 

Depending upon with whom you have studied NLP or whose material you have followed, you may know others as well.

There are many schools of thought in neuro-linguistic programming.

NLP is a living modality or science and each person adopts and emphasises different significant aspects.

So, to the first three presuppositions (these are not in any particular order):

1.    Respect the other person’s ‘model of the world’

It is very important to meet people where they are at the time of your encounter with them.

Should they have a belief or behaviour which you find unpalatable, if you want to be able to constructively interact with them, there is no point in making your feelings blatantly known to them.

They may find your behaviour or belief anathemic also.

Who’s right?  You both are.

Remember a person’s behaviours and beliefs stem from past conditioning – this has formed who they are (and who you) at that point in time.

Each person has her/his model of the world, and for that person that model is the correct one.

2.    The context of behaviour can change

a.    Someone can say, “I wish I had more energy”.  Do they really mean that?

Your response could be, “Always?”

When would they not need more energy?  When they want to sleep, of course, therefore the context of that desired behaviour changes.

b.    A person who is deemed by colleagues at work to be really tight with money because he won’t go for drinks on a Friday evening after work, or won’t go once a week out for lunch with his workmates.

Indeed, this person could, either, not like drinking, or not want to go out with work colleagues, or a myriad of other related reasons

OR

He and his wife may be on a strict budget so that they can send their children to private education, for example.

Againm behaviour changes according to context. Making sweeping judgements is counterproductive.

3. All behaviour should be Ecological

Ecological means that whatever you think and/or action should embrace the following criteria:

a.    That the decision or behaviour should be good and safe for yourself

b.    That the decision or behaviour should be good and safe for others

c.    That the decision or behaviour should be good and safe for the universe

If these three criteria are met, then it’s probably okay to go ahead with the decision or behaviour.

Remember, the point of these Presuppositions is that, if we behave as though they are true and see people in that light, our chances of building desirable rapport are magnified.

We also will lead a more empowering , harmonious life for ourselves as we will be less critical, have greater respect for the way another person is different from us and be supportive of others.

Remembering that the way we treat others is largely the way we treat oursleves.

Milton Erickson said, “Anything is possible in the presence of good rapport”.