Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Coaching

From the moment we were in our mother’s womb, the left hemisphere of the brain began to store a set of beliefs and life patterns, depending on our interpretation of each fact. Sometimes it’s based on true experiences that happened to us or someone else. This judgment produces an emotional reaction and labels it (threatening, harmless, thrilling, pleasing, embarrassing, etc.).

This interpretation is not always objective and it often is a simple association with other events that seem similar in any way.
This belief system dictates the way we face life and –aiming to protect us- our left hemisphere warns us with fear in the face of situations that could be a potential threat… even before we could even verify it.

Many people live their lives believing all those alarms based on fictitious events, hindering their growth, their learning or (even worse) not allowing themselves to enjoy life! That attitude becomes a habit or even an addiction and, as a result, those individuals sabotage success, freedom, happiness, or love!

NLP is a powerful tool that offers life strategies and mechanisms to re-program the limiting concepts and unblock the person’s potentiality.
It is leans on creativity and communication skills to generate new habits of thought, and allow the person to become the author of their life in an objective and balanced way. Literally, the client renews his life paradigm, which is equivalent to “reformatting the hard disc in a computer”.

There are many useful techniques in NLP that can be used in the Life Coaching sessions. This increases the success opportunities tremendously, as long as the client cooperates with a firm commitment to apply the procedures outside the sessions, and if their desire to change is authentic and strong.

It takes about 21 days to create a new habit; however, it takes around 90 days to delete an unwanted behavior, install a new one, and reinforce it until it becomes the new life pattern.

For this reason, if a client only receives one session –no matter how convinced he or she is about the newfound information- most probably the change won’t last because the brain will demand its old comfort zone (even if it’s obviously harmful) and before they realize it, the old habit will reign again!

Therefore, it’s prudent to commit to the trimestral processes (12 sessions in almost 90 days) if the desire is to achieve a permanent life transformation. At the end of this period, both coach and coachee will evaluate the results and it will be determined if new goals want to be fulfilled in order to upgrade the “growth and re-invention of the being” adventure.