Dr. Crew's NLP Lessons #22

DISTORTIONS

According to Neuro-Linguistic Programming theory we have to become aware of our own distortions in our thinking process. We have, unfortunately, programmed many cause and effect relationships in our conscious and subconscious minds that need to be altered.

One of these may be that we believe that the reason we decided to act in a certain way has to do with how others treat us. This is a prime example of distortional thinking. If we decide to act in a certain fashion it has ONLY to do with what we decided to do. We can never blame others for how we act or what we say or even what we think about. It may certainly be easier to choose to respond a particular way when someone for example is unkind to us, but, this is OUR choice and because it is indeed a choice, we can choose an alternative way to respond. The absolute truth is that even if another person intends and attempts to cause us to act or respond in a particular way we cannot allow ourselves to distort the reality that we alone made this choice.

Distortions permeate our thinking due to our socialization and domestication and if we are not mindful and observant of them we may see them as realities. We can always ask ourselves, "Who says this is so?" or "Is this really a cause and effect relationship?"