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A Brief Guide to the Magic of NLP: Neuro-Linguistic Programming for Everyday Life
NLP is a life changing set of mind technologies. This introduction will help you to learn the key concepts so you can immediately begin to harness the power of your mind.
Teach your mind to work for you and with you.
Learn how to read people and figure out their communication style
Create a magic feel-good button.
Develop clear goals and power them with powerful visualizations
Teach your mind to work for you and with you.
Learn how to read people and figure out their communication style
Create a magic feel-good button.
Develop clear goals and power them with powerful visualizations
50 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 30, 2019
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Trish Taylor
13 books17 followersTrish Taylor was born and lived in England for most of her life. A week after her 40th birthday a dance with an American soldier led her to leave everything she knew to start a new life in the US.
She has had a varied career including successfully working as a jazz singer and over 25 years of experience in the fields of:
Career guidance and counselling
Mindset coaching
She is a Trainer and Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Advanced Tapping Therapy Techniques - Thought Field Therapy.
Check out her videos and audio techniques at www.Youtube.com/trishtaylorcoaching
Connect with her at her website www.trishtaylorauthor.com
She has had a varied career including successfully working as a jazz singer and over 25 years of experience in the fields of:
Career guidance and counselling
Mindset coaching
She is a Trainer and Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Advanced Tapping Therapy Techniques - Thought Field Therapy.
Check out her videos and audio techniques at www.Youtube.com/trishtaylorcoaching
Connect with her at her website www.trishtaylorauthor.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 13, 2020
Day by day NLP is getting much familiar and especially by virtue of COVID-19 pandemic. The author mentioned at the beginning of the book, I would like to add on that this book is a perfect introduction for NLP who just decide to experience the life-changing moment for them. However, during the reading, I have found a limited real-life example to connect and convince because the author stated that she had a lightbulb moment. Although, In between some of the sections have exercises to which is a great support to the reader.
I like CREATING RAPPORT part, which helps to understand imparting. Rest, In this book, the author covers many vast topics in a comprehensive manner.
And last, I like following words,
Life can be precious and beautiful or painful and hard, much of it is based on our choices.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I like CREATING RAPPORT part, which helps to understand imparting. Rest, In this book, the author covers many vast topics in a comprehensive manner.
And last, I like following words,
Life can be precious and beautiful or painful and hard, much of it is based on our choices.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 22, 2020
First up, I'd like to say that this book is well written in terms of style. It's personable, positive, and probably helpful to certain readers.
However, I don't think it is actually a (brief) guide to NLP as the title of the book suggests. The author says very little about what NLP is, its origins, the broader context of NLP, or the significant controversial issues that surround it. Instead, the book is primarily a small selection of strategies that are used by NLP Practitioners, many of which did not originate with NLP. NLP is a highly eclectic model of psychotherapy that has taken a large proportion of its ideas from other therapies, models, and frameworks. For example, the chapter on Cause and Effect obviously draws on the longstanding psychological concept of locus of control. There are others, too, for example, self-talk, visualisation, and basic communication strategies to develop rapport.
There are also concepts that have no evidence for their legitimacy such as the use of eye movements and representational systems. The research that has been done on NLP has concluded that it is a pseudoscience. None of this is discussed in the "brief introduction". Everything is presented as if it is factual and will work for the reader.
Of course, none of this means that some of the strategies won't help someone. Because the ideas presented are often drawn from other legitimate psychological understandings, they may do so. For example, the author describes people who like each other as displaying behaviours such as appearing comfortable and relaxed, sit close to each other, lean into conversations with their bodies, appear interested in each other, smile, and speak in a similar tone of voice. Well ... yes. That's true. The proponents of NLP suggest individuals match these sorts of behaviours in order to increase rapport (called mirroring). This is a well-known phenomenon and is not unique to NLP. So, there is some value in the book when evidence-based strategies are described.
The problem is that no distinction is made between what comes from legitimate psychology, which is evidence-based, and pseudoscientific concepts such as NLP's insistence that the unconscious is another "person" with whom one's conscious must communicate with and align its aims with. The author of this "brief introduction to NLP" makes statements such as: 'The unconscious mind knows everything down to the cellular level.' But no evidence is given for this even though we are told that we need '... to match your conscious desires to your unconscious ones.' This sort of advice is transformed into obvious suggestions to '[b]e aware of the words that come out of your mouth and ask yourself, is it kind? Is it true? Would I say this to someone I care about?' These are all great questions to ask, but like so much of NLP, it is wrapped in scientific sounding jargon to legitimise the claims of NLP.
All of this is to say that this book is not really an introduction to NLP. It is an uncritical promotion of a number of NLP strategies. NLP is considered pseudoscience despite the few elements that are appropriated from legitimate psychology -- and which are often distorted or misunderstood. As an introduction to NLP, however brief, for me, this book fails that aim. If all you want are a few ideas to help you improve yourself, then I suppose that's ok but read the book critically knowing that much of what is promoted is not evidence-based. Ironically, the author, in the introduction, says that 'NLP is the closest thing [she] has experienced to magic.' From its beginning, the word "magic" has been used in association with NLP. It would be great if this book was an actual, critical introduction to NLP which moved away from "magic" to an evidence-based approach to self-improvement that more about evidence than "magic". If the author ever writes such a book, I'd be very interested to read it!
*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
However, I don't think it is actually a (brief) guide to NLP as the title of the book suggests. The author says very little about what NLP is, its origins, the broader context of NLP, or the significant controversial issues that surround it. Instead, the book is primarily a small selection of strategies that are used by NLP Practitioners, many of which did not originate with NLP. NLP is a highly eclectic model of psychotherapy that has taken a large proportion of its ideas from other therapies, models, and frameworks. For example, the chapter on Cause and Effect obviously draws on the longstanding psychological concept of locus of control. There are others, too, for example, self-talk, visualisation, and basic communication strategies to develop rapport.
There are also concepts that have no evidence for their legitimacy such as the use of eye movements and representational systems. The research that has been done on NLP has concluded that it is a pseudoscience. None of this is discussed in the "brief introduction". Everything is presented as if it is factual and will work for the reader.
Of course, none of this means that some of the strategies won't help someone. Because the ideas presented are often drawn from other legitimate psychological understandings, they may do so. For example, the author describes people who like each other as displaying behaviours such as appearing comfortable and relaxed, sit close to each other, lean into conversations with their bodies, appear interested in each other, smile, and speak in a similar tone of voice. Well ... yes. That's true. The proponents of NLP suggest individuals match these sorts of behaviours in order to increase rapport (called mirroring). This is a well-known phenomenon and is not unique to NLP. So, there is some value in the book when evidence-based strategies are described.
The problem is that no distinction is made between what comes from legitimate psychology, which is evidence-based, and pseudoscientific concepts such as NLP's insistence that the unconscious is another "person" with whom one's conscious must communicate with and align its aims with. The author of this "brief introduction to NLP" makes statements such as: 'The unconscious mind knows everything down to the cellular level.' But no evidence is given for this even though we are told that we need '... to match your conscious desires to your unconscious ones.' This sort of advice is transformed into obvious suggestions to '[b]e aware of the words that come out of your mouth and ask yourself, is it kind? Is it true? Would I say this to someone I care about?' These are all great questions to ask, but like so much of NLP, it is wrapped in scientific sounding jargon to legitimise the claims of NLP.
All of this is to say that this book is not really an introduction to NLP. It is an uncritical promotion of a number of NLP strategies. NLP is considered pseudoscience despite the few elements that are appropriated from legitimate psychology -- and which are often distorted or misunderstood. As an introduction to NLP, however brief, for me, this book fails that aim. If all you want are a few ideas to help you improve yourself, then I suppose that's ok but read the book critically knowing that much of what is promoted is not evidence-based. Ironically, the author, in the introduction, says that 'NLP is the closest thing [she] has experienced to magic.' From its beginning, the word "magic" has been used in association with NLP. It would be great if this book was an actual, critical introduction to NLP which moved away from "magic" to an evidence-based approach to self-improvement that more about evidence than "magic". If the author ever writes such a book, I'd be very interested to read it!
*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
October 22, 2020
This booklet is a brief introduction to NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming. As far as the writing style and , I liked the concise writing, It is easily readable with practical examples and a few interesting exercises for you to try. But I felt there was a little too much hype that the arguments don't live up to. The author says that NLP is like magic and it totally changed her life. As for me, I didn't find anything revolutionary and I don't believe my life will change much after reading this book.
Some of the things Trish Taylor talks about are negative self-talk, openness to change, controlling your emotions and body language. If you're constantly expressing pessimistic attitudes and putting yourself down in your thoughts or speech, stop that and try to focus on more positive thoughts and affirmations that can help you be more confident. Try to observe people you admire who have succeeded in something you want to do and try to learn from their way of doing things. Try to see yourself as an active agent who has the power to cause the change you desire and control over your emotions, instead of a helpless victim of circumstances and other people. Brainstorming can help spark your creativity while problem solving. Listen to music that makes you feel good. Mind your body language and try to project confidence and positive emotions even if you're not feeling it, as your mind may take cues from your body. Observe other people's body language and the way they speak in order to understand them better. If you want to achieve something you should formulate SMART goals that are specific, achievable, measurable, relevant or realistic, and time bound. Try to visualize how good it feels to achieve your goals in order to motivate yourself to work for it.
This is all great as far as I'm concerned but it's not really new, you could get this from any self help book. And some of it you could probably figure out without self help books. Taylor used visiting New York in June as an example of such smart goal setting and I was a little underwhelmed as I never thought that booking a plane ticket was so complicated. Lots of people have managed to visit New York in any given month without any NLP tuition.
One of the exercises I liked involves creating a happy button, trying to associate a good emotional state with a particular pressure point in your body, for instance, your knuckles, and this is supposed to calm and encourage you in stressful situations. If you're familiar with mindfulness techniques you may have come across something similar, as plenty of exercises involve visualising yourself in a happy place or time. The association of this positive mental state with a body part that you always carry with you sounds like a good idea. Another exercise involves asking people questions and trying to determine if they're lying based on which direction they glanced while thinking about their answer. In my opinion this technique has great potential for wrecking your relationships if you suspect or accuse people of lying merely based on this flimsy hunch and nothing else.
It costs nothing to try the things listed in this book but if you're considering shelling a lot of money for a NLP class you should be aware that many of the claims NLP practitioners make are just that, claims and anecdotes, and there is so little in the way of well designed research providing actual peer-reviewed scientific evidence to back those claims up that many consider NLP to be a pseudoscience. The list of references for this booklet includes five books, the author's own videos and a company that sells services.
Sure, there is some good advice in this book that may work for a lot of people but if you have read psychology or self help books, attended counseling sessions or listened to a wise old friend, you have probably come across most of these thoughts before. In fact I came across the same goal setting idea in a comic book ARC about a lazy egg that I read yesterday... If those thoughts didn't change your life the first time around that you heard them for free there is a chance they won't change your life even after you pay a lot of money for a NLP practitioner to tell you things that you already know.
To sum up: I liked the writing style and a lot of this is good advice that I totally agree with but the book failed to convince me of its major claim: that NLP is a magical key to transforming lives. This is a short read that may work as a quick primer that doesn't go very deeply into anything. Some interesting ideas are just mentioned and I was hoping to hear more explanation but there wasn't enough room.
I read the Kindle version on my phone Kindle app and there was one picture that I couldn't read because the text was so tiny and it stayed the same size when I enlarged everything else.
I got this ARC free from BookSirens and I'm leaving a honest, voluntary review.
Some of the things Trish Taylor talks about are negative self-talk, openness to change, controlling your emotions and body language. If you're constantly expressing pessimistic attitudes and putting yourself down in your thoughts or speech, stop that and try to focus on more positive thoughts and affirmations that can help you be more confident. Try to observe people you admire who have succeeded in something you want to do and try to learn from their way of doing things. Try to see yourself as an active agent who has the power to cause the change you desire and control over your emotions, instead of a helpless victim of circumstances and other people. Brainstorming can help spark your creativity while problem solving. Listen to music that makes you feel good. Mind your body language and try to project confidence and positive emotions even if you're not feeling it, as your mind may take cues from your body. Observe other people's body language and the way they speak in order to understand them better. If you want to achieve something you should formulate SMART goals that are specific, achievable, measurable, relevant or realistic, and time bound. Try to visualize how good it feels to achieve your goals in order to motivate yourself to work for it.
This is all great as far as I'm concerned but it's not really new, you could get this from any self help book. And some of it you could probably figure out without self help books. Taylor used visiting New York in June as an example of such smart goal setting and I was a little underwhelmed as I never thought that booking a plane ticket was so complicated. Lots of people have managed to visit New York in any given month without any NLP tuition.
One of the exercises I liked involves creating a happy button, trying to associate a good emotional state with a particular pressure point in your body, for instance, your knuckles, and this is supposed to calm and encourage you in stressful situations. If you're familiar with mindfulness techniques you may have come across something similar, as plenty of exercises involve visualising yourself in a happy place or time. The association of this positive mental state with a body part that you always carry with you sounds like a good idea. Another exercise involves asking people questions and trying to determine if they're lying based on which direction they glanced while thinking about their answer. In my opinion this technique has great potential for wrecking your relationships if you suspect or accuse people of lying merely based on this flimsy hunch and nothing else.
It costs nothing to try the things listed in this book but if you're considering shelling a lot of money for a NLP class you should be aware that many of the claims NLP practitioners make are just that, claims and anecdotes, and there is so little in the way of well designed research providing actual peer-reviewed scientific evidence to back those claims up that many consider NLP to be a pseudoscience. The list of references for this booklet includes five books, the author's own videos and a company that sells services.
Sure, there is some good advice in this book that may work for a lot of people but if you have read psychology or self help books, attended counseling sessions or listened to a wise old friend, you have probably come across most of these thoughts before. In fact I came across the same goal setting idea in a comic book ARC about a lazy egg that I read yesterday... If those thoughts didn't change your life the first time around that you heard them for free there is a chance they won't change your life even after you pay a lot of money for a NLP practitioner to tell you things that you already know.
To sum up: I liked the writing style and a lot of this is good advice that I totally agree with but the book failed to convince me of its major claim: that NLP is a magical key to transforming lives. This is a short read that may work as a quick primer that doesn't go very deeply into anything. Some interesting ideas are just mentioned and I was hoping to hear more explanation but there wasn't enough room.
I read the Kindle version on my phone Kindle app and there was one picture that I couldn't read because the text was so tiny and it stayed the same size when I enlarged everything else.
I got this ARC free from BookSirens and I'm leaving a honest, voluntary review.
December 2, 2020
This is my first book I am reading regarding NLP. I have been wanting to read about NLP since 2 years ago but most books are quite thick and since I can't focus , those books end up in the DNF pile. But not this book. I read it in one sitting. The book explains what is NLP well. Now I know how important to be able to control our mind but with guided steps. The phase "It is all in a mind" triggered me a lot before this. But after reading this book on NLP, I realise that it is true to a certain extend. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know a bit about NLP.
April 11, 2022
A brief guide to the magic of NLP is simply what the title says - a brief guide. It was an easy quick overview of NLP. There was some good information but much of it was very general, things that I have heard or read about.
November 30, 2020
it gives the basic idea of NLP.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews