Neuro-Semantics: Its Community and Adventure

When I began to develop the Neuro-Semantic model and field, I did so using apply to self dynamic that’s built into the Meta-States model. Why did I do that? First and foremost for being able to congruently live and experience the patterns of Neuro-Semantics. I also realized that because how we treat others, the kind of relationships we built, the kind of team spirit, community, the accountability structures, cooperation, collaboration, etc. is absolutely critical, we have to hold ourselves accountable to living the changes that we talk about. Accordingly, soon after initiating Neuro-Semantics I began modeling groups, teams, and cultures. I wanted to know how the larger “mind” of a community worked and what we could do to avoid the selfish individualism, competition, and scarcity that undermines many fields.

One day in a Master Practitioner Training in Sydney Australia, I found myself quoting Richard Bandler’s line about NLP: “NLP is an attitude, backed up by a methodology, that leaves a trail of techniques” and commenting that a key and crucial element had been left out. So I added a phrase, “that comes from relationship (rapport, connection) and that leads to relationship.” This now makes up our definition of the kind of NLP we do in Neuro-Semantics.

“Neuro-Semantics and it’s meta-version of NLP is an attitude, that comes from relationship (rapport, connection) and that leads to relationship, backed up by a methodology (modeling), that leaves a trail of techniques and patterns.”

For the movement and field of Neuro-Semantics, relationship is critical. You can especially see this in the Neuro-Semantic Vision that we post on the websites and in dozens of our books and materials. The Vision, in fact, is what has calls forth the community of men and women who are sick and tired of seeing cut-throat competition undermine the very models that can empower people and enrich their lives.

Recently in our Meta-Coaching trainings, we have benchmarked “feedback” and have begun to use it as a mechanism for truly supporting each other and inviting each other to move to the next level of development. Those who have experienced such have all said that it is the most powerful and moving thing experience of their lives. We Since then we have begin to use this in as many of our trainings as possible. It’s an essential part of Neuro-Semantics.

The exciting thing for me is that I know that in the near future someone in Neuro-Semantics will begin getting international attention. And when that happens, all of us will benefit.That’s because we believe in applying the principles of abundance, cooperation, and collaboration to ourselves. That’s because we believe that “we can do so much more together than apart.”

If this vision causes your heart to beat a little faster, if this is the kind of community that you want to be a part of and that you’re willing to contribute to—then I welcome you to this community. I’ll be looking forward to the things that you will offer and contribute to this community.

The Neuro-Semantic Adventure

If the meanings (or semantics) that we create make up our Meaning Matrix are not only “mental” or “intellectual” meanings, but meanings that inevitably send signals and commands to our nervous system (neurology, neuro_), then the Neuro_Semantic adventure is first and foremost an adventure of discovery into the structure and form regarding how meaning gets into our body—how we embody our semantics to create a program for operating in the world.

Of course, when our meanings get into our body, we feel them. That is, we experience them as our emotions—as our states. And when that hpapens, our embodied meanings influence our health, well_being, behaviors, skills, perceptions, and even the very way we experience reality. All of this highlights that the Neuro-Semantic adventure involves learning to think systemically about our mind_body_emotion system.

Like NLP, Neuro_Semantics centrally focuses on modeling the structure of experience and discovering how our experiences work. We do that to understand how we create our experiences. And that, in turn, invites us to accept ownership for running our brain at all levels, not only representationally (which is the focus of NLP), but also in terms of all of our mental contexts or frames (which is the focus of Meta-States).

Where does Neuro_Semantics differ from NLP? Most in the use of the fourth meta_domain of NLP, the Meta_Models model. Meta-States has enabled us to recognize that we do not just think or run movies in our mind (the VAK or representation systems of NLP), but we reflexively think again and again to create layers of thinking_feeling. Whereas NLP at best modeled these layers as “logical levels” as a rigid hierarchy using an unmoving metaphor like steps, ladders, pyramid, in Neuro_Semantics we recognize that this is all process and that it is dynamic and fluid. Given this, we best modeled it using verbs. It’s the layering of our matrix as we think_feel and this creates fluid, dynamic, and process layering—this is how we “texture” our states.

If this is new to you, we invite you to explore the hundreds of pages of descriptions, articles, and patterns on this website, as well as the other websites (www.neurosemantics.com,www.meta-coaching.org and www.self-actualization.org) and to explore the dozens of books that are now available about Neuro_Semantics. You can also contact Tom Welch, www.nlp_video.com for audio and video recordings of trainings in NS.

Our aim in all of this is that you can integrate your highest and best meanings into your very being so that you have access to your most powerful and enhancing your best neuro_semantic states. When you do that, then may all of your experiences in life and relationships be more meaningful. That is the Neuro_Semantic adventure.