Book SummaryNLP: The Essential Guide to Neuro-Linguistic Programming, by Tom Hoobyar, Tom Dotz, and Susan Sanders

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of NLP: The Essential Guide to Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Your thoughts play a crucial role in shaping your experiences: They influence how you perceive, interpret, and respond to your environment. It follows then, that if you want to change something in your life—such as mindset, habits, career, or relationship status—you first need to change your thoughts.

In NLP: The Essential Guide to Neuro-Linguistic Programming, NLP Master Practitioners Tom Hoobyar, Tom Dotz, and Susan Sanders explain what thoughts are, how they influence you, and what specific steps you can take to align them with what you want out of life.

This guide covers the authors’ key ideas in two parts:

• In Part 1, we’ll explain how your thoughts form and impact you. This information will clarify why you tend to think, feel, and behave in certain...

NLP: The Essential Guide to Neuro-Linguistic Programming Summary Part 1: Understand What Thoughts Are and How They Impact You

Hoobyar, Dotz, and Sanders argue that the only way to change something in your life is to change the way you interpret, feel about, and respond to it. And, to change the way you feel about and respond to it, you need to change the way you think about it.

Though changing thoughts sounds simple, it’s often difficult because thoughts are somewhat intangible and difficult to control. However, the authors explain that this difficulty only arises when you’re not conscious of the processes that underlie your thoughts—that is, where your thoughts come from and why they manifest in the way that they do.

(Shortform note: Similarly, James Allen (As A Man Thinketh) argues that you must understand why you think the way you do before you can change anything in your life. Without this understanding, you’re more likely to believe you have no control over your thinking patterns, and you won’t feel motivated to change the way that you think about, interpret, or respond to your experiences.)

They suggest that **understanding these underlying processes is key...

NLP: The Essential Guide to Neuro-Linguistic Programming Summary Part 2: Take Control of Your Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors

We’ve just explained the processes underlying your thoughts, covering where thoughts come from and how sensory nuances influence how you feel about and respond to your experiences. Though these processes typically occur beneath your conscious awareness, Hoobyar, Dotz, and Sanders argue that you can take conscious control of them and choose how to think, feel, and behave—and this will enable you to enhance all your experiences.

(Shortform note: Joseph Murphy (The Power of Your Subconscious Mind) explains the interplay between your subconscious and conscious minds, clarifying how it's possible to consciously control processes that usually happen unconsciously. Your subconscious mind, the part of your brain that manages your automatic responses to stimuli, relies upon your habitual conscious thoughts to form your mental associations and memory networks. According to Murphy, your subconscious mind is malleable and reflects your habitual conscious thoughts. This means that by regularly...

Shortform Exercise: Immerse Yourself in Positive Sensory Experiences

According to Hoobyar, Dotz, and Sanders, recalling positive memories as vividly as possible creates an immersive experience that heightens positive emotions. This exercise walks you through this process.

Recall a memory that makes you happy and write it down. (For example, when your child recited a heartfelt poem she wrote for you.)