Comments on: Silencing Internal Voices http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/silencing-internal-voices NLP Articles, News, and Tidbits about Psychotherapy and Personal Development Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:17:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Alex http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/silencing-internal-voices#comment-435 Alex Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:47:56 +0000 http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/?p=198#comment-435 My understanding of Buddhist meditations that have anything to do with the constant chatter of thoughts is that NEVER does one deliberately silence the thoughts. I've heard this discouraged explicitly by accomplished Buddhist meditators and have never heard it advocated by any teachers that I trust. Attempting to silence the mind causes tension and anxiety, and as far as I'm aware is not possible to succeed in anyway. The Buddhist meditations that involve relating to the chatter in any way are only focussed on being AWARE of the chatter and disassociating from it, ie. relating to it as an observer rather than identifying with it. There may certainly be people out there practising "silencing" their mind and calling it Buddhism, but I wouldn't call it that. I would strongly advise against making this claim about Buddhism lest you lose a bunch of readers in the early chapters of your book. My understanding of Buddhist meditations that have anything to do with the constant chatter of thoughts is that NEVER does one deliberately silence the thoughts. I’ve heard this discouraged explicitly by accomplished Buddhist meditators and have never heard it advocated by any teachers that I trust. Attempting to silence the mind causes tension and anxiety, and as far as I’m aware is not possible to succeed in anyway.

The Buddhist meditations that involve relating to the chatter in any way are only focussed on being AWARE of the chatter and disassociating from it, ie. relating to it as an observer rather than identifying with it. There may certainly be people out there practising “silencing” their mind and calling it Buddhism, but I wouldn’t call it that. I would strongly advise against making this claim about Buddhism lest you lose a bunch of readers in the early chapters of your book.

]]> By: James http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/silencing-internal-voices#comment-376 James Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:07:53 +0000 http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/?p=198#comment-376 I notice that on the link you provide where we hear Jill talk about her experience, she seems, years after returning to "normal", to be very much in favor of having access to that silent, expansive side of ourselves. In fact she talks ecstatically about it. I have seen, however, many accounts of those who have this experience talk about some difficulty re-establishing the ability to function in normal ways. It's as if it takes a little time to adjust to the inner change. Then there seems to be a tendency for a kind of intelligent spontaneity to take over, as opposed to the old sense of trying to control things. Thought is still there, but at a lessened level, and when pragmatically required. It also comes more frequently from insight rather than association. I notice that on the link you provide where we hear Jill talk about her experience, she seems, years after returning to “normal”, to be very much in favor of having access to that silent, expansive side of ourselves. In fact she talks ecstatically about it. I have seen, however, many accounts of those who have this experience talk about some difficulty re-establishing the ability to function in normal ways. It’s as if it takes a little time to adjust to the inner change. Then there seems to be a tendency for a kind of intelligent spontaneity to take over, as opposed to the old sense of trying to control things. Thought is still there, but at a lessened level, and when pragmatically required. It also comes more frequently from insight rather than association.

]]> By:   NLP Book Review: Get the Life You Want by Richard Bandler by Steve Andreas’ NLP Blog http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/silencing-internal-voices#comment-85   NLP Book Review: Get the Life You Want by Richard Bandler by Steve Andreas’ NLP Blog Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:01:07 +0000 http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/?p=198#comment-85 [...] Silencing Internal Voices [...] [...] Silencing Internal Voices [...]

]]> By: Terry Netto http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/silencing-internal-voices#comment-62 Terry Netto Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:50:07 +0000 http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/?p=198#comment-62 Hi Steve, One way to judge a stimulating article is when it keeps playing in your head days after you read it. Your article matched that. Visited your blog for the first time a minute ago to see if anyone commented on the question that I had in mind: What about the teachings of the Buddha (and a host of other very wise and compassionate people) about meditation and silence? I think I have to agree with some of the posts above about having a choice to silence the mind when one chooses to. I've meditated for years but never quite got the hang of 'really deep states', I must say. Nonetheless, when I do spend time in certain quieter states, I almost always feel more peaceful and compassionate when I resume my 'normal' activities. I half-suspect you've had similar experiences, too, and am curious how you would code them? Hi Steve,

One way to judge a stimulating article is when it keeps playing in your head days after you read it. Your article matched that. Visited your blog for the first time a minute ago to see if anyone commented on the question that I had in mind: What about the teachings of the Buddha (and a host of other very wise and compassionate people) about meditation and silence? I think I have to agree with some of the posts above about having a choice to silence the mind when one chooses to. I’ve meditated for years but never quite got the hang of ‘really deep states’, I must say. Nonetheless, when I do spend time in certain quieter states, I almost always feel more peaceful and compassionate when I resume my ‘normal’ activities. I half-suspect you’ve had similar experiences, too, and am curious how you would code them?

]]> By: Kirk VandenBerghe http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/silencing-internal-voices#comment-61 Kirk VandenBerghe Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:37:56 +0000 http://realpeoplepress.com/blog/?p=198#comment-61 Patrick, it seems to me that you're relegating NLP to a domain you label as "psychology" and a "therapy." I see NLP as the study of subjective experience, including human experience that we believe "transcends psychology" and is "spiritual." Long ago, in the wild days of the 1970's and 1980's the myriad techniques of NLP became mistaken AS NLP. The design think tank and associated factory that creates a car is not a car. NLP is not simply a collection of step-by-step personal transformation and therapy techniques. NLP is an inquiry into how we code our life experience. Some of these inquiries have resulted in famous outputs of concepts, skill-generating methods, and procedural techniques. Many were generated by the early developers and trainers. Personally, I happen to think in terms of *being* a "soul" who exists beyond time and the space I label as my "body, mind, and emotions" while simultaneously inhabiting this body, including the fingers with which I'm using to type. Still, my notions of being, doing, having, body, mind, emotions, spirit, psychology, spiritual, past, present, future, now... they're ALL coded neuro-linguistically--represented within my body. If one is experiencing "it" as a human, it's neuro-linguistic and is coded in one's body. Your post above is neuro-linguistic. You're showing us a portion of your map about maps. Nothing you represent cannot not be represented, and that is the domain of NLP, which covers everything... all human experience is the domain of NLP... including the times one's mind is chattering away... to the opposite spectrum where attention is immersed is the bliss of infinite silence... Even the seemingly-eternal spaces of "being" are subjective experience, are coded neuro-linguistically, have structure, can be elicited and modeled, can be changed, and might even be useful to some. Show me a sacred cow, and I'll show you a code-deciphering opportunity. Patrick, it seems to me that you’re relegating NLP to a domain you label as “psychology” and a “therapy.” I see NLP as the study of subjective experience, including human experience that we believe “transcends psychology” and is “spiritual.” Long ago, in the wild days of the 1970’s and 1980’s the myriad techniques of NLP became mistaken AS NLP. The design think tank and associated factory that creates a car is not a car. NLP is not simply a collection of step-by-step personal transformation and therapy techniques. NLP is an inquiry into how we code our life experience. Some of these inquiries have resulted in famous outputs of concepts, skill-generating methods, and procedural techniques. Many were generated by the early developers and trainers.

Personally, I happen to think in terms of *being* a “soul” who exists beyond time and the space I label as my “body, mind, and emotions” while simultaneously inhabiting this body, including the fingers with which I’m using to type. Still, my notions of being, doing, having, body, mind, emotions, spirit, psychology, spiritual, past, present, future, now… they’re ALL coded neuro-linguistically–represented within my body. If one is experiencing “it” as a human, it’s neuro-linguistic and is coded in one’s body.

Your post above is neuro-linguistic. You’re showing us a portion of your map about maps. Nothing you represent cannot not be represented, and that is the domain of NLP, which covers everything… all human experience is the domain of NLP… including the times one’s mind is chattering away… to the opposite spectrum where attention is immersed is the bliss of infinite silence… Even the seemingly-eternal spaces of “being” are subjective experience, are coded neuro-linguistically, have structure, can be elicited and modeled, can be changed, and might even be useful to some.

Show me a sacred cow, and I’ll show you a code-deciphering opportunity.

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