Can you think your way into a happier, more successful, more fulfilled way of living? Practitioners of NLP - Neuro-Linguistic Programming - say you can. And a new book in the Teach Yourself series offers to show you how to do it in a week.

Devotees of NLP believe that happiness and success are the result of specific patterns of thinking that can be learned by anyone and that learning them can improve your health. RD Laing - a big noise in the world of psychiatry said ' Change your body, change your mind. Change your mind, change your body.' Or in other words, when your mind is working with you and is on your side then your body will follow. You can use NLP to make changes whenever you feel stuck and your new position wil enable new action.

I must admit, I like this way of thinking. And it follows that when I'm in a positive mood, either positive things seem to happen or negative things don't seem to matter so much - everything seems charged with possibility and opportunity. But the problems is sticking to that postive frame of mind on days when the opportunities seem to have skulked away into hiding.

The book offers a week's worth of mind exercises, starting Sunday with an introduction to the concept and moving to:
Monday - identifying empowering and limiting beliefs
Tuesday - recognising how we re-present information to ourselves
Wednesday - using precision questions to find out what people mean
Thursday - identifying different communication filters
Friday - using the six levels of change and reframing
Saturday - increasing your options

And while the cover line 'Learn in a week what the experts learn in a lifetime' might be slightly over-stating the case, it's an interesting launch pad to changing your thinking and mindset. Written by Mo Shapiro, a Master Practitioner in NLP, it's primarily aimed at using the technique for career success but is a good concise introduction to the practice, which can be applied to any situation. 'Teach Yourself Neuro Linguistic Programming in a Week' is published by Hodder Education, cost £6.99, click here to buy.

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