In my last blog, I mentioned perceptual positioning and linked the words to the NLP University site.

A reader wrote back to me, to tell me that the term and the link is fine for guys who have the time to study the subject. Today, many of us are time scarce zappers he said. Give us the stuff in simple form!

For the benefits of those readers who are of the same opinion, I shall attempt to explain briefly the Perceptual Positions (PP). Mind you in a practictioner NLP course, the subject is taught for a minimum of 3 days. Luckily the concept is simple but to build up the unconscious competence in PP takes time.

These positions refer to the perspective you adopt, at some moment, to perceive your world, other people or your problems. NLP, “the science of alternatives”, shows you that when facing life and its difficulties you rely on different options to choose the perspective that suits you best.

You may choose, from among at least 4 different positions:

1. Actor

You let the world in through your 5 senses

2. Partner

You virtually enter into another person’s skin to feel through his senses.

3. Observer

You transcend the 1^st and 2^nd position to observe another person and yourself from outside.

4. Meta Observer or Creator(God)

If you are a believer, through faith you move into God’s heart to see the world and men with God’s eyes.

Surely, you can imagine how great men in history are able to choose from among these positions and make use of them according to circumstances.

If you want to be successful in the art of living, i.e. to keep life healthy and happy, you too need to use these different positions. For instance if somebody is aggressively abusing you and you are in 1^st position, you’ll become his puppet. You’ll no longer be a person in his eyes. He’ll make you feel either very angry or very discouraged, as if he held the strings of your heart in his hands.

When dealing with a destructive person, a negative situation or a difficult problem, you should avoid taking the 1^st position at all costs. Use the other positions.

On the other hand, before a beautiful landscape, a person, a constructive issue, you should open up all your senses. Take the 1^st Position and cherish the moment, the here & now.

To enhance the understanding of your counterpart, don’t you often 2^nd position the person? You need to get into his shoes to understand his perspective, his experience, his way of thinking.

The 3^rd position also called the observer position, allows you to see things coolly and more objectively. It allows you to observe the interaction you might have with a counterpart and comment in your own mind the interaction. From this perspective, it will be easier for you to suggest ideas and actions to yourself that may lead to success. The 3^rd position places you in a creative perspective.

The 4^th position, the metaobserver or transcendental one, you can see the whole situation from a much wider point of view. Imagine being assisted by omniscience, omnipotent angel.

In a nut shell:The idea is to build in the Perceptual Positioning skills in your operating mode all the time. This will allow you in any interaction, to have perspectives: which allow you to feel your senses instantly (1^st), understand your counterpart (2^nd), comment, amend,enhance and criticize the interaction (3^rd) and at the same time take in account a larger view point.