Have you ever heard the saying ‘enthusiasm is contagious’?  Or, have you ever walked into a room where there is a disagreement going on? Or perhaps you have been in a kind of down mood and go into a space with others and your mood has been lifted?

We have a natural way of influencing each other. It is nearly impossible to contain our state, mood or emotions to only ourselves.  If you are happy chances are others around you will be too. If you are depressed, anxious, sad, annoyed, frustrated, hurt or angry – there is a good chance that your mood will rub off onto others too.

NLP knows this and uses it to our advantage.

Based on the concept of rapport, mirror neurons and synergy, you will be more equipped to influence the state of others by using NLP. Therefore, if you are a sales person and you want your potential client to be receptive to what you are selling, you can influence this state. If you are a parent and you want to help induce a sleepy state in your children at bedtime, you can influence that too. If you are wanting to have a serious conversation with a silly friend; or a silly conversation with a serious friend – you can influence these states too.

That being said, a key word here is influence. When it comes to others, they are in charge of themselves just as you are in charge of you. With NLP you cannot make someone do something, you can only be an influence, as the other saying goes – you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. With NLP, the leading part becomes an elegant dance!