Secrets of Personal Mastery
Advanced Techniques for Accessing Your Higher Levels of Consciousness
Reviewed By
Stuart Dawson, Ph.D.
A new book of great relevance to training by Michael Hall that is easy to read, and constructively challenging and demanding at the same time.
The “secrets” are principles based in Meta States, a new and dynamic branch of NLP, which can be workshopped and applied by anyone who is prepared to persevere with them.
The book’s subtitle, “Awakening your inner executive”, neatly expresses the essence of his approach. Where many traditional approaches to personal change work from the ground up, Hall holds that to be effective, personal change must result from changes at the brain’s “senior executive” level.
In summary, the view is that the road to personal mastery begins when we can appreciate our thoughts as neuro-linguistic programs. What you think determines what you feel, how you perceive, and the way you “frame” the world, i.e. the “state” you are in.
We never just “think”. We think about our thinking, and then think about that too. Our thoughts and feelings build on top of one another, layer on layer. In order to master ourselves, we have to discover or unearth our higher mental frameworks and choose those that serve us the best.
To do this we can deliberately install new executive frames that will get us focused on where we want to go to. Readers will be familiar with the idea of self-talk; the chatter we give ourselves that can be either positive or negative, supportive or disruptive.
Unearthing frames is a quantum leap on the “change your self talk” approach, as we can change it not by simple contradiction, but by actively using neurolinguistic patterns to alter the determining frames within which we have been accustomed to function.
When we align all our higher frames of mind—our valuing, understanding, believing, etc.—we can direct our powers in accordance with our higher intentions to build a laser like focus.
Hall’s style is in the model of the best business books, making complex ideas easy to follow yet preserving a rigorous flow of practical information.
I highly recommend this book both for your own benefit and for those you work with. And do the MetaStates training if you get the chance. I’ve just completed this program and have to say it’s one of the best workshops I’ve ever been to. (For more info, go to www.universalevents.com.au)
Reviewed by Stuart Dawson Ph.D.
Training & HRD Now Newsletter, Vol. 2.
Issue: Sept.-Oct. 2002
