NLP RP #02 (The Importance of Experience)

[NLP Class Reflection] 28-Year Engineer Moves Beyond the ‘Rumor of Knowledge’ to Realize the Importance of Experience

Key Topics Today: Conditions for Genuine Learning and Growth

• The importance of environmental change: The power to look around before changing oneself.
• The power of experience: The boundary between knowledge and rumor.
• The weight of speech and language: The words I utter govern me.

1. Class Summary: Don’t Restrict Yourself, Change Your Environment

I organized the important content from today’s class that resonated with me. It made me reflect once again on how crucial the surrounding environment is in leading people to change.

1) Change Starts with the ‘Environment’

The phrase, ‘Don’t restrict yourself; change your surrounding environment first,’ reinforces that the effect of ‘advice, counsel, evaluation, or judgment’—given to enlighten others—is often negligible.

I reflect on whether my actions or conversations might have inadvertently infringed upon the physical or emotional boundaries of others.

2) There Are No Boundaries to Disciplines; Humanity is the Core

The statement, ‘Humanity is the core; there are no boundaries to academic disciplines,’ resonated deeply. It means that the inherent human being is more important than the academic subject itself.

I also understood this significance from a New York Times article stating that NLP originated from masters gathering together, breaking down the barriers between all academic domains.

3) The Importance of Practical Experience

As the sayings go, ‘If you truly want enlightenment, go to the middle of the marketplace,’ and ‘The best healers are the wounded ones (Carl Jung),’ I feel that actual experience is the most vital factor for inner human reflection to occur. These were phrases I knew, but they resonate meaningfully with my current situation.

4) The Words I Utter Govern Me

The importance of speech was emphasized repeatedly. ‘When I haven’t spoken the words, I govern them, but once I speak them, they govern me.’ This statement hit me with a heavy cluster of thoughts.

I wonder if the negative words I vaguely uttered without realizing the importance of speech might have ended up governing me and ultimately aggravating my situations.

5) The Core Philosophy of NLP

What we perceive is not an objective world. People view the world through their own lenses (Frames), making it subjective. When establishing a definitive thought about any situation, one should always maintain the ability to view oneself objectively.

Resilience, the power to remain unharmed even when rejected, is a crucial competence for a leader. It is likely a problem within me, not one caused by the other person. Only now do I realize that the inner conflicts I faced during my leadership days were ultimately wounds that transpired within myself.

Just as it is said that ‘to be good at Learning, you must be good at Unlearning,’ learning is about overcoming feelings of anxiety or discomfort.

2. Realization and Insight: Knowledge Must Penetrate My Bones and Flesh

The realization and insight I gained from today’s class concern the relationship between knowledge and experience.

‘NLP is not something you learn from books or text; it is something you directly experience and savor. Medicine, coaching, counseling, and HRD are all experienced with the whole body.’

Knowledge is not merely storing information in the mind; it must become so familiar that it permeates my body to truly become mine.

Recalling my past life in the workplace, I realize that as an engineer in the manufacturing field, while theoretical knowledge was important, the feelings and thoughts gained from physically tackling challenges on the ground formed the crucial framework of my engineering expertise. I learned more from the vivid, on-site facts experienced in situations so difficult I wanted to give up, than from knowledge simply acquired by the mind.

In fields like coaching or counseling, the critical factor is ultimately how much direct experience one gains. Knowledge acquired from learning, if not integrated with real-world experience, is nothing more than illusory information.

‘Knowledge is just a rumor until it enters my bones and flesh.’

I feel that I made an excellent choice selecting the NLP course. While I am still learning what NLP is, the contents, which often implicitly convey what I usually think and feel, are stirring a subtle stimulation within my heart. The fact that NLP is open source, without a copyright, to guard against being confined to rigid regulations, gives me the impression that it is a field of genuine scholarship.

3. Reflections on Professor Jeon Kyung-sook’s Interview: Following Where My Heart Leads

The passion of a woman in her mid-70s who conducts NLP lectures for eight hours every day is astonishing. The story that her life was guided by her sincere heart, committed to what she believed was right, from her high school and college days, makes me deeply feel the importance of focusing on the present.

The anecdote about the professor’s study abroad experience was evidence of the belief that when one is purely focused on what they desire, a new, unforeseen path will surely open up.

‘The most important thing in life is to meaningfully enjoy life by doing what you want to do, even if you have to spend your own money.’

This sentence remains the most memorable. I feel again that while setting life goals is important, earnestly doing what we truly desire is paramount.

My case is similar. Last December, I paused after 28 years of corporate life. Since 2024, I started writing, despite my shortcomings, and found peace of mind by putting my complex inner voices into words. As a result, I had the amazing experience of publishing my first co-authored paper essay collection last month.

The efforts I made to prioritize people’s feelings during my time as an organizational leader were halted when I lost the organization, but now I feel my stalled heart beating again in the unexpected field of Coaching. The coaching I learned upon entering the MBA has led me into a completely new world. I intend to simply follow the direction my heart is leading.

Even now, entering my third semester of the MBA, I have not yet set a clear direction. I am just grateful for the present—that I am writing, learning coaching, and understanding the human mind. I have a vague expectation that some path I don’t know yet will open up.

Considering my own experiences, I believe they are in line with Professor Jeon Kyung-sook’s statement: ‘I didn’t set goals or future plans, but simply dealt with the reality in front of me with sincerity at every moment, and a new door opened.’

It’s about having the mindset that if you do your best in the current situation in the direction you want to go, something new will open up. It is probably no coincidence that I felt such a strong connection while reading Professor Jeon Kyung-sook’s interview. I quietly wonder if it is because I have been diligently doing something to be able to feel this way today. I feel immense gratitude for this moment. I look forward to the NLP class.

For Your Dream Life
by Dream Max