As a stroke thrivor, you may have experienced setbacks in your recovery journey. If you have not experienced a stroke, the same occurs!
There may have been times when you felt like you failed, weren’t making progress fast enough, or weren’t doing enough. But what if we told you there is no such thing as failure, only feedback? That’s the philosophy of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and it can be a powerful tool in your stroke recovery.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, is a psychological approach that focuses on the relationship between language, behavior, and thought patterns. It’s all about how we communicate with ourselves and others. It is how we can use that communication to achieve our goals. One of the critical tenets of NLP is that there is no failure, only feedback. This means that even when things don’t go as planned, there is always something to be learned from the experience.
So, how can you apply this philosophy to your stroke recovery? Let’s say you’ve been trying to improve your balance, but you keep stumbling and falling. You might feel like you’re failing at this goal, but with an NLP mindset, you can see it as feedback instead. Perhaps you need to adjust your approach, try a different exercise, or seek out additional support. By reframing your “failure” as feedback, you can avoid blaming yourself or feeling discouraged. You can instead focus on finding solutions and making progress. Simple, but maybe not easy if you hold on to your old way.
Another way to apply the “no failure, only feedback” philosophy is to recognize when you’ve made progress, even if it’s not as much as you’d hoped. Micheal Jordan did not see his failures, only the way to successes.
Maybe you’ve been practicing speaking with a speech therapist and still struggle to find the right words sometimes. You can beat yourself up over this fact because you could remember how it was easy before the stroke. Instead, you can recognize that you’ve improved in other areas, such as pronunciation or grammar. By acknowledging your progress, you can build confidence and motivation to keep going.
Of course, this attitude can be challenging to adopt, especially if you’ve spent a long time thinking or feeling of setbacks as failures. But with practice, you can learn to reframe your thoughts, feelings, and language in a more positive and empowering way. Here are some tips to get started:
- Be mindful of your self-talk. Notice when you’re using negative language like “I can’t do this” or “I failed again.” Now you rephrase your thoughts more constructively, such as “I’m still learning” or “I’m making progress.”
- Focus on solutions, not blame. When things don’t go as planned, resist blaming yourself or others. Instead, ask yourself what you can do differently for a better outcome.
- Celebrate your successes. Even small victories deserve recognition and celebration. Take time to acknowledge when you’ve made progress, and use that positivity to fuel your next steps.
By embracing the “no failure, only feedback” philosophy, you can approach your stroke recovery with a more positive and constructive mindset. You can stop blaming yourself or others for setbacks and instead focus on finding solutions and making progress. With this understanding, you can improve the quality of what you do and ultimately achieve your goals.
