An anchor is a pattern or stimulus response: reminders, in other words. In our everyday life there are times when anchors are unconsciously firing off, triggering particular responses: for example, a telephone ringing late at night, a certain smell or a photograph of loved ones.

These can be established in any of the Representational Systems

VISUAL = Seeing

AUDITORY= Sound

KINAESTHETIC = Feelings

OLFACTORY = Smells

GUSTATORY= Taste

Anchoring in NLP is a technique for deliberately triggering a response which could lead to a state and then to a behaviour that would be useful in certain situations.

Anchors are very important in our lives because they build habits that help us learn to become unconsciously competent.

Weather is a powerful anchor for emotional states. Many people feel good on a sunny day and not so good if it is grey and overcast. The weather is just the weather, but people often respond emotionally as if it was personal.

Many words are anchors because they are reminders of particular times in our life.

Birthdays

Christmas

Winning

Weddings

Children

Have you ever noticed that if someone is looking at you in a particular way it can unconsciously or automatically cause a response? The stimulus (something that rouses activity or acts as an incentive) in this case would be a facial expression (visual). From that facial expression we then give it meaning. In this case the Visual is the stimulus. Music is another good example of a stimulus response, which can evoke (bring to mind) certain feelings or memories (internal representation).

This is all true

I heard the sound of  seagulls which took me all the way back to a blue-sky day and a place called Peace Haven. When I was a boy, we would all go there for our holidays because my uncle had a small bungalow in which he allowed us to stay. You could always tell when we were getting nearer to the seaside because of the smell of the sea air. I always took my bike with me because it gave me so much joy riding up and down the bumpy path and ringing the bell that had a certain pleasing tone. There was a gate I would open so my dad could drive his car on to the long driveway. Once the car was just past the gate, he would stop the car, open his door and say “sit on my lap son and you can drive the car”. What joy! The excitement inside made me smile like the sun. My dad’s car was a blue Triumph 2000 that purred like a cat. We continued to holiday at Peace Haven until I was 15. The most interesting coincidence is when my son became older, he moved from Harrow to a place call Peace Haven where he fell in love and became a father which made me a very proud Grandad. Those memories seem so far away but remain very close to my heart.

For this page I was wondering what to add about anchoring and then I heard the sound of a seagull.