By John Robbins
We all carry something—a thorn in the side. Not always visible, but deeply felt. It’s the part of us that resists change, that repeats old habits and sabotages even our best intentions.
Despite our intelligence, experience, or effort, there’s often a sense that something within still pulls us off course. It’s frustrating. Sometimes shameful. And it can feel impossible to change.
The Old Strategies Still Running
In Transformational NLP, we approach this thorn differently. We don’t try to remove it. We change our relationship to it.
Those devices, distractions, and emotional patterns were not accidents. They once served a purpose—helping us feel safe, accepted, or loved. They were survival strategies crafted by an earlier version of ourselves.
While they may no longer serve us, they deserve something unexpected: gratitude. That part of us got us here.
The Inner Architecture of Experience
Transformational NLP teaches us that experience is generated by sensory impressions, both internal and external. Our behaviors—especially the ones we can’t seem to shake—are often responses to subconscious sequences of images, feelings, and meanings we aren’t even aware we’re running.
Rather than fighting the thorn, we honor it. We acknowledge the wisdom behind it, and we gently teach our mind: you don’t have to run that program anymore.
From Survival to Choice
Transformational NLP doesn’t erase the past—it transforms our relationship to the past. We don’t deny what happened, or what once protected us. Instead, we update the system.
We decode the subconscious sensory strategies behind performance—both high and low—and we gain something powerful: choice.
We stop reacting from survival.
We start creating from clarity.
The Work Ahead
That’s the work.
Not removing the thorn,
But learning how to live—and lead—differently because of it.