About Values, Part 2
Hierarchies of criteria
Some criteria are more important to us than others. One person, for example, might value their family more than money and be willing to sacrifice a well-paid job to spend more time at home. Someone else might do the opposite, with their income and the security it represents coming first. We may not be consciously aware of how we've prioritized our criteria, but it will be evident in our actions, by what we put first. What takes precedence will, to a degree, depend upon circumstances; when talking about values and criteria it's essential to have a frame, a context.
Changing values and criteria
Most of us never chose our values and criteria. We sort of ended up with them by accident rather than by design. But they can be changed. If you criticize your children more than you like because one of your most valued criteria is compassion, it may be time for a review. Take care, though, as re-prioritizing your values is one of the most powerful and pervasive changes you can make and you need to consider the consequences carefully.
NLP has beliefs - but no values
Of course, NLP itself holds certain beliefs - the presuppositions. Although they were conceived individually, taken together they represent a reasonably coherent belief system. However, neither the founders of NLP nor those who have since developed it further have ever claimed the presuppositions are true. Only that they are useful.
In fact, NLP has no value structure whatsoever. As Robert McDonald points out in Voice of NLP (Issue One), 'The word "good" is considered unacceptable in NLP, because it involves making a judgement. It's no more valuable in NLP to shoot people than to embrace them. It all depends on your goal. We're not going to call it good we're just going to call it useful or unuseful.'