RIP Steve Andreas: Saying Goodbye To My Mentor
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The greatest NLP developer, innovator, teacher, and trainer has passed on.
Steve Andreas had a resume unlike any other. He studied chemistry in college, but found himself wanting to know more about human behavior and psychology.
Because he wasn't a psyche major Abraham Maslow, who Steve would later call a "disappointment", took him into his program and mentored him.
Maslow created a model for human potential called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. He would later become known as the father of the Human Potential Movement, which later gave birth to Neuro Linguistic Programming at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Later Steve would attend a Gestalt therapy workshop put on by Fritz Perls and study under Perls and became certified as a Gestalt therapist.
Perls was the first model Richard Bandler and John Grinder would use to create NLP. Unlike Steve, Bandler and Grinder never met Perls. They modeled him from videos of Perls working with clients.
After Steve learned NLP from Bandler and Grinder, he would go on to study with Virginia Satir and Milton Erickson who were the other two primary models of NLP.
Steve came into my life during a tough time for me. My wife and I were separating. I was well aware that my current business wasn't right for me and I needed to do something else. I had also hit a plateau in my NLP skills and development.
Everything began to change with Steve's help.
What he passed on to me is what I aspire to pass on to my students.
Steve never tried to wow me or show off his abilities or knowledge. He was very direct especially when it came to pointing out my misunderstandings and lack of knowledge.
When even some of the top trainers in NLP heard that he was mentoring me they would say things like "Watch out for that guy. He's tough."
Steve would never take advantage of anyone and he would never harm anyone, but he had no patience for your ego. To him it didn't exist.
Unfortunately there's a lot of ego in the field of NLP so I'm not surprised that he rubbed some people the wrong way.
I didn't mind. It was a small price to pay for what he gave me and what he gave me taught me to ground my ego and strengthen it in a way that made me more open to feedback, more resilient, and better able to connect with others.
Knowing he was declining quickly, I went to see him in April at his home in Boulder, Colorado.
I got to pay him my respects and tell him goodbye. It was difficult and heartbreaking.
When I heard this past Monday that he had passed away, I was not surprised, but the loss is still felt deeply.
I'm sad because we lost a brilliant mind. I'm sad because the world lost one of the most generous and kind people I've ever met. I'm sad because I lost a great mentor.
We were friends but I wouldn't say we were close personal friends. We had a different kind of relationship than that. There was and still is a connection between us that I can't really explain.
I still carry him with me and I always will.
He used to say to me that you can have too much of anything except for one thing, gratitude. There's no such thing as having too much gratitude.
He also told me that gratitude is great for both the giver and the receiver.
Rest in peace Steve. You will always have my gratitude.
Damon Cart
NLP Coach and Trainer
NLP Gym P.S. If you know a friend who would benefit from this please pass it on!
No such thing as failure, only feedback. Your feedback is welcome. Send an email to [email protected], message me on Facebook, or comment on Youtube. NLP-Gym.com
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Santa Cruz, CA
Damon Cart
Author
Damon Cart is considered to be a natural talent by some of the best NLP trainers in the world. His approach to guiding and teaching students brings to their awareness that they've been doing NLP all of their lives without realizing it and he empowers them with skills and resources to thrive and reach their full potential. With the understanding of how Neuro Linguistic Programs create oneβs experience a person can then take charge of those programs and create the experience and the life they want. By taking this approach into his own rigorous, daily NLP practice Damon has been able to rapidly accelerate his progress in learning, coaching clients and teaching workshops.
