Wondering which meta-questions to ask? I recently received this question (about meta-questions) from one of my private 1-1 clients:

“How many meta-questions are there?  You say 15 and showed me the diamond that is in the Winning the Inner Game book that has 17, and opens up into a list of 26.  Then I saw there are 54 (and I read that in the Neuro-semantics book there are 104). Are their main ones you choose to simplify the learning and practicing, or should I learn them all?”

I thought I would share my answer here as this may be something you are wondering or may be asked yourself.

As far as I know, there are approximately 110 meta-question categories mapped out.  I have definitely recognized some that aren’t on the official list without bothering to add them and make the list more extensive!

In beginning to practice meta-questions, here is my advice for you….

Of course don’t start memorizing a list of 50 or 100 anything!!!!!

Remember the rule of 7+/-2?

1. Intention/Purpose
2. Values/Importance
3. Thoughts
4. Feelings
5. Beliefs
6. Meaning
7. Decision

Some Examples of Meta-Questions to ask

If you have been through just about any NLP Practitioner course, you are probably already practiced in using 2 of them: Values/Importance and Intentions/Purpose

Intention examples:
“What is the positive intention behind that?”
“And the intention behind that?”
“For what purpose are you doing that?”

Values examples:
“Why is that important to you?”
“And what is the value in that?”

You get the point.

Also, as a human being you are well versed in at least one more: Thoughts

Have you ever asked any of these questions before?

Thought examples:
“What do you think about that?”
“What are your thoughts about X?”

Another very commonly used one is ‘belief’ across many different ‘self-help’ disciplines as well as in our common vernacular. I would recommend adding that to your repertoire of meta-questions that you can ask with conscious intention.

Belief examples:
“What do you believe about X?”
“What are your beliefs about Y?

Also we commonly use the Feeling meta-questions in our common vernacular.

Feeling examples:
How do you feel about X?

Since in Neuro-Semantics we use ‘meaning’ as a kind of ‘catch all’ phrase for ‘mind-stuff’ I would recommend practicing using the meaning questions:

Meaning/Significance Examples:
“What does that mean to you?”
“What is the significance of that to you?”
“What would that mean?”

Start practicing with these 6, and then you should begin to build up an ‘understanding’ (I snuck another one in here) of how to recognize ‘mind-stuff’ and the different labels we use for the different types of this ‘mind-stuff’.

Then you can start adding more to your repertoire as you recognize them in their naturally occurring environments (in other people’s communications and in your own self-talk).