Muḥāsabah as A Moderator Variable To Strengthen The Relationship Between Neuro Linguistic Programming and Subjective Well-Being

subjective well-being


Introduction
Many research results on NLP show that NLP can improve mental health.This is as a result of research conducted by Kotera and Sheffield (2019) which found that after NLP training, research subjects can improve mental well-being and can reduce stress and depression.Similarly, research by Hollander and Malinowski (2016) found that NLP effectively improves perceptions of health and can also overcome mild psychological and/or social problems.The same thing was also found by Kotera and Gordon's (2019) research which showed that NLP can improve mental health.On the other hand, although many studies show a positive influence of NLP on mental health, subjective well-being and wellbeing of a person, but not a few psychological scientists who doubt the influence of NLP on mental health (Biswal &;Prusty, 2011) even consider it pseudoscience or just as if scientific but actually unscientific so that it cannot be included in the realm of psychological science (Witkowski, 2010) .Some studies have also shown the ineffectiveness of NLP in dealing with mental health.But despite the opposition to the existence of NLP in the discipline of psychology, there is a study that clearly states that NLP has a great opportunity to be accepted in the discourse of psychological science.This is as said by Kotera and Sweet (2019) who stated that there is great hope that NLP can be accepted in psychology and not only seen as pseudoscience.He said that 3 conditions that need to be done so that NLP is no longer just considered pseudoscience, namely the publication of rigorous research results; the establishment of standardization of NLP practice; and psychological coaching that produces academics who master NLP who are committed to the two previous requirements.Based on what Kotera said, in addition to applying these requirements, NLP will actually be easily accepted in psychological discourse if the practice of NLP is designed to be more structured as desired goals so that it has better effectiveness.
In this article, the author intends to propose the NLP method formula so that NLP has greater effectiveness in improving mental health, especially in increasing subjective well-being because subjective well-being is one indicator of a person's subjective wellbeing (Keyes, 2006).This formula is designed by adding the muḥāsabah step to the technique it uses.This addition is based on the similarity between the muhasabah step and 3 indicators of Subjective well-being.In addition to these purposes, the purpose of writing this article is to further strengthen the discourse of Islamic psychology in the discourse of psychology because as Malik Badri (1979) mandated in The Dilemma of Muslim Psychologist that currently there is a need for the revival of Islamic psychology which does not only follow western psychology.In addition to the reasons for strengthening the discourse of Islamic psychology , this article also aims to follow the growing trend in Islamic psychology today where the integration between Islamic and western sciences is something that is widely done into a method of psychological treatment (Haque et al., 2016).

Literature Review Muhasabah
Muhāsabah in terms of language comes from Arabic which means to calculate or do calculations (M.Abdul Mujieb, Shafi'ah, 2009).As for the term, muhāsabah as said by Muhammad Sholih al-Munajjid (2009, bll 7-8) has several meanings, including: First, muḥāsabah is a process that a person does at night by weighing various things he does during the day which then gives birth to two consequences, namely if the results of the scales are good then he will continue but if The results are bad and the person knows about it and if possible, then the person should end it and not do it in the future.Second, muḥāsabah is an activity that includes 3 processes, namely: the process of using reason and mind in keeping oneself from committing treacherous qualities, the process of seeking advantages and disadvantages of oneself, and the process of asking oneself about the purpose for which he does the act: for whom and for what he will finally decide: if the deed is done sincerely for Allah then the deed must continue, but if the act is not for the purpose of God, then he should refrain from doing it, blame himself for the mistakes and omissions he has committed, and if possible he should punish himself and replace those mistakes with good in the future.Third, muḥāsabah is the process of paying attention to various actions and self-charity, the process of finding various faults of oneself, and the process of continuing various good deeds.
Another definition is also said by Al-Muḥāsibi (1986, bl 229) that muḥāsabah is "The process of awakening the mind to keep the soul from the nature of khiyanat in order to be seen improving the quality of self rather than its decline".In this process a person must make self-observation through internal communication of every movement and behavior of self.
In Islam, muḥāsabah as often mentioned in various literature comes from one of the kalamullah in Surah Al-Hashr verse 18 (Ash-Shanqiti, n.d.) which means "O believers, fear Allah, and let everyone pay attention to what he has done for tomorrow (hereafter); and be fearful of Allah, verily Allah knows what you do."According to this verse, muḥāsabah is a form of behavior that is commanded to a believer to observe or observe his own behavior that he has done at a previous time.This self-observation can be in the form of feelings, deeds, thoughts and various self-work that has been done in his life.Observing what happens in humans can be either positive or negative because in every person there must be something positive or negative.Muḥāsabah as the verse must also have a good purpose for the future as well as in order to practice piety or draw closer to Allah.
In the process, Al-Muḥāsibi (Al-Muḥāsibi, 1986) explains that a person who performs muḥāsabah needs to imagine or present every behavior or deed of self.Then after the behavior appears, muhasib asks himself "for what?" and "for whom?".If it turns out that the act is for Allah/because of Allah, then he continues the act but if not for or because of Allah then he must prevent himself from doing it and blame himself for following lust.And for this error he determined that he had committed foolishness and then gave an explanation to himself (his mind) about the ugliness of the deed.In addition, the muḥāsib must also tell himself that the act because of lust is an enemy to him because of the ugliness of the deed.He also needs to tell himself that the act has cut him off from the Creator (Allah SWT).

Neuro Linguistic Programming
Roderique-Davies ( 2009) said that Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a term from the combination and juxtaposition of the words neuro, linguistic, and programming which refers to how a person does thinking activities, feeling activities and acting activities.Neuro is a term that means the nervous system in a person which refers to the working process of the brain from the work of the five senses that a person has both obtained from hearing, sight, taste, feeling and smelling.Language is a term that refers to the language or word used where a person's word or language can affect the work of nerves or the work of a person's brain in giving meaning to an experience or in Andreas's term as a mirror of the mental universe (Andreas &;Faulkner, 2008, bl 23).Even as Sailendra (2017, bl 5) said that if the brain is stimulated by different words then it will make different meanings for the same experience.Programming refers to the program pattern of a person's behavior in the form of values, actions, beliefs, abilities, and others.Like any program in a computer, any program pattern of this behavior can be installed, uninstalled, recoded, and even reinstalled.With properly designed programming, humans can take control of how the brain and nerves work in interpreting experiences through the regulation of language or word stimuli so that later everyone is able to sort and choose various behaviors, abilities, beliefs, values and others according to what we need (Sailendra, 2017).
In the concept as defined by this definition, a good thought program or mental attitude in the form of values, ideas, and actions is greatly influenced by how nerves and the brain work, one of which is the result of how a person communicates with himself (intra communication) and communicates with others (inter communication).Therefore, the selection and use of the right words or language can greatly affect how the brain translates each event into a life program.Even Bandler as the initiator of NLP said that the human brain is not designed to acquire something, but can show the path, conditions and behavior that is desired and everything depends on how a person packages language.NLP tries to help so that all the "data" in the brain can be properly organized.As Bandler says, "Brains aren't designed to get results; they go in directions.If you know how the brain works you can set your own directions.If you don't, then someone else will."(Lim, 2014, bl 29) In various literature, NLP is used in various fields such as training and development, (Thompson et al., 2002) education, (Craft, 2001) counseling, (Hadi &;Zubaidah, 2015) coaching and personal development, (Linder-Pelz &; L. Michael Hall, 2007)(Linder-Pelz & L. Michael Hall, 2007) and other fields.There are many purposes and benefits of using NLP techniques including: (Hadi &;Zubaidah, 2015;Wikanengsih, 2012) (1) help someone communicate better with themselves, (2) help someone in controlling anxiety and negative emotions, (3) help someone reduce fear for no reason, (4) help someone make positive goals both general and specific for a better future, (Hadi &;Zubaidah, 2015) (5) help someone in changing the belief system Negatives such as doubt, uncertainty, life dissatisfaction and fear become more positive belief systems such as self-confidence, life satisfaction and optimism.(Zahro, 2018) Therefore, based on these various goals, in general, the purpose of NLP in addition to communication patterns, NLP aims to reduce negative affects, and increase positive affects, including increasing a sense of life satisfaction.

Subjective Well-being
Subjective well-being is a process of evaluation carried out by a person either cognitively or affectively on everything that happens in his life (Diener et al., 2002).Cognitive evaluation in this process is defined as an evaluation in feeling life satisfaction while affective evaluation is defined as an evaluation of a person in feeling various positive and negative emotions.In various literatures, subjective well being is often defined as a scientific term used to describe someone who experiences happiness.Happiness here includes the presence of life satisfaction, increased frequency of various positive and pleasant emotions and decreased or absence of various negative emotions (Kasturi, 2016).Therefore, in another description that someone who has high subjective well-being is someone who has a complete understanding of the purpose of life and life, has good self-control and social control so that the person is able to look more positively at life and life around him whether beneficial or not (Kasturi, 2016).
Based on this, a person is said to have a high level of subjective well-being if the person has three conditions, namely: (1) Always feel life satisfaction; (2) increased frequency of positive emotions and (3) decreased frequency of negative emotions.Therefore, subjective wellbeing is one of the predictors of how a person's quality of life.Individuals with a high level of subjective wellbeing will usually show better life performance, establish closer relationships, have a sense of optimism, easily adapt and cope more effectively to unfavorable and stressful circumstances so that they always feel their lives are getting better

Research Methods
This article is discussed using qualitative studies with a descriptive approach.The author reviews a number of literature on muhasabah, NLP and Subjective well-being then looks for common ground for improving Subjective well-being.The analysis is carried out using Schleiermacher's hermeuntic theory (Demeterio, 2001) which includes three important components, namely: (1) the interpreter or subject (2) something interpreted or the object in the form of text, and (3) the purpose of the act of interpretation, namely truth or meaning.These three components are related where the interpreter interprets the test in accordance with the purpose of the study, namely to find the relationship between muhasabah, NLP and Subjective well-being

Results and Discussions
As explained by the three main theories (muhāsabah, NLP and Subjective wellbeing), if examined further, it can be seen that all three have various similarities and intersections.The intersection of muhāsabah theory, neuro linguistic programming and subjective well-being can be seen in the following The process of dialoguing with oneself to find commendable traits to improve 3

Increased life satisfaction
The existence of selfcommunication to increase a sense of life satisfaction The process of dialogue with oneself to draw closer to God (Tosey & Mathison, 2003) In the table, it is seen that the three core processes of muhāsabah are very similar to the three indicators of subjective well-being.These similarities include: (1) minimizing the reprehensible nature which usually contains negative emotions which is also the first process of muhāsabah (2) increasing the praiseworthy nature which usually contains positive emotions which is also the second process of muhāsabah, and (3) increasing closeness to Allah so that it is closer to life satisfaction which is also the third process of muhāsabah.Also based on the chart, it turns out that NLP communication techniques can also be used in each indicator and stage.NLP internal communication techniques are used as a means of communicating in the muhāsabah process because as its definition, NLP is the art of communication excellence and is the study of the structure of subjective experience.In addition, NLP is used as a means in communication (Tosey & Mathison, 2003) muhāsabah for 3 main reasons, namely: (1) both muhāsabah and NLP focus on self-observation and thought; (2) both muhāsabah and NLP (especially intra communication) in the process are both carried out with self-communication; and (3) Both muhāsabah and NLP are equally focused on finding solutions and conclusions for the best life afterwards.
Based on the results of this analysis, writing on the integration of these two concepts is important to do because based on the results of research by Haque, et al (Haque et al., 2016) on various scientific works between 2006-2015 related to psychological and Muslim themes, it was found that there were 5 research documents found, namely: themes related to the integration of western psychological models and Muslim beliefs or practices, themes related to the development of normed scales and psychological assessment instruments for Muslims, themes related to various notes in the modern era on the history of Islamic Psychology; themes related to the development of framework models and theoretical models of Islamic Psychology; and themes related to the development of interventions and the development of therapeutic techniques in Islamic psychology.Based on the results of Haque et al's research, it is concluded that there are three reasons why the integration of western psychology and Islamic tradition is widely carried out, namely: (1) the emergence of various mental health challenges faced by Muslims, but on the other hand the therapy that currently exists is not associated in religious contexts or spiritual touch; b) The difficulty of Muslims seeking treatment from secular psychotherapists to link their religious beliefs with the goals of modern psychology; c) the number of findings related to the effectiveness or success of clinical practitioners and researchers who apply the role of spirituality and religion in their therapeutic practice.

Conclusion
Based on the results of the analysis, two main things can be concluded, namely: (1) that the muḥāsabah step can be a moderator variable to strengthen the relationship between NLP and Subjective well-being, especially for Muslim practitioners; (2) the integration of muḥāsabah into NLP practice or vice versa is important to strengthen the discourse of Islamic psychology.