Body and mind spring clean: make room for the new!

I dont know about you in your various parts of the world but spring is definitely on the way here! The sun is shining, the flowers are blossoming, the buds are showing and there is that exciting renewal feeling in the air!
The windows stay open, we linger to chat to the neighbours, take stock of what needs doing in the garden and generally feel energised,hopeful and ready to emerge from hibernation.
Hence spring clean where we de-clutter our house, wash the windows, re-acquaint ourselves with the garden and generally feel in a change mode.
This is also the time when we emerge from our huge jumpers and layers of clothes to often realise that hidden under there are other extra layers which were nice and comforting in the cold but less so with the prospect of lighter clothing.
This is the right time for the body spring clean: the better eating habits, more fresh produce, salads and fruit. More sports or walks so that body can bloosom too.

Now what about the inner spring clean? This is a time of renewal. What unhelpful behaviours or attitudes do you have? Which one change would make the most difference to your levels of happiness, satisfaction, pride in yourself? Maybe during the long dark days of winter you made a list of New year resolutions. How far did you get? NOW IS THE TIME FOR ACTION.

Let's play a game! Don't think too much, just play along!

So choose one specific behaviour you want to have.

1. Select someone either real or imagined who already has that positive behaviour you want. You are now a movie director so play in your mind a film where your chosen character is displaying this behaviour. Really go into the details, see how they look, how they act, what they are doing. Hear what they are saying. Take your time tp picture it vividly in your mind's eye.

2. Now substitute the model for yourself. Actively see yourself doing what your model was doing, look at all the details. Hear your voice. Are there any circumstances when this behaviour may not be appropriate? If not, maybe make the picture a little brighter. Notice how it changes your life and those around you.
Keep modifying the film till it is precisely as you would want it.

3. Now step into your image in the film and see it through your own eyes. Feel what it feels like to have this behaviour and see its effect around you. Build it up, hear your voice and other voices around you. Feel the changes in yourself, watch what is happening around you as you display this new, positive behaviour. What new things are you telling yourself? How differently does your future look? How differently do you look at your past? What new and wonderful things do you have?

4. When would be a good time for you to use this new behaviour in the futur? What will you see, hear and feel as you use it?

5. Now pick another situation when this new behaviour will be useful. Play it in your mind. What are you seeing? What are you feeling? What are you saying to yourself and what are others saying?Enjoy it!

Well done! Now you know you can do it, you have seen yourself, you have felt how good it was and heard what others were saying. So what is stopping you? Go do it!!!!

I based most of this on one of the New Behaviour Generator sections from my NLP course with Noble Manhattan Coaching Ltd, with trainer Aina Egberg.

Let's make it happen!!!

The simplicity and powerfulness of NLP

Dear followers,
Today I just HAVE to share with you my experiences on the NLP practitioner course I took last week in London or I will BURST!!!
I had been introduced to NLP during my life coach practitioner degree and as most coaches very much integrated the most wider used tools such as: understanding that we have different maps of the world based on our beliefs and values and experiences and how we interpret them. Being aware of how we use language to communicate, the modalities and submodalities we use and how we can use them to run more empowering strategies in our lives.
I am getting carried away ...please excuse me...
First of all: what is NLP?
Neuro Linguistic Programming is how to use the language of the mind to consistently achieve our specific and desired outcomes.We have strategies for everything we do which we are mostly unaware of, this is our software.Some are efficient and serve us well, others less so. When we procrastinate or devour compulsively a box of chocolates or convince ourselves we are no good, we are running efficient strategies, composed of a sequence of chain reactions involving our 5 senses.(visual, auditory, feeling, smell and taste).
So maybe we first get an image of a chocolate, then construct in our mouth feel of the consistency of the chocolate, then say to ourselves "I have had a bad day I deserve it", then feel justified, then act. Just an example. Once we are aware of what we do we can scramble that pattern and install instead a more empowering strategy if we feel we want to have more choice in our behaviour.Sometimes our software needs to be updated and we are running old programs which really do not serve us well.

The first wave of NLP, back in the 70s was rather manipulative and frightened a lot of people. What was wonderful for me this week was to see how some simple tools could transform in a short period the negative behaviour we were suffering from and wanted to change. There was no "programming" apart from what the unconscious mind itself was producing. There was also no need to go back to traumatic moments and dwell on them, the unconscious knew what we meant and just filled in the gaps. The practitioner did not even need to know the content of the issue, just prompt the client to use his 5 senses to be aware of the coding he had used and let his unconscious process the data. It was truly beautiful and profoundly inspiring.

A lot of this I would like to share with you,to enable you to live the life you wish for, free of negative behaviours and attitudes, and will introduce various techniques each week. Do not hesitate to comment!
Let's make it happen!