16/03/2007 – Phillip Holt's World

My day was taken up by planning course for the future year here in Turkey, so that there will be no clashes with courses in other countries, such as Sri Lanka, India, Italy, UK etc.

Over the last number of years I have been traveling regularly to Turkey amongst other countries to give training to companies, individuals and to public classes in NLP, Hypnosis, Mind Maps, PhotoReading, Memory Techniques, Coaching etc. and enjoying every moment. Why did I waste 35 years working in the computer industry?

It was said once that I could not be good because I do so much. Well I made a strategic decision to go to the founders of any technologies the originators, to learn from them, and get their aurthortity to teach their work.

For a number of years I was an assistant on Richard Bandler’s courses, I watched I learned from the co-founder of NLP, and got his approval as a trainer of the Society of NLP, I worked and learned hypnosis from Paul McKenna and the Dean of Stage Hypnosis, Ormond McGill, I went to Paul Schelle to learn PhotoReading, I went to Tony Buzan to learn Mind Maps, Dr Win Wenger of Image Streaming, Joe McMoneagle of the Stargate project, the man with the biggest memory Gianni Golfera. I have not learned from someone who learns from someone else who learns from someone else. And, I certainly have not plagiarized others work and called it my own by changing a few words but keeping the content and structure exactly the same.

So the question was put, why should our clients come to NLPGrup, why should they get a certificate or license.

I put it to the sales team that perhaps it is like going to buy a car.

You have two outlets next to each other one with the sign Toyota and the other Toy Ota.

The first outlet has brand new cars with warranty, straight from the factory, shinning paintwork, all the extras.

When you look in at the second outlet, you see there is a sign on the from of the car that looks like Toyota, but when you look at the wheels they are from a babies pram, the bodywork is made from a cardboard box that once held a refrigerator, the seats are cushions, and there is no engine but a hole in the floor where your legs fit to propel you along the road.

With NLPGrup they are getting the real Toyota.

The English courses are extremely interesting. A friend and my translator in Italy, Elena Martelli, teaches Italian in Bologna to mature foreign students, when not in class they stay with Italian families, and become totally immersed in the language. Total immersion is the best way to learn a language not two hours a week, I know I have tried and failed.

We have the students 12 hours a day for 9 days, 9am till 9pm, and I sometimes have them for three sessions, 9am, 1:30 pm and 6:30pm, to teach them accelerated learning techniques, relaxation and some NLP.

It is a joy to see and hear the change made in the participants language, although they may not notice themselves.

Perhaps I need the magic switch I use on my Stage Hypnosis to get them to speak Martian.

Have a good day.

Yesterday, I had another lay-in, and then took the ferry to Kadikoy to the office/school to arrange the training courses for the rest of the year here in Turkey, and to have lunch in a small family run restaurant/café.

On my journey, I was able to watch people going about their day, some were in a hurry to get to meetings, some had nothing to do, some were tourists being overwhelmed by new sights and sounds.

They looked at the old tram which rumbles up and down Taxim Hill between Taxim Square and Tunel. A real old machines, lovingly maintained, which makes them a joy to ride.

Beside the tram stop a vendor sells the traditional Simit, a round ring of bread with I presume sesame seeds, the Turkish people love them, as there are vendors on every street corner, or you hear them shouting out for people to buy them as they balance a tray of the on their head, or you see them walking between the cars of the ever increasing traffic jams with simit’s strung on broom handles.

On my journey on the ferry to the Eastern side, I sat in the open stern, cold but enjoying the views of Istanbul. I look back to where we had just departed, as a young woman threw pieces of Simit into the air for the hungry seagulls to pluck midair, to the masses of apartments perched on the step hills of Istanbul.

There, I say the Galata Tower. From 1348 this tower has dominated the skyline of Istanbul, originally known as the Tower of Christ, it was a lookout tower of the Genoese colony called Galata. this 12-storey construction once functioned as a jail for prisoners of war, a shipyard, a warehouse and a fire station. Today the Galata Tower is one of Istanbul’s major attractions, offering fantastic views of the city and its landmarks. It is said that, an Ottoman citizen, Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi was the first person to fly, launched himself from the tower and crossed the Bosphorus.

Gatalta Tower from the ferry, with seagulls

Again as we crossed to the other side, I saw the trade of the world happening as ships moored at the quayside to unload their cargo, and take new containers of goods to the rest of the world.

Tugs pushed the massive vessels into the quayside as they tied up, large cranes towered over containers stacked high on the decks. I wonder what is inside each container?

I was cold but enjoyed being alive, seeing life as it happens.