Author: nlpnow

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Mind Maps PhotoReading

PhotoReading and Mind maps in Rome

Now back in the UK having to wash my shirts and re-polish my shoes after four days in Rome giving a PhotoReading and Mind Mapping course.


Some of the participants on the PhotoReading and Mind Maps course, Roma, Oct 2009

Over twenty people attended the courses in the old Jolly now the NH Leonardo Di Vinci hotel in Via dei Gracchi, 324, Roma, and included some previous attendees, ready to practice PhotoReading and Mind Mapping.


Working on their PhotoReading and Mind Maps, Rome 2009 

Now I must rest and then prepare for Milano next weekend for an NLP Master Practitioner.

It is a good job I love my job.

Categories
Mind Maps NLP PhotoReading

Be prepared, and Sure and Steadfast

I was never a Boy Scout, but I do like their motto, Be Prepared. I was in the Boys Brigade, the ones that wore the long trousers, with their motto, Sure and Steadfast.

Tomorrow is an early start when I travel to Rome to give another PhotoReading and Mind Maps course.

Despite telephone calls, salesmen trying to sell me things and services, trying to understand people and the messages they are really telling me whilst telling me something else, being led down the garden path by others and being aware enough not to let it happen, catching-up on my administration work, I have been able to get all my “stuff” ready for my trip to Rome.

My teaching aids are ready, my suitcase is packed, my shoes are clean, I have checked-in on-line for the flight and picked my seat, and the taxi is booked to pick me up at 5:30am.
 
I am prepared, and I am sure that I will be steadfast in my delivery of the courses.

Categories
NLP

Türkiye’de NLP Kursları, NLP in Turkey

Today I have had great news, the final dates and agreement of more NLP courses in Gaziantep, Turkey, for this year, 2009.

In co-operation with GAP (GAP Danışmanlık) and Mehpare Kileci, we will holding a Society of NLP Practitioner course, 24th October – 30th October, and the Society of NLP Master Practitioner course from 3rd November – 8th November, both 2009.

It means quite a tight schedule for me as the weekend in between the two courses, the NLP Practitioner and NLP Master Practitioner, I am to be in Milan being one of the trainers for NLPItaly’s NLP Master Practitioner, my two days being 31st October and the 1st November, so I will be flying in my sleep or sleeping whilst I fly.

I know some of the participants in Italy are looking forward to being with me again in Milan, so I have to make the journey. I will not let you down guys.

For the participants attending the Master NLP Practitioner in Gaziantep, I hope that we will be joined by a very good friend, fellow NLP Trainer and colleague, Alessio Roberti. It will be like the old days when we worked together many years ago, introducing NLP into Italy. It will be fun and a great time.


Phillip Holt

Alessio Roberti
training in 1999

Categories
Culture

Happy Bayram or Eid

It is a special time of the year for some people of our world.

It is the end of Ramadan ( رمضان‎ ), the islamic month of fasting.

In Turkey the holiday period at the end of Ramadan is known as Bayram in the Middle East as Eid.

So to all my friends, have a great holiday, if you are with your family, make those ties stronger, if you are with friends, make those friendships stronger, if you are by yourself, rejoice that you are in the family of the human race, whatever their beliefs.

Many times in the past years, I have been in Islamic countries giving training, and although I was caught up in the celebrations, I really did not experience any joy or sense of occasion.

Then, I also noticed that in recent years, when in the same islamic countries, the participants on my courses experienced the same as I did for my main holiday of the year, Christmas. They did not understand what I was experiencing in December.

The italians have another holiday that I did not understand, that is the whole of August, they have the whole of August off. It was not until I spent a few weeks in Bologna in August this year that I understood, it was too hot with temperatures in the mid 30’s day and night.

I have experienced Bayram or Eid, and understand what I am missing by not being with you, and I wish you all happiness.

That is the beauty of the work I do, traveling to so many countries in our small world, experiencing so many cultures and beliefs and encompassing them into my life with understanding.

If only the whole world could do the same. 

Categories
Books Thoughts Travels

Churchill Museum within the Cabinet War Rooms

Ever seeking more knowledge, some people say I am full of useless information, and my visit to the Churchill and Cabinet War Rooms in Central London, gave me the opportunity to learn more about one of the greatest leaders of British history, Winston Churchill (1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955).

The secret underground bunker which served as the Cabinet War Rooms in the Second World War, where the Chiefs of Staff and the Prime Minister worked continuously from 1939 to 1945.

Within the facilities, Winston Churchill, as well as other person holding high positions in the armed services, had his own bedroom, office and other amenities. There was a kitchen which catered for his eating requirements, and also a bedroom for his wife Clementine. To keep in touch with other world leaders but especially USA President Roosevelt, within Shefridges on Oxford Street, a special room called the Transatlantic Room was created, with a secure telephone/radio connection using a scrambler device called Sigsaly installed.

Cabinet war rooms

The Transmission Room in the Cabinet War Rooms, London

Sigsaly was 40 tons of equipment, shipped from the USA and installed in the basement of Shefridges on Oxford Street. Another Sigsaly was installed in the Pentagon in the USA, and it was said the scrambled signal generated was “almost” impenetrable. Having now learned of the secret decoding work by the British at Bletchley Park, I wonder if the Germans had broken Sigsaly.

Within the bunker of the Cabinet War Rooms, is a very large space which was partitioned off for use by various departments of the Chiefs of Staff and the War Cabinet during WWII, as since 2005 become the Churchill Museum.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace into the Spencer family on 30 November 1874, he came from a aristocratic family, his father being Lord Randolph Spencer-Churchill being the 7th Duke of Marlborough, his mother was an American.

Churchill was sent away to boarding schools, and had little contact with his parents despite his repeated requests for his mother to visit him. He was not a good student other than English and history, and his poor results could be attributed to him having dyslexia. Churchill also had a speech impediment, especially noticeable was his lisp, having difficulty pronouncing the letter “S” and, it has been said a stutter. All these problems did not deter Churchill, as he said, “My impediment is no hindrance“, and he became a great author and speech maker.

Despite having to take the entrance exam three times, he was accepted into the Royal Military Academy, better known as Sandhurst, to become an officer in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars, using his family connections to be posted on active duties. It was from these campaigns that the public started to know him through his writings as a war correspondent, and writing his own books on the campaigns.

Throughout his life he was a world traveler, and in the military his campaigns to him to Cuba, India, Malakand (now Pakistan), Sudan and South Africa. He became First Lord of the Admiralty at the start of World War I.

His first try in politics in 1899 was in the English constituency of Oldham, where he stood for the seat to the British Parliament, and lost the vote. But, in the 1900 General Election he won his seat to Parliament in the same constituency of Oldham. In the 1906 General Election he had changed his political party from the Conservatives to the Liberals, and stood for the Manchester North West Constituency which again he won, only having the seat for two years, when he was elected as member of Parliament for Dundee. He became a high powered member of the Liberal Government, helping to pass many reforms.

During World War 1, Churchill again rejoined the military to fight, having the rank of Colonel in the Royal Scots Fusiliers but still being an MP (Member of Parliament).

In 1922 he lost his Dundee parliamentary seat, and despite standing for other constituencies, was not returned to Parliament until 1924 for Epping.

Throughout the following years, Churchill had many positions in the British Government, but also he feel out of favour sometimes, and had periods of obscurity. It was after the start of the Second World War, that Churchill again gained power being given the job of The First Lord of the Admiralty.

When the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned due to the lack of confidence the county had in him in his handling of the outbreak of the war, Churchill was asked to become Prime Minister. 10 May 1940.

Throughout the Second World War, Churchill led the British nation with inspiration, his speeches were well thought out and rehearsed, that rallied the nation to fight on to the end. He formed good working relationships with other world leaders, Roosevelt, Truman, Stalin.

Some of Churchill’s greatest speeches contained now famous lines which rallied and inspired the embattled people of Britain and the world:-

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat“.
“….… we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

At the end of WWII, the British people voted Churchill’s Government out of power in the 1945 election, and he would lead the opposition party until the General Election of 1951,  he resigned in 1955.

All this history and more is on display in the Churchill Museum, along with his famous jump suits, his awards, his medals. They are displayed in such a way that it is as if one is having a personal tour. For example, his many famous speeches, which I have never appreciated before can be heard, by standing is one spot, the clever sound system delivers Churchill as if he is standing in front of you. You can sit and watch films and hear the commentary which hardly interferes with the other visitors.

Although as a young boy, not being old enough to have really experienced his leadership first hand, I remember vividly his State Funeral, not often given to commoners in the UK, after his death at the age of 90 on 24th January 1965. The whole nation stopped to view it on the TV’s. There, in the Churchill Museum were the same pictures, and I felt the emotion of the time once again, as tear welled up in my eyes.

Throughout his life Churchill wrote many books and articles. His speeches are orinspiring and are I have now found out, worth listening to for their content and construc
tion, In 1953 was award the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Here again there is a physical link back to the Bletchley Park in the 21 Century, for in one of the buildings is the Churchill Collect, a vast private collect of Churchill memorabilia. Winston Churchill visited Bletchley Park many time and said of the workers that they were :-

“The geese that laid the golden eggs – but never cackled.”

Categories
Books Thoughts

The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms

In my article “I am still learning more on history” I mentioned the Cabinet War Rooms in Central London.

My interest in visiting the Cabinet War Rooms came about by reading R.V. Jones book Most Secret War, because in his writing, Jones reported his various meetings in this secret underground bunker with the Chiefs of Staff and the Prime Minister of Great Britain during WWII, Winston Churchill. I wanted to verify the information he was giving, and experience what had taken place some 70 years previously. His whole writings seemed to imply he was the most important person in the Second World War apart from Churchill.

I was not to be disappointed in what I learnt and saw, although gained no reference or mention when asking guides to R.V. Jones having worked there.

Located near Horse Guards Parade, opposite St Jame’s Park, and under what is now The Treasury Building, it was decided in 1930’s, because of the impending war with Germany and the probability of aerial bombardment, to build a central emergency working space for the War Cabinet and Chiefs of Staff of the military. One week before the outbreak of the Second World War, on 27th August 1939, the secret bunker was opened, and was in continuous until the end of the war in 1945.

At the end of the war in 1945, staff left their desks, control rooms and living quarters and returned to their normal working places, leaving the secret underground bunker as is, to be used as stores. But in the late 1970’s the Imperial War Museum was tasked with preserving this historic site, and to open the site to the public. From 2005 this site was fully open and included the Churchill Museum dedicated to the life and work of this great British Prime Minister.

A new entrance was opened allowing public access to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, the old access being in what is now The Treasury Building.

To protect the people working in the bunker, (it is stated that over 500 people worked at any one time in the facilities), extra wooden and steel girder reinforcements were built into the bunker, and a steel and concrete two-metre deep slab lain in the void above the bunker.

Cabinet War Rooms Churchill Museum
Cabinet War Rooms Churchill Museum

Cabinet War Rooms Churchill Museum



Among the many rooms and facilities is a room called the Map Room, it is said to be in the same state as it was left in 1945, with the original maps on the walls. One wall shows the Atlantic Ocean, and was used to chart the progress of the merchant shipping, more often being in convoys, still showing the tiny pin holes marking the ships positions. This room was staffed 24 hours a day by officers of the navy, army and airforce, to keep track of the war.

A link from the Cabinet War Rooms Map Room was back to another famed wartime site I have visited, The Battle of Britain Operations Room, at RAF Uxbridge. (click to see article). It was from this Ops room, that information would be fed to the Cabinet War Rooms. as can be seen by a board giving details of flights during the Battle of Britain.

RAF Uxbridge, The Battle of Britain Control Room
RAF Uxbridge, The Battle of Britain Control Room

Links would also be to other war time facilities, including Bletchley Park. The German encrypted messages made on the Enigma Machine would be decoded in Bletchley Park, which helped the Navy plan and fight the Battle of the Atlantic, against the German naval fleet and submarines.

The museum also contains as stated the Churchill Museum, more on that later.

I spent about four hours in the Cabinet War Rooms, so I was somewhat hungry and thirsty, and had an English Afternoon Tea, in the Switchroom Café. Finger sandwiches, (I eat one before taking this picture), made of cheese and cucumber and smoked salmon, a cup of English Breakfast tea with milk, and a piece of cake just like my mother used to make, with strawberry and cream filling, not like mass made factory cake. Paradise.

English Afternoon Tea

English Afternoon Tea in the Switchroom, Cabinet War Rooms.

Categories
Books Thoughts

I am still learning more on history

In the past I have had to admit that there is much missing from my knowledge, my history.

I realised how much is missing from my family history, when after getting together recently with my daughter Vanessa in Southampton, and I was relating what knowledge I had to her, how little I really did know. I had heard stories from my father and mother, uncles and aunties, but this information was limited and nothing had been written down, and now knowing what I do know now about human memory systems, there was much missing.

Visiting so many countries, and listening to their understanding of their history, I realise that it differs from my understanding of the same history from a British point of view. My experience of talking to Gianni Golfera’s Grandfather as a WWII Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero (SM.79) bomber pilot and his recollections of fighting the British Hurricane fighter planes, gave a different point of view to my reading of British history of that time.

Having an inquiring mind, trying to understand the background of information, and often asking “why“, I sometimes need and search for information, for example, looking at the history of the WWII British fight plane, the Hurricane and its’ connect to Kingston upon Thames where I have a home.

Part of my research has been through reading, thank goodness I know PhotoReading, part of my research through talking to people, and part of research has been through visiting museums and actual sites the history took place.

My recent interest has taken me to Bletchley Park, north of London, home of and historic site of secret British codebreaking activities during WWII and birthplace of the modern computer, Colosus. This led me to reading many books on the history of Bletchley Park, and to a book by R.V. Jones called Most Secret War. Reading this book led me to wanting to find more about the history of the Cabinet War Rooms, Britain’s secret underground shelter for the War Cabinet and Chiefs of Staff, in Central London.

A tour guide at Bletchley Park when informing us of the work initially undertaken by Polish scientists on the secret encoding of the messages by the Germans and the Enigma Machines, was that once a year a special visit was taken by Polish nationals to the park, and that their guides tell a different story than he does.

Now I have found so much more insight into my own and others history, that I have had to completely rewrite some my understanding of my knowledge, also reaffirming my realisation that we are only told by higher authorities and others what they want us to know.

I also realise that I should have asked my relatives who are now no longer with us more about their history and thus Vanessa’s and mine.

Categories
Travels

A typical British Bank Holiday

It was a typical British bank Holiday , a promise of great weather, which turned out to be quiet different.

Vanessa, my daughter, has moved down to the southern coastal city of Southampton in England, a place she has found to be full of interesting things to do, full of history, a place of surrounding beautiful countryside, near enough to many facilities and for her, work.

Knowing the traffic problems as people drive to the seaside and places of interest on Bank Holidays, I decided to let the train take the strain, and although an early start, the journey, with only one change at Clapham Junction, would only take two hours, much the same as driving, but at least I would be able to read the Sunday newspapers, and the fare would cost less than the petrol my car would use.

As the train pulled in at Clapham Junction, I spied an empty carriage, and I quickly found myself a window seat, and sat back to read the newspaper, only to be joined by a group of about 15 foreign people, I would presume to be Mexican as they were speaking Spanish but looked South American, and it was party-time for them.

They were shouting jokes from one end of the carriage to the other. most frustrating as I could not understand what they were saying. they were playing music, the songs again being in Spanish, and passing food around. I could feel myself becoming angry for disturbing my peace, invading my space, and had to change my state to remove them from my world.

I had been advised by my cousin, Glynis who lives in the area, to wear my shorts, as it would be good weather, but I decided to wear my slacks and take a jacket, and I was glad I did.

On arriving at the Southampton Airport railway station where Vanessa would pick me up in her little yellow car, it was drizzling. Where was the sunny weather Glynis?

What were we going to do?

I remember way back when Vanessa was a young girl, and I was allowed to see her on one of my trips back from working in Saudi Arabia, and i did what most divorced dad’s do when they have to entertain their children on the very rare access visits, I took her to London Zoo.

Oh how the tables have turned.

When I said, “what shall we do?” Vanessa replied, “We could go to the zoo.“

I suddenly had the image of me being the senile old man, that now the children have to take care of.

Oh Poo Poo.

But no, it was time to catch up, to talk over lunch at Nando’s, to pass-on family history over cups of coffee, to visit a small museum of the port of Southampton which included a display of the history of the RMS Titanic which left Southampton on its’ ill fated voyage to America.

 It was a time to give what I would call useless information, which I am full of, to Vanessa, like that the bronze statue of the Titanic’s captain, Captain Edward John Smith, which is in Beacon Park, a public park in Lichfield, Staffordshire. The story goes that Captain Smith’s home town of Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, had the statue made, but refused to have it when he managed to sink the Titanic, and Lichfield was the only city to take it.

It was after the museum, we walked the short distance to the old docks where the Titanic would have sailed from, and it was alive with ships and ferries still using the facilities.

We watched as four massive cruise ships left for I hope warmer climates, because I was frozen, and this was an August holiday.

Typical British weather. 



Cunard Queen Victoria leaving Southampton


P&O Cruise Ship Aurora leaving Southampton


P&O Cruise Ship Ventura leaving Southampton

Categories
Eating Out Mind Maps

Eating out. Should it be Mcdonalds or not?

Sitting here in a friends flat in the ancient Italian town of Bologna, at the end of an enjoyable, but hard two weeks of study and work, perhaps along the way breaking a deep seated belief in myself, I have had a weekend to myself.

It was a comment a friend on Facebook said to me when asking where was I, and I replied, Bologna, she said, don’t I ever go home?

Well, yes I do, but not often.

I thought, what would I be doing? Perhaps much the same as i am doing here. Resting, catching up of odd bits and pieces, alone, not wanting to go out.

I became very hungry, and my mind began to sift through the alternatives of eating.

The disadvantage for me of being away from home so much, living in hotels mostly, is that I do not have a store of food, a fridge with cold snacks, a cupboard with biscuits or cereals, a bottle of milk or cold drink, a kettle so I can make a nice cup of tea, with milk of course.

I can always go to the hotel restaurant, the café, the bar. But they are usually to expensive, and the one thing I do not like is eating by myself in a restaurant.

Upon entering the restaurant, eyes fall upon you, as the other diners look you up and down.

Looking round for a friendly face, a waiter, owner, someone to welcome you, you are often left standing wondering what to do. Should you find yourself your own table, or wait to be seated?

The diners seem to smile under their breath, knowing the dilemma you are going through.

Eventually, a waiter comes to the rescue and takes you to a table, and hands you a menu, and chances are that if you are in a foreign country, you will not understand one word written there. What are the sections? Are they soups? Starters? Deserts? Main course? Drinks?

What seems an age, the waiter comes back, and you feebly point to what you may or may not like, at least it is something, and as the waiter writes the order down, they repeat back in their own perfect language what you ordered, looking down their noses, thinking “dumbo“.

Sorry, I did not know that the letter “J” in your language is pronounced the same way we English speakers pronounce a letter “G” and not “jay“.

Now you must wait for the first course. What do you do?

Do you take a book with you because it will be at least ten minutes?

Do you take a computer game?

Do you watch other people eating, twiddling your fingers, knowing that they are talking about you, “oh that poor person, sitting all by themselves, no-body loves them“.

Do you try to make conversation with the next table, the one with the two lovers on their first date, or the other table with the businessmen talking about the next sale? Anyway, you don’t speak the language.

The food comes, and you know that the cook is deliberately making the gaps between the courses long so that you will have to sit there self conscious, so you eat in small mouthfuls, with pauses so that the meal will last longer.

But no, the waiter and cook has seen that tactic before, and they rush out the next course before you have finished the the one you are eating.

And the food. You did not know that the main course you pointed to “Pesce“, or as it is written in Chinese “鱼”, is fish and you hate fish,
 
When the meal is finished, do you sit there for five minutes to start the digestion system working and to relax a little?

You sit there pondering, does the waiter bring you the bill or do you go to the main desk and pay there?

Eating out alone is a strain.

Now, with the restaurant chain McDonald’s, I know that I can walk in, go to the counter, point to the pictures of the food behind the counter staff and just make a sound, “ug“, and I know what I will get in a very short period of time.
 
I can sit by myself, licking my fingers, making a mess, everyone else is doing the same.

I know I can take as long as I like, or I can take it back to my room and eat in the privacy of my own four walls, a watch TV.

Throughout the world in every town, the quality is the same, I know what I will be getting, I know the tastes, and yes I know that if I eat an extra Big Mac for every meal for the next two months I would be very ill, just like a friend of mine who eat raw carrots for every meal, his skin turned orange.

Once in a while, a Macdonald’s will do me no harm, and especially if I have a salad like the one in the photograph, a lovely Caesar’s Salad.

Well I am in Italy, the birth place of Caesar, so it is good Italian food, isn’t it?

Categories
Thoughts

Big mouth

It must be the heat here in Bologna, Italy, driving me to say the wrong things.

I can now understand why people in Bologna leave for the whole of August for a holiday to the seaside, the mountains and other cooler places, as the temperature last night in the bedroom never went below 32 degrees. I was perspiring all night, drinking over 1 litre of water, and not going to the toilet.

The days are even hotter.

It is a time that I have to say what is on my mind, to communicate with others, new ideas, new concepts so learning can take place.

But perhaps I said too much, as I have had my head bitten off, for expressing my opinion.


Need to reactivate the alarm system in my brain which rings a big bell, flashes a big bright red light just before I open my mouth to say something. A warning should be going off in my head :-

     “shut up”

Perhaps it is the heat, or the fact that I can talk to someone, after all my life style means I am on my own most of the time in my own world, making my own choices which are appropriate for me and only me, and when I am with other people I forget that they have choices too, that may not be the same as mine.

Oh Poo Poo. Life is such a load of Poo Poo.

Still another day starts, and a new hand of cards have been dealt to me. I hope this hand will be a winning hand, and I think it will be, as I believe I can make the right choices from now on.