Author: nlpnow

Categories
Coaching Travels

Last day in Gaziantep

Tonight I have finished a coaching course here in Gaziantep with a fantastic group of participants.

I now take the 4:45 am flight out of Gaziantep to Istanbul, and then on to Rome, arriving at Fiumicino Airport at 10:30 am. A train ride into Roma Terminal Station and a quick taxi ride to The Jolly Hotel, Leonardo Da Vinci, will see me arriving just in time to start the PhotoReading course at 2:30 pm.

I hope I get some sleep on the aircraft.

The course has gone by so quickly, and it was so good to see so many people I knew from my previous courses eager to learn new ideas.

Thank you all for a great experience.


Coaching participants in Gaziantep, Turkey, and a wonderful chocolate cake for Phillip Holt
Coaching participants in Gaziantep, Turkey, and a wonderful chocolate cake.

See what you are missing Halil.

Categories
Culture Eating Out

Great Turkish food

So not to show bias to one country against another with regards to food, I had better put the record straight, I will eat anything as long as I like it, and as long as it is not fish, peppers and apple pie, apart from those I will normally eat what is put in front of me and enjoy it.

Whilst here in Gaziantep in Southern Turkey, giving an NLP Practitioner course, a Coaching course and a talk to the Gaziantep Chamber of Industry, my host Mehpare of GAP Consultancy, has taken me to many restaurants, to savour local dishes.

Today I was taken to Semazen Et Lokantasi, (Gazimuhtarpasa Bulvari No: 69). This restaurant serves Konya cuisine, in a clean, light and airy atmosphere.

Semazen et Lokantasi, Gaziantep
Semazen et Lokantasi, Gaziantep

The lamb meat served is so tasty and moist, it melts in the mouth, and falls apart on the fork. The cooking is done in giant ovens faced with traditional Turkish tiles. The traditional Konya pizza type dish, known as pide, with a topping of knife chopped lamb, is placed on a long spatula to be inserted into the oven, as seen in the photograph below.

The giant oven in the Semazen restaurant
The giant oven in the Semazen restaurant

The dish is then served on a long wooden board covered in paper, to the table as the photograph below, along with a salad and a yogurt drink called Ayran. Italian pizza has never been served to me like this.

Pide or Konya pizza
Pide or Konya pizza.

The second course was the succulent lamb cooked in the ovens above, served on bread, a helping og of rice, some very hot chillies and raw union, again with salad.

Kuzu Tandir or a Konya Lamb Burger
Kuzu Tandir for me Konya Lamb Burger

Kabak Tatlisi or a Pumpkin dessert
Kabak Tatlisi or a Pumpkin dessert

The dessert was pumpkin boiled in sugar and water, so it had become soft in texture and to eat, and served with a sprinkling of walnuts, all swimming in the sugary sauce, plus sesame sauce called Tahin.

Karanfil or cloves to freshen the mouth
Karanfil or cloves to freshen the mouth

The meal could have gone on and on I am sure, but I was too full and satisfied, even to have a Turkish tea or coffee. It was impossible to eat all the food, in fact, I had a large “doggy bag” to take back with me.

To finish, a plate was presented with the inevitable wet towel, a much needed toothpick, and dried cloves, in Turkish the name is Karanfil.

The dried cloves confused me somewhat. What should I do? I had only seen them placed on food as it was cooking.

Mephare took one and place it in her mouth, and said it is traditional in Turkey as it refreshes the mouth, like brushing the teeth. Apparently you should keep it in the mouth until it become soft enough to swallow, but the taste for me was too much, and it stayed in my mouth for a few seconds only.

Categories
Uncategorized

Further knowledge on Migraines

Today I came across more information published on msnbc about migraines and a possible link between strokes, heart attacks and migraine.

Although not fully proven, there seems to be a higher risk of a person suffering a heart attack or stoke, twice or three times greater, for a sufferer of migraines which have the aura effect.

The aura effect is where the sufferer when having a migraine attack, may get flashing lights, hallucinations, vision which is impaired, auras, as in my case, vision which is missing, that is as I look at a persons face I may see the left eye but the right eye is missing, although I know it is there. 

As stated in other articles I have written, see below, other symptoms may exist or be experienced, nausea, sensitivity to light and or sound, extreme headaches, for me extreme pain in one of the eyes, slurred speech, feeling hot or cold, there are many symptoms. But, it is those who experience auras research has recently shown, that the risk of cardiovascular problems, heart attacks and strokes is higher.

My previous research indicated that migraines could be caused by a change in neurotransmitters, including include ions, glutamate and nitric oxide, and or perhaps a cortical spreading depression or “brainstorm“, or electrical discharge. See article .

This new research indicates two new chemicals, or neurotransmitters may be also involved Substance P and Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) being released, which causes inflammation and pain in the blood vessels surrounding the brain. This could be verified by myself when having a migraine attack, by the pronounced blood vessels to the sides of my forehead or temples.

Researchers suspect that the repeated presence of the neurotransmitters Substance P and Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP), and the inflammation they cause, may weaken the blood vessels throughout the whole body, causing ruptures or blockages, that may result in heart attacks or strokes.

It is also thought that migraines could be caused by just the blood supply or vascular system alone and not neurotransmitters, contracting and expanding abnormally, being disfunctional, perhaps due to emotional and physical stress.

Although the above is still not proven, it fits into my experiences, and especially as I was to have an coronary angioplasty, or stent placed in the heart. See articles, click here.

Oh how little we know about our body and brain. 

Previous article.    The start of my migraines.
Next article.         Migraine, an understanding, a cure 

Categories
Travels

Neptune in the Piazza del Nettuno

To the side of the whispering gallery or Palazzo del Podesta, and to the north side of Piazza Maggiore, is Piazza Nettuno.

In the Piazza Nettuno is the 16th century bronze statue by Giambologna of Neptune and his Attendants who in Roman mythology is the god of water and the sea.


16th century bronze statue by Giambologna of Neptune and his Attendants

At each corner of the fountain are four mermaids or attendants, in the picture they are the bronze statues, not the Italian students taking in the afternoon sun.

I was told that the fountain statue was commissioned by Charles Borromeo (the Cardinal Legate) to celebrate the election of his uncle as Pope Pius IV. His rooms were the top right rooms in the building to the left of the statue in the above photograph, so he could look down upon it.

It was said that in the original design, Neptune’s manhood was rather large and the Pope objected to it, so it was sculptured very small. Or could it be that it depicts Neptune just leaving a cold sea?

In the photograph above you can see Neptune’s left hand pointing forward.

From the window of the Pope, because of the angle, all that can be seen is a pointing finger, which can just be made out in the photograph below against the background of the brickwork of the Basilica di San Petronio.


Neptune from the rear, Piazza Nettuno, Bologna

The fountain water also is very intriguing as to where it flows from. As already mentioned, at the base of the statue are four mermaids, attendants or from Greek mythology, four of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris who dwell in the Mediterranean Sea, known as Nereids.


Four of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, known as Nereids at the base of Neptune’s statue, Bologna


The fountain of Neptune and his Attendants, Piazza Nettuno , Bologna Italy.


Um.

Categories
Recommendation

Phillip Holt on TV and awarded

Today I received great news.

See video of TV screening by clicking on this link. Click here.

Also see TV program from Sri Lanka TV Business Matters.

And on radio, click here.

Oh Poo Poo. for more. 
Categories
Culture Travels

Garibaldi, an Italian Hero

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian revolutionary, a hero, who changed the history of Italy, as Ataturk (read about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk) was to the Turkish nation and people.

Garibaldi is said to have united Italy as we know it today. to my surprise, the country as we know it today, the boot, was in fact a collection af states prior to 1860, the north east controlled by Austria, the north west by France, Spain had its’ power base, and in central Italy there was papal power.
It was in 1860 that Garibaldi started his quest, and went to Sicily and defeated the Neapolitan forces with just 800 volunteers, known as the i Mille or Redshirts.
From Sicily he took Naples, the papal states, and the Austrian controlled states, thus unifying Italy as we know it today.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian revolutionary
Giuseppe Garibaldi

Another interesting fact that came to light whislt in Bologna, and why did not I know this before, that was prior to 1946, Italy was a Kingdom, having a monarch, which was expelled and exiled to France by referendum.
Oh what a small knowledge of our world have I.
Categories
Culture NLP Thoughts Travels

Garibaldi Biscuits

 

Garibaldi Biscuits in packet ASDA
Garibaldi Biscuits in packet sold by ASDA in the UK
Going back in my far and distant past, I remember one of the treats my mother would serve, it was a biscuit called Garibaldi. It was not a treat for me as I was not found of them, but to mother and I suspect other British people, they were from an exotic world, a far off country, a touch of something un-British.
The biscuit was a thin sandwich of biscuit with the dried chewy fruit of currents at the center. A current is similar to a dried red grape.
Garibaldi Biscuits
Garibaldi Biscuits
I would mention this memory to the participants of my courses in Italy, and they would look at me as if I was a visiting Martian, they had no idea of what I was talking about, no clue from the description or name of biscuit.
I was really confused.
Here was an Italian product, and the Italians had no knowledge of it. Was it my pronunciation of the word? Was it called something different in Italy?
Then, just before I was leaving for Bologna, I went into my local supermarket, and after years of not seeing the product, there was the biscuit on the shelves. I had to buy it.
During the NLP Master Practitioner course I reviewed Anchors, and brought out the packet of Garibaldi biscuits as an example of the memories it gave me. The participants looked at me with a blank face, they had never heard of the biscuit or seen them.
At the break, I offer each of them a sample, and their reaction was in the negative, they did not like the taste, texture, and most of the biscuits went untouched.
That evening as Elena and myself walked back to my hotel after a splendid pizza meal, in a small square or piazza bordering the main street running from the railway station to the Piazza Maggiore is a statue of a man on a horse, and in bold letter at its’ base or plinth, is “A GARIBILDI”. 
Garibaldi Statue in Bologna
Garibaldi Statue in Bologna
So I was not wrong. The name is Italian. Perhaps I had the wrong “cat on the mat“, the wrong understanding.
Who was this person, A GARIBALDI?
I needed answers. See article Garibaldi a Hero.
Categories
NLP

NLP Master Practitioner, Bologna, Italy

A few days ago I had the good fortune to open the NLP Master Practitioner course for NLPItaly in the Italian city of Bologna. Two days of hard but fun work, as we reviewed the NLP Practitioner work, caught-up on missing knowledge, and introduced more in depth subject matters of NLP.

I had a great time as I weaved my way through the subject of NLP, clearing-up one or two of the participants self and limiting beliefs, ever aware of the next trainer to takeover from me, leading the participants on this wonderful journey.

NLP Master Practitioner in the Italian city of Bologna

The time in Bologna gave me perhaps for the first time in my travels as a trainer a big WOW factor, as I had given myself time to discover the city, to do a bit of sightseeing, something I never usually do, as I fly in, do the course and fly out.
I found new knowledge about Italy and Bologna from Elena my translator for the weekend. More to follow.

Elena Martelli and Phillip Holt, scary

Categories
Uncategorized

A cold wintery start to the NLP Practitioner

Today I started an NLP Practitioner course in Gaziantep, in southern Turkey, and it was a cold start.

I woke up before the alarm clock went off as usual, again my subconscious mind making sure I would have plenty of time to get ready. I tried the bedside light, but nothing happened. Then I tried the main bedroom light, still nothing.
Oh Poo Poo, no electricity and no heating.
I checked the hot water tap, and it was just about warm, and I needed a shower, so there was nothing for it but to grit my teeth and risk a cool cold shower. It certainly took my breath away, but I was very much awake.
It was even colder when I went outside, a fresh fall of snow covered the ground, leaving the trees that lined the road very picturesque.

Thank goodness the venue was warm along with the participants. A good start to the course.

Categories
Travels

A great night of football

In the early evening today, my host and organiser Mehpare of GAP Consultancy here in Gaziantep, told me that Necdet, her husband, had invited me to the big football match between Gaziantepspor and Beşiktaş J.K.

It has I think been nearly four decades since I last went to a live football game, at a time when my favourite team Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) were a team that could beat any other team. From then until now, I had watched football on the TV, being able to see close-up, views from different angles and replays.
On a cold night we arrived extra early, in fact one hour too early, but that was good as we were able to savour the local food, to return to sit in the comfort of a box.

Gaziantepspor v Beşiktaş J.K. 20/02/2009

When the game started it was like yesterday since I was last at a match and I was really enjoying the game. But then I missed a piece of the match. I was immediately upset that I had not paid attention at that point, but a thought quickly raced through my brain giving me a sense of comfort, I would see the replay.
Hang on. I was not watching the TV, there would never be a replay. Am I stupid or something? My mind was in conflict for a split second.
Strange how the mind plays tricks with us, how it assumes something will happen because it always does.
Once I got my brain into gear, I was able to enjoy the experience even though Gaziantepspor lost three nil.