Categories
Hypnosis Stage Hypnosis

Stage Hypnosis course starts

It is 6am, and I am up ready to start after daze of preparations to start my two day Stage Hypnosis course.

Even at this late hour people are joining the course.

I only like a small number of participants, so that I can work on a near 1-2-1 basis, training the new people all the skills they will need to start in a career of Stage Hypnosis if they wish.

Some participants have never been hypnotised before, some are very experienced in the art of hypnosis.

Whatever, many previous participants have gone on to become full stage performers.

It will be good to see some old faces, people who have worked with me before, been on previous courses, work with me on other issues, and new faces.

It will be fun but hard work.

So, thank you for all the good wishes I have received.

Oh, I love my work.

Categories
Thoughts Travels

Fags End

In recent years, the UK as with other countries, have introduced strict no smoking laws.

Gone are the days when I sat in a restaurant, and a nearby smokers smoke drifted across my face.

Gone are the days I went into a bar and came out after an evening enjoying myself with colleagues or friends with my clothes smelling of cigarette smoke.

Gone are the days I walked down the railway platform following a smoker, my air space full of cigarette smoke, whilst the smoker was in fresh air.

Don’t take me wrong, I am not against smokers. As a reformed heavy smoker myself, I know the joy of a cigarette. Thirty years ago I gave up, but I still hunger for that same satisfaction on occasions.

The UK law restricts smoking in any public building or work space. This has resulted in workers having to stand outside the offices if they want to smoke, no matter what the weather is.

Next to my home, Norbiton Hall in Kingston upon Thames, is an office block called Clarendon House, home to many small companies whose employees must follow the law on smoking.

Clarendon House Norbiton Kingston
Clarendon House Norbiton Kingston

On the glass front entrance door can be found a notice:-

NO SMOKING
and
PLEASE DO NO SMOKE IN OR IN FRONT OF ENTRANCE

No Smoking Clarendon House
No Smoking Clarendon House

So what do the employees do? Go into the grounds of Norbiton Hall, and smoke there.

Smoker from Clarendon House
Smoker from Clarendon House

No problem, it is in the open, and some nicely maintained gardens.

But, why do they have to drop the FAG ENDS, the stubs, on the floor, stamping them out, and leaving them for other people to clear up.

Fag ends left by Clarendon House occupants in Norbiton Hall
Fag ends left by Clarendon House occupants in Norbiton Hall

I have a good mind to sweep them up and post them through the Clarendon House letter box.

I’m becoming a grumpy old man.

Categories
Thoughts Travels

Change often goes unnoticed

Change often goes unnoticed, perhaps because it happens so slowly, or we do not want to have change so we block it out, or it happens while we are being distracted by something else.
 
The previous months have been full of warmth, goodwill, happiness. It was the summer months.

I have been training and travelling to many places, in Turkey, Italy, Malaysia, Bahrain and many places in the UK, I have been very busy.

Ok, there had been down days when it was cool or wet, but the rest was sunny, bright, warm, making me feel good, young at heart, happy.

Now, suddenly, change.

Here in the UK, as in other parts of the world, we have had bad weather. The sun has disappeared, we seem to be under a dark cloud every day. It is raining. It is cold.

Suddenly, people here in the UK are wearing warm clothing, jumpers, coats.

Gone are the Gucci sun glasses.

Today I went for a walk and had a visual signal that change was with us.

Under a heavy clouded sky, standing by the fast flowing cold river Thames, swollen by recent rains, I noticed that the river birds, swans, geese, ducks, were fewer in number than there had been in the summer, restaurants had less people eating at outside tables, but more noticeable were the trees on the opposite bank of the Thames.


The River Thames at Kingston upon Thames in September 2008

The leaves were changing colour, they were not green but yellow.

Oh Poo Poo, change is happening. Best make the best of it.

Categories
NLP

Intuition and Instinct

Intuition can be defined as the ability to sense or know immediately without reasoning or without knowing how we came about the conclusion.

Instinct can be defined as inherent disposition of a toward a behaviour, is not learned, but is inherited or inbreed.

Both are available to humans, but the vast majority do not know of their existence, or do not recognise the signals that they give thus allowing intuition and instinct to help us.

Animals use intuition and instinct to exist. Whales, fish, birds and other wild animals use their homing instincts to migrate to far off lands. They have no GPS system.

Intuition is knowing, sensing that is beyond the conscious understanding, it is a gut feeling.

Intuition is a learned process. As we experience actions, behaviors, happenings, these are stored away in our memory banks, and as we continue in our life, we may come across similar happenings, the brain goes on a Transderivational Search of the memory bank, asking “have I had this experience or similar before?“, if so what was the outcome, what happened last time.

The searching (Transderivational Search) takes a time about one third of a second, and all this takes place in our subconscious, we are not aware of the process.

This recovered information from the Transderivational Search is sent to our conscious knowing, but the majority of humans do not recognise this information or act upon it.

An instinct will be initiated by some form of stimuli to one or more of the sensory systems or modalities, defined in NLP as VAKog.

An instinct which is inherited, inbreed, already wired in to the brain, will be different to an action created by a response, in NLP terms an anchor. An action response is learned.

For example, instinct is when we get a smell or chemical reaction through the nasal, olfactory, sensory receptor cells, say pheromones, this may trigger a sexual response, while the hearing a load BANG through auditory sensory receptor cells may trigger a fight or flight response, we may jump, run away or fight.

Whereas, hearing a nice voice calling you, in my case my mother calling “Phillip“, creates a good reaction in me because I knew mother was baking a chocolate cake. Yet when my mother called me in a harsh loud voice, “Phillip John“, I knew I had done something wrong, I was in trouble. I had learned these reactions, my mothers voice had became an anchor, an action response, an intuition.

Is instinct the same as intuition? No, but we must learn to use them, become aware of their existence.

Become more aware like the members of the Stargate Project, et al, and Joe McMoneagle.

Use Phillip’s Sausage, for the peripheral awareness.

Categories
Uncategorized

10 Commandments for a Better Life

I came across this which I would like to share with you.

1.  You shall not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of all activities.

2.  You shall not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.

3.  You shall not carry grudges, for they are the heaviest of all lives burdens.

4.  You shall not take problems to bed with you, for they make poor bedmates. 

5.  You  shall not be bogged down by frustration, for 99% is rooted in self-pity and only interfere with 
     positive action.

6.  You shall count your blessings, never over-looking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings 
     add up to a big one.

7.  You shall be a good listener, for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own.

8.  You shall face each problem as it comes, viewing it as an opportunity to expand your problem 
     solving skills.

 9.  You shall not borrow other peoples problems. They are the ones intended to solve their problems 
      and integrate the lessons they learn for themselves.

10. You shall not try to re-live yesterday – for good or ill. It is forever gone. Concentrate on what is
     happening in your life and be happy now. Anxiety is caused by trying to retrieve the irretrievable. 

Categories
Thoughts

Alpha Group Resales

Owning a timeshare holiday can be very beneficial, rewarding, but there are many pot holes you can fall into, many people trying to make a quick buck out of people, mostly hiding behind laws and legislation that is not international so cannot be enforced in another country.

Having a timeshare in Spain, for nearly twenty years in the very up market town of Puerto Banús, Marbella (Málaga), and it is called Club Jardines del Puerto. I love the place, to see the many large yachts in the harbour, the expensive cars, which drive round the harbour at night, and the diners at night sitting in the open fronted restaurants.

In the evening, I like to go early for a meal, say 8pm. It means that it is too early for most diners, thus there is the possibility to be seated at a front table, so I can watch people passing by, watching me, watching them. I love it.

In the last couple of months, companies have telephoned to say that they have a buyer for the timeshare if it is to be sold.

I am always careful of cold callers, people offering special deals over the telephone. Offering commission for windows installed ten years previously, (see Weatherseal Windows, do you think I am stupid?), special deals on mobile phones and purporting to be a service provider, Orange or Vodafone.

The latest call was from a company called Alpha Group Resales.

They said they have a purchaser who wishes to buy the timeshare at a very good price, and potential buyer had put a deposit down with the company Alpha Group Resales. Worth considering I think.

There would be a number of contract stages I was told, two I believe, that would be gone through, before the sale would be finalised.

Firstly, could they have my credit card number.

What for?” I asked.

They would take £995 (UK Pounds Stirling), as a form of guarantee in case I pulled out. It would be paid back upon completion of the sale.

This smells of a scam, a con, of somebody trying to extort money from me. Why should I have to pay up front? Why would they not take commission from the sale?

How did these people know about the timeshare?” I asked. “Oh they viewed the flat.

Strange, why didn’t the resident management team of Club Jardines del Puerto contact me? I had not appointed this company to sell the timeshare. How could they sell something or take a deposit when they did not know if the timeshare was for sale in the first place?

I asked for Alpha Group Resales telephone number, and was given  0035314428485 . That is a Southern Ireland telephone number, surely the telephone number would be a Spanish one?

I asked them if they had more details, a web site, references.

They gave me a telephone number of 08712041621 which they said was for the Timeshare Advisory Service. An 0871 number is a national call rate number in the UK, which can be diverted to any phone line in the world.

I asked them to call back.

Yes there was a web site, www.alphagroupresales.com, but the site was not listed in any search engines.

Strange?

I checked on “whois“, a web site which gives details of the registrant of a domain name, dates of registering and who owns the domain name. The domain was first registered or created 8th July 2008, less than a month ago, so not a long standing company, and registry expires 8th July 2009, so they do not intend to trade for long. It has the owner details restricted.

I checked for the Timeshare Advisory Service on the search engines. The only reference I can find to a company with such a name is in Queensland Australia, with no website and no telephone number.

Searching on the web for the telephone number 08712041621 reveals that other people have been given this number, and that the whole set-up is a scam.

There is another resale company mentioned in this type of scam, again asking for £995 payment up front from the seller. This company is Holiday Network Solutions (HNS), with a very nice looking site, but no address or location nor any telephone numbers, the only way of contacting is via the on-site inquiry form.

It seems many people have reported being conned by this company out of £995. The credit card companies refuse to pay back, as there was a freely entered contract between the parties.

It appears that once the £995 is paid, the so called potential buyer will back-out, and another purchaser will be found, offering a substantially lower price. Obviously the seller will say “no deal”, but the £995 will not be repaid, as the seller has broken the contract by refusing to sell, or they will delay supplying the next potential buyer for a year, by which time the company and money has disappeared.

I hope if you are reading this blog, it has reached you before you have parted with your money. This scam is rife.

Oh Katie Bond of Alpha
Group Resales
did call me back, but when and I said I would not continue as I had seen the scam on the internet, the telephone went dead.

Intuition can be a powerful tool.

Categories
NLP Travels

NLP Practitioner, VICENZA, Italy

I love my work, and it was an honour to accept an invitation to be part of the training team of NLP Italy to present an NLP Practitioner course in Vicenza.

My journey had started in the UK at 4am to catch the early morning flight, BA2596, to Italy, I was tired, but I knew I would be able to sleep in the afternoon once in the hotel in Vicenza. My two day session did not start until the next day.

I arrived early in Verona, a town I had previously given courses in over the past few weeks. See entry My trip to Verona as a tourist. I was to be picked-up and taken to the venue, the Jolly Hotel Vicenza by Raffaele Tovazzi, at 1:30pm, so I had quite a wait.


Jolly Hotel Tiepolo, Vicenza

On arrival in Italy, I decided to travel into Verona town center, and sit in the town square next to the Arena.

The weather was warm, and the locals sat talking in small groups on the public benches, lovers arm in arm, families just being together. People would come and go, and it seemed to be a very social atmosphere. I joined them, sitting enjoying the morning sun, just observing the interaction between people, the tourists being amazed at the ancient buildings. It was a few hours of pure relaxation which I have not done for a long time.


Verona Arena Square

Eventually, I thought that really I should get some exercise, and get some lunch, as I was to be picked-up at 1:30pm.

Sitting in the restaurant, again just observing life passing me by, I had a telephone call, Raffaele was already in Verona, and as I was to be in the hotel the course was to be held, would I do that afternoons session.

Why not?

It was the start of a fantastic two and a half days. Superbly assisted and translated by Raffaele and Elena Martelli, we weaved our way from subject to subject of the NLP Practitioner requirements. We had messages asking me to change the plan of what I was to teach, so the other coming trainers could cover the subjects themselves. No problems I was on cloud nine, I was in the flow, I was enjoying the interaction between the participants, my translator Elena and myself.


Phillip Holt with Elena Martelli

The participants were a joy to work with, as they were so responsive, initially taken aback I think my style of training compared to the first trainer they had. But, this would only help them, seeing and working with different trainers to understand NLP even better.

So thank you participants, you helped me provide you with the training I wanted for you, and remember, you must practice, and try new things, new ideas, as you never know you might like it.


NLP Practitioner course Vicenza, September 2008

Categories
NLP Thoughts

Don’t cry over spilt milk

Continuing my getting rid of stuff, in English we my say “clearing the decks“, it was time to let go of some of my connections.

These connections were telephone lines and internet services.

Prior to ADSL, cable, high speed internet connections, when dial-up internet was the only way to get to the world wide web, I decided that I would have to install two telephone lines, and that was basically supplied by one company, BT.

This coincided with a new supplier entering the communications arena, TeleWest, later to become Virgin Media, installing for the first time their infrastructure, cables and services into the area, giving telephone, internet and TV in one package, via high speed cable.

I went with the new supplier TeleWest, having two telephone numbers,  0208 286 9554  and  0208 286 9553 . Great numbers for my business, especially to have two numbers following. I could use one for landline (telephone) communication, and the other for data and fax.

The new suppler also gave internet access at a reduced price with the package. Always glad of an offer, a bargain, I installed their internet, knowing I would gain in access speed to the internet.

But I retained my old BT number, I had too many associations to it. People knew the number, I had web sites giving that number for my business, my internet was connected through it.

The ISP also housed my web sites.

I was very comfortable with the arrangement.

This meant that I had two services, two telephone lines, two internet providers, and two bills (invoices) to pay.

I was still comfortable with the situation. It served my purpose.

My special telephone number  0845 130 6213  for my business was directed to the first installed BT telephone. This is useful, as my business and private life were kept separate.

My Slingbox TV service, which allows me to access British TV via my home TV, live from where-ever I am in the world from my PC and the internet, was on the old internet (ISP) connection.

But it has come to a time when I needed to sort myself out. I had paid too much out.
 
The old ISP had associated with another ISP, sold out. No consideration of how I felt.

Did I need the hassle?

It meant work, to transfer services from one telephone system to the other, to reinstall services I had been using on the old internet service to the new.

Some of these services needed passwords, log-in names, keys. But during my clearing out, my shredding of paperwork, I must have disposed of this information.

Oh Poo Poo. BIG OH POO POO.

I hit the roof. My temper boiled over. I swore. My blood pressure hit new highs.

That was the reason I never throw anything out. Paperwork, nuts and bolts, screws, old manuals, anything. They will be needed in the future, and here was the example.

Then I realised what I was doing to myself, getting worked up was making the situation worse. It was not solving the problem. I needed to calm down.

With the help of the NLP technique I call “Fred“, “Antonio“, “Mustapha“, I took control of my state, I became calm, strong, and was able to workout a new strategy.

I realised that it was no good crying over spilt milk.


Do not cry over spilt milk

Crying over spilt milk is a loverly saying which I describe as the following.

Take a carton or bottle of milk, take the top off, and take it to the sink in the kitchen.

Pour the milk down the drain, and watch it disappear, leaving the empty carton or bottle.

The milk has gone. Finished. It is no good crying over it.

The clock still ticks away, time does not stop for anyone.

Once I stopped beating myself up over what was gone, what I had lost, I was able to sort myself out in a rational calm way, and approaching the problem from a different view point, I soon had everything sorted.

No more paying out for something that was no longer needed. The suppliers were happy to take my money, doing nothing for it.

It takes a lot to let go of what you are comfortable with, but there comes a time when things no longer fit the purpose, their services are no longer appropriate, it is then time to say good-bye, move on.

Categories
Travels

Ouch a Papyrus Painting

Whilst throwing ever more stuff out, I ventured into a storage cupboard where my tools were stored, electric drills, power tools, old tins of paint and paint brushes, jars of screws, nuts and bolts, reels of masking tape, old computers and rubbish.

It was the dark abyss. I did not want to go there, face the mess. Light had not reached this place for many a long day. It was going to be an unpleasant experience.

But face it I must.

With a bold heart I dived in, and decide there could now be no hesitation, the end had come to all the trash I had stored.

Out went the squash and badminton rackets, no chance I will use them again. They last time they saw the light of day was in the 1970’s.

Out went an inflatable bed. It had a puncture, so if you slept on it you tended to get a sinking feeling, did not want that. No way was I going to mend it now.

Out went the various sizes of pieces of wood. No way would I build that shelf now. I have spare shelves after dumping loads of paperwork.

Out went all the screws, nuts and bolts. I will not need them to repair the computers I have just dumped.

I have to keep up-beat, happy in heart. Forget what I would have done, must look forward.

Then when I was sorting through the stuff, I came across a large envelope. Looking inside I saw a papyrus painting I purchased whilst traveling through Giza in Egypt, the home of the Pyramids, in 1984.

Why did I do it? Why did I purchase it? I must have been stupid.

Well not really.

It gave me great pleasure when I got it, and although it has not been with me, in my sight for some time, it is with me now, and I love it. No way will this go into the black plastic bin-liner.

I hope you like it.

Ré PaPyrus, from the Holiday Inn Sphinx hotel, Alexandria Desert Road, Giza.

Oh, the original price was 23 Egypian Pounds. A lot to send, but worth it now.

Categories
Eating Out Thoughts

Today has been about communication

It has been as if nobody loved me. No communication for a long time. The today. Wham.

I have had long conversations with people in Turkey, colleagues in the training field, a couple of participants. From China an old friend and colleague. Across to the USA, two contacts, Bahrain a long email from colleagues, here in the UK more contacts.

It has been good to catch up with news. What people are doing. What has been happening in their life. What has not happened. Hearing about new friendships, old failed relationships, new jobs, new opportunities.

We have made plans for the future, courses, meetings, presentations. Loads of discussions.

I do not expect that the plans will all be completed on the dates set down and agreed upon, perhaps they will never happen.

As other situations crop-up, courses have to be rearranged, meetings rescheduled, but then that is the nature of my work, and in some cases it is the good side of my work as I never know what I am doing.

But it can also be the downside.

There are times when I have made plans with people, only to find out that because of circumstances the plans cannot be put into action. It could be due to health, the weather, other conflicting courses, lack of participants, lack of suitable venues, holiday periods, other peoples problems, many possibilities can interrupt plans.

When this happens it leaves me empty, not only in my timetable but also my lets say in my heart. If it is me, then have I lets my colleagues and clients down. If it is my colleagues who have had to change plans, why did it happen, did I do everything I could have.

But when we get back in touch and communicate, things can be sorted out, it is then that I know somebody loves me.

Ahhhhhh. Life is good. Tomorrow another plan, a very early start at 5:30 am, another trip away.

I can then go for a relaxing cup of hot chocolate, and watch the world go by.


Relaxing Bentals shopping center Kingston upon Thames

PS. Thank you Deniz for telling me off, I deserved it. And Zümrüt, I hope your visit to the UK is all you hope for.