Author: nlpnow

Categories
Travels

A Trip to Iceland – The Flight

I love flying, especially if I have a widow seat, and on a clear, cloudless day.

I wonder, as we speed across the sky, how many of the people below know that someone, me, is looking down upon them. The people on the trains, in the cars travelling on the ribbons of motorways cutting across and scarring the surface of the earth.

I marvel at how humans have spread across the surface of the land, yes surface. We have only scratched the surface. We only dig or excavate a few inches into the surface to build our houses, factories, schools, shops.

I look at the vast areas of emptiness, yet we are said to be over populating the earth. We humans are social beings, we stay in groups, as you look down, there is the proof, houses, flats, apartments, factories, clustered together. At night it is even more noticeable, as towns pollute the dark night with their street lights. 

A last minute decision was made to go to Iceland for a couple of days. It was a place I had always wanted to visit. A place of mystery, of wonders.

With todays cheap travel, a booking was made with Iceland Express a low cost but good carrier. I can see no difference between a scheduled carrier, BA, Turkish Airlines, Virgin etc, and low cost EasyJet. Perhaps the only difference is that you get “free” food on non low cost airlines. At least on low cost carriers you can choose the sandwich you want, unlike other carriers, where you get what you are given, and the cost of the nondescript food bumps up the price of a ticket out of proportion.

As we fly over the UK at 10,000 meters, you look down on a patchwork of fields, vast areas of countryside, how can the UK be full, over polluted?

Either side of the aircraft the coastline can be seen, so the country is not very wide, and I sit here considering the pollution being made by me flying to Iceland. But, wait, what about all the smoke that can be seen from heath fires. On this cloudless day, you can see how far the smoke reaches, as it drifts, polluting as it passes over lands. What about th cars etc?

Looking down, it is possible to make out landmarks, towns and cities I know. Airfields standout like scares on the face of the earth. It is amazing how many old airfields there are, especially in the county of Lincolnshire.

The lakes or lochs of Scotland are like long dark fingers. Mountains, that must be high, yet they look nothing, have little patches of snow, like little pieces of string, as the un-melted snow lies in the gullies. I would have expected to see more snow at this time of year. Maybe global warming? I feel sorry for the skiers and the lack of their main requirement, snow.

We soon leave the UK, flying high above the cotton wool clouds, so bright and white, blinding to the eyes. But what shapes appear as my imagination runs riot, some clouds reaching even further into the blue sky.

Below, in a break in the clouds, I spot a fishing boat ploughing through what looks like an angry sea, as I can see the white of waves breaking in the open ocean. I seem to remember they are called “white horses” from the days I sailed yachts.

Soon it was time to land, and as we descended, the countryside of Iceland looked barren. There was no patch worked fields to be seen, no green, and no trees.

This was going to be an eye opening trip.

see other Iceland entries, click

Categories
Travels

Asu in her little black dress

So some of you read the entry where I mentioned a Turkish translator and friend Asu in her little black dress at her friend Murat‘s (5th Jan 2008) wedding, and wanted to see it.
Asu, in her little black dress (5th Jan 2008)
Asu, in her little black dress (5th Jan 2008)
Asuman Yildirim
Categories
English Courses Memory Mind Maps NLP Travels

Just another day

Tuesday started off with half my computer keyboard not working, having had the tea spilt over it the previous night.

I could not let this incident distract my trainings, but why not “reframe” it, and use it as a metaphor in the English class. As an international trainer of NLP, I can use my experience to teach a concept via a story to feed the inner mind, the unconscious mind, what you need to know, now, after all the years of experience I find is easy.

I talk about sick dear, and how just one word can affect the way we are, our state, how at a conference, a person stood in for someone who was ill, and how knives, fire and steam came from the participants, but they learnt how to keep state.

I was asked to visit a company in Sisli, on the Western side of the Bosphorus, a computer company which is very proactive on training their staff in communication skills, dealing with clients and staff. The meeting went on longer than we had planned, which meant we missed the ferry back to Kadikoy to conduct the afternoon trance.  Upon arrival, I was immediately driven away to another client, one hours drive across Istanbul, in heavy traffic, which seems to be ever presenting traffic jams, a journey taking two hours.

On arrival, it was a joy to meet so many of my previous students, with big smiles on their faces as they greeted me. So many people who know me. Wow.

I know I can do more work with them to help reach the goals, the outcomes they gave me.

The journey back to do the late English class was very tiring, as the countryside drifted past, I am amazed at the amount of new roads new infrastructure there is. New high rise accommodation, flats, apartments, are springing up.

The class starts one hour late, but I am in a good state, so I deliver so much to the participants.

I tell them about the beautiful “female” I saw in Singapore, and the first time my mother met Mee Len, mother never meeting a Chinese person before nor eaten a Chinese meal.

I know that during this session they tried many things, and perhaps liked them.

I added so much to the evening session I was late leaving the office/school, so much so that I missed the last train on the Tunel train, which runs from 7am till 9pm.

I was too tired to think, I needed sleep, rest, but I had to prepare for the next day, iron my shirt and suit, prepare my props to teach Mind Maps and Memory Skills to a major Turkish telecommunication company, and eat a meal.

I hope those who know me realise I am not the Wizard of Oz. I need rest today.

Categories
English Courses

The Start of the English Class

The day started on the wrong foot for me.

I went to have a shower, I love the early morning shower, it is refreshing, I can wash away the garbage of the previous day and night, as I stand under the warm stream of water, imagining the trash disappearing down the plug.

No water. Oh Poo Poo.

I went to catch the ferry. No ferry. Again, Oh Poo Poo.

I was late. No translator. Oh Poo Poo.

I need Mustapha, Fred, Antonio to help me here. I need the strength physically and mentally to keep that state that says I am confident, I am in control, I am that expert that will see the participants and staff through the twelve hours a day for nine days.

I put Mustapha in place and start the courses, yes there are many levels of students, Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced, and levels between these levels, all in the same room we call the NLP room.

The NLP room has no chairs, only cushions to relax into, the lights are dimmed. A good relaxing atmosphere.

NLPGrup training rooms in Kadikoy, Istanbul

After the introductions, I tell them about my friend Robyn and myself.

Robyn was a top Rugby Football player in the UK, playing for Nottingham and The Three Counties, a very fit man. If he did not leave the field with no injuries, his ear hanging half off, or his nose broken, it had not been a good game.

We would every Sunday get up early at 7am, and book a squash court at the local sports center. We would play hard, we were good. Sometimes I would win the game, sometimes Robyn.

Because it was early Sunday morning, other squash players were still sleeping, so we could continue into the next session free of charge.

We were good.

During this time I worked for the computer manufacturer NCR, and they started a squash league or ladder, and I was asked to join. Well of cause I was too good to join the ladder, after all, I had my own racket. After three weeks of being asked, pleaded with to join, I succumbed, and joined.

After a few games, I ended up at the bottom of the ladder. Perhaps I was not as good as I thought.

The only game of squash I knew prior to joining the ladder was that of Robyn and myself, we reached a high standard of the game for each other. I knew that if Robyn hit the ball in a certain way, I would have to be in a certain place on the court to hit the ball back, and visa versa for Robyn.

It is only when we have exposure to other people that we can enrich our learnings, to add more to our knowledge base.

I know that I have days when I will not be available to work with the participants, and the same applies to the teachers, so I know the participants will enrich their language skills by learning from others.

I know that as they listen to me, they are learning, as all exposure to anything we do, will have a lasting effect on our inner mind, neural pathways will be lain down.

Perhaps as they listen, some may not know that they do not know English. Before coming to Turkey, before visiting many countries, Italy, China, Arabia, Malaysia, India, I did not know of their languages, the only thing I knew about Turkey was Turkish Delight and Belly Dancers.

As they become consciously aware of the fact that they do not know the English Language, frustration can creep in, perhaps this frustration may lead to them stopping the learning, they must push on.

They soon become aware of the fact that they are learning English, but again they may get frustration in the little that they do know. They must push on.

There comes a time when at a subconscious level they know English, they do not have to try, it becomes implicit, automatic to speak the English Language.

My job is to see them through this process.