Bologna – Phillip Holt's World

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.

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”.

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.

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.