As the downturn / recession / call it what you will continues, I'm noticing something very interesting in the conversations I have with friends and colleagues.

Where once upon a time there would be much chatter about what they were going to buy next - consumer electronics mostly - they're now telling me a new story. They're much more likely to talk more about how current economic circumstances are promoting their re-evaluation of what really matters. Now they cannot comfortably afford the latest gizmo (or could afford it but want to keep hold of their money and have a much bigger financial cushion) they're realising there's more to life than that anyway.

Have you ever experienced the high that comes with buying something new and shiny ... and then you never use that shiny thing, or you do and it just becomes part of your familiar ecosystem?

Now is a good time to escape from that and focus on what's happening on your inside. What do you really believe in? What makes you feel good long-term?

Think about all those feelings that are not material. For example - love. Something you can't put in a shopping trolly and wheel around the store, something you can't take to the checkout. Freedom, fulfillment, security, gratitude are other values that come up for me. How about you?

When I read that there's 'no money around' I know that's not true. When I read 'we're all doomed' I wonder what specifically that means - anything at all in the end?

There is money. It's what we do with it that matters. Next time you feel like investing some, you'll be pondering on whether to spend it on something bright and shiny - or a service or product that makes you feel bright and shiny on the inside.

In a formal sense, I'm teaching people how they can change their lives using hypnosis and NLP. This is beginning to feel like my life's work, whether I'm teaching one-to-one to enable people to get specific and lasting changes, or whether I'm teaching a workshop or NLP training.

But it goes deeper than that. Whetever our calling is we have - let's call it a duty - to share what we can do on a daily basis, with whoever needs it. When we're out and about, with friends, at work, wherever - if we can offer something that will improve a life, in however small a way, we must do it.  On that level we're all teachers and we all have something to offer.

I have no problems with teaching in exchange for money. Certain providers of food and other goods seem to require it. I also have no problem in carrying out random acts of kindness and teaching people, even without them knowing what's happening, how they can change. I've never met anhone who doesn't want to feel at least a little better - even if they resist it with their conscious mind ... which some do :-)

I’ve often wondered why certain talking and complementary therapies are dismissed by some scientists as ‘effective, but no more effective than a placebo’.

An article in today’s Guardian, inspired by the current BBC series ‘Alternative Therapies’, raises the issue of placebos once again.

I once heard Richard Bandler talking about his scheme to sell packets of placebos across the counter; and, as product development, he’d release an even more powerful version called Placebo Plus. Neither found their way into the shops - according to Richard, the US regulatory authorities wouldn’t allow such a thing. Now, his stories aren’t necessarily literally true but the question that’s coming up for me is why is selling placebos such a bad idea?

The evidence base for many therapies is insubstantial; in many cases, this is because the work hasn’t been done rather than because there is no evidence of effectiveness to be found. In some cases - for instance NLP - the work is being done (and scientific studies are bearing out a lot of NLP suppositions.)

Even when there’s no scientific evidence of effectiveness, does that invalidate the therapy? To me it’s very simple. If a patient, client (or however you wish to refer to them) receives a treatment and feels better - the therapy has been effective, hasn’t it? Maybe not a cure, maybe the feeling of ‘better’ doesn’t last forever, and yes maybe there’s a deeper underlying malaise that needs to be treated - but there’s nothing wrong with putting some ‘feeling better’ into the mix.

One of the advantages of NLP and hypnosis as effective talking therapies is that they achieve results quickly. Once Richard Bandler was asked in a seminar if the changes he got lasted forever. He answered that forever changes were possible but when a change is achieved quickly and easily there’s not problem with coming back for a top-up if necessary (and many NLP therapists, including myself, teach their clients how to renew their changes, just in case anyone is thinking top-ups are a great way of getting repeat fees). And there are some therapies that take years, large fees, and don’t get any changes.

Placebos are effective even when the client knows they are taking a placebo. So next time a therapy is dismissed as being no more effective than a placebo you could read that as meaning the therapy works. That’s got to be good news hasn’t it?

This is a really interesting question for us (myself and my life and business partner) because we're actively creating a retreat centre in Aberystwyth, Wales, now.

Why here? We live here and find it so inspiring, with both the sea and spectacular mountainous landscape close at hand. We also have a great community of alternative therapists, and a good flow of tourists looking for something different. The town is dominated by a university so, again, there are many people who spend a few years in Aberystwyth, learning and researching, who have since moved away. We ain to create an inspiring excuse to return, even if only for a few days.

The core of the retreat will be mind therapies - an opportunity to learn and apply NLP (my speciality) as well as look after the body.

We'll have to start slowly and grow organically. Currently we're looking for some training rooms to hire, and eventually we'll buy an appropriate building.

If anyone here has done something similar, or wants to keep up to date with our progress, we'd love to hear from you - for our benefit, and so we can support your intentions too.

Love and light,
Ian

Very simple - I would remind myself that anything I'm planning to to needs to come from my heart, and needs to lead to a feeling of fulfillment. As you might have noticed from my other recent posts, I've drifted away from that in the past few months - and not found any more success (on any level) than I would have done had I kept to my values and interests.

No regrets because I do believe that everything happens for a reason. I do feel I've found myself (again) and it's a permanent discovery - that's what I'm saying to the person I am now.

This is a change I put into effect a few days ago - just need to make it stick.

My partner (business, and life) had a long discussion after realising we'd let our desire for 'success' drag us into areas we didn't want to follow. And, strangely enough, it wasn't as though we were achieving great financial success anyway.

So we decided to follow our hearts and be authentic in all that we do. The money will follow or, if it doesn't, we'll live our lives according to our cloth. As long as we are creative, inspired and fulfilled our lives will be in order.

It's an interesting time for this to have come up in Questions and Reflections.

My expertise - in terms of being highly qualified, and vastly experienced - is in learning, teaching and training. I love being with a group of people and seeing them make progress, and I also love contemplating the future of learning - how we can change the nature of schools, colleges and universities to meet the needs of the whole person.

For the last couple of years I took what now seems as if it was a wrong turning for me, by getting into neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) therapy. Now, NLP and hypnosis has made a major difference to my life, and anyone wanting to make life changes would do well, in my opinion, to have a serious look at the possibilities it offers. I'm just not sure that moving on from teaching and training into a different area was the right thing for me.

I have added my NLP Advanced Platform Skills into my learning and teaching mix, and I'm happy about that. And in returning to teaching, learning and training, I need to consider how to make my expertise count as a freelance, since there are few opportunites to resume my career now I'm living in the beautiful Welsh countryside (and I'm not swapping that for anything!)

So, Im in the throws of setting up a new consultancy that fully expresses my educational expertise. The idea is to work with trainers and teachers to enable them to add zip and zing to their role - charisma. I'll also work with anyone to wants to get their own area of expertise across to a wider audience - structuring and shaping workshop material and presentation, for example. And I'll apply my writing and editing skills to your written training and teaching - e-books and e-courses for example. All the best material needs to be fashioned and shaped to meet the needs of the learners.

I'm still working out the details. If you have any comments, let's discuss this!

Yesterday  afternoon was the last big laugh (although I find lots of amusement in many situations).

The thing is, we can make ourselves laugh. I was with a client who gets easily depressed and upset. I asked her when she last had a good laugh and she looked at me as though I was mad ...

So I asked her to laugh, force it if necessary. I did the same. Before long even a forced laugh becomes a real one, as the endorphins flood the system. So even a forced laugh is good for you.

You can easily test this right now. Just start laughing. Go on, you know you want to ... BOO!

And if anyone asked what you're laughing at ... just keep going ... see how long it is before they're laughing too.




Freedom and love,
Ian

It's really interesting that this question should show up today.

This morning, I was discussing with my partner issues around conflict and arguments, and how sometimes I can get drawn into disagreement because I feel the need to express my point of view, rather than rise above and be accepting of how others are being. Life is not a competitive game to be won. I know that, so why do I sometimes enter the race?

During this conversaton I found myself in harmony with my professional self. As a hypnotherapist, one of my strengths is to be able to listen to my clients and share their map of the universe, and then use my skills to move them towards expanding their map and achieve their desired outcomes.

So, from today onwards, I publically declare that I'm going to use my professional skills in all my relationships. I aim to live my strengths and fully be the real me.