So what’s that all about then? A simple enough question but one that can often be heard in the aftermath of a less than totally cool exhibition of behaviour brought on by a catalyst possibly something as simple as a spider or a bee.

The ‘trigger’ as when situated on a weapon like a gun, once pulled has an inevitable outcome, and it is also that fast.

So how do we install these triggers?

The brain loves a strategy; it is a massive circuit board and its only purpose in life is to find things that light it up like a Christmas tree.

This is the purpose of curiosity it keeps the brain firing up those circuit boards and it is our job when there is a less than supportive behaviour being triggered by external events or the stimulation on a limiting belief, to switch the signals, detour the train of thought to another area, lighting up a whole new part of the circuit board and giving the client a new way of dealing with an old problem.

You can see this happening everyday. There is someone in your life, you only have to hear their name and you respond with a big sigh and immediately your brow furrows and the whole day becomes grey, alternatively it could be the name of someone who immediately makes you smile and feel expansive and in love with the world.

The trigger is not the name or the person it’s the synaesthesia that occurs due to the associations you have with this person.

It is also the thing that makes you shriek when you see a mouse, or a spider or a wasp.

Learned behaviour that can be unlearned, now where would that come in handy?

The ‘Big Picture’, you know that one, yes?  All the time people say to you “Look at the Big Picture”, usually just before they try to sell you something, be it a car, a house, or an idea.

So, this ‘Big Picture’ aka ‘The Grand Design’, this thing that we are all a part of and is supposedly therefore a part of us; would be the Universe, right?

Now it seems to me, just sitting here, actually I was lying in bed contemplating getting up after a night of my usual weird and wonderful dreams –(of which this could be the result by the way…)- when this thought of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole, that’s been circling the drain of my brain for a while now, got caught up on the safety filter and got re-cycled; so here I sit at this laptop regurgitating it for public consumption, what a pleasant metaphor – I do hope you have eaten already?

Anyway, I digress, my favourite hobby. To get back to these parts, well those would be us then.  Simple enough concepts on the surface; but as we all know nothing is that simple – just ask the guy who designed the Titanic!

I’ll bet he wasn’t too clear on the ‘Big Picture’ in that perhaps he didn’t take a clear perspective on what his design was going to be doing and where it would be doing it, after all the design in itself was flawless, according to him, the designer, perhaps if he had consulted someone who had been in the waters he may have been able to describe hazards such as icebergs that go with the flow causing chaos wherever they go, who knows?

Again, it reminds me of that little tale in one of the English books at primary, do you remember them? They would have a host of wonderful information like what a baby eel was called and interspersed between all this information on verbs and clauses there would be a little homily where everything would be put together. There was one in particular that tickled me; I had no idea at the time why, it was the way it scanned it read like a horse at the canter; I now know it was possibly my first light bulb experience on my way to discovering chaos theory.

It was an anonymous author and it was about how the simple act of losing a nail from a horseshoe lost a battle. I think it may have been about Paul Revere but don’t hold me to that.   Suffice to say if you don’t know the piece that this bloke was given a message to take to a general he went to jump on the horse and noticed that the horse’s shoe was loose, but he was in a hurry and it was a very important message so he ignored it, ran the horse like a madman, the horse lost the shoe, they were in the middle of nowhere and the horse couldn’t go on without a shoe so the message didn’t get there and the battle was lost and therefore the war was lost – all for the want of securing one little nail.

Taking this into consideration, just think of the power that one man had to change the course of history.

Are you getting it now?

I have this friend, who works hard and is depressed most of the time, he’s not happy! I asked him what he wanted to do about it. He asked me what I meant, like he had no control over his own state of mind, and you know he doesn’t know that he has.

Or, he really doesn’t want to know – and I think that is the crux of the matter, for if we know, then we have to take some responsibility for it, we have to be at cause!

He is right, being at cause is hard work, taking responsibility for how you choose to use the power you have been given to change things takes guts. Generally, we human beings don’t like change so much, we like to swim in our soup – bathe in our custard of trial and tribulations – that is what we know and we are all wary of what we don’t know.  So we wallow in our comfort zones, envying the people who step out and get dry: craving the will to go forward and do it for ourselves but feeling the cold draught of a different atmosphere we sink right back into our ‘stuff’. It’s so much easier to give the power away, and then blame circumstances for your lot.

Don’t get me wrong, we all do it, even those of us who have the towel on and are eying the door to the next room…we have to empty the bath you see, and that means that we have to put part of ourselves into it again to connect to the chain that holds the plug in order to pull it out and let all that stuff go; it’s tempting to linger there in a memory but it’s not a memory it’s an emotion that clouds the memory, that is the sticky part, it’s a bigger state than Texas and I don’t mean Alaska! Keeping the mind on the ball is one thing and it is the easiest thing if you always remember what the ball is actually for, its goal in life is to get into goal, and all you have to do is help it on its way.

It sounds so simple doesn’t it, but it is that simple, note, I did not say easy. If it were totally easy we’d all be quite happy being and doing and the World would be full of contented and forward thinking individuals who would most definitely be more than the sum of its whole.

Everything we do each day either keeps us where we are or moves us forward.  I have a little anxiety attack kind of thing when I move forward, that is when I know I have, my unconscious mind tells me be making me aware of a weight being shifted from around my heart. It’s doesn’t make me feel wonderful immediately, but I recognise that I’ve just stepped out of a comfort zone and into new territory; by doing as little as writing this and posting it on the net, or talking to a stranger who I know can help me but I’m less than totally confident won’t see me as a right twit.

It’s then I remember a story told to me by an old boyfriend the end of which is ‘if they know you it won’t matter – if they don’t know you, well, it really doesn’t matter.  As long as you are being who you are. Who you know you can be. Every day can be a good day, you have the power to make it so.

Is the sum of your parts greater than your being as a whole? Do you colour your area of the ‘Big Picture’, or do you give the brush to some other? Do you think the whole of your being is greater than the sum of your parts?

It’s just a matter of Balance. Pick up the brush, it’s your canvas, paint your picture bright, and see what happens…

There is a theory about daydreaming. Let’s face it there is more than just the one! 

My school report card was full of how much of a day dreamer I was in so many of my classes that it was a wonder there was any room left for anything else. Much to my chagrin this would be changed to “must try harder”, but daydreaming is something that you don’t have to try to do.

All of the adults in my life and some of my peers would be very upset with me for not being present while in their presence. It wasn’t as if there was a problem from my point of view, I would just get to a space where the words of the teacher, parent, sibling, friend or whomever would become a drone and life would become very still and quiet because I have a volume control inside my head and it would be slowly but irrevocably turned down to silence…………………..

The premise that I am stating here is that at that time – in days of yore there was no recognition that actually there was something I was good at. Their focus was on their criteria, mine was on my own; it was deemed inappropriate behaviour and ever so slightly arrogant that I should consider myself able to go into the dwam, trance or whatever they wanted to call it. Personally I believe that they were a bit envious of my ability to switch off.

That what I was doing was not recognised as a positive is really not surprising – even today teachers are teaching with the same criteria as before and their criteria now has criteria from the Government as to how they should be teaching and what targets they should be reaching.  Still they forget that a class of pupils is made of individual people. Some of whom have no idea what it going on as their method of learning is entirely different from the person they are sitting next to.

What happens when the brain is not being stimulated to learn? What happens when the inspirational button is not pushed? What happens when a child is left to flick between channels and not engaged by another human who can stimulate and inspire and motivate?

Look around you, how many children and teenagers and young adults are sitting in front of a box, playing monotonous games of destruction in order to get to a different level.

If we only stimulate one part of the brain then we lose the functional ability of the others. We switch it off. We don’t daydream anymore we go on stand-by.

White noise, the noise when the signal is not tuned in, the brain is constantly looking for a signal and at one point it will get hungry enough to latch onto the first strong signal it finds. So is this why some young people get into the wrong company, take drugs, seek authority figures by accessing a machine, since a machine has been a baby sitter and a trusted one at that; why should they not?

Stand-by on a computer or a television is when the machine is waiting to be fully turned on.

What is it that turns our nearest and dearest on – in respect of the choices they will make?

At what point do we realise the soporific effect of the box in the room whether it is a television or computer? At what point do we realise that time is being stolen from us?

At what point do we sit down and think that we are not day dreaming anymore we are on stand-by, ultimately at the mercy of a remote control?

Day dreaming is a useful tool – ask any creative genius. Einstein was a day dreamer and he dreamed up E=MC2.

Day dreaming can also be re-learned, not taught exactly – too restrictive and in some cases one persons’ day dream is another’s ennui, and it is an entirely personal thing.

Being able to ‘go with the flow’ is something that has even more relevance in the world today. Stress relief. People who are stressed have rarely any kind of good sleep patterns and if we don’t dream we become mentally challenged in different ways; allowing someone to daydream could be the way back to getting a hold on their lives – the Universe is full of such paradoxical games.

Like everything else that we dismiss as unimportant until we understand why we needed it in the first place; the ability and the need to dream is all too easily lost in the white noise of stand-by until we eventually experience burn out.

So get yourself a bit of space and make time to day dream – see where it takes you – write it down afterwards or even record it and read / listen to it again after a couple of days. Notice how you feel directly afterwards. Notice how it felt during and then realise that you were in a trance and then wonder what else you could do in that space, without some Genghis Khan in twin set and pearls bearing down upon you to bellow in your ear to wake up and pay attention.

But that is another tale for another day…

Well now it is a little while since we got back from Canada and we are still a little jet lagged.

Isn’t it amazing though how time distorts itself when we return from holidays? Not two hours after we touched down at Gatwick Airport did it seem like we had dreamt the whole thing.

The vastness of that country is breathtakingly beautiful and not a little bit intimidating when you remember that there are bears in them there woods!

Not just in the woods though, on the roadside, crossing the roads and sometimes to be found tasting the spaghetti sauce on the hob in the odd unsuspecting person’s kitchen.

Being ‘bear aware’ is a fact of life for those who live there but for us it was a constant ambition…to see a bear close up – then we would think about it and tell ourselves that well it might not be that entertaining – not really…while secretly still nursing that wish in our hearts.

Bears are just magnificent animals and to see them in their natural habitat beats the zoo hands down. It does of course bring a whole new set of do’s and don’ts into our conscious awareness.

Bears aside we arrived due to the time difference about half an hour before we took off…you see it’s no wonder it takes on a kind of dream feeling!

Brilliant sunshine for our first couple of days and then we went up to the conference site in Squamish which is very much First Nation territory.

Last time we were there it was November and the bears were just about all asleep, the salmon were finishing their run and the Bald Eagles were massing together to mate and feed on the dying salmon, there was snow on the mountain tops and the Winter Olympics were about to take place, there was a sense of anticipation and not a little worry in Whistler when the weather decided not to play ball and there was not enough snow.

This time in the spring, the bears are wakening up with their cubs and peeking out of their dens testing the air before emerging fully to go find something to eat.

It rained a little during the conference but our spirits could not be dampened, meeting old friends and making new ones. Wondering what would be going on this year and what workshops would be the ones we took ‘home’ with us. The usual thing, I think that anyone goes through at these things no matter what they are for.

This was a bit special for me though, I was being made an Elder Pathfinder.

Which by itself is interesting enough, but it now makes my title a bit longer. Reverend Elder Pathfinder Shaman… and comes with optional tattoos.

If you are interested to see what went on then check out www.circleofgreatmystery.com there will be videos of us telling you about our presentation and some great photos of the conference itself.

Needless to say I could probably write a book about our time there but that is for another day and another place.

Pictures will go into the gallery page very soon too.

Farewell for now

 Now there is a lot to be said about change, and for the most part a lot of people would say that none of it is good. I was one of those a while ago. I hated change.

I hated it mainly because it brought chaos into my carefully controlled and safe life.

 I hated it because I feared it.

Then I began to learn, and in that learning I became acquainted with a new idea about change.  I learned that fear was a magnifying glass of Hubble type properties. I learned that perspective would turn that glass on its ass.

I learned that change brought new and interesting concepts into my conscious awareness and that would manifest physical changes in my life.

I learned to let go.

I began to know how stultifying and rigid fear can make ones life, once that knowing was there in my mind, like a seed it grew and grew. To nurture that seed I fed it on new ideas and different ways of thinking.

It began to bear fruit in the form of choices.

More choices than I had ever anticipated, opportunities to consider where none had been before. New paths to discover and new ways of being in this life, were options that had never been even a blip on my radar before were foisting their presence upon me.

How did this all happen?

One day I made a decision. It was something that had been gnawing at me for some time. I had procrastinated for years in fact and had become totally stuck in a situation that was not serving me or anyone around me.

The decision was taken in a high energy situation. My back, as I perceived it, was against the wall and I came out fighting.

Really it was Spirit, giving me the one thing that would make me move, an untenable Hobson’s choice. Stay and be forever unfullfilled and unappreciated or leave and change my life.

My unconscious mind made an instant decision and before my conscious mind could rally I had given my resignation verbally.

It was in hindsight the best thing I think, I have ever done.

From that day my life did change and it was a little scary, in fact sometimes it was massively scary but I persevered.

Since then I have learned a lot more about my wonderful unconscious mind.

I am now in daily and nightly connection with this omnipresent beastie that has only my best interest at heart.

All the things I used to tell myself that I was really not that good at, I find that actually I am. My unconscious has a font of untapped ideas and inspirations that I find bring me joy and many pleasant surprises.

Recently I have begun to draw and paint again. Finding things in nature like stones and wood to paint power animals on.

Talking sticks which are coming from Spirit which has a direct connection to my unconscious so that in a trance I can produce some quite intriguing things on natural media.

My writing has become more prolific and the formation of workshops more adventurous. All these changes and more have opened up the creative side of me, giving me outlets a plenty to choose from.

Yes, sometimes it is chaos, but even chaos has its own order you just have to look at it differently.

 Milton Erickson (another change mechanic, really that should read magician) would say that what I was doing was realising that these were things I already knew I just didn’t know I knew them yet.

So now there is also soap making and bath bomb fizzies and all manner of things that pique my interest as I wonder, and it is a good thing to wonder, how much I might enjoy learning to do or make them.

Change is good, it happens all the time. That being so, is it not easier and better to go with the flow and let it take you to new and wonderful places?

All there is to fear is fear itself, it has no power but for that which we give it.

Remember all the things you thought you might try before you learned to talk yourself out of it. Remember what it felt like to hurtle down a hillside on a hub cap in the snow? How free and crazily silly it was and how much fun? Fear didn’t enter into it.

What changes would you like to make? How would you know you had what you wanted? How would you be being different? Write it down, play with it, see how it sits with you and if you want some help trying it on for size give us a call or email us here.

How things change…

Well as the saying goes, “There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip”.

There we were all excited and shiny about the prospect of going to see Serge Kahili King at his last workshop to be given in Europe.

Then we had a bit of a glitch.

In Shamanic teaching there is an awful lot about the challenges and tasks that the Shaman is given in life.

One of these challenges is to move forward through difficult times.

There are many of these for everyone at this time…perhaps it is the Universe giving us a heads up as to how we should perceive our stewardship of ourselves, our families, our friends and neighbours and the Earth that sustains all this, who knows?

This entry is not really about generalisations, this is about part of our challenge.

During the planning and determined ‘we shall go to the workshop come hell or high watering’s’ there was something that we chose to not take into account.

What the Universe had in store for us.

For me it was the diagnosis of cancer of the uterus and for Andrew it was helping me and him to deal with that and all the other real life intrusions of recession and his own depression and stress.

We had to write to the organisers of the event and explained the situation and they were truly kind about the whole thing and in typical fashion of the Shamanic community offered their thoughts and prayers for us both.

One night shortly afterwards I had a dream (as one does). It was a bit flighty at first and there were references to the James Bond film he did in Japan; which my, oh my I am realising a connection now that I write this and why the scene was there. The film was of course ‘You only live twice’. Then of course there is the lyric of the song…‘one life for yourself and one for your dreams.’

Back to the dream then….

In a car with Mr Connery and the Japanese agent ‘Tiger’ travelling at speed, Andrew and I agog at where we were, but listening intently to the conversation, which was in Japanese? I remember being struck by the fact that ‘Tiger’ was in full Japanese traditional dress, and very striking it was too.

The car journey ended as we skewed to a stop by a dock where there was moored a large ‘Chinese Junk’ type boat, (very cross cultural but hey it is a dream and anything is possible).

We tumbled out of the car and followed 007 and Tiger onto the boat. There were others there and no sooner had we boarded than the two agents went to the back of the vessel, Tiger removed his Katana sword and struck it into the frame of the boat and proceeded to jump off! Without as much as a questioning glance everyone else followed suit.

Well, in for a penny and all that – we jumped too.

One would expect a splash at least and lots of noise but not a drip, not a whisper.

We slipped into silken water so sheer that the softest white sand below shone in the light of a rising full moon. The water was just deep enough and just warm enough for us to lie comfortably on our backs immersed to our chins. I could hear and feel the lapping of the wavelets against my body and the shore line just beyond my head.

We lay there watching the deepest blue violet sky change to azure, orange and red ribbons of light dancing reflections in the waves from the sun as it sank slowly into the sea giving up its fire to the now risen moon.

We became aware of a figure behind us and as one we turned to see a girl her grass skirt swaying as the light breeze of dusk played over it and the water making her a part of the waves as they danced their own way to the place between land and sea where she was the connection. We rose one by one and saw that she was honouring the sea and the Sun and the Moon, hands held together to form a cup, in front of her raised to the sky, then palms brought together down to her heart.

We all followed her lead and when done with our thanks we left without saying a word.

I awoke in the dawn and I felt a wonderful peace around me and within me. I felt a great healing energy and I know that one day I will go there with Andrew and we will lie in that water and we will be being thankful.

I wrote to the organiser of the workshop and told him of the dream, we both remarked at the simplicity and wonder of it coming at this time.

Read more about our journey with cancer on Andrew’s blog

http://purpleandrew.wordpress.com

and to donate to Macmillan cancer support

http://www.justgiving.com/Andrews-close-shave-for-Leslie

So, there I am going through the emails and I find this one that somehow got lost in the scrummage. It's from our lovely Sarah (Sarah Howcroft Shamanism-Wales) our Celebrant Supreme.

Anyways, she has sent information on a workshop that will take place in London in May. I'm perusing calmly until I see who the workshop is going to be run by...

None other than the Urban Shaman himself, Serge Kahili King.

Now I'm having one of those Universe type Duh! moments.

Inside my brain there are various pieces of jigsaw clicking into place. Do you have those moments, of course you do it's like when Vincent D'onofrio gets it in Criminal Intent or when you realise you have suddenly made the connection that makes everything else make sense.

The Greek guy had one once, went about hurling the word Eurika about.  Got it? Yes right that one.

All the time I'm thinking to myself, how can we do this? Can we do this? We can do this...

It's all got to do with NLP strangely, or not so strangely really, not if you are into the wonderous connectivity of the Universe.

About 5 years ago, at least that long... I was sitting in a room with Jane, (NLP trainer extraordinaire) and she mentioned something about Huna Shamanism which of course made me prick up my ears and pay attention with all my faculties!

She talked about this guy Serge Kahili King and how Huna ( the Hawaiian Shamanic way of life) was about being connected to the Universe in such a way that they had been known for the Kahuna (yes it really is a title as in the Big Kahuna) of the islands to get together and change the course of Tornado's away from the islands.

It is a recorded phenomenon I am assured. But more importantly I can see how it could be true. That is why I'm off to see the Wizard and I'm going to learn about the Universe and how to be connected.

NLP, Forensic Evidence of Language Patterns

Any self-respecting crime scene boffin can tell you about evidence, evidence is the clue; the stuff that leads to the motive and modus operandi of the criminal mind.

Not only does physical evidence reveal a crime, the spoken word is also a great giver of clues.

Let’s face it, the language patterns of our clients are very telling, and NLP is the box full of magic equipment to uncover the clues left behind and bring to light the perpetrators dastardly deeds.

For all of the, less than totally positive states our client present to us, there’s a requisite and profound solution.

The difference between our ‘s.o.c.o’ counterparts and us is that the scene of crime comes to our doorstep looking for the NLP practitioner to solve the crime and like a super hero – make their world a better place for the future. How do we do that?

Beginning at the end: by knowing our outcome and defining it in advance we are more likely to achieve what we’ve set out to do.

Taking action, neuro linguistic programming is not a spectator sport, without action there can be no result.

Using sensory acuity, what do you see? What do your senses tell you? Use the information wisely.

Having behavioural flexibility, compound this with the sensory acuity to achieve success. Super hero crime fighters are always willing to do whatever it takes.

A totally resourceful state is a must! Physiology and psychology of excellence will empower you.

Using these principals, particularly the first three, the Three Pillars of NLP results in a resounding ‘case closed’.