My Life was a Memorial to Childhood Pain

My Neuro Linguistic Programming Trainer said to me the day my very first Practitioner Training  began "What if you could re-write your personal history?  Would you be interested?"

"Of course" I said even though I was skeptical.  How could it be possible to change what had happened in my life thus far.  I soon learned that it was about changing the way I reacted to what had happened rather than changing what happened.  The light went on and I realized I had infinite choices.  I could continue to be the victim or I could choose to be the victor. I could learn from those experiences I had perceived as negative and use them as a step ladder to get me to where I wanted to be.  I could release the emotional energetic charge of anger, fear, hurt, guilt and shame that had built up and was being held in the cellular structure of my physical body as my chosen reaction to the challenges I perceived.   I could relieve my body of the tension the emotional energy created.  I could enable my body to heal itself and I could function so much better in a tension free environment.  I could create myself anew.  A re-birth of sorts. No limits.

I was so enthused by my journey and so grateful to learn all the powerful transformational NLP tools, I knew I would spend the remainder of my life helping others to transform themselves into the person they wanted to be. That's my 'Why' I do what I do.

Perception is a choice believe it or not

I love creating with clay. My mother died before I discovered my passion otherwise she would have been shocked that the same daughter that hated getting her hands dirty as a child was happily sitting at the potters wheel up to the armpits in brown mud. 

My weekly ceramics class is my ‘me time’. I find it both uplifting, satisfying and meditative. My classmates are creative and supportive and quick to offer help, praise and advice. We have great camaraderie and co-operation.

A couple of weeks ago, a newish member of our potter clan, a professional artist who specialized in canvas painting, arrived very excited to view his first 3D ceramic creation still warm out of the kiln. His face quickly became a mixture of sadness, anger and shame as he inspected his work. He hated the dish so much he refused to take it home. Hence it has been sitting on a table in the studio for the last two weeks.

There are about 25 other students in our clan who have seen the dish and every single one without exception has expressed admiration at the decoration and loved the dish, each for a different reason. Everyone was in awe of the fact that the artist had created, in his very first attempt at working in a new medium, a brand new unique surface texture and a very innovative and attractive paint finish. In fact everyone wanted it. I was expecting a spontaneous auction to break out but eventually our Teacher suggested giving the dish to a fund raiser for charity. We are all convinced the winner will love the dish.

So what is the lesson in this story. Well it reminded me of the old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s also a perfect metaphor for the NLP pre-supposition of ‘respect the other person’s model of the world’.

Perception is a very personal experience. No two people can perceive in exactly the same way. Some people are optimists, some pessimists. Some see the world through rose colored lenses and others through dark grey ones. Some have half empty cups and others half full ones. We all have differing glass ceilings that we feel trapped by.

But what if it could be different? What if we could change any limiting belief we have? What if we could change our perception of our circumstances in the blink of an eye? What difference would that make to your life?

My passion, well in addition to working with clay, is to facilitate a change in perception so people find more satisfaction and joy in their lives. To help with the release of limiting beliefs, should not’s and cannot’s. To also assist people in finding their purpose and living it.

Clay is malleable and yet it has memory. Usually we can persuade it to become the beautiful pot we had in mind. Very occasionally it seems to be resistant to embracing the birth into something wonderfully new.
Are you ready for a new perception?

Are you ready to create the life you really want?