I couldn’t be arsed with New Year resolutions this time round. Life is going pretty good already, and I can’t see the need for any radical change. Given that the results I’m getting are presumably a consequence of how I go about what I’m doing, why mess things up? Of course, this is when any Bandlerite worth their salt would chip in that this more than ever is a time to experiment, before there’s a pressing need to. But you know what? For all the systemic smarts associated with such an outlook, I can’t help but think of one Gregory House M.D., and his soul-destroying commitment to curiosity for its own sake. Devoid of heart, a restless mind is no good to anyone, least of all its possessor.
What I have been up to this festive season is connecting with people who matter to me. Spent a lovely day in Sheffield with friend Charlotte and her awesome kids. There’s nothing like younger children for keeping you on their toes, and in this case Corben and Elijah were accompanied by older brother Warren. Oh what fun we had in Wetherspoons, as I told the boozers, “This is my lad. He likes it both ways. Anyone who’s got a problem with that can take it up with him.” OK, Warren isn’t actually my son, and is hetero as far I and his girlfriend know, but I feel that such playful goading will serve him well now that he’s of drinking age. And I had bought him a burger and Coke, so wanted to get my money’s worth.
We wandered round a windswept and water-featured town centre, and spent an entertaining afternoon ducking in and out of charity shops. My top buy was in a remainder bookshop, where for £1.99 I acquired a proper shop counter bell, the sort you’d ring to get customer service. It’s an absolute delight, and now sits beside me on my desk, ready to be dinged when I complete a piece of writing, have a brainwave, or want to exit a loop of checking emails and visiting websites. For those of you who want that to be translated into NLPese from English, consider this: submodalities happen on the outside, not just the inside. And having an awesome dinger that rings in celebratory fashion is a great way of polishing off a writing strategy with a cool and calorie-free reward. I’ve lost two stone in the last three months, and adding the dinger to my repertoire will give me even greater incentive to stay healthy.
Another night I got to catch up with pal Gavin, the oldest cybergoth in town, who as well as bringing fine cheeses was up for roadtesting some of the ideas I’ll be showcasing this coming Friday in the workshop I’ll be running at Antenna in Nottingham. That put me onto a track which has developed one of the concepts in an interesting new direction that I’ve been testing since. Please do check out the details, and get in touch if there’s anything you’d like to know. There’s a simplicity at the core of this new material that I like and trust.
One other change has been to find a new image for the screen of this computer. The one I did have was great, but I felt it was time for something new. I settled on a gorgeous image of Uluru, a truly magical place that was one of the highlights of my visit to Australia in 2009. One way and another, Uluru captures all kinds of feelings and concepts that are special to me, and I’m enjoying seeing it on a regular basis. In fact, I think I’ll have another look now…and then play with my ding-a-ling one more time…
