Metaphors

Apologies for the lack of a Day of Rest post, yesterday. I had no internet yesterday, and then I was at the Mims doing massage. So happy Monday morning! Autumn is my favourite season--I know there are those lamenting summer's end, but I love the crispness to the air, and the BEAUTIFUL colours. My favourite trees are maple because the leaves can be multi-coloured on the same tree, and they are so vibrant. This is a tree at the Mims:


When I was taking Doug O'Brien's Ericksonian certification a few years ago, we had to create a metaphor around a problem or concern someone was having. We were in groups and one man said that he was sad because his mother was old and ill, and he was afraid. Have you ever said just the right thing at just the right moment, and your words are like a healing balm that soothes and comforts a person? This was not that. I don't remember what anyone else said, but I said, "It's kind of like a bowl of rotting fruit...." YIKES! His face crumpled and he said, "That's probably true." How do you back pedal that? I said, "No. It's not like that at all. It's like the seasons. Your mother is in autumn. Her leaves are turning and she's letting go, getting ready for winter. The tree doesn't rebel against autumn, the tree lives through its seasons." He took a breath and smiled and said, "Thank you." That is the power of metaphors.

I see hearts wherever I go.

It makes me think about the metaphors we have in our lives:
Life is . . . a game.
Life is . . . a battlefield.
Life is . . . a school.

Each one comes with its own beliefs and feelings and rules. What life do you choose to live?

Forgetting the Bad

The above picture is a Grasshopper Note quote from John. He said it to me in a conversation. The photo is a shot of one of the hundreds of sunrises I used to watch in my old backyard. *sigh* LOVEly. So I was a bit . . . down, yesterday. Not something I usually admit to, but there it is. Too many notes. So here's the good: the gratitude I feel for friends & fam. THANK YOU for your kind words. Doug is on the road this week for us and called yesterday to get a head count for our seminars last night. He went all Ericksonian on me. It was v. cute. And John, my boss, my friend, manages to say the right thing at the right time. THANK YOU. I really am so blessed.

It is hard to feel anything else when you feel grateful.

P.S. I received a comment from a fellow percussor enthusiast for my Percussor 101 blogpost. A friend! Carol Porter lives in Hawaii & wrote a great Sept. 17th post on her own percussor experiences. (I tried to click on the actual post to create a link, but it didn't work, so that's why I'm giving the date for it). Hi Carol! :-) H.

Happy Tony's Birthday

I was talking to Doug about dates and upcoming cities we'll be in with John Morgan Seminars. And he said something like, "Oh, look! It's leap year this year. Tony's birthday." Doug worked for Tony Robbins for several years, and that's how we met. Anyway, I don't know if I know anyone else, except my chiro-sister Ruthie, who would remember Tony's birthday.

20 years ago today, I was sitting in a seminar with Tony in NYC. It was his "Mind Revolution" that started with a firewalk on a Friday night and went through the weekend. He used to joke that he wasn't going to get all EST-ish and lock us in the seminar room and not let us go to the bathroom. He didn't do that. He just never gave us any breaks!

Back in those days, he was still teaching straight NLP, having studied with Bandler & Grinder AND Dave Dobson.

Tony used to do this anchoring thing with his watch & tie, so his staff surprised him with a b-day greeting and gave him this. WATCH how you TIE in these new concepts of learning with ease....

Tony had a variety of squirt guns he used. Ooooh, put the sunglasses on, Tony. So Blues Brothers. Ah, good times. Happy Leap Year, & Happy B-day to all you Leap Year babies!

P.S. omg! John just sent me this link on leap year b-days with Tony. :-)