Two seeds lay side by side in the fertile soil.

The first seed said, “I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through the earth’s crust above me … I want to unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring … I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!”

And so she grew…

The second seed said, “Hmmmm. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don’t know what I will encounter in the dark. If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my delicate sprouts … what if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe.”

And so she waited…

A yard hen scratching around in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed and promptly ate it

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve read about the other days too.

 

I don’t know if you’re already planning to book on one of Sugar’s trainings, maybe you already have and wanted to know about the experience, so what you’re reading has specific resonance for you.  Maybe you were just happily trawling the net, and stumbled across my tale, and something or other in the words jumped out at you and you kept on reading. I’m glad you stayed this far, however you found it. Anyhow, thinking about that got me wondering if you might be curious about my motivation for writing this blog – maybe I was primed, bribed or influenced in some way to write a few kind words about Sugar and how much I’d enjoyed the training – maybe a touch of the old Kirkpatrick method of evaluation to say that I’d enjoyed each day, learned a thing or two, maybe even transferred my learning to the workplace and was exhibiting new behaviours as a result of the training. Job done = training has added value.

 

So when invited by Ben and Neal to share my experience and to say whatever I liked, it seemed like a straightforward enough task – wouldn’t you think?

 

Actually, had the training been ‘ok’ or ‘alright’ or even ‘quite good’, I would probably have been less careful about what I wrote – perhaps a 60% effort job, squeezed in before Eastenders starts.  A twenty minute job whilst my freshly home baked muffins are cooking, (doesn’t everyone bake their own?), bullet pointing a few key words on the train maybe, on the back of some agenda or other that I know I’ll lose amongst all my other papers when I come to search for it later.

 

Richard Bandler says that  NLP is

 

“an attitude and a methodology that leaves behind a trail of techniques.”

 

You’ll be wanting to experience the attitude and methodology for yourself, I’m sure. Can I tell more about the  trail of techniques? Could I choose my favourite even?

 

Nope– it’d be like your mum telling you there’s only room  for one of your favourite toys  on the car journey to go on holiday – how to choose?  Did I love Sindy or Pippa more? Could I live without ‘Bear’ for a week? Would my dolls house really not fit in the boot alongside our suitcases and the tent? Do I prefer anchoring or belief changing? Clearing out emotional ‘stuff’ with timelines or working with submodalities? How will I ever be able to stop understanding people better by asking the right questions when they use vague language again?

 

Instead though, I find myself compelled to let you know just what I think about Sugar’s tagline.

 

What’s a tagline for anyway? Why bother having one? What’s the point?

 It’s kind of branding slogan, something memorable that will conjure up the essence of the idea, or product. There are certainly some that are memorable – think:

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid (The Fly) or

 

To boldly go where no man has gone before (Star Trek) or even

 

Inspiring NLP training (Sugar NLP)  

 

So – did they choose a worthy tagline? Does ‘inspiring NLP training’ conjure up the essence of what Sugar’s all about, now that I’ve been through Practitioner training with them?

 

Picture the scene on the last day of the course.

 

We’d got through the eleven days – sharing laughter (a lot of laughter – think those laughs you get sometimes when they’re like running down a hill and you miss your footing in the last part of the laugh and go ‘freefall’ – have you ever laughed like that?).

 

Arrows had been broken, metaphorically as well as physically.

 

Friendships had been forged.

 

Midget gems had been consumed.

 

Inner ‘stuff’ had been shared,  glimpses of our true selves revealed (think of  the way nature ‘lifts her skirt’ sometimes to let you see the magnificent view when you’ve hiked to the top of Blencathra and there’s a break in the cloud).

 

Yes, we’d learned techniques to add to Bandler’s ‘trail’ – on this module we’d explored strategies – only really useful if you’d like to be able to influence, motivate or sell to others – we’d discovered how we represent and store time – we’d coached and been coached –  we’d learned how to get ourselves into an invincible state prior to the arrow break.

 

I took a step back – I could hear the Friends theme song ‘I’ll be there for you’ filling the room – every piece of music carefully chosen to enhance our learning experience – don’t think we didn’t notice – and watched people hugging, swapping numbers, consolidating the brief yet intense time we’d spent together. I felt a little sad that this part of the story was over I felt curious and excited about what was yet to come.

 

And I thought to myself….

 

“yup (slow, deliberate head nod) …… I reckon they got it exactly right”.