Tuesday 3 March 2015

Your mountain is waiting




I've been quiet on the blogging front of late due to life taking over a bit. Many a weekend has been spent getting stuck into a long overdue clear out and I have also been contemplating a long overdue change. I find big changes quite stressful, though usually I get to the stage where I recognise they’re necessary and then start to see the positives and potential excitement. 

I was delivering some training at work last week which drew me into interesting conversations and discoveries (ones which tie in quite well with my blog post from December, 'Thinking Things Over', where I referred to a meditation class I went to). The training explored some coaching methods and techniques, and my training partner shared her experience of a recent Neuro Linguistic Programming course she had been on.

I find the idea of NLP interesting – it focuses on how we can learn to control our thoughts, and in doing so can free ourselves from negative thinking. A great book she recommended is,‘How to take charge of your life: The Users Guide to NLP’ by Richard Bandler,(the co-creator of NLP), Alessio Roberti and Owen Fitzpatrick. Some of the quotes from this really got me thinking. 

In my job I work with clients who sometimes hold themselves back with limiting beliefs, and really I think we’re all guilty of that to some extent. I know how many opportunities I’ve missed out on due to self-doubt and it’s something I still struggle with in some aspects of my life. 
A couple of my favourite quotes from the book were: 

Believe that you can achieve what you want, and you will set yourself free to achieve it

And:

Our biggest limit is not in what we want and cannot do; it is in what we have never considered that we can do 

On my way home on the train on Monday I looked up at one of the stops and noticed a poster on the railings, (which I think was part of an art project). I didn’t have time to absorb the full picture but what I caught was an image of the word ‘Worry’ on the left hand side, changing into the words ‘Things got Better’ and underneath it said something along the lines of, ‘Take control of your thoughts and change your world.’ It was strange noticing this the day after I just finished the NLP book but there’s a theory that our brains also seek out what we want to find. So maybe these are all messages I need to hear just now, and at the end of the NLP book the authors encourage anyone who reads it to share their messages, which I guess is partly why I’m posting about this, because maybe these are things you need to hear too. 

The title of my post is inspired by a Dr Seuss book, ‘Oh, the places you’ll go.’ Twice in the past week I’ve seen a reference to this book and it’s one I personally love. A work colleague once gave it to me as a parting gift many years ago and I think it’s very uplifting and inspiring. 

I’ll leave you with Dr S’s parting words: ‘Your mountain is waiting, So…get on your way!'