A Small Piece of Scotland (The Chocolate Variety)

For those who continue their NLP journey with us through to Master Practitioner, there comes a time when they visit our offices up in Eaglesfield and I finally get to put faces to names who I speak to throughout their training. Also, it gives you the chance to find out that I do exist and I’m not a robot who sits at a PC all day!

It would seem now that I have become somewhat famous among our delegates for a certain skill I have… making Malteser Cake! So, as promised, here is the recipe (unfortunately, I have no idea where it came from as my Mum was given it by my boyfriend’s Mum years ago!):

Malteser Crunch Traybake

Ingredients:
4oz margarine
1tblsp of golden syrup
13oz of milk chocolate
10oz digestive biscuits
6oz of Maltesers

Method:
In a pan melt 4oz margarine, 1tblsp of golden syrup and 6oz of chocolate. One this has all melted add 10oz of crushed digestive biscuits and 6oz of Maltesers.

Mix it all together and press into a tin. Put it in the fridge and allow to set for about 20-30 minutes.

When it’s cool and set cover with the remaining 7oz of melted chocolate and put it back in the fridge to allow to set.

You can get creative, and drizzle white chocolate over the top and add whole maltesers but, I like to keep things simple.

Have a go and ENJOY!

Rach x

What to give up for Lent?

A friend posted on her facebook, ‘hmmm what to give up for lent this year?’ And it’s got me thinking…

The ‘typical’ items to go are usually chocolate, coffee etc but I was thinking of something a bit different…

Last week I heard some ‘good news’ about someone who had ‘wronged’ me many many years ago (and of course that’s ‘wronged’ in my opinion!). However rather than feeling happy for them, I felt something different. And not a good different. Did this person deserve this happiness? Maybe it was not really happiness, but a facade. Clearly an unresolved part in me, that has unknowingly held onto some hurt from the past.

So, to get to my point… for lent this year how about giving up a negative emotion that doesn’t serve you? I suspect this could do more good for ourselves and others, rather than just causing a dip in Cadbury’s sales!

Toby and I visited Samye Ling (a Tibetan monastery) with a recent group of students. During the visit Ani Lhamo one of the Nuns shared with us a very powerful meditation, where you bring to mind someone you dislike and then for 5 minutes you sit quietly and think only of love for them (if you are familiar with typical ‘nlp’ techniques, this process seemed to allow the unconscious mind to perform a perceptual positions, time line and belief change!) These few minutes created a space to think about someone in a new positive way. Each time the mind was seduced by negative memories or thoughts you simply bring your mind back to the task at hand – to think only of love for them. And with this simple meditation the negative emotions slowly start to change, to shift to something other than the way they were. We can’t change the events from the past, but we can change how we feel about them now. And having done this for the person I mentioned earlier, I am now happily wishing them a lifetime of happiness, which is much more in line with who I truly am and the way I wish to be in the world.

So, if you’re thinking of giving something up for lent, then think of an emotion that doesn’t serve you. Stress? Anxiety? Jealousy? Anger? See how it goes. Try it for 40 days – and hey if you really want to bring that negative emotion back into your life go for it – but I suspect this might be something worth giving up for good.

With Love, Kate

Pancakes…

I love March… This month brings us special days where we can eat and drink as much as we like and we have an excuse to do so…

First off we have Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) – Tuesday 8th…

…then we have England V Scotland on Sunday 13th where rugby fans like myself either celebrate or commiserate (the latter I hope if you are Scottish)…

… and of course we have Saint Patrick’s Day on 17th March and even if you are not Irish, it gives call for a Guinness or 9…

Anyway, I feel like joining in on the celebrations this month, and have set up a little ‘celebratory competition’ for you all…

First of all, here’s what you could win:
1. A £15 iTunes voucher;
2. …Some pancake mix;
3. …A Guinness gift;
4. …And a British bulldog cuddly toy (I personally like this one the best)

And here’s what you have to do to win:
Somewhere on my sites (both tobymccartney.com and tobyandkatemccartney.com) I have hidden some pancakes, a Scottish Rugby player, an English Rugby player and a leprechaun (4 items in total). They are on random pages waiting to be found…

All you have to do is find them, copy the page urls (taken from the top of your web browser), and paste them together with your name into the comments box below this blog post…

I will choose 3 winners from a hat on Saint Patrick’s Day (17th March) and if you are one of them I will send you your goodies…

Have a wonderful March, and good luck!

Toby