Living through the glory of your imagination…

By Toby McCartney Monday 10th May 2010
I’m in London this week running an NLP Practitioner training course in the Penthouse apartment that we rent, next to to Hyde Park. The shelves are full of books here and I picked one up last night that I haven’t been able to put down. it’s called ‘The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari’.

We looked at TimeLine’s yesterday and I was reminded how important this work is for people, and how easily it can be replicated, even without attending a course like this one. One of the instructions in the book reads; “Begin to live your life through the glory of your imagination, and not through your memory,”. If we truly can understand that there are no mistakes, only lessons, and with those lessons we can design our future, the world really can be a different place for us all.

I task you for the next 21 days; Whenever you come across a challenge or a negative thought, use your imagination to dream of something positive and empowering instead. 21 days is all it will take for new positive habits to replace the old challenges like worry and anxiety. It sounds easy, and it it is, all you need to do is remember to do it. Give it 21 days and feedback to me here. Love Toby. xxx

Certainty in an uncertain world…

Toby McCartney Friday 7th May 2010

I awoke to a text this morning from a great friend of mine, it read “I want something to look forward to in the midst of all this uncertain news…”.  I hate uncertainty… it makes me feel, well, uncertain…

We watched with baited breath last night as the results of the 2010 General Election came in. The result concludes that there’s no winner – a hung parliament, resulting in more uncertainty in uncertain times and a population that’s unconvinced and undecided.

Whatever our political views, indecision and uncertainty will not solve our economy, immigration, education and health care challenges.  So that begs the question; What will?  Hung parliament or not, are our politicians up for the job or is there another solution to finding certainty in these uncertain times?

I was lucky enough to meet one of my idols a few years ago, Richard Branson.  One of the many things that struck me, and amazed me about him, is that he’s just a guy…  In fact, when people ask me “What was Branson like?” I reply with, “Well, he’s just a guy…” and I mean that with the greatest respect.  It turns out that just being a guy can be pretty effective.  I’m pretty convinced that Richard Branson is certain of his future in this uncertain world…  Perhaps then, certainty comes from just being a guy (Or a girl if that’s your choosing ?)  Just being a ‘guy’ to me simply means just being yourself and I didn’t see much of that on the televised political debates during this election.

If it’s true that ‘we all have the resources within us to succeed’, then surely, if we are simply ourselves we can all succeed…  Is it that simple?  The ‘NLPers’ reading this might all be shouting ‘YES’, but not everyone knows how to find their internal resources, and even with those who do, some don’t take any action once they have found them…

When I saw the election results this morning I panicked… I thought to myself “We have no-one in power…”  Well, I was wrong. We do have someone in power… You and me – self.  We all have personal empowerment, and with that comes certainty.  We simply need to spread the word and that doesn’t require sales and marketing or a political debate, it simply requires us to be ourselves and to be certain about who we truly are…  We can take this outside of politics…  We succeed and achieve not because of our government, but despite them…

So I invite you start your own party…  It starts with you, it’s about you, it belongs to you – bring a bottle. x