watch tHe skies

This last weekend saw me attend the second module of my NLP Practitioner course. This module was lead by Peter Freeth (Excellerate) and we mainly covered anchoring and the monomyth. I’ll cover anchoring another time, right now I’m interested in yorping about the monomyth.

The term monomyth was coined by Joseph Campbell in his book Hero with a thousand faces. A tough book to read, Campbell’s point is that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years, all share a fundamental structure. Whether native indian, greek, roman, christian, far eastern, aboriginal or maori, the stories passed through thousands of generations all follow the same structure, adhering to the structure of the monomyth; a structure that seems to resonate with the human psyche.

In the monomyth, the hero starts in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unusual world of strange powers and events. If the hero accepts the call to enter this strange world, the hero must face tasks and trials, and may have to face these trials alone, or may have assistance. At its most intense, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help earned along the journey. If the hero survives, the hero may achieve a great gift or “boon.” The hero must then decide whether to return to the ordinary world with this boon. If the hero does decide to return, the hero often faces challenges on the return journey. If the hero is successful in returning, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world. The stories of Osiris, Moses, Buddha, and Christ, for example, follow this structure very closely.

The monomyth includes a number of stages, such as:

1. A call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline,
2. A road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails
3. Achieving the goal or “boon,” which often results in important self-knowledge
4. A return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail, and finally
5. Application of the boon in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world.

Campbell also suggests that the monomyth is supported by (effectively) Jungian archetypes; the wizard, the princess, character types that cross genre.

Many classic movies follow the monomyth structure. Most famous is Star Wars, but also consider The Matrix, Gladiator, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Harry Potter and many of the characters in Lord of the Rings.

The point of covering this on the course is the suggestion that we all receive the call to adventure, perhaps daily, and using the monomyth as a framework for people’s own personal journey can help to understand their behaviour, views of the world and where they are in their own story, if you like. An interesting idea I think.

So I’ve been volunteering today at every opportunity to go out in the car to run errands. This was driven by the sonic bliss I am currently experiencing from the Dension Icelink now feeding my music at near CD quality through my car stereo.

I cannot believe that I’ve been living with substandard FM modulated music for so long!

The only disappointment is that the VW head units don’t currently support ID3 tags. However I can live without this until I change cars in 08!

Sent to me by Giles. I think I’m getting a subscription for Christmas.

So today a lovely man from Unicar came and installed my Dension Ice>Link Plus for a paltry £40. Some of you regular readers may remember I tried to get Halfords to fit one of these only for them to fail badly and annoy me in the process. However this time, he was done in half an hour (it took Halfords all day to tell me they’d screwed up) and it works so perfectly I think I wept a few tears of joy.

So what is it? The operation is simple: ice>Link Plus translates CD changer messages to iPod controls and switches the iPod automatically on and off as you select/deselect the CD changer source. The iPod is controlled from the head unit‘s CD changer keys and steering wheel controls. So no more crackly music through an FM channel - this gives me CD quality sound and the ability to control my music from the car head unit.

If you are interested in getting one, it’s cost me £140 in total. Argos do one for £99 fitted however that doesn’t allow the unit to be controlled from the CD player apparently.

If you’d like to see the install, read on (beware big piccies and gratuitous shot of my thumb). (more…)

I must admit that I was most surprised to find myself in the Vicar’s garden at six in the morning. Obviously I had been there many times before - fortnightly in fact for the past eight months since George, the village’s incumbent gardener-for-hire, had decided to hang up his shears for Miriam, the post lady, whose husband passed away some years before in a most unfortunate rowing accident. Anyway, I digress, as the point of importance in my somewhat distracted description, was that dispite the gentle spring sunlight, there was no evidence of how I had come to be lying, face down, on the Vicar’s lawn, early one Saturday morning. No darkened footsteps through the warming frost, or even the tire mark of a wheelbarrow that may have been used to carry an unconscious (surely the reason for my complete lack of recollection of the journey here, and in fact most of Friday night) person halfway across the village.

I felt my scalp for signs of bruising, whilst simultaneously doing a “systems check” on my internal organs, much like a computer whirling to life first thing in the morning. No bruising, no headache, no hangover, but certainly a memory error.

Slowly I pushed myself in to a seated position, now noticing that I was cold and soaked through - I had been here some time, a deduction supported by the frosted silhouette on the lawn beside me, seemingly staring at the hideous victorian street lamp that the Vicar insisted took pride out of place in the beautifully sculpted, vibrant garden experience that I had spent four months designing and building.

I began to retrace my last memory, much like rewinding a video tape that has run past the last transmission of the evening - static, more static and then there I was - walking along the bridle path that runs through the maize field but a quarter of a mile from the Vicarage. Well trodden and muddy at this time of year from so many pony treks and enthusiastic mountain bikers, it was hard going, yet saved more than fifteen minutes off of the journey from the Writer’s Block Arms, back to my two up, two down, that would one day, I promise, actually have four habitable rooms.

But what happened between ten in the evening, and six in the morning? Eight hours of lost time? I hurredly patted myself down, checking for wounds that may have been caused by alien abduction which, between you and me, has bothered me since I saw Close Encounters when I was five. No signs meant one less explanation, reducing possible hypotheses down to infinity less one.

A dog barked in the field, and this not only brought me to my senses, but triggered a memory - a cat, screeching, yes! I heard it from the bridle path, coming from somewhere near the Vicarage! I trudged through the mud, thankful that years of guiding had taught me to be prepared, and as such my wellies kept muck from trousers. Standing at the wall that seperated Vicarage grounds from muddy field, I could hear a cat, crying above me, from one of the tall pines that kept my beautiful garden hidden from prying farmers’ eyes. But at thirty feet high, and with no torch or moonlight to guide my ascent, I was sure that I didn’t make such a climb, and if I had, I would have had to be right at the top to make it to the centre of the garden, and then only if I jumped.

I looked up at the line of pines, scanning for something, or someone, knowing that if I fell from that height, I would surely be injured. Yet there I sat, not so much as a bruise on my backside.

It was then, just at the moment that I was about to just drag myself home, hoping not to awaken the Vicar, that I noticed something lying at the base of the tallest pine. Painted metal and a rubber handle, I recognised it immediately, and I also knew its owner. Suddenly I knew exactly what had caused my memory error, and why I had climbed the tree.

Just noticed that Play are selling the original versions of the Star Wars movies for £8 each!! Absolute bargain if you want to see the untainted versions where Han shoots first!

It with utter dismay that I read yesterday that New Line have decided not to bring Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh in to produce the two planned Hobbit movies (one based on the book itself and another based on writings and sketches by Tolkien of the stories that linked the Hobbit and Rings trilogy).

It appears that due to an outstanding lawsuit between Jackson and New Line regarding their accounting practices, that many hoped would be resolved before a director was selected, New Line have decided to look elsewhere for the talent to make these movies. You can read Peter and Fran’s official statement here.

Now given that the LOTR movies were not only amazingly good, but also incredibly profitable, it seems to me that New Line are really shooting themselves in the foot with this approach, with what is the equivalent of taking Star Wars Episode III away from George Lucas. Give the movies to Jackson and anticipation would be at such a peak when the Hobbit was released, that we could seriously be looking at the highest grossing movie ever. With someone else, the negative reaction with the fanbase will probably still be around when the first movie opens.

So personally I think that New Line should grow up, settle the case and set about making two great movies to sit alongside the majesty of the Lord Of The Rings movies.

So I spent the weekend in bed after waking early saturday morning with a pounding headache and overwhelming nausea. After ruling out morning sickness, I concluded that Labyrinthitis had returned. The hospital confirmed it yesterday so once again I am laid out hoping that it goes away quick smartish.

The labyrinth is part of the inner ear that deals with balance. When it gets inflamed because of an infection, it throws balance out, leaving you feeling seasick, or suffering from vertigo. I had it once before a few years ago, so bad that I couldn’t watch TV for weeks because the motion made me vomit.

So here I am again, fortunately it doesn’t seem to be quite so bad this time, as I’m still able to use the laptop…

So we caught Bond’s latest outing, the Bond Begins Casino Royale, showing us for the first time, the genesis of a super-agent.

The first Bond film to sport a Fleming title since The Living Daylights, we see Bond at the start of his 007 career, taking on the terrorists and their banker, the villainous Le Chiffre. Facing him with guns and a poker hand, the film is a heady mix of non-stop action and tense poker faces, combined with some top class Bond girls, a couple of Aston Martins and some neat one liners.

It’s a very different Bond film from previous efforts. Gone are Q branch and their wonderful gadgets. Gone is the Bond swagger and the bulletproof superspy. Bond gets well and truly beaten several times and the baddies are far more brutal than the comic book Blofeld types.

And to complement this new style, Daniel Craig puts in an excellent turn as the rough around the edges Bond - brutal, deadly and with a chip on his shoulder the size of an Aston Martin. I look forward to seeing where he takes Bond in the next movie, as he becomes more of the spy we know and love.

All in all it’s a good movie, with some of the best action sequences that I’ve seen in a movie for some time. This is also coupled for some nice dialogue scenes - Bond’s head to head with Vesper is great, and even the poker scenes are soaked in tension. For me, the only thing that lets the movie down is an overly long and badly paced third act, which brings the movie rating from great to very good. Still, worth seeing for the set pieces alone, though be careful if you suffer from vertigo.

Bond is back and on the strength of this, he will be around for a while.

Recently I got hold of a pile of Learning Strategies’ Paraliminal recordings for next to nought. I’ve been using a couple in particular, and found them to be very impressive products, so I thought i’d mention them here.

“Para” is the Latin prefix meaning “beyond”. “Liminal” refers to the “limen” or “threshold” of conscious awareness. The term literally means, “beyond the threshold of conscious awareness”. The Paraliminal technology can be most readily identified as an application of Accelerative Learning and Teaching methodologies. The essence of this set of instructional methods uses an unusual combination of physical relaxation exercises, mental concentration and suggestive principles. These are intended to expand a person’s mental capabilities while material to be learned is presented dynamically with relaxing music.

The CDs also apply NLP techniques in several ways. First, in the development of language patterns designed to ensure ideal suggestions are presented. Second, in the creation of specific therapeutic patterns to enhance the process of learning and change. Third, in the actual delivery of messages on the CDs. This includes the choice of voice qualities, music phrasing and tonal marking, as well as the selection of sensory specific language.

Over the 15-20 minutes, the recordings guide you in to a relaxed state of alertness and then communicate their message in 2 forms; positive reinforcement that is likely acted upon by your conscious mind, and a message in metaphor for your unconscious mind. These messages are communicated simultaneously, one in to each ear. The idea of the dual voices is to create confusion in the conscious mind, and as we all know, confusion is a “back door” to the unconscious mind. Whilst initially somewhat distracting, I found that after a few listens I stopped trying to listen to them, and now I just let the words wash over me.

The CDs also include Holosync technology. Audible as a quiet hum, it is designed to bring your mind to the most productive state for learning. This works on the natural phenomenon of entrainment, where naturally ocurring frequencies in close proximity synchronise over time. With the brain, if you play differing frequencies in to each ear, the brain harmonises on a frequency of the difference between the two ears. This means that the brain can be synchronised with very low frequencies (lower than the human ear can detect), bringing the mind in to a relaxed state of accelerated learning (alpha and theta waves). Holosync is a technology from Centerpointe, who do some very popular, if expensive, meditation programmes.

The end result is both some very relaxing 15 minutes, but also some positive reactions from the programmes. I’ve been using the memory supercharger paraliminal and I am definitely seeing improvements in my memory. The 10 minute supercharger is also very good for giving yourself a caffeine free caffeine injection before a big meeting.

You can buy them from www.learningstrategies.com or, more locally, from www.ebay.co.uk. In fact I’m flogging off some of the ones I don’t need there myself, so take a look.

The full list is below, annotated with a “*” if I’ve listened to it. Drop me a line if you would like to know more.

Anxiety-Free, Automatic Pilot, Belief, Dream Play, Deep Relaxation*,Get Around To It, Holiday Cheer, Ideal Weight, Instantaneous Personal Magnetism, Memory Supercharger*, New Behavior Generator, New History Generator, New Option Generator, Personal Genius*, Perfect Health, Positive Relationships, Prosperity, Sales Leap, Self-Esteem Supercharger, Smoke-Free, 10-Minute Supercharger*,Youthful Vitality