The Power of Thought

I found myself thinking (lol) a lot about my friend's current struggles and about how he had stumbled, almost against his will, onto something that worked to lift his mood: acting happy! Of course it was more than that, but that was the basis: He realised that he had the choice of going to work with a visible thunder cloud surrounding him. He also knows that if he had done that, his colleagues would have asked him what was the matter, he would have been disinclined to answer or engage properly with them which would have created even more tension. In stead, he chose to put a brave and relaxed face on. Instead of finding that hard to maintain, he said that it became easier as the day progressed and that he actually began to feel happier!

I was extremely pleased and tried to get my friend to think about the basics of Neuro Linguistic Programming. I know that a lot has been over-claimed for the benefits of NLP but it HAS been around for a LONG time and there is clearly something in looking at the language we use down to the specific words that can have an influence. -I saw a series of pairs of photographs of people before and after the photographer told them they were beautiful, it was a graphic demonstration of the power of words. 

I remember laying in bed thinking about how the words people choose to use can betray their underlying moods and affect them at the same time. I do believe that we have the power to be happy all the time. I believe that we can choose how we respond to the majority of events and stimuli: if someone calls me a name for example, I don't HAVE to respond, I could choose to laugh, I could tell them how little I think of them so their words are wasted on me etc etc. I'm better at that than I once was, but I meet or sometimes see people on TV who remind me how far from perfect I am. I still carry a lot of resentment- mostly about past employers, somehow being proved right after the fact when nobody is really interested just doesn't provide any satisfaction.

It is amusing (sort of) how privileged people use other people without a shred of embarrassment or thought other than of course they can ask for 'favours' whenever they want. i was contacted yesterday by a rich person who had fallen off my Christmas card list some years ago. They made no reference to either of two situations which left me fuming whilst they, no doubt didn't even notice. At one point, they even alluded to a situation to which I KNOW they were central, whilst they cast themself as a bit player. I WILL do what they asked because I feel like it. It also amuses me that this person once told me that my work to resurrect Intercultural Arts was a waste of time and that I should focus on a 'real job' etc and here they are asking me to do part of exactly what Intercultural Arts was set up to do.

I've been discussing resurrecting a modified Intercultural Arts with my former colleague who is in the market for a career change. We've exchanged ideas and promised to do some research to determine the potential size of the client base and what work we could do to develop and promote them. I would love to prove that Intercultural Arts still has a purpose after it was allowed to wither by a Board of Trustees who simply didn't understand what it was for.