Saturday, April 30, 2016

Question 1 to you #BECOMING QUESTIONS - The Answers





QUESTION 1   
*Becoming Questions*


I asked everyone a question - hoping you will respond.

No pressure
Only love.



So I have splashed my 1st question on social media and here on my www 
AND I am pleased to share the results with you
FIRSTLY my own answer to the question
THEN everyone’s answer who has picked up the challenge to come back to me with their own reflection.



Read these beautiful, creatively-different and UNIQUE disclosures.
Feel free to send me yours - via my CONTACT above ideally, but any way will do.
Your reflective answer will forever be welcome.



Here is my Question and the responses ….. in thankful appreciation::
 What colour & shape are you? 
 Meaning what colour/shape best describes your personality & character? 
 AND WHY you have decided on your colour and shape ?
 *
I picture myself as an egg shape. 
Bright RED for PASSION because I feel passionate about lots of things and life. 
All over this egg are lightening type YELLOW cracks revealing damage,hurt ,vulnerability. I believe that vulnerability is a strength not a weakness. 
Pip Wilson



The colour that best describes my personality and character is white.  This is because I have come to appreciate silence, adore walking alone and crave the times when i can just be - with no pressure to do. But if pushed to decide then maybe it is the very palest possible blue; which feels to me like silence.My shape is the shape that is either a flame or a tear.Reflecting on this, for me the heat or pain of emotions / feelings  are not something to hide from, whatever the outcome.And within that heat or pain of living, having others to be open and honest with really helps.
NO NAME



I see myself as a heart shape that has a few marks, gashes and holes in it. 
Each one symbolizing moments in my life and the bigger and worse they are the more painful an experience. 
However thellre are also stitches and patches over others where those painful moments have been moved on from or healed. 
I see myself as a vibrant blood red signifying life and passion but with a few black cracks where my depression and anxiety issues affect me. 
Thank you Pip for the chance to do this as I feel like this is going to assist me in releasing things and truths about myself.
Kirsty 



I am a prism. 
For strength. 
I am light blue. Luke warm and not fully serving a purpose yet. I'm sure other questions will get my juices going. 
NO NAME

I am the Colour is sunshine and my Shape is sea.  The sea covers the world, reaches the depths of the earth. 
The world is a majority of water.  We could not exist without it. The Sea has pressure at depth. Waves generate power. It is powerful.
I want to be sunshine. Light. Warm light. The world cannot exist without the sun and the sunshine.
Kaiser Singh Bhogal.


I am the colour of SUNSHINE because I light up with excitement.
My shape is a curl. Like a spring because I bounce around with energy.
Conniepops age 6



I am an antique gold colour because it is subtle and understated, sophisticated but also with warmth and depth 
(I unexpectedly chose this as my wedding dress colour as I found white too cold and clinical).
I am also a circle because it is a shape of infinite mathematical possibilities, patterns and links. It is complex but logical. A circle is a source of constant amazement.Sarah C



I consider myself as a black triangle. 
Black includes all other colours. 
My interests are multiple like the colours. I could have choosen White either,  because it includes all colours, too. But I'm more interested in the dark side of life. Naturally more introverted than extroverted. I wear a lot of black clothes. I like the Johnny Cash Song and the lyrics of that song very much. I personally have the light of Christ in my heart. I try to send it in single rays to others and, not as a whole glowing Sun-Ball.  The triangle represents the wholeness of spirit, mind and body. I try not to neglect one of these aspects of my personality.  The triangle has holes in its surface where white beams come out.
NO NAME



I am pink, bubbly, grateful for each new day, very happy go lucky. I am round.
I described myself as round because my body shape is round and my personality is rather like a ball, 
bouncy and full of life. Hope that makes sense.NO NAME 



I am a yellow ball
Yellow: I am quite happy and optimistic. Yellow represent this.
Ball and also a round shape is also a happy shape and also going forward. Like me.RIITTA



I'd consider myself a square, all equal matching sides to reflect a slightly obsessive, ordered personality….
the colour would be neon yellow with grey patches, 
the neon being a mask of colour used to try and hide the grey inside Ian Taylor



Definitely rainbow coloured a creation of both sunshine and storms.
Rainbow coloured because I am the creation of both sunshine and storms, round because,  I am whole.
Michaela 



Colour is easiest to answer for me!! I see myself as multicoloured, or a rainbow!! There's so many different experiences and qualities that combine to be me, that I don't think one colour would be possible!!! 
Shape is harder!! Maybe a spiral? Because although I sometimes go round in circles, I seem to always be learning and getting to know myself and others in more depth, and reaching new goals and achievements. 
V



Colour- people see what they want to see, I like to aim for white but quite often it gets stained.
Shape - bowl shape, sometimes empty, sometimes over full.
Jon C



I see myself as iridescent - the colour changing on what angle you look from and what the light is doing - multicoloured blue/purple/green/gold - adaptable with a variety of characteristics - loving, warm, calm, and a little mysterious
and shape - pebble shaped not yet worn smooth, that will take many more years, with some cracks which run deep and maybe hiding a crystal inside,
Katie



I think I'm a blue girl - I have many shades to my personality, and often not what people initially perceive, just like blue is often not seen as a 'girl colour'. The softer shades reflect my sensitivity and compassion, whilst the deep shade shows my depth of feeling and emotion. 
What shape; well that's a hard one. Maybe a cone. The initial circle you see looks like I have it all worked out, but as you get closer you can see that it's not the case, and there is a depth to my shape - made up of all my life's experiences. 
Hugs Michelle 



Green, somewhere between jaded and showing signs of fresh life.
Shape..... Between square and round. 
I've had some rough edges knocked off NO NAME



Colour - purple. But not like a bruise, like a lively, bright hopefully fun 
(yet maybe slightly complex, simple by not primary) purple.....
Shape - circle, aim to Be as well rounded as I can, try to look at all sides, but most of all, ability to roll, bounce, play.DEREK



What colour am I and what shape. 
That's a tricky one. Though, shape wise I am definetely a lop sided and asymmetrical entity. 
I think a sort of a small pebble-y irregular-surfaced  shape. I think I associate myself with a lopsided, irregular little pebble because I am still so tough both physically and mentally, I am a bit stuck and up tight and rigid - but working so hard on it! I could easily have described myself as a tree, because I value growth and understanding immensely. But the truth is, I am a small plum and grey coloured tough asymmetrical shaped pebble. And I have work to do if I'm going to manage to find me some legs again. A half moon irregular shape. Bit strange, but yeah. And colour. Hm.. I think a rich and warm reddish purple/plum colour that's fading into a crumbly grey at the edges. Because I work hard to take my passions back, and to live. But I still have quite a bit of hill left to climb. Yes. I think that's as close as I'll get. Mone Celin



I am orange and round. Orange is for bright coloured days and autumn. 
I am warm, compassionate, empathic, loving, honest, truthful, Loyal. 
Pimples on orange skin shows painful darts that hit me during my life. My orange looks round and smooth and sunny but when you touch it you feel the holes that are my painful spots, like being damaged that never goes away. All the damage fits together and makes up this whole orange that looks bright and autumnal. Despite the painful dents, my life is bright and alive all held together in one whole orange. Life is beautiful. 
Annie 



So, hmmmm shape and colour. 
Well now, at the moment my shape is a cloud, not fixed, waxing and waning. 
It does not have a solid form, but it is not incomplete either. Personal shifts in my journey  and uncomfortable new pieces to my life story means that I sit with feeling at odds with myself. Yet I am the colour turquoise, I am peaceful - this is an existential learning moment that I am embracing, rather than trying to race through. 
Jolene



I've really struggled over the colour as I'd say normally pick something fairly vibrant like a blue with spots of bright orange/pink - almost polka dots. However at the moment it feels like a grey world missing colour as we lost our little dog last week and he was such a character we're both missing him.
Shape is easier - I've always considered myself pear shaped.
Tony



I am green, not with envy! With calmness. Its my calming colour and makes me feel grounded and at peace. Its my 'everything is ok' colour in stressful situations and eases my anxiety. I feel like people see this too and like to come to me for advise.
I like to think im the shape of a tree. Tall but grounded by my roots. I love trees! I can see the big picture from this height, and my branches are my hands holding family and friends up strong, while protecting them from the storm. My moods can swing and my leaves may turn brown and fall, but when i learn more and become stronger as i continue to learn and love more in life, i blossom bright green leaves and show that i will never give up.
Sara



My colour changes depending on the situation / day etc so I guess my overall colour is white, and my shape is like a prism, dissecting the colours that make up the white and revealing the colour of the day! 
I guess I should be a Pink Floyd album cover!
Phil McGrath 



I think I am pink. I am a big sensitive softie. I feel things deeply for myself and also for others. 
I am a circle, that can change like a blob. It can fold into itself or wrap around others.
Sarah Lou



Dome shaped. Like a shellfish, but somewhat less crusty. Safe haven in a storm 
Seeing as it's you - I'm blue - a bit insular, which I combat, makes me a pale blue...
Guy Hamilton 



I think I'm the shape of one of those heart-shaped cushions with the arms - made to give hugs, and really soft, what you see is what you get with me! Colour wise probably purple - a holy colour.xx
Eleanor 



Dark Blue - probably ultramarine blue. It's complicated - it is, at first glance a bit drab, maybe dark and moody, but is surprisingly used a lot in decoration, painting and brightening the place up. It's a blue that has a hidden red pigmentation in it - for passion that can't always be seen by the naked eye, but is there nonetheless. It never quite gives you what you think you're going to get when you mix it with other colours, so you have to think carefully about how you mix it - or if you're so inclined, dive right in and see what you get. But be prepared to be surprised. All of which, I guess could be applied to me (but take note - this regards my personality, not my appearance. That's a different thing altogether).
SHAPE I am a Parallelogram. They're funny. Everyone finds a parallelogram amusing because it looks like a squished square. Out of the ordinary, not often the first thing you'd think of, but remembered with fondness. But was I once a square that has been squashed out of shape by pressure? While I think I might have been, that doesn't detract from the humourous aspect. It makes me what I am, I am what I am, and do not wish I was a square again. I also lean - look forward to the future, when I may be an entirely different shape altogether by then, with all the excitement, anticipation and unknown that that brings.
Michael L Radcliffe 



What colour am I...what colour describes my personality/ character?  What Shape am I?
Orange is definitely my colour! Full of life, spunk, loyal, strong, vibrant yet sensitive. Add a little splash of humour to life to help encourage people. A bit fiesty if provoked!
My shape has been more difficult to come up with...I want to say irregular polygon as I don't  follow the rules- well actually I do ...I hate conflict so am the peacmaker but I like working outside the box and being different. I am creative and have pushed it aside for so long. Now am allowing that creativity to shine. The irregular polygon is creative to me yet follows the rules! Karyne 



Today, I am the colours of spring. I am the fresh greening of the grass, the animated yellow daffodils, the soft beige pussywillows that are smiling today under the warming sun's rays.  I am the bright red feathers on the Piliated Woodpecker that woke me up this morning with his determination to seek out his breakfast.  I am the golden syrup transformed from the sap of the sugar maple.  Today, I am the colours of spring........under a blue sky, beside blue waters waiting for the canopy of leaves to burst out of the buds at the tips of each branch.
Why?  Like spring, I am transitioning, transforming, growing, stretching and learning.  Five words!  As I embrace these beginnings, my shape is evolving from a hibernative huddle to a fully formed human with her arms up in the air reaching for the sky…….. I am the colours of spring.........shaped like freedom.
Dana



I am a rainbow - I can't have the same mood All the time, I try to be yellow bright and lively , 
S shape - ups and downs of life
Wendy 



My colour is mostly yellow, but with dark blue inside which sometimes comes to the fore, I mostly stay positive but sometimes the dark takes over, however it's never black because in the darkest times there is always some light to be found. My shape is a droplet, representing giving but also feelings of both great happiness but also of sadness and grief. 
Catriona



Red - flower (Poppy) - passionate, fragile but out there.
Rachel 



I am orange now but I used to be black or grey. Is it age I wonder that allows freedom? To be more 'out there' or is the fact that I have been working on a project with someone whose significant colour memory is the orange of Matisse? The original black and grey is definitely (I realise now) an effort to fade, to be as unobtrusive as possible, to conform to a stereotype of my career...
I pondered over the shape question ... but I realise my face is round, it always has been and I have always tried to change it aesthetically ... how stupid! Therefore I would say 'round'  as the answer to the question.
Lizzie



So my colour and shape - in answer to your question - which is obviously relative to this particular moment in time - my sister has a new puppy which has a battered grey toy - a sort of knot with lots of ends - looks a mess but is interwoven with a sort of luminous green thread - well that's good for me at the moment still feeling a bit ragged and chewed but with light and hope and even fun and humour woven through the whole crazy thing!!! 
Angie



My colour would have been grey (tired and weary in body, mind and soul - burnt out from serving “the system” – I don’t believe in).  My shape would be that of a misshapen stone, not round or square, but full of rough edges not easy to move or use, so left out when the stone wall was being built, ready to be taken to the dump if I wasn’t so awkward to move.  In need of a few good friendly stones around me to knock off my rough edges and give me a purpose again.  
Mark



I see myself in the shape of a rubics cube, being twisted and turned and sometimes I have two sides that match all the colours and sometimes I don't have any matching. I turn and change as the needs takes me. as a colour for my character I am probably a rust colour as I need to be cleaned up and scraped away. I have bits that are no good and are rusting away spoiling how I appear and need to be removed or replaced.
Mike




************************************************************************************
Thank you EVERYONE for contributing - such wondrous unique reflections::
All to be helpful for YOU in your BECOMING
and helpful and inspiring to everyone who reads this.



I would love to publish a book from these  - 
I plan to ask a question every week and publish a book, eventually, of 52 Questions & Answers 
with space at the bottom for every reader of the book to add their own.
It would be great if you approve so I can use your wondrous words?



I will dedicate this book to Conniepops aged six who, every-time she comes on Facetime to talk/see us, she says 
"ask me a question Grandad”
AND she is so wonderful in her answers - she is my inspiration.



Next Question SUNDAY and EVERY SUNDAY
I would love you to answer it inside one week



Pip Wilson BHP


************************************************************************************
Thank you EVERYONE for contributing - such wondrous unique reflections::
All to be helpful for YOU in your BECOMING
and helpful and inspiring to everyone who reads this.

I would love to publish a book from these  - 
I plan to ask a question every week and publish a book, eventually, of 52 Questions & Answers 
with space at the bottom for every reader of the book to add their own.
It would be great if you approve so I can use your wondrous words?

I will dedicate this book to Conniepops aged six who, every-time she comes on Facetime to talk/see us, she says 
"ask me a question Grandad”
AND she is so wonderful in her answers - she is my inspiration.

Next Question tomorrow
I would love you to answer it inside one week

Pip Wilson BHP


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POWERFUL ARTICLE called 'TEACH ME HOW TO FEEL'






I started taking Zoloft about five years ago, after suffering what people often colloquially refer to as “nervous breakdown.” Even as it was happening to me I thought a lot about what the term “nervous breakdown” is supposed to mean — visions of Blanche Duboisian women draped across a settee with pale faces and glassy eyes came to mind.
I was just sitting quite normally in my car when it happened. I was twenty-one years old, sitting in my parked car, and an absurd moment of clarity burst forth from behind the steering wheel.
Death. Yeah, death. That sounds good.
With about as much fanfare as if someone had asked me what I wanted to get for take-out, I realized I was going to kill myself. It wasn’t a decision, even, just a gentle passivity. An understanding. A sigh.
I’d only been dealing with chronic pain and its coeval symptoms for about 18 months, and looking back at it now I realize what a small cross-section of time that actually was. Of course, where I am now, years later, I realize I’ve confronted exactly what I’d been so afraid of then: that it wouldn’t end.
The word pain comes from the Latin poena meaning punishment or penalty, and that’s exactly what it felt like. I had struggled with guilt around leaving my family long before I actually physically left them. I internalized years of ramifications from trying to “break the cycle” of dysfunction that kept them all in a self-consumptive loop of danger and indifference for decades. By resisting those patterns I gave them the impression that I thought I was better than they were.
Internalizing that message made me increasingly confused about what it meant to be a mentally healthy person. It seemed counterintuitive that abandoning your nuclear family and denouncing their behaviors could be healthy. But what would it have been like if I’d stayed?
These were decisions I began to make at twelve, thirteen years old. I made them in a more formal, declarative way when I was sixteen. Ten years having elapsed since that very intentional detachment opened the door for the emotional distancing that needed to come with it — but that, I guarantee you, has not.
Grappling with this — then, on top of that, a slew of mysterious medical ailments that made me feel like I was living inside one of the lower-rated, less memorable episodes of House M.D., was pure, mental tortue.
The fact that antidepressants had eluded me for so long is actually quite perplexing. I didn’t have anything against them. I’ve always been a bit weebly about pills, sure. I certainly don’t want to take anything I don’t need — but it was pretty clear to me, even in my state of perfunctory hopelessness, that I needed to do something. And maybe it would be pills, maybe it would be a different therapist, maybe shock therapy. I didn’t even care what at that point — I just wanted to see daylight again.
I’m at a point where I’d like to try a different antidepressant. I’ve been on a maintenance dose with no serious side effects, but I’ve come to realize that what an antidepressant did for me was this:
It didn’t make me feel better, it just made me feel less bad.
It’s possible my expectations are just too damn high, but I would love for my emotions to run a larger gamut than from uppercase “A” to lowercase “a” — know what I mean? Yes, it’s true, an antidepressant has made it so I don’t get those low, low, lows anymore — but nor do I get excited. Nor do I get high on life. I have passing moments of Piqued Interest and can, occasionally, if I strain, cry at something. But I mostly feel nothing.
I don’t feel good. I don’t feel bad — I’m not actually sure of what I feel, if I feel at all. This drug kept me from killing myself because it made me ambivalent about the bad shit that happens to me. But in the process, it also made me feel like everything is basically not that exciting, like ever.
Or is this just adulthood—?
Sometimes I entertain the idea that my antidepressant usage just happened to coincide with a natural period of maturation that leads to permanent disenchantment. Pathogenic jadedness. Can I really blame the medication?
The thing is, I’m a writer by trade and thus, a creative by nature. Feeling things too deeply has always kind of been my thing. Experiencing beauty, being moved my things — and writing about it — is what makes life rich.
I suspect that this is a struggle many creatives have had — how do you balance the precarious need to avoid killing yourself while also feeling intensely enough to render the world as art, which implicitly makes you happy and drives you deeper into a spiral of all-consuming self-doubt and mental cannabalism?
It’s an oroborus, a self-consuming cycle where the passion fuels the creativity that fuels the self-doubt that fuels the downward spiral into mind-shattering depression. I honestly don’t know what the statistics are on this, if there are any, but anecdotally we just kind of accept that a lot of creative geniuses end up committing suicide. Or, if they don’t, they struggle with these depressive spirals for the entirety of their lives. Some write about it but I suspect there are plenty who don’t.
Of course in my mind I’m always thinking about the two women who have, up to this point, been my biggest influences: Virignia Woolf and Anne Sexton. Both of whom wrote very deeply about their own pain and experiences, both of whom ultimately committed suicide.
Sexton actually has several poems on the subject — one stanza I always remember and that has provided me with much clarity is from Wanting to Die:
But suicides have a special language.
Like carpenters they want to know which tools.
They never ask why build.
It’s odd, really. Being on an antidepressnant actually hasn’t made me think about killing myself less. It’s just taken away any motivation I may have previously had. So, I do ask “why build” — I just don’t go get my toolbox.



I miss crying.
I’ve never been a big crier. But I would cry at beautiful things. Live music, for one. The first time I ever went to the Boston Pops they were playing a tribute to John Williams and I sobbed the entire time. The first time I ever went to the New York City Ballet I saw Jewels and I cried during the finale.
Not all sad movies made me cry, but there were a few that used to drum up some visceral emotional responses — Requiem for a Dream, which everyone needs to be properly fucked up by at least once in their life. That movie actually terrified me — I cried out of fear and anxiety more than anything else. Still, I miss being moved.
Real life is even less capable of moving me to tears. I remember watching the news of Sandy Hook as it broke and it was the first time since 9/11 a news story made me cry. Mostly because, not unlike when 9/11 happened actually, I felt like things couldn’t possibly go on as they had been. Things would change. When they didn’t, I expected to harden against the cruelties of the world, but I was shocked by how quickly it descended upon me.
It should never be that easy to give up on the world. After all, wasn’t that the whole point of taking these pills in the first place?




Abby Norman is just another writer/asshat on Twitter. She’s grateful if you like her, though. Her first book, FLARE, is forthcoming from Nation Books. She’s represented by Tisse Takagi in NYC. She lives in Maine with her dog, Whimsy, in a very Grey Gardens like situation.

Friday, April 29, 2016

Timberyard Covent Garden - my London HOME.



Becoming Questions in the Cafe




Today I was in my fav local cafe for lunch.
As I was leaving I asked the two owner/workers if I could ask them a question?
I asked the question and answered with my own first - see the link.
Both guys jumped into it straight away - I hope I can get them to email theirs to me.
Fantastic creativity.
This is an invitation to have a go??????





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JOBS JOBS - share them as people are in need - Latest Vacancies Nation Wide



LATEST VACANCIES
  • Housing Finance Support Worker, YMCA Thames Gateway
  • Director of Finance, YMCA Birmingham
  • Nursery Assistant, YMCA West London
  • Domestic Worker, YMCA Black Country Group
  • After School and Holiday Club Co-Ordinator, YMCA Thames Gateway
  • Housing Worker (Christian Spiritual Development), YMCA Worcestershire
  • South Molton Centre Development Manager, YMCA Exeter
  • Weekend Receptionist, YMCA West and Central Herts
  • Marketing Officer, YMCA Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
  • Food Service Assistant, YMCA Thames Gateway
  • Restaurant Supervisor, YMCA Thames Gateway
  • Fitness Centre Reception, YMCA North London
  • Nursery Assistant, YMCA West London
  • Support Enablers, YMCA Somerset Coast
  • Female Support Worker, YMCA Exeter
  • Disability Sports Coach – Inclusive Sports, YMCA East Surrey
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  • Early Years Practitioner, YMCA Black Country Group
  • Admin Assistant, YMCA Suffolk
  • Accommodation Engagement Officers and Night Workers, YMCA Suffolk
  • Housing Service Manager, Nottinghamshire YMCA
  • Assistant Project Worker (Queen Anne House), YMCA Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
  • Eco Holiday Club Sessional Workers, YMCA Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
  • Play Leader (Banstead), YMCA East Surrey
  • West Sussex Short Breaks Coordinator, YMCA East Surrey
  • Buildings Security Night Officer, YMCA Bournemouth


  • *
  • Wednesday, April 27, 2016

    'Bring him HOME' - I never recommend BUT I beg you to LISTEN here::



    If you can give time to listen 
    as I am now 
    to 30 minutes of #radio 
    go for this on the BBC 
    #'Bring Him Home’ 
    on Radio 4 
    #SoulMusic 
    ALL ABOUT one song from a famous 
    #Broadway #show. 
    I can't spell it 
    so won't attempt it 
    other than it has "Miz" in it. 
    Search for it on the BBC website. 
    Or LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD the 
    BBC Radio APP - one of the best apps EVER.

    #powerful #moving 
    From a series called #SoulMusic



    *

    I am often asked what do I 'DO' as a #Trainer #Facilitator - here is a little from a wider range.



    Ideas of some here, only a few, of what I can do to meet training needs, getting teams working together, buzzing with ideas and moving on dynamically.

    I have used these methods with Staff from the Corporate sector, with a £4b turnover, YMCA Teams and Boards, Young Humans, Prison Staff, Residents in Homeless Hostels - and more.

    All sessions are conducted in a relaxed and active way. 
    'Motion changes emotion' 
    is a key - the aim is to keep everyone participating, stretched in a gentle sense and engaged:: 

    1 Reality Mapping. 
    An exercise which involves all in an easy and relaxed way. 
    Inclusive and interactive. 
    Good for starting off a conference/session. 
    Helps to define the reality of the work situation 
    "The task of a leader is to help to define reality". Max Du Pree 
    Reality is a good place to start. 
    Getting the team to relax and open up is also a great place to start. 

    2 Needs Analysis Mapping. 
    Active, interactive activity that starts the process of identifying needs of staff and the target group the work with. 
    Opens up needs in the team. 
    Other staff and wider organisation. 
    It is based on the model created my Abraham Maslow and is great to help in approaching any issue 'Starting from the point of human needs'.


    3 Transactional Analysis. 
    Training input and discussion relating to understanding communication between humans. 
    Awareness and skill in dealing with feelings and being able to have options in responding and managing a relationship. 
    This gives tools to add to the 'Life Toolbox'. 
    This is about raising awareness but also developing real skills. 
    Relevant to the workplace and the whole of life. 
    (Only this week - people working prison, and homeless hostels, 
    have told me that this tool has given them a sense of peace) 
    and an ability to manage relationships with competence. 
    The session includes watching clips from 'Inside-Out' 'East Enders' and 'Big Brother' - all to aid the develop awareness of a deeper need to communicate with freshness. It is especially good as a toll for the 'Life-toolbox' when dealing with humans with special needs, difficult behaviour and your Line Manager!


    4 Key Areas and Key Targets. 
    This is a work session to activate the team as individuals and feeding back to the team. 
    Each works as an individual and presents back to the group. 
    First it is a methodology of dividing the persons job into Key Areas. 
    Then a process of setting strategic objectives for each key area of that individuals job. 
    Good for stimulating all to think deeper about their job and focusing on priorities. 
    Presenting to the group creates a climate of 'stretch' and mutual support and understanding. 
    Can be a great method which can be followed up in Line Management. 

    S.M.A.R.T. Targets are often used in our sort of work (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Targets) = Smarties! 
    I have a method which is about 'M & M's' (not Smarties!) - a fun way of setting targets - and has lots of motivating factors.

    It has some direct links with item above, but both can stand alone. 

    5 Priority Mapping 
    An exercise of using small groups to think deeply about issues in the workplace. 
    That work is then mapped out on a wall-chart in a very quick and visual way. 
    All participating and involved with inclusion and equality in expression. 
    Outcome is a clear list of priorities issues - identified by the team. 
    Lots of individual and team satisfaction. Helps to define priority issues to work on. 

    6 Facilitating Debate and discussion. 
    I can facilitate discussion using buzz groups and plenary 
    to enable the team leader, and line managers, to be part of the discussion, 
    and give input, rather than them leading the process themselves. 

    7 Training in Conflict Management/People Skills. 
    Session one:: 'Love A', is a workshop to Train Staff in working with humans - equipping them in self awareness and skills.

    Session two:: 'Love B', is about Preventative strategies and, if we have to, how to better Managing Conflict, Aggression and Violent Incidents with increased competence.
    Reaching the Hard to Reach. 
    Participation or Paternalism. Developmental work through real Involvement and Participation. 

    8 'Level Five' Communication. 
    This is a session to introduce the communication model of L5. 
    It is simple and yet can be liberating in terms of understanding relationships and improving communication. It is relevant to the workplace and personal relationships. It is an experiential session which takes humans outside their comfort zones, in a gentle safe way. It gives satisfaction because humans have a new way of understanding and managing complex relationship in ever context.


    9 Team Building 
    We have - Team Building and Team Working. 
    The former needs the latter to be effective in any team. The latter needs the former to enable the Team to jump the current groove before it turns into a rut. My facilitation will work the team to consider the reality of the team and team work. Then to move on to consider options for you, the Team Leader, and the Team - to consider change.

    The session will work the team creatively hard to achieve a satisfying outcome because the experience of the team will be stretched to it's imaginative boundaries.

    10 Gangs:: 
    Understanding Gangs and working with them. This session will raise awareness, which always proceeds skills, which will demystify the culture and behaviour delivered by anti-social groups/gangs. It will raise confidence, awareness and skills.


    11 Group Dynamics. 
    How groups work and how we can use the natural processes of all groups, to aid the development of individuals, groups, teams and into a wider community. The outcomes will include an increased level of awareness and skills which will feed the confidence to enable Developmental Group Work to be used as part of a programme.


    12 Involvement and Participation of Young Humans. 
    I specialise in working with young humans with special needs. These will include resident members of hostels, youth groups, young workers and volunteers of all ages. I also with Boards of Management and Professional Staff, often together with young humans to assist in the development of confidence, awareness, skills and creating fertile ground fit for future planting.


    13 Large Event Facilitation. 
    A large event often needs outside assistance to take the pressure from workers who are stretched in the day to day operations.

    I am able to facilitate the preparation of Young Humans in such occasions to enable them to make impressive contributions. The preparation, and the event, can be a major motivational factor which includes building up emerging leadership from the grass roots.
    Involving large numbers of humans is what I am able to do to meet your own objectives - which would include a memorable community experience for all.

    14 Emotional Literacy 
    How do we encourage a freedom to talk, do the verbal thing, rather than explode with emotions? 
    What separates us, humans from the animals, is a possibility to chose how to behave and not be controlled by spurts of emotion.

    We have prefrontal cortex, which is the thinking part of our brain that was added as an extra to humans. 
    The cortex allows us to think, believe, hope, create and dream....to feel these precious feelings and also transpose them into positive, creative words, music, getting to grips with our life, ability to work with homeless humans, do poetry and enjoy play - and more .........

    Developing the skills of emotional literacy brings our emotions into balance. Then through a simple but challenging process of feeling them and translating them into words so that they can be reflected upon inwardly and outwardly. This is what allows us to become emotionally balanced humans. We are then able to use emotions consciously to fuel passion, communication and understanding.
    This is such a massive issue amongst young humans with behavioural problems - and staff who work with them. 

    15 Your Objectives. 
    I am always start with your objectives, always-always, and then design sessions to meet them, and the needs of all humans involved.

    These are just a few ideas to stimulate.


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