Tuesday, July 21, 2015

"Because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.” Blob Tree



I facilitate experiences when I conduct training.
Meaning I can only offer myself and my experience AND where I am at - not lecture humans on what to do - what to be…..
Experiential Training then stimulates everyone.
Everyone learns from reflections between the experiences.
Everyone is also the trainer.
I am a learner and a teacher amongst everyone else. 
LOVE IT !


Self disclosure is always an aim when it comes to awareness and skills training.
Awareness always must precede skills.
If we are not aware - we will not be motivated to develop new skills - and skill development is a lif-long journey.

“Real isn't how you are made," 

said the Skin Horse. 
"It's a thing that happens to you. 
When a child loves you for a long, long time, 
not just to play with, 
but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

We all have  a strong motivation to shed our pretense, our sham, our phoniness and get REAL. 
We all would like to be real. 
Pretending requires so much effort. 
And once we start playing that game, we have to keep playing it. 
We would like to be able to put our real selves on the line rather than put an act on the stage. 
What a relief it would be to tell it like it truly is - to feel safe and secure in vulnerability - just being ourselves. 
We all have abilities and vulnerabilities.
These are both needed in self disclosure if we want to be real.


Such openness, Level Five, challenges us to stretch, to step out of our comfort zone.
Growth does not reside in a place called comfortable. 
To self disclose openly to everyone seems very frightening. 

But not to worry. 
It takes about three weeks, according to some experts, 
to get in the groove of a new habit, 
if we practice it every day. 
I am writing about this in my current book in hand:-
‘5 A Day for Emotional Whole-Becoming.’
(I don’t warm to the term ‘Well-Being’.)


The regular sharing of our human woundedness and weakness 
may well look like a mountain until we start the climbing it. 
My experience is that we can immediately start to recognise ourselves as we practice on this journey. 
We can discover a deeper authentic self.
A beautiful human we had not previously discovered.

"We feel 

beautiful 
when we are loved, 
and to evoke an awareness of beauty in another 
is to give them a precious gift they will never lose." 
John O'Donohue

Dynamically this triggers others to self-disclose - desiring to be real in return
BECAUSE they recognition of our attempted authenticity. 
Both of us - our relationships is BECOMING more real, grounded in an honest self-disclosure. 

I use the Blob Tree Material in facilitation to journey this way.
Gentle ways and then, using different Blob Tree tools,
enter a journey of stretch and BECOMING.
The Blobs are magical in terms of communication.
They seem to open every human heart.
All of us - opening and taking gentle risks for our own development.

Let’s hold hands as we journey.
Share your story with me.
I will love it - Whatever it is.
AND - if you are willing - I will share it here.

"Because once you are Real 

you can't be ugly, 
except to people 
who don't understand.”
Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit 






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The Blob Tree Materials are best seen touched introduced downloaded HERE


***************Blob Theory************



“Life is difficult” 
says M. Scott Peck in his marvellous book, 
‘The Road Less Travelled’
 
Everyone has a feel-osophy of how life is, 
and how to negotiate it.
Some have a better grasp of reality than others.
Blobs* have a basic idea which enables them to be successful in almost every context, 
with every people group, 
in every age.
They cross so many boundaries because they speak the universal languages of emotion and body gestures.
 

From the age of infancy we become fluent in these ways of communication before we even talk or read.
This knowledge enables us to understand others and ourselves.
 
Blobs are beautiful humans who are full of imperfections.
They display a whole range of qualities that we might admire or despise.
They interact with all aspects of what it is to be fully human.




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Monday, July 20, 2015

The best place to find out details of the Blob Tree is HERE ................ www.BlobTree.com

The best place to find out details of the 
Blob Tree
is HERE ................ www.BlobTree.com 

Paperback, 118 Pages 
 
     This item has not been rated yet
Price: £20.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
Blob Life is another book in the catalogue of photocopiable resources produced by Ian Long and Pip Wilson. This book looks at the journey of life which we all take from birth through to death and beyond.It covers many of the aspects of life using key aspects - birthdays, families, death, driving, shopping, holidays, school, home etc. Each pair of pages has a set of questions to use with the photocopiable images.At the start is an introduction which explains how to use the images to open up your group. It has been used with ages from 4 to 90. VIEW / BUY BLOB LIFE HERE

A long gray beard and a turban in the Sikh tradition.











Mr. Singh.

...I have just had a curry with Mr. Singh. 
I don't think I have told you about Mr Singh. 

Seven years ago a man came into the dining room at Romford YMCA and sat on his own. 
He was an old looking man with a long gray beard and a turban in the Sikh tradition. 
Like I do, I paused as I passed and greeted him as I did on successive evenings. 
Each time a longer exchange until I felt it ok for his comfort that I sat with him and conversed. 
It was then a regular opportunity to talk with this great man. 
Eventually others spoke to him and he then went on in developing relationships until he travelled on a week-end adventure with residents and staff to the distant land of Scotland. 
He made glass models and fire sculptures and built respectful relationships with others from the horrific troubles of Kosova, other refugees - and even the local jack-the-lads and girls.

Everyone got to know Mr Singh and loved his warmth wisdom and stability. 
One day I was walking through the YMCA and a young man waved at me as I walked by. 
I stepped on my journey for a moment or two and then I realized that this younger man was Mr Singh! 
He had no beard. 
He had no turban.

All the talk in our busy bustling community was about Mr Singh. 
"He is not Mr Singh anymore" was the outcry. 
It became the talk of the YMCA our village and an adjustment from many as they had not seen the man behind the big beard and the big turban.

Talking with him, having dinner with him, he told me he had done it because he believed that God looked on the inside not the outside. 
He believed that faith was an inside job and this act was one of faith.

One evening later I was sat with him for dinner at the Y and he got to his feet and helped sean with his tray of food. 
Sean was a schoolteacher and blind. 
He came into the YMCA with his guide dog and Mr Singh, with others, always helped Sean with that last lap of getting grub to the table ....... and getting him a cup of tea to follow at the end of dinner. 
After a while - Mr Singh got up and left. 
I said to Sean 'what do you think of Mr Singh shaving his beard off?’ 
He said 
'I didn't know he had a beard.'

What a fantastic thought. 
He knew Mr Singh for his warmth and kindness and generosity. 
We, the rest of us, were disabled by the ability to see the man like that !
Wow I think, how important it is to see the person below the surface and not the outer. 
I think that is a fab fab story.

About six months ago, MrsBeautiful, Joy myself and Mr Singh were at the back of our church in Romford as the Vicar Stephen baptised him around the font. 
This was followed a couple of weeks later by a Confirmation by the Bishop. 
Coffee Costa was the venue for a long chat followed that baptism. 
Some of his photos can be found in my SLIDESHOW above. 

I could go on, but just one last bit of many additions to the story. 
It was …………… Christmas and Mr Singh didn't appear in church so I gave him his Christmas present later. 
He then shared that six days before Christmas he sat with his Mother in hospital, night and day until she died on Christmas Eve. 
He told us that two minutes before she died, she placed her hands together like Mother Teresa and she died.

Tonight he told me all about the funeral at the home, the Sikh temple 
('They know I am a Christian' he said) and then back to the family home. 
I feel a deep sense of wonder with him, for him, about him. 
He knows I tell people about him. 
He stands humble and wonder-full. 
Hope you don't mind me sharing part of his story - he gave me permission to share it with you.

Pip Wilson 
January 2004.




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Thank you for a day of growing & learning, understanding & ideas.


FEELINGS & our Behaviour




#FEELINGS. 
When a feeling hits you what do you do?  #EmotionalIntelligence is about learning about the inner human. 
We all #feel. 
We all get these #SIGNALS which is #INFORMATION to reflect on. 
Learn from. 
Feelings are not RIGHT OR WRONG. #Behaviour can be right or wrong. 
#Skill up.

HIRE ME

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Imagination in magnetic communication - Blob Tree downloads + FREE download guide





Be ready for the new term!Improving children's' emotional well being is vital to enabling them to access learning and being able to recognise and talk about feelings - one of the main focus points through recent legislation (‘Special educational needs and disability [SEND] Code of Practice,’ and DfE guidance, 'Mental health and behaviour in schools 2014’).
Teachers need both an awareness of the early indicators of mental health difficulties, and also the confidence to provide early interventions. Blob School resources provides a vehicle for overcoming fears around these topics area.
Pick of the Week - Blob School 

BLOB SCHOOLBlob School is an educational resource designed specifically for one of the main purchasers of the Blobs – teachers! It was created by Ian whilst he was a full time primary school teacher. It aims to cover all the key areas of school life so that teachers, assistants, school workers, pupils and parents can reflect upon a wide range of contexts and issues which occur throughout the school year.The book has about 47 images in black and white (with a colour option which extends it to 94, to be made available on a companion CD or password protected website) which can be projected upon an Interactive White Board or photocopied for whole class or small group discussion.
 Talkabout for Adults
Find Out More 
 

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Saturday, July 18, 2015

Sleep loss over-activates part of the brain - my reflections.

*This is part of a BlobTree communication tool available + www.BlobTree.com

I use this tool often
in my own evaluation
REALITY CHECK
and also in my work with groups


Who are you?
Who are you in touch with?

Do you do regular reality checks?

I am in touch 
with humans who are going through tough times

I am in touch 
with humans who have gone through tough times
The most beautiful humans
The scars seem to cultivate openness - vulnerability
L5

Vulnerability is a strength
not a weakness......

I am in touch 
with humans, and privileged to be so,
who are going through massively complex 
and extremely excruciating times.


CAN YOU CONSIDER ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS?
If only in the secret place within?

If you have a bed to sleep in tonight.
Thank God,
or whoever you acknowledge,
for this privilege.
1 If you could not sleep in your own home tonight, 
where would you go to sleep?
Think - not just read.

OK - a friend or relative - 
I guess.
2 Second question - 
how long could you sleep there 
before you felt you would need to move on?
Think - decide - don't just read.

3 If you had no money, 
no bank account and 
you had to leave home/relative/friend 
- where would you go?

4 If you was not wanted at home, 
if not welcome amongst your friends 
- how would you feel inside?

So many young humans, 
and much older ones,
have experienced 
relationship breakdowns.
Often caused by 
substance misuse, 
chemicals,
alcohol,
behaviour,
mental health issues, 
slump of confidence 
including basic inadequacy.

These humans are in pain 
and it is not chosen.
It is a slide into poverty, 
- a poverty of the spirit too, 
and 
a massive stigma.

The cycle for them will not change
unless other humans 
step out of their comfort zones
and contribute to those 
who are in greater need 
than themselves.
We can always position ourselves as 'needy'.
I certainly do.

If we always only look to see 
those who are richer.
Yet so often, 
never really consider, 
or even look to see,
those who are, 
so called,
'below' us.

All of us cannot 
sell up and go and live in the poorest community.

All of us cannot 
stand alongside homeless humans.

All of us cannot 
change jobs to work alongside youngsters in vital need.

All of us cannot, 
yes we can, 
we can
look out for those
who are on the fringe of our
vision
social network
friends
street
workplace,
frequented haunts
everyday places
and ........
go out to them
like no other human does
who they have met that day.

Sometimes they have never met anyone 
like you
this
week
month
year,
sometimes
life time........



"To be free is
to know who we are,
with all that is beautiful,
all the brokenness in us;
it is to love our own values,
to embrace them,
and to develop them;
it is to be anchored
in a vision and a truth
but also to be open
to others and so,
to change.
Freedom lies in
discovering that the truth
is not a set of fixed certitudes
but a mystery we enter into,
one step at a time.
It is a process
of going deeper
and deeper
into an
unfathomable
reality."

Jean Vanier
Becoming Human


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