Here is story to make you think

One day the tide went out and left a million starfish on a beach. They were slowly dying under the heat of the sun.
A little girl was walking along this beautiful sandy beach. As she walked, she picked up a starfish and threw it into the sea, and then another, and another, and another.
An old man came up to her and said “What are you doing, little girl? There are millions of starfish out there, dying. You cannot possibly make a difference.”
The girl knelled down, picked up a starfish, threw it into the water and said, “I made a difference to that one!”.

The above quote first appeared on the website of Bennie Naudé, Master NLP and Hypnosis Practitioner & Trainer and Advanced/Level 3 (AAMET) EFT Therapist.

Recently popularized on TV by Paul McKenna, EFT helps restore body’s energy system, leaving you feeling balanced, neutral and even excited about things that that used to leave you feeling upset. EFT can help when nothing else will. If you are interested in finding out more about EFT, you can click here to contact Bennie via his website Deep Living.

At the Rock Solid Project were operate on the maxim that every act of kindness can make a difference to someone. What have you done today to make a difference?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a name that encompasses three influential components involved in producing human experience: neurology, language and programming.  NLP is a therapeutic technique to detect and reprogramme unconscious patterns of thought and behavior in order to alter psychological responses.

The neurological system regulates how the body functions, language determines how individuals interface and communicate with other people and a person’s programming determines the kinds of models of the world they create.  Neuro-Linguistic Programming describes the fundamental dynamics between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interplay affects the body and behavior (programming).

The basic premise of NLP is that the words we use reflect an inner, subconscious perception of our problems.  If these words and perceptions are inaccurate, as long as we continue to use them and to think of them, the underlying problem will persist. In other words, our attitudes are, in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If something is humanly possible and you believe you can do it then you can.  If you believe that you can’t then you will be right too.

One of the fundamental principles of NLP is that it is in an individual’s power to change their own subconscious programming for the better.  NLP seeks to create positive and improved responses, and its applications include most areas involving human communications, such as education and accelerated learning, creative processes, health and wellbeing.

NLP is closely connected to hypnosis and in part relies on the use of light trance as an altered state of awareness. This allows a person to be more open to auto-suggestions.

Key members of the Rock Solid Project are trained master coaches and certified NLP trainers and practitioners. To find out more about the Rock Solid Project, or the Rock Solid Foundation that is behind the project, click here to contact us

What are Affirmations?
Affirmations are positive statements that can be used to change the way you think about yourself and your health. Since the unconscious cannot tell the difference between a real or imagined idea, it responds to whatever suggestions you give it, eventually helping to create the reality that matches your most predominant beliefs, attitudes, and thoughts. By repeating positive affirmations each time a negative, self-defeating thought comes to mind, you can retrain your mind and learn to feel more confident, as well as improve your overall health. Over time, old, limited thoughts and mental patterns that contributed to anxiety, depression, or stress will lose their charge and eventually stop arising altogether.

Using affirmations does not mean suppressing any thought that is not “good”, however, Instead, affirmations are used as a reshaping tool that you can call upon to rid yourself of thoughts that serve no positive purpose. For example, if your are prone to headaches and your thoughts keep informing you that you haven’t had a headache in a while and are therefore due for one, instead of giving in and feeding such thoughts, you can overcome them by using an affirmation, such as “I am headache free and I deserve to stay that way.” Initially, this may seem to be silly, or an attempt to fool yourself, but if you pay attention and keep repeating the affirmation, before long you will say it and mean it and the results you expect will follow.

Affirmations can be used in any area of your life. To be most effective, choose one or two affirmations that feel most comfortable and memorize them, so that you can say them whenever a negative thought enters your mind. You might also consider mentally repeating your affirmation 10-20 times once or twice a day. Useful affirmations include :

• I am healthy, relaxed, and free of pain and disease
• I love myself, and I deserve to feel healthy and alive
• I approve of myself, and I’m safe to be who I am
• Every day in every way, I am getting better and better

Extract from The Holistic Shop Glossary

It has been said that all identities are false identities, and that any statement which begins “I am” just limits our boundless potential. We often self-identify based on material things such as our possessions, or jobs, or the amount of money we have. This essentially limits who we think we can be and so places an unconscious limit on growth.

If you say “I am overweight” you immediately and unconsciously take on the mantle of an overweight person. You collapse in the chair, turn on the TV and watch the world’s best slimmer or some such programme while snacking on high fat, high sugar comfort food. If instead, you decided that you were feeling fit and said “I am healthy” you might instead go for a walk, do some housework, mow the lawn, or paint the spare bedroom.

The labels we apply to ourselves are more destructive than the ones placed on us by others. Once we accept a label, whether we perceive it as positive or negative, we are restricting ourselves to playing that role in life.

Even stating documented facts can be a form of limiting label. Resigning yourself to being your age using an “I am” statement can set you into a stereotype, or prevent you from doing something adventurous. “I can’t do that because I am…” curtails your growth, your possibilities and your eternal potential. Calling yourself a geriatric or even claiming to have a senior moment, if you forget something, allows you to settle into a graceful decline towards a comfy rocking chair.

When you see your friends next, watch how they label themselves, and then how they take on the appearance of the character they have adopted. Show them how you have found a new way to look at things as you soar like an eagle, using positive language to describe yourself. They are likely to comment on how good you look or ask if you are taking something!

Next time you hear yourself going to say “I am…” consider how you might make your label expand your possibilities rather than limit them. How about “I am vibrant!” or “Immortal!” or “Unstoppable!”? Listen to the different responses you get back!

You now know you can chose to feel any way you want about yourself, just by adopting an appropriate label. So why not chose to feel great? While you are about it, tell everyone who asks “how are you?” that you are feeling wonderful! After you have told a few people you may be surprised just how great you actually do feel.

We are currently bidding for some funding from the community cashback scheme to help seed the Rock Solid Project, which aims to provide an exciting and challenging diversion for teenagers and young people.  Diverting people from crime and providing them with a positive model for success are two of the key aims of the Rock Solid Project.  If you are interested, click on one of the links below to find out more.

Vision
Our vision is a society where every school leaver has the opportunity to lead a successful and fulfilling life, and has the desire to contribute positively to their community.

Mission
Our mission is to bring the skills and experience of the best business leaders, visionaries and philanthropists to every school leaver across the South West, to ensure that successive generations have the chance to succeed.

Values
The values that we aspire to are communication, integrity, achievement, passion, growth, service, support, continuous learning, commitment, excellence, and fun.

Target Groups
The target groups are:

• Young people in formal education
• School leavers
• Unemployed people of any age who want to change

Key aims
The Key aims of the Rock Solid Project are to provide an exciting and challenging diversion for teenagers and young people in order to:

• Divert them from crime
• Provide them with a positive model for success

If you want to find out more about the Rock Solid Project, or the Rock Solid Foundation that is behind the project, click here to contact us

At the Rock Solid Project we believe that the outward behaviour exhibited by people is a reflection of their inner emotional state; if they are in an unresourceful state such as anxiety or fear they may display negative behaviour. If they are in a positive state, such as joyful or happy, their behaviour is usually positive, and may be judged as good.

However society tends to judge people by their behaviour, and furthermore tends to respond aggressively to behaviour seen as bad, which often leads to a more negative emotional state and further negative behaviour. Predictably this leads to downward spirals from seemingly unconnected events, which tends to be reinforced by the blame culture we often adopt.

If a child “misbehaves”, we tell them what not to do, usually in a way that increases confusion and dilutes or dissipates the message we want to give. When a child screams in frustration we raise our voices and shout back louder telling them not to shout! When they lash out and hit, we hit them, but tell them that hitting is wrong! To reinforce the deterioration in communication, we then attach blame to the child, so that we can feel that it is entirely their fault and accept no responsibility ourselves.

When a youth club or recreational resource is lost, young people often mill about on the street feeling frustrated and unwanted. This sometimes leads to bad behaviour such as aggression or vandalism. However the response from society, the police and criminal justice system is to the behaviour, rather than the emotional state from which it came. Yet the people who call for the groups to be moved on (often labelled gangs because it is more emotive) were likely to be in the silent majority when the youth club was demolished, and vociferous objectors to a proposed skate park if it was likely to be anywhere near them.

Some people cannot see a way out of their current situation and are focused on external things such as poverty, limited education, unemployment and other social factors which are holding them back. This is an unproductive strategy and needs an external stimulus to break the cycle, and positive role models to demonstrate a better way. This is where we bring in the tools of neuro-linguistic programming and pro-social modelling.

Pro-social Modelling and Pro-social Behaviour
Pro-social modelling refers to the process by which a person acts as a good motivating role model in order to bring out the best in other people. The best youth workers often demonstrate this, as they engage the subject in an empathetic relationship within which they actively reinforce pro-social behaviour and attitudes and discourage anti-social behaviour and attitudes.

This is coupled by celebrating success, loudly and publicly, which tends to result in an upward or virtuous cycle; celebration leads to positive feelings, which in turn lead to better behaviour.

At the Rock Solid Project we celebrate success and achievement while we promote education and self-development. We use the best techniques of neuro-linguistic programming and pro-social modelling to bring about changes in the self image of young people while teaching them skills which can help them succeed in life after formal education. We teach them how to make a choice.

Welcome to rocksolidproject.org the home of the Rock Solid Project.

How would you like to see a world where people of all ages could respect each other’s point of view? How would you like to hear the sounds of children playing happily on the streets, or the sound of celebration of success? How would you like to do something concrete to improve our society, and so feel good about yourself and those around you? This is the purpose of the Rock Solid Project.

The key aims of the Rock Solid Project are to provide an exciting and challenging diversion for teenagers and young people in order to:

• Provide a positive model for success
• Provide positive feedback for positive behaviour
• Provide an alternative to crime

At the Rock Solid Project we take the things that we love to do and teach others how to do them, so that they can feel good about themselves. We show them the joy of music and creativity. We let them experience the feeling of self-satisfaction when they help someone else. We teach them how to say thank you and mean it, and how to react when someone thanks them. Most of all, we give them choices.

Where else in life could a positive attitude and a group of committed individuals make a difference?

“Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has” Margaret Mead

What Can Carl Jung, Eastern Philosophy And Photography Teach Us About Creativity?
Author: Mary E. Martin

Do you think that creative writing can be taught?

First, let me say that I have taken only one creative writing course in my life. And so, my experience is not extensive. But, having written for many years, I can tell you what I’ve observed.

Teachers can help you hone your craft. They can even teach you tricks to overcome obstacles to the creative flow. But I doubt they can teach you to be creative.

If I worked very hard with a good teacher, I might gain respectable proficiency at the piano. I might even learn musical theory and composition and pass every course with honors. And yet, I’ll never compose a piano sonata, which stirs us to the depths, without that amazing ingredient creativity. It can’t be taught.

Why not? Because creativity is a gift. It comes from within, and is personal to the individual. You either find it within yourself and work with it or you don’t. It’s much the same with writing or painting. Only a tiny handful will ever write a novel, which is truly original or creative.

If a writer does manage such a feat, he or she likely created it only after many years of hard, lonely struggle. It’s a private task, which doesn’t much benefit from exposure in the classroom. After all, don’t you do your very best work in a quiet spot, late at night when the daily minutiae have faded to a dull roar? And then, consider if you have ever read a novel written by a committee?

Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and father of psychoanalysis, speaks of the creative instinct along with other instincts, such as the urge to activity and reflection. These are innate instincts, which cause human beings to strive, build and create. So, if it’s a human instinct, isn’t it available to all human beings? Apparently not. If it were, all of us would all be able to write that sonata or novel which speaks to untold generations.

Jung also says that the creative artist is one who has unusual access to the subconscious.
If so, maybe there’s a way to access that mother lode. I’ve been reading a fascinating book, The Tao of Photography. With many beautiful photographs, it’s written by Dr. Philippe Gross and Dr. S.I. Shapiro, both psychologists and photographers. Sometimes, I really enjoy camera work as it helps me concentrate on my surroundings, which I find helpful in capturing a mood for writing.

The book applies the teachings of the Chuang-tzu, a collection of writings from the fourth, third and second centuries B.C.E. to the art of photography. It speaks of Little Understanding and Great Understanding. I love how those states of being are described:

Great understanding is broad and unhurried;
Little understanding is cramped and busy.
Chuang-tzu

It seems to me that our daily lives are filled up with ‘little understanding.’ Just look at my daily list of errands and things to do! Here we are running around with our heads down [cramped and busy] concentrating on the little inconsequential stuff. What if we look up and around ourselves and even inside ourselves? Great understanding is broad and unhurried. Just think what we might see and what doors we might open.

When we slow down and shift our focus not only to observing everything about life, but also looking inside ourselves, that’s when we have a chance of tapping into the creative spirit. Unless we do, no amount of concentration on technique [which can be taught] will ever help us listen to our inner voice. After all, aren’t writers always told they must find their own voice? I say to do that, we have to learn to listen and pay attention to the outer life surrounding us as well as our own inner life.

Suppose you do actually get past that cramped and busy stage. [The Tao of Photography has numerous excellent suggestions as to how to accomplish that.] What will you find? Maybe nothing special. But if a writer is lucky, he might just tap into something wonderful…his true creative spirit. If we can get out of our conscious way and let the images, words, music, ideas and emotions flow, then we just might have something to work with.

In writing, I think that’s what the first draft is all about. Then the more rational, analytical part of the brain takes charge and refines what has been created. Then a teacher can help you by showing you the techniques of your craft. Maybe a first draft of a novel should be a prerequisite for entry into a creative writing course. What do you think?

About the Author:
Mary E. Martin is the author of the Osgoode Trilogy [Conduct in Question, Final Paradox and A Trial of One.] Please visit her website www.maryemartin and www.authorsden.com/maryemartin” to sample her creative efforts.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – What Can Carl Jung, Eastern Philosophy And Photography Teach Us About Creativity?