February 2007 Report


	Bernie Rochford. Rippling Chunky Jigsaws!

For our 1st session of 2007, the year of bringing NLP into the Real World, Bernie put together a programme that ‘challenged’ us to take our collective skills and apply them to ‘world’ issues.
She began by redefining the letters of NLP to stand for “Now Let’s Play”. Remembering that the more fun and laughter there is the greater the ease of learning. Now Let’s Play became Now Let’s Practice as we launched into our first ‘game’ of the evening.

We were introduced to the B.R.S.E. (Bernie Rochford Stock Exchange) and the ‘Damn Jones’ Index of small chocolate bars. In groups of four we took it in turns to pick out a small choc bar from a pretty bag and then put it back. Bernie assigned numbers to these bars and recorded these on a flip chart. Quite soon the picking and returning were given some thought in order for the ‘team’ to come out ‘ahead’ on the deal! Just when we thought it was all under control, Bernie introduced a price change and suddenly those bars we had valued highly were now not so interesting! I’m not sure but in the end I think team A won.


	DAILY NEWS Sweet profit taking has depressed the value of Choco shares this week. “The market seems very volatile right now” said a spokesperson. “Just when it all seems stable someone starts eating the stocks!”

This was to demonstrate how we place a value on something beyond its ‘actual’ cost, and the game became quite frustrating as Bernie randomly removed bars to change the mix, making up the rules as she went along. (anyone would think it was her game!) Bernie’s comment on this is:- “I didn't put any value on the chocolate, the group did. I put a number, but it could just as easily have been a shape or a colour. But by putting a number, people unconsciously translate numbers into a value - and then without realising it translate values into monetary terms. The group shared a similar value system, but it wasn't mine - although I was the one to change their value system with a stroke of the pen!”
So we’d looked at how values can change at the mere whim of whoever holds the pen!

Bernie introduced us to a model which combines time with neurological levels, the unified field, brain waves and perceptual positions. An interesting mix which we spent some time discussing and exploring the inter-relationships between the elements. The purpose was to get us to think outside of the box where our current culture and often our current thinking is the box. Putting this in perspective we discussed what drives us and what rewards other than money we may get from the day job. This was also a moment for reflecting on our ‘usual’ position, and our ‘defaults’ in these areas. How can we become more aware of where we are and then begin to change how we react with the world and those around us?

Time for more interaction (editor’s note: Bernie kept us involved all evening, lots of interaction and lots of questioning, humour and chat, right on the brief of 10% from the speaker, 90% from the group).
Now in two’s we were given a piece of paper with a heading, the subjects having been picked at random from a newspaper. The subjects were:- Money; Family; Addiction; Education; Transport; Technology; Global Warming; Politics, Law & Order; and Health. In our pairs we spent a short while writing down the issues about our subject. These were then written up on a large jigsaw, similar to the one wot I’ve drawn below.




			“The Map is not the Territory”

		These jigsaws were intended to be animations, however I’ve clearly failed to load them as such. Just so you know what you’re missing the 1st one should have had the names appearing as if by magic, the 2nd arrows shooting everywhere!


	As the subjects reveal themselves it may be interesting to note that we all focussed on ‘negative’ rather than ‘positive’ elements of our task. Rather like the medium these topics were drawn from. Bernie transcribed our words onto the jigsaw and then showed how they were all inter-related.


	As we connected all the pieces and noticed how nothing was acting in isolation we pondered on the use of our collective experience to move towards solutions for the ‘problems’ we had elicited. Bernie asked, “What is our DESIRED STATE?”




	“The Map is still not the Territory”


	We may have taken the break about now!


	There was much conversation during the break and at this stage we definitely had more questions than answers. Eventually we settled back down and continued!




		For our final exercise we explored the A-Z of NLP & what it meant to us, see picture on right. Have a look at our suggestions for the A-Z. Not all of them were recorded, to protect the innocent! You may have some other words to add for yourself or some thoughts about the words we have included.


	Bernie produced some great flip charts, which I have attempted to emulate in this report. This one is on chunking showing how we move from just ourself (the single face) upwards through family, friends, society at large, countries, the world, the universe and beyond and downwards to our body parts, circulation, energy right down to cellular level and atoms. Again it provided a focus for our discussion on ‘problems’ and where we might find potential solutions. Not of course with the same thinking that caused the problem!

This was a full and thought provoking session, with lots more to be done. Bernie is happy to co-ordinate further group work for anyone who would like to explore the connection between NLP and healing the world’s issues, contact her by email.
Following on from this session Marian Way is hoping to take this theme further in “The Clean Cafe” our April meeting on Thursday April 5th. Read all about “Clean” and “the World Cafe” here.
And finally, a big thank you to Bernie for putting together a great evening. I’m sure this one will continue to rumble on and maybe later this year or even next year we can revisit this to see how much further we as a group have moved towards solving ‘bigger’ issues in the world.