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I am just entering my fifth week of being in France for the summer where I have the luxury of the time and the space and the quiet to write. I have this belief that I write best when I am in France (especially in the warmth of the summer months) and it is an association that I am very happy to hold on to. I am certainly very fortunate to be able to choose this context in which to write. I do discipline myself and spend at least four hours a day writing no matter how I feel or no matter what I think of the quality of the writing. The 'just do it' strategy works very well here. In fact I would say this 'just do it' strategy is necessary to the process of writing certainly for me. However, apart from this strict schedule, I do feel as though I have a lot of freedom in that I can get up and walk around and stretch and think when I choose. I can get myself a drink whenever I want to. I can drift off and gaze at the ever changing sky when the mood takes me. I realise what a contrast this is to my usual way of working when I am running courses or working in-company or coaching one to one. I don't experience the same kind of freedom in these contexts. And although most of our family joined us for a couple of weeks the rest of the time it has just been my husband and me. This is the longest period of time that we have spent together in this way and it has been fascinating. I have never been more aware of just how significant our strategies are. From the moment I get up to the moment I go to sleep I am choosing sometimes consciously, and often unconsciously, the strategies that I run and consequently what I make of my day. I notice how, if my husband does not greet me first thing in the morning with quite the wanted tone of voice, how easy it is for me to run my 'I'm hurt strategy'. Or how, if I feel that he is getting his way more than I am getting mine I run my 'I can make a point' strategy. I would like to reassure you (with my 'I need to be seen to be mature' strategy, that I also have some other strategies like 'I can take responsibility for what I experience' strategy and 'I can make life rich no matter what happens' strategy too. Each day really is a web of self made strategies.

I quote from 'Trances People Live' by Stephen Wolinksy who cites Eugene Wigler, Nobel Prize winner in physics. "Our consciousness alters the world itself, because it alters how we appraise the future. That is, we experience the world the way we do because we choose to experience it that way".

Our perceptions are patterns of thinking and imagining, thatat some level we choose. In NLP we refer to them as strategies. Stephen Wolinksy refers to them as trances, which indeed they are. When something, maybe a tone of voice for example triggers a negative inner dialogue we have entered a trance. When a red rag word (I experienced one just this morning &endash; hopeless) triggers a past programmed emotion or when something unexpected happens and we visualise the outcome we have entered a trance. Makes you wonder if we are ever in a state of full conscious awareness doesn't it? And you might say that that is one of the outcomes of learning to work with NLP; to consciously choose the way that we think and to be constantly aware of the effect of those choices on ourselves and on others in our work and in our lives. And if not to have this total consciousness at least to install trances that lead to outcomes that we want and that make our days and our lives what we want them to be. Needless to say this is not restricted to how we live our personal lives. Are you aware of what strategies your department runs when they don't get the response that they expected? What trance do you enter as a team of people? What about your company - its strategies are its culture and any predictable reaction to a recurring event is a learned trance. You might be familiar with the 'let's panic and cut costs' strategy or the 'they (usually the management) just aren't working well' strategy. This thinking is especially relevant now that we are in a phase when the press is reporting a global slow down in business ('It's only a matter of time' strategy). With what strategy do you respond?

Well the sun is just lowering itself over the horizon and the aromas of rich food are drifting out of the kitchen. I feel the heat of the day begin to ease a little. So I am now consciously going to choose my deep trance phenomenon strategy of 'I'm going to really enjoy my dinner'.

Happy daze.