Meatballs and metaphors

Welcome to May everyone! Here is a recent article of mine published in the Society of NLP newsletter for May 2010.

http://www.nlp-newsletter.com/articles/#BC


Whilst assisting on the Mastering Advanced Techniques seminar with Richard Bandler and John La Valle recently we had a rare and unexpected treat.

"A flash of genius from Richard or yet more inspired linguistic sleight of mouth from John?" I hear you ask?

Those were indeed key ingredients throughout the three days yet as a privileged member of the assisting team we are frequent witnesses to such magic so would hardly classify those particular treats as rare!!

No. What I'm, talking about is something else entirely as those of you who follow John or team members on a popular networking site will know.

Over lunch one day, the team were captivated by La Valle talking about his love of cooking. As a boy he learned from other family members, Grandma, mother and father and is now (we have yet to taste the evidence) an accomplished cook, chef, preparer of delicious food!!

So, he learned from those who had skill and modeled the excellence of senior La Valles' . . . an NLP student before he even knew it!!

Nowadays he talks with passion about cooking and, as with what both John, Richard, Kathleen and we, the trainers that they have trained, teach about NLP . . . it's all in the detail!

It occurred to me as he was talking and, when I later reflected, that within John's explanations and stories about cooking was the most wonderful metaphor.
I invite you to join me in exploring it now, in relation to working with personal or corporate clients and using and applying the knowledge and skills of NLP.

Back to the cooking or maybe not!?

You firstly decide what you are making… what you want (the meatballs sounded sublime!) You consider and imagine what they will look like, taste like, smell like and how it will be to enjoy them. You imagine the difference that this dish will make to the whole meal and the expressions on the faces of friends and family as they enjoy the dish. Even the thought of that finds you with the same expression on your face and as you enjoy experiencing that wonderful and delicious feeling, even before you start working with the ingredients!!

Then you look at what ingredients you have gathered to work with, knowing the phenomenal potential of each and every one and how they can work in combination to create just the right result. Then decide on how you work with them, step by step to transform them into the finished product that will be oh, so good and perhaps even unrecognisable from the raw ingredients that are in front of you as you begin.

There is no particular set recipe to follow when you cook the La Valle way and much essential learning is done through creative experimentation.

If what you are cooking doesn't turn out, make a change in what you are doing . . . add something, take something out and . . . next time, do it in which ever way gets the best result. Each time you cook, you apply what you learned last time and before you know where you are you have some excellence going on in the kitchen.

You also get to learn that ingredients don't always behave in the same way . . . onions can be strong or less so, tomatoes ripe or just a little bitter. So, you become even more creative and flexible. You begin to trust that what you know already, combined with your intuitive ability, will guide you to know just what is needed to get great results whilst at the same time being aware that each dish is unique!!

When I thought about how John had spoken about the art of preparing food, it occurred to me that when cooking, at every stage, it matters so much that you pay attention to the detail of what you are seeing, hearing and sensing in other ways.

You need to notice exactly how, at every stage in the process, the raw ingredients that you started with are changing as a result of what you are doing. Know just what to chop and change and get to recognise the precise moment when you will get maximum effect from adding a little extra something into the pot!

Also, notice that, although you may be tempted to add a little more of something or to stir up a little, there are times when you need to step back and leave well alone.

Simple is good. Less is often more.

All great chefs love to taste and check and this is not necessarily a sign of just greed! When cooking it is important to pay attention and to test your work at all stages

Notice what you notice, use all of your senses and pay attention to the detail so that you can judge just exactly when the dish is perfectly cooked!

Now I wonder just how much of the above is relevant to those of us who work with clients? There are many obvious aspects that are missing (yes, I know human beings are different to onions - be more creative!) yet, I invite you to enjoy playing with the metaphor.

I have and I keep finding more ways to develop it!

©2010 Bridget Clapham
Keeping your success in mind