OK, have you got your head around ‘Blindsight’ yet?  I hope you have ‘cos I’ve found something that takes it to the next level.

Check this picture out, try and work out what your seeing and then read on and find out the incredible facts about what you are seeing here.

This is a brain scan, taken early last year, of a 44 year old French civil servant man with NO BRAIN.  This man was, apparently, having a normal life, working in the civil service and up until he was 44 had no idea that he lacked 80-90% of his brain.

I once heard Tad James, a famous NLP Master Trainer, discuss a very similar story to this one where an English doctor lived without a brain since childhood due to hydrocephalus (water on the brain), had an IQ of about 120, 2 kids and lived a normal life.

So how does this correspond to science which continues to search for the parts of the brain responsible for our behaviours and cognitive tasks?  Surely in a cases like these these patients should be in some sort of vegetative state?

Here’s the story (Reuters):

“Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of a 44-year-old man’s brain show a huge fluid-filled chamber called a ventricle taking up most of the room in his skull, leaving little more than a thin sheet of actual brain tissue, in this handout image released by French researchers July 19, 2007. The man with the unusually tiny brain has managed to live an entirely normal life as a married civil servant with two children despite his condition, according to the researchers.”

I must ask you a question now.  Have you got a brain?

If you answered yes, how do you know?  Have you ever seen it or are you just assuming you have one because you thought everyone had one?

And if you found out you didn’t have one, would it change you and how?

Brian

So I am getting back to work for a couple of days before taking a short break for New Year and thought I should get back to the blog and the promised ‘Wow’ posting (well it made me go ‘Wow’ anyway!)

Check this out (the video has no sound)

Wow, it’s a man narrowly avoiding a bin and a ream of A4 paper left lying on the floor.  Incredible, a rip-roaring, adrenaline ride of a clip!  Do you look at it differently when you discover the man in the clip is, medically speaking, 100% BLIND.  Seriously!

Apparently it is called ‘Blindsight’, the ability for a person who is not consciously aware of any visual input to react unconsciously to external input.  The clip was filmed at Harvard University and the man thought he had just walked down the corridor.  This just blows my mind!

I don’t know about you but watching this clip really made me think about what is truly possible.

I’ve put a couple of links at the bottom of the post so that you can read more about this and, as you do, ask yourself what unconscious resources, skills and attributes do other people see in you that you are not consciously aware of yet?

Happy New Year when it comes

Brian

NY TImes - Blind, Yet Seeing: The Brain’s Subconscious Visual Sense

BBC News - Blind man navigates maze

Dealing with Difficult Times Using NLP

Date: Thursday 29th January
Time: 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Location: The Training Rooms, The Connal Building, West George Street, Glasgow

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; . . . If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same . . . Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.” Rudyard Kipling

Over the past few month’s a global wave of fear has been growing - Fear for our savings, fear for our jobs and livelihoods, fear for our futures.  And lets not kid ourselves on, this fear has some basis in reality; our banks are in trouble, people are losing their jobs, the cost of food and other essentials are going up.  However, the real problem with fear is that is stops people making effective decisions and that is when the problems really start..

Making bad decisions leads to more fear which leads to more bad decisions and then the loop of fear begins.   Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) teaches exactly how to eradicate the sources of your fear, focus on your strengths and start making great decisions again.  These techniques are simple; not always easy but simple.

Some people think it’s surprising for someone that does that ‘mad positive thinking stuff’ to do a workshop showing people simple ways to cope with all that is going on at the moment, I am ready for that.  That’s why it’s important that you know I don’t do ‘mad positive thinking stuff’, I’m into honesty and doing what needs to be done and changing what needs to be changed to create a brighter future.  And this is what this workshop is all about; Honesty, Integrity, Belief, Passion and the knowledge that Everything will work out okay in the end.

If you are feeling fear just now about your future or the future of the world as a whole then grab the phone, dial the number and book on the course now.  When you do you will discover simple, empowering models and tools, from the world of NLP, which will transform your fear and allow you to make effective decisions again.  These simple techniques and models are the key to keeping your head and I promise once you begin making effective, quality decisions again then you will begin to create your brighter future.

Attending this workshop isn’t going to transform the world’s economic state in 3 hours and I think if I told you it would you’d think I was mental!  What this workshop will do is give you a set of easy to use tools that you can use to make the decisions you need to make about your future and have you facing forward again with a greater understanding of how simple it is to change seemingly hopeless situations around in a matter of hours.

Your trainer on this evening will be Brian Costello of HeadStrong. 

To keep it affordable the workshop is only £8 per person and is being held in The Training Rooms, West George Street just beside Queen Street Station in Glasgow.

One of the main requests I have had over the last 6 months is to start a Glasgow NLP Practice Group and 2009 seems like just the right time to do that.

This is a chance for anyone interested in NLP to get involved, gain some experience, make some connections, learn more, participate, network and spend time talking and developing NLP.  

You are welcome to come along whether you’ve got a certificate, done a course, read a book or your Auntie Jenny once mentioned that she had a real fear of flying and this NPL [sic] stuff really helped her and you’ve been intrigued ever since.  This is a totally open door event for people of any skill level (including none) to find out more about NLP and Coaching.

I know it’s Christmas so, just this once, if you are coming along can you please email me at brian@headstrongnlp.com so that I can make sure we get a suitable room.

The group will have it’s initial meeting on the 19th January at 7pm.  I am just waiting on confirmation of the venue and keep checking back for more info on that or email me and I’ll let you know as soon as it is confirmed (It’s likely to be in Erskine (less than 10 minutes past Glasgow Airport).   I wanted to let everyone know asap so all details are not confirmed yet.

There will be a small charge (no more than £5) to cover room hire costs and a cup of tea and I’ll email everyone that is interested with all the info closer to the date.

I hope you can make it along.

Brian