Unexpected Reminders

During a break from my own training schedule, I coached and assisted at my mentor's prestigious Master Practitioner NLP training. As always, it is a amazing process to watch students transform themselves and their skills. I've known no other means to achieve such a deep and lasting level of results so quickly. In the midst of this training, I had an unexpected reminder that is still sending ripples into my life.

It was near the middle of the training. I was preparing to break a board that represented achieving my goals and, on the reverse side, breaking through the limitations I had placed on myself. I held my board and focused my intention while my assistant positioned the cement blocks where the board would be placed. I handed her my board and she gently set the board on the blocks, an inch on each side overlapping the edges of the blocks. As she adjusted the board's position one last time, it suddenly popped and split into two halves, dropping with a clatter to the floor.

The look on her face was priceless. I'm sure mine mirrored hers. We stood there stunned for a moment, voiced our surprise, and then she apologized profusely for causing the board to break. In the first moments, I admit I was a little irked because I had really wanted to break that board. The things I had listed on it had been ongoing challenges for me and I was eager for this symbolic break through.

In the next breath, the emotion was gone and in its place was an intense curiosity about what had just happened. I had handled that board for several days, carrying it with me to class, writing on it, rapping it with my knuckles and otherwise proving its structural integrity. I had seen no cracks in the board during its time with me. How was it that it just broke like that? Was it just a coincidence? An unfortunate timing of events?

The answer came through the lips of my assistant as we talked about the incident the next day. "Maybe it just means you don't have to do it all by yourself anymore," she said casually as we were observing students during a hypnosis exercise. It was an Ah-ha moment. Pristine. Crystal clear in a heart beat.

The goals and limitations I wrote on the board had been about my business and the tasks that needed my attention in order for it to continue running smoothly. The symbolic meaning of that board breaking without my touch (but every bit of my intention) was so obvious that I laughed instantly. So incredibly obvious... and yet so incredibly unconscious until she spoke the words aloud.

That day's learning continues to bubble to the surface more than a month afterward. Not only did I gain the insight to develop a talented support team, but I was reminded of the delight I felt when I was a student long ago, learning to open the doorway between my Conscious Mind and Unconscious Mind, learning to integrate their intentions and communicate each one's distinctive wisdoms. I savored, once again, the joy of being a life-long student to the art of human development.