Epiphany is my word du jour. It all started when I was explaining the importance of the 6th of January, or Epiphany, in the Italian calendar, as a day when La Befana fills the socks of children with toys or sweets if they are good or coal, onions or garlic if they are bad. My meandering mind then turned circuitously, via the origins and dual meaning of the word, to an epiphany of my very own triggered by a conversation about witches, witch crafts and covens.  In Italian folklore, La Befana is often depicted as an old woman or crone wearing shawl riding a broomstick, like a traditional witch. For Italian children, La Befana is like Father Christmas, coming down the chimney—explaining her sooty look. And just like children that leave food for Santa and his reindeer, Italian families will often leave a small glass of wine and some thing to eat for La Befana. According to local folklore, La Befana sweeps the floor before leaving.  There are a number of versions of the Christian legend behind La Befana, but one is that she was too busy sweeping and cleaning to join the Three Wise Men, [...]

“Hands up who in this room is a wounded learner? And now hands up which of you are products of amateur parenting?” In a room of some 100 people from all over the world, across all ages and occupations, in February 2006 it would seem that nearly all of us could identify with one or both of these statements. The questions were asked by Ian McDermott, founder of International Teaching Seminars, and teacher of Neuro Linguistic Programming, as an opening line for the first day of the NLP Practitioner Certification Programme. Ian explained that NLP was like a ”how to” to stop blaming the parents and teachers for our current state. These words echoed the sentiment of JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, as she delivered a commencement address at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association in June 2008. In her address, The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination, in which she highlighted her journey to success, she said: “There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” This phrase took me to my [...]

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)  

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)  

Dare to Dream is one of those inspirational phrases that never loses its power. International Teaching Seminars (ITS) and I have come a long way since we first met. Not only do I dream these days, but I actually know how to make them come true. Founder Ian McDermott and his team are now social media savvy tweeting, linking in and showing their faces on Facebook, while I have finally solidified my sense of self, and realised that not only can I dare to dream, I was closer to living my Dreams than I was aware. In 2005, when I had had enough of this permanent feeling of being lost (miserable and my life out of my control), the husband of one of my great school friends gave me a postcard introducing Ian McDermott and ITS, a post card that I can safely say changed the direction in which I was driving my life. While these days post card marketing is a thing of ITS’ past, Ian, who established the firm in 1988, is still providing the best in NLP and coach training it has always done. When I was first introduced to ITS I did not have a clue [...]

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)