Sknow Magic!

There is something magical about snow.

I remember the days when I used to watch the news and read the papers. As soon as snow hit there were reports of disaster, doom and gloom all over the country. Trains weren't running because it was the wrong type of snow, people were freezing to death and cars were being marooned all over the country.

These days I do not read any papers beyond the sports pages and the news is something that I haven't watched for years. I realised one day that not since the days of John Craven's Newsround (and I'm now showing my age!) had I seen something positive on a news report.

Since our focus affects our lives, why would I want to find out lots of things that aren't working?

Today I went out walking in the snow and a lady in a car pulled out in front of me as I walked down the road. She looked at me and gave me a huge smile. I smiled back and have felt great ever since. It has not been a typical experience for me in St Albans so far.

Since the snow has come I'm sure that all of the same things that always happened are happening. However, my experience is now completely different.

My evenings have now incorporated a walk to our local lake, which has been frozen over for the past week or so. The snow-covered surroundings light up the place enough to see clearly as the moon reflects upon it.

Something that I would have taken for granted, or not even left the house to see, is now causing me an inner peace like never before. Standing on the bridge of our lake and taking in the surroundings at night, in what is usually an empty park, is something special and has led me to many profound insights.

My nephews, Connor and Kian, aged 6 and 7, stayed with me over the weekend. On Friday evening we went for a late night walk and snowball extravaganza by the lake. We ran into a group of people building an igloo – a very impressive feat. What wasn't so impressive was me falling through the wall of the entrance as I attempted to help them cover the roof.

This caused great (and understandable) irritation amongst the builders. It also prompted loud laughter from my nephews. I decided to take the blame and exit the scene as the builders of the now collapsed igloo pointed fingers at each other and the language became more colourful! My nephews giggled all of the way to the lake. It was funny and a classic example of when positive intent meets negative results. Fortunately, Connor and Kian saw the results as very positive indeed and have been laughing about it ever since!

After an hour or so of running around I took them to the bridge to stand and reflect with me.

We chatted for about half an hour and I found my eyes welling up at the profundity of what they had to say. My elder nephew, Connor, realises how lucky he is and how others do not have as much as him. His plan is to contribute his entire savings to sponsoring goats for African families.

I'm not sure that his mum and dad will be as quick to let him spend all of his savings on goats but he really wants to do it. I had no idea about the project that he was on about but now realise that it is running and the advertising must have affected him deeply.

Kian, my younger nephew, started talking about Club Penguin and saving rainforests. I had no idea what the link was until afterwards. It turns out that there is a website called Club Penguin where kids have their own penguin and collect coins for penguin accessories. Every now and again they get a chance to give coins to a worthy cause. Kian told me that he always gives coins to help grow trees. He tells me that this is – "because without trees we will be dead."

Kian also went on to say "When I was young (and he's only 6!) I thought that it was important to win all the time but now I know that it isn't always." I had never heard them share in such a light before. I let them stay out late, talked to them like adults and, suddenly, I'm faced with two philosophers.

Connor then looked up at the stars, "Isn't that nice Uncle Ads, shall we join them together and make shapes?" I hadn't even noticed them until that point.

In those moments I felt grounded, connected and truly grateful to be alive. Magic is the ability to be in the moment and usually involves doing something different to that of the masses.

I went to catch a train at St Albans station last week. It was delayed and severe weather warnings had the staff advising us not to travel. I had an event to run and had to go into London. I ended up having a drink at the station coffee shop. It soon filled up and before I knew it I was joined by three ladies. Chatting to people that I don't know has not been a regular experience for me in St Albans but lately it has.

In adverse situations community spirit is nurtured for many. More people are smiling. More people are talking. And more people are feeling better. Maybe this is just a reflection of what I am feeling at the moment. Whatever it is – it has all been enhanced since the snow started.

How I feel has now become my number one priority in life. If it feels good then I will do it. If not – it's time to do something else. Right now, I am loving St Albans, the snow and everyone who I have met or smiled at me in the past weeks. Even a simple smile has the ability to transform someone's day.

My Christmas Carol Experience

As a kid I used to ponder the logistics of Santa's task. One man and over 6 billion people to deliver to all over the planet. How did he manage to get all around the world in one night? During my following years as a nurse I also used to listen to many people review their lives. Watching "A Christmas Carol" brought on a particularly contemplative mood for me this year and I decided to review my past, present and future around London on my own Christmas Carol.

I was always told that Santa was magic and that anything was possible for him. With so many chimneys, mince pies and various drinks to consume it is no wonder that his Body Mass Index is on the high side. He consumes more calories in one night than most people do in a lifetime.

On Christmas Eve I decided to dress up as Santa again and make a few people smile around London. So, I called a couple of like-minded friends, Nicholas and Hitesh, and off we went with a free hugs sign and a few smiles.

Eighteen years ago I left my job in the city – an experience that saw fun and happiness drain from my life. I worked in a monotonous job in the documentary credits department of a Japanese Merchant bank. We decided to walk through the city at the beginning of our walk. This would be our walk into Christmas past. Our Christmas Carol had begun.

As we handed out our first hugs of the day in the city we were approached by a very stern security guard. He informed us that we had no permission to dress up and would have to leave the premises. We did almost manage to make him smile as we offered him a hug, though he did warn us that he may not respond too nicely if we did.

We smiled and walked on through the streets of the city, with most people ignoring us. However, there were several who managed a smile and a group of tourists who did call us across the road to claim some free hugs. For me it was a reminder of how soul-less I felt in my city-job years.

We then ventured towards Bond Street and a livelier atmosphere. Here we were stopped more frequently as people queued for hugs and photos. This represented our walk of Christmas present. It felt good and we had a lot of fun in the process.

During just a few hours we were stopped and hugged by people from all over the world. People from Scotland, Ireland and Wales stopped, as did those from France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Russia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany. Others stopped from China, Taiwan, Thailand, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Israel Japan, Malaysia, Singapore India and Pakistan. Representatives hugged us from Mexico, USA, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, The Soloman Islands, Tonga, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and Mauritius.

So, I truly experienced the magic of connecting with people all over the world in one night. As we walked through the streets of London we sang songs, hugged people, witnessed more magic as children hugged us and spread the magic of Christmas to us. We were given free chocolate by a homeless guy, free mince pies from a lady in a restaurant, offered a free ride by a chap on a bike-taxi and given a free gift by one lady.

The feeling of connecting with people from all over the world is my walk of Christmas future. Nothing beats the feeling of smiling, feeling good, singing and making people laugh.

I managed to miss the last train home to St Albans. Normally, this would be a semi-traumatic experience, but not as Santa. Tubes were still running on the Northern line, so I went to High Barnet instead.

On the way I was stopped and asked for more photos and I had a sing-a-long with a group of high-spirited friends returning home. As it turned midnight I found a social gathering of friends in Barnet, who I hadn't seen for a while. I spent the next few hours with good friends, feeling great and was given a place to stay for the night.

On Christmas morning I was picked up by my sister and taken off for a great day with my family. I am feeling very grateful for being alive today.

Carlsberg don't do Christmas, but if they did…..!

I Believe in Santa All Over Again!

Yesterday I dressed up as Santa and joined some friends in London to give out some free hugs. Dressing up as Santa is something that I have done many times and I have had several free-hugging expeditions. However, I could not have prepared myself for the magical experience that I would have.

With no particular plan we drifted around London in 0 degrees. It proved to be a little cold, especially on the finger tips but we broke up our hugs with coffee shop stops and trips on the underground. At one stage we had about 15 friends giving out free hugs.

Throughout the day we gave hundreds of hugs each. This was particularly nice in such cold weather. I was also approached by several young children who wanted to be hugged by Santa. This was a wonderful experience.

Listening to skeptical views on what was in it for us was one call of the day. I was even offered money by one mum as I hugged her little girl! Disarming people about our intentions was another rewarding aspect of our day. Our aim is to spread a few smiles around London and feel good as we see the results. It is a perfect win-win investment of time.

As the day turned to night and our group thinned out we decided to go and sing some Christmas songs on the underground and hand out a few free hugs. This proved to be a great exercise in lifting the spirits of the tube. Not everyone wanted a free hug but a surprising amount of people did.

We had people sing along, lots of applause, lots of smiles and plenty of confused-looking people as we raised the energy of the tube.

When all of my fellow free-huggers finally went their separate ways it was just me heading home on the night train to St Albans. I did not anticipate that it would be snowing or that I'd have so much fun.

The train was crammed and the mood was generally low from a few returning revelers who were squashed together.

To cheer things up on a very crowded train I sung a few songs and a group of men joined in, easing the atmosphere. This also prompted a few songs from further down the carriage. About mid-way into the journey I noticed a very small boy, who could not have been more than about 5 years old. He was looking up at me, slightly bemused. I kneeled down to ask him how he was and, suddenly, all of the revelry around me stopped as the train travelers appeared to focus in on our conversation.

I had a chat with him before asking the young lad if he would like a hug. He nodded before giving me the most amazing hug of the day. It lasted several minutes and seemed to transform the mood of the train.

In those minutes something magical happened and it felt amazing. I felt the energy of the train shift as they saw Santa in action. He was clearly real for the young man and the incident brought tears to my eyes as I realised how he felt.

To touch lives in a deep and meaningful way, if only for a moment, is something that words cannot truly describe. Many people thanked me as they exited the train and I received a big cheer as I got off at St Albans. I returned home last night having people smile at me and even stop to say hello. This is not commonplace for me in St Albans with people I don't know.

For anyone who does not believe in Santa or the magic of Christmas I strongly recommend that you dress up and experience it for yourself. Today I feel better than I have all year. Yesterday I had some flu-like symptoms starting to manifest. Today they have gone and I spent most of my day in cold weather.

No amount of drugs, health care, rehabilitation or counseling will ever work as quickly as the desire to have fun, connect with people and touch lives in a meaningful way. I now believe in Santa and his magic all over again and feel very grateful for the gift that my fellow free huggers, numerous children and especially my young friend on the train home that I hugged, have given to me. Santa is, and always will be, as real as we allow him to be.

I have not felt this good in a long time.

A Weekend in The Garden of Eden

Magic is a wonderful thing. For years I have been bamboozled by the mystic genius of the likes of Houdini, David Copperfield, David Blaine, Derren Brown and Tommy Cooper. The escapism to our imagination is a most wonderful thing.

This weekend, through a most serendipitous chain of events, I landed myself in the garden of Darren Eden. The venue may have been a hotel room but all sorts were blossoming within those who attended.

Darren has nurtured a community of magicians, showing them how to tap into their intuition.

The simplicity of his message is the power of it – focus on what you love and take all obvious steps towards it.

When you spend time with magicians, synergistic wonder occurs. When you look for love from external sources you give away your power. When you nurture it from within, by loving yourself, then magical things occur.

Watching magic in action is the best way to develop your own. I learned many things about my life during this weekend.

I learned that football is a wonderful metaphor for my life and there are so many obvious steps towards getting what I love that I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I hadn't seen them.

I have never been the greatest footballer but I have always loved the sport. I have been injured, hospitalised, beaten, kicked, punched and head-butted over the years. I have had more near misses than I can remember and suffered some humiliating moments. However, I have also experienced some incredible highs, raised my game, played some amazing football and inspired team mates to new levels, way beyond what I thought was possible. I have conquered adversity and played in some shocking conditions.

The fact is that I have always entered each new game as a new beginning. Like watching a different movie – I never know what I will be facing and how my character will be tested. I love the excitement, unpredictability and team dynamic that is offered. Most importantly, as I begin each new game I swiftly forget everything that has happened in previous games.

Because I love football, the highs and lows are part of the rich tapestry that is the beauty of sport, life and what I love. Transcribing the same mindset to my business has given me a quantum shift in thought process. Previously I had been letting tough learning curves affect my mindset at the beginning of a new day. From now on each new day is a new game and a new set of goals.

Through focusing on my business, which is something that I love, I'll now be starting each new day as a new game. My goal is a straight forward one – score more than I concede. If I don't – learn, move on and get ready for the next game.

Life is simple – focus on what you love and take the obvious steps towards it. Today's steps involve writing this as a reminder to myself that I will be playing for the rest of my life.

Magic, Fairy's and Breaking Comfort Zones

I have just spent 11 days training with my business mentor, Clinton Swaine. This has been a vastly rewarding and beneficial experience. Many concepts are taught as he hones his students business and presentation skills.

One of the sections involved us dressing up in different costumes to add different aspects to our stage presence. We became 12 different archetypes during this 3 day section, including executive, motivator, commander, majician, majesty, channeller, pirate and fairy.

Much as the course taught us many things about breaking through our comfort zones the highlight of this section came when about 30 students, dressed as fairy's, went dancing on the lawn of the hotel where the training was based.

As we danced we were seen by a small child, no more than 3 years old. His wide-eyed expression was priceless and made the experience truly magical. Convincing this young lad that fairy's and magic aren't real may take somne doing!

Letting loose, breaking comfort zones and having fun is part of life's rich tapestry. I encourage all of you to give it a go one day!

Dealing With Challenges

  The last two days have been incredibly challenging for me. Over the past 7 weeks I have been spending a great deal of time and energy in getting my new Walk Innovation website up and running. It has involved daily liaison with my web designer, who was based in the United Arab Emirates.

  After 7 weeks of continued e-mailing and tinkering the website was almost perfect and my designer had told me that I would be able to easily edit the site. Originally, I had hoped that the site would be finished within a week and then realised that my needs were not being translated into actions. 

  As a trainer of NLP it is always important to remember that the meaning of all communication is the response you get. What I thought were easy to understand instructions were continually being ignored or misinterpreted by my web designer. Only through continued repetition of exactly what I wanted did I get most of what I did want done.

  Then came the bombshell - my designer had to move country and would not be available to help for at least 2 weeks. This led to a very rushed couple of days and an almost correct website.

  I then spent 2 days leaving flyers in every shop and establishment in the locality as I could, to get the word out. After this I decided that I needed to change some details on the site in the absence of my designer. Not being familiar with Wordpress I managed to lock myself out of the site (the reset password address obviously went to my designer's in-box and not mine.) So, I was locked out of my site and it had all gone horribly wrong. All queries were sending back an auto-responder message that we would get back to you as soon as possible - yet not reaching my in-box. I have no idea how many potential clients are still waiting for a reply that will never come. Great start for a new business venture!

  I watched 7 weeks of work undone in 1 second. This is a horrible feeling.

  My solution was to hold my head in my hands for a few minutes and let the reality of what had just happened sink in. Then I realised that it was my duty to transform the energy of this situation. My first task was to transform my mood. A quick click onto Youtube for some Eddie Izzard, Robin Williams, Monty Python and a bizarre Spanish lesson with a twist soon had me laughing out loud. I then meditated, asking the universe for help.

  Within minutes of finishing my meditation a friend of mine, Loren, who also happens to be a web designer, phoned me! She told me that we were going out for the afternoon and she would call by my house later. Clearly, Carlsberg don't do fortunate synchronicity, but if they did.......

  I was picked up, introduced to her friend, Natasha, and taken off to a lovely waffle house, sitting outside for a wonderful lunch. I was then taken to a favourite spot of mine, Tiki's Cafe, in Hemel Hempstead. The owner, Erkan, is an incredible man and has a very intuitive connection with energy. He sat down and spoke to me about a couple of niggling issues that I had, nicely buried in my unconscious mind. His questioning soon brought them to the surface.

  A little tweaking brought these out and made me realise how I had been holding myself back with my business. Simultaneously, Loren put up a temporary page on my website that stopped people from thinking that I would be getting back to them, when I wouldn't. She then agreed to redesign the site for me.

  In a few hours of magic my moment, minute, hour, day, week, month, year and life were transformed. After all, it is only the moment that we find ourselves in that dictates the life that we have had and will have. I'm tuned into the magic of the universe at the moment, I am grateful to my friends and I love my life.

  The gift of a situation will rarely be visible when the proverbial hits the fan. It is our belief that it is coming and congruence with our life path that expedites the journey from trauma to bliss. 

  I'm choosing bliss right now.

Resource management, magic, beards and cookies

  Sometimes it is easy to ignore the opportunities or magic that stare one in the face. This week, on my Santa, leaflet-delivery campaign around the neighbourhood I dressed up as Santa, once again, and prepared to go out. Having just broken up from school my nephew, Connor, decided that he wanted to go out with me - and he wanted to dress as Santa as well.

  This led to a trip into Borehamwood to see what we could find. On a pre-Christmas market day it was pretty busy. All of the main stores had no more Santa suits of any description. We had all but given up as we walked down the high street and back towards the car.

  I then noticed a shop that was closing down. They had minimal stock and I couldn't see any immediately obvious Santa suits. However, tucked in the corner were the final 3 junior costumes. Junior Santa was unleashed in that moment.

  I took Connor to pass out some leaflets with me. It was something that he took to like a duck to water. His genuine excitement at meeting new people was a refreshing angle on how to approach door-to-door encounters.

  After a tentative start on the first few houses he soon fell into his flow. He handed my flyers to all that answered the door, connecting with everyone. I have no doubt that he added leverage to my message and he made the process much more fun than it already was for me. Watching him connect with small children, who just looked on in amazement, was a magical experience. 

  Cars and even buses beeping and people waving as we walked down the road brought about a bit more magic. 

  One funny event was being spotted by a group of Connor's friends, claiming that I was not the real Santa. As we walked down the road I was pursued by this group of 5-6 year-olds claiming that I couldn't be real because my beard wasn't real and I wasn't fat enough. They advised me that I needed to eat a lot more cookies to achieve the weight that would make me look more real. 

  I'm not sure that the cookie, crash weight-gain advice will be enough to give me sufficient authenticity between now and Christmas. However, I will know to model the cookie monster next year and start growing a beard now if I'm ever going to convince the more shrewd members of the community of my seasonal status.

  As for Connor - all he wants to know is when we can go out and deliver more leaflets. A better intervention for a new business has surely yet to be discovered.