Tiffany Kay
Four years ago I was running a successful business and training consultancy, LifeMatters. I had built the business over five years and although it was exceeding many of my outcomes, I was still not experiencing the level of fulfillment I desired. Around that time, I started to co-run open taster programmes in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). I found these to be deeply satisfying, yet the sessions were only making a small profit. Meanwhile my own business continued to grow and as a result, I begun to feel overwhelmed as the tension between the list of things to do and the time available became greater.
As I was driving home one day, feeling increasingly frustrated and wondering how I could get everything done, I received a piece of inner guidance that was so clear that I could not dismiss it. The message I received was to “drop LifeMatters”. It left me reeling. Was I prepared to give up my main source of income to pursue a new business that was not yet profitable in a completely different target market? It was a massive decision, but the guidance was so strong and direct, that I made the conscious choice to trust the message and the next week, I put the wheels in motion to wind up my consultancy.
Four years later, and I am now enjoying success on every level, running an NLP training company and coaching practice. I know I was right to trust the inner guidance. And this left me with an interesting thought… what would my life be like if I cultivated this guidance so I experienced it on a regular basis?
My search for more intuitive guidance began with considering where the message came from. What part of me knew the right decision, even when it made no logical or rational sense? As a trainer of NLP, I understand the distinctions between the Conscious Mind (the small band of current moment awareness) and the Unconscious Mind (otherwise known as the Subconscious). Whilst our conscious mind is focusing on a limited amount of data available in the moment, our unconscious mind can track and store every detail of every experience we have ever had. This means we are able to recall information about experiences from our past, often with great clarity.
But what is beyond the unconscious mind that allows us to make decisions on information about the future that has not yet happened?
The missing piece of the jigsaw came when I watched Jill Bolte Taylor’s inspirational speech on TED Talks. Jill is a Neuroanatomist who experienced a rare form of stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. Suddenly, she found herself on the other side of medicine, studying the brain from “the inside out”. As the left side of her brain deteriorated, she was plunged into the world of the right hemisphere. She describes this experience in her book, My Stroke of Insight:
“To the right mind, no time exists other than the present moment, and each moment is vibrant with sensation… Our perception and experience of connection with something that is greater than ourselves occurs in the present moment…in the absence of all the rules and regulations that have already been defined as the correct way of doing something, our right mind is free to think intuitively outside the box, and it creatively explores the possibilities that each new moment brings”.
This insight helped me to understand my own experience more clearly. Whilst my left brain had been engrossed in the logistics of driving, my right hemisphere was free to consider all of the options in my life and offer a perfect and ingenious solution to move my life forwards dramatically, yet effortlessly. I now refer affectionately to this all knowing, infinitely wise part of me as my Inner Genius!
Since that experience, I have been actively developing a relationship with my Inner Genius. I have discovered a number of daily rituals to encourage more of this wisdom in my life. This includes meditation, journaling, and simple breathing techniques. (For a recommended daily practice, Mind Power for Life, please see the resource links below)
There are no rules for discovering and working with your Inner Genius. It is a personal journey that requires practise and commitment. Like a muscle, the more you develop your inner guidance, the stronger it becomes. Your Inner Genius is an unlimited resource that will provide solutions and ideas in unexpected ways. When you take the time to listen to this intuitive guidance and then take action to follow through, the results are nothing short of miraculous. Connecting with my Inner Genius is now top of my to do list every day!
Resources:
Jill Bolte Taylor
“My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor Ph.D, 2008. ISBN 978 0 340 98050 7 Available on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stroke-Insight-Jill-Bolte-Taylor/dp/0340980508/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287398866&sr=8-1
Jill Bolte Taylor on TED Talks http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
Mind Power for Life
One of the fastest and most effective reflective practices I have come across is a technique called Mind Power for LifeÔ. Developed by John Overdurf and Julie Silverthorne, the founders of Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology (HNLPÔ) Visit http://www.mindpowerforfree.com for further information.
Tiffany Kay is a Certified Coach and Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology (HNLP)™ and Ericksonian Hypnotherapy.
She runs a thriving coaching practice, assisting clients to create and live inspirational lives. Tiffany has a successful career history including being voted the runner-up in North West Women in Business, Most Inspiring Female category in 2007. In addition to her coaching, Tiffany co-owns and runs a personal and professional training company, Go Beyond NLP Ltd. www.tiffanykay.com www.go-beyond-nlp.co.uk