Possibilities Newsletter
July 2008
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Hello from Bill O'Hanlon. You are receiving this newsletter because you have signed up for it. If for any reason, you don't want to continue receiving it (it comes out once a month), please use the unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email.
"Summer's here, I'm for that," sings James Taylor. Me too. I love warmer weather, having grown up in the Chicago area (now I live in a place that is warm most of the year). I hope you in the Northern hemisphere are enjoying your summer. People wrote and told me they enjoyed the poem excerpt last newsletter so here's some more poetry. Keep walking, though there's no place to get to (Rumi)Keep walking, though there's no place to get to. Don't try to see through the distances. That's not for human beings. Move within, but don't move the way fear makes you move. Translated by Coleman Barks, from Unseen Rain, Threshold Books, Putney, VT, 1986 Until next month, yours in possibilities, Bill O'Hanlon, Santa Fe, New Mexico ( PossiBill@aol.com)
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Cool Stuff
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Book of the month: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Christopher Moore is one of my favorite authors, irreverent and milk coming out of your nose funny. This one is both irreverent and profound. I rarely re-read a book and this one is set for a re-read every so often. Check it out by clicking the link below.
Order Lamb through Amazon.com
Quotation of the month: "Sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness" -Terry Pratchett
Cool website of the month: [Thanks to Lynn Johnson for this resource.] HAVIDOL is for the treatment of Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD). Learn about this important new drug at:
http://www.havidol.com
Cool Research of the month: Urine trouble if you miss
This research was done at Amsterdam's Schipol Airport. Men, as we all know, tend to pee outside the urinal/toilet. Through a simple experiment, Schipol was able to reduce "spillage" by 80% by etching the image of a black fly into the urinals. Men's attention and aim are more focused, resulting in better aim. Will some entrepreneur begin producing toilets for homes with flies etched in them (or will some frustrated female paint one in the home toilet)?
Read about it at: http://www.coathanger.com.au/archive/dibblys/loo.htm
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| Handout of the Month
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Developing Focus
Bill O'Hanlon, www.billohanlon.com, PossiBill@aol.com
505.983.2843
[Feel free to copy and share this handout, but please leave my contact information on it. If you want to use it for any commercial (money-making) activity, contact me for specific permission.]
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In line with the research of the month cited above, here is a handout for helping yourself or others develop focus, sometimes difficult to do in this Attention Deficit-inviting/Short Attention Span Theatre world of ours.
Follow your energy
One way to develop focus is to attend to and follow what energizes you. Discover what is compelling to you, what has natural energy and "juice." Spend as much time and energy as you can on these areas in your personal life and work.
As a previously scattered person, finding what I was blissed about (Milton Erickson's work) and pissed off about (the disrespectful and ineffective nature of much of psychotherapy) helped me focus my energy enough to write my first 15 books or so. I had so much energy, I could overcome much of my typical unfocused habit.
Develop your focus muscle
Just as when you exercise, doing a little bit more than you feel like doing or think you can do develops muscles, you can apply this principle to becoming more focused.
When you feel like jumping from one thing to another, get yourself to focus just a little longer than feels natural and help develop your "focus muscle."
Timelines/upcoming events
I read a story about a businessman who found that when he had a trip coming up, he focused and got a lot more done right before he left for a trip. He traveled quite frequently, so he told his secretary to book fake trips four times a year and let him know at the end of the day just before he would have left for the trip.
Use deadlines, timelines, and upcoming events to help you get focused. Then notice what you do to focus and determine whether you could use the same strategies to get focused other times.
Reminders/written notes
It's gotten more necessary as I have aged, but I find that writing myself notes that will get my attention naturally (for example, by the door just before I go out of the house or on my computer screen) helps me stay focused on tasks or activities.
Habits
This strategy uses your brain and body to help you stay focused. Once you develop a habit (like driving the same route to work each day, journaling every evening at the same time of night or running every morning), there is a natural tendency to stay in that groove without effort.
Develop habits of doing things you want to focus on and let that habit create a natural focus for you.
Your own quirky patterns of focusing
I discovered through some experimentation that I could focus much more on writing my books when I listened to loud music while writing. Others have been appalled at this, wondering how it could help me focus, but it does. Still others have nodded their heads, having discovered the same thing about themselves.
What have you discovered, as weird as it may seem to others, that has helped you focus in the past? Try experimenting with that or some variation on that to help you focus when you are having difficulty staying or getting focused.
| A support person can help focus
When I have to clean up my piles of disorganized stuff, I havr to have another person around to help me stay focused and persist, I have discovered. Otherwise, I get distracted and wander off to other (less frustrating and more fun) tasks.
Consider temporarily using a friend or hiring a support person to help you stay focused on some important tasks or activities.
Medications
I'm not much on medications, but if I had tried the other strategies here nad any others I could come up with, I would seriously consider getting some pharmacological help to focus. You might be able to use medications only on the occasions you need to focus and not necessarily for the long run. |
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Upcoming Boot Camps and Intensives in Santa Fe
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Book Writing and Publishing Boot Camp; Santa Fe, NM
Get motivated to write a book, write it well and get it published
November 17-21, 2008
with Bill O'Hanlon
See details at http://www.getyourbookwritten.com/publishingcourse/SantaFe.html
Public Speaker Book Camp
January 12-16, 2009
Small group coaching for becoming a paid speaker, delivering compelling talks and workshops and getting on the speaking circuit in Santa Fe
with Bill O'Hanlon
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For details, visit:
http://www.billohanlon.com/events/intensives/presentersbootcamp/billohanlon.html
The Possibilities Process: Breakthrough to new places in your life
January 19-25, 2009
Small
group personal development seminar; challenge your limits, stop being small and shift your life to the next level
with Bill O'Hanlon
email Bill directly to arrange a phone call to ensure eligibility and fit: email PossiBill@aol.com
February 16-20, 2009
Internet and Computer Boot Camp
Using the Web for More Time, to Spread Your Message More Effectively and to Create Ongoing Sources of Passive Income; Santa Fe, NM
with Bill O'Hanlon and Ryan Nagy, aka "The Web Whisperers"
For details, visit:
http://www.thewebwhisperers.com
I usually offer each of these once a year and they often fill very quickly, so if you are interested, please act quickly to reserve your place.
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Announcements: New Teleseminar and Free Mind-Body Report
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New teleseminar: Enough Time AND Enough Money: How to Cut Your Worklife and Personal Projects in Half and Still Make a Great Living
I've noticed that most people either have enough time or enough money in life, but rarely both. As many of you long-time subscribers know, I have, over the past year or two, shifted my work life so that I have much more time than I have had for years. After twenty-plus years of crazed busyness, this has been revolutionary for me. Like a reformed smoker, I want to preach the gospel to other crazy busy professionals. to that end I am offering a 4-session teleseminar (telephone-based seminar) with some very practical strategies for cutting your worklife in half. You can also apply some of these methods to your personal life to decrease the time you spend on projects or to get long-delayed or frustrating projects completed. I will give information on the first half of the call and then coach anyone who has questions or implementation issues in the second half.
The calls will happen on four successive Wednesday evenings in August (August 6, 13, 20, and 27) at 9 p.m. Eastern time, 8 p.m. Central time, 7 p.m. Mountain time and 6 p.m. Pacific time.
If you can't make any of the calls, a replay will be available for each of them.
If accomplishing this is worth $100 to you, sign up now by clicking the link
Sign up for the teleseminar series
After you sign up, you'll get instructions by email for how to get on the call.
For a fuller description, visit:
http://www.billohanlon.com/events/telecalls/billohanlon.html
Mind-Body Report
Many of you know I've been speaking at a large mind-body conference each December on Hilton Head. The organization that puts on that conference, NICABM, has recently released a report all about mind-body healing. It's written by Ruth Buczynski, PhD, a psychologist and president of The National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM). It is a valuable resource that could really impact your practice (and your life).
For a copy of the report, go to http://www.mindbodymedicineupdate.com/?affid=spkrlBn11Ol
"A Mind/Body Medicine Update: What Every Practitioner Needs to Know," more than synthesizes where mind/body medicine is today; it reaches into the big ideas that we, as practitioners, will need to work with going forward.
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Bill O'Hanlon Workshop Schedule
223 N. Guadalupe #278, Santa Fe, NM 87501 USA; www.billohanlon.comInstructions for reading this itinerary: Under the month you will find the date(s) of each workshop, the title and location of the workshop. On the second line is the sponsor's name and contact information. If you are interested in attending a particular workshop, please contact the sponsor of that workshop for a brochure or to register. Thank you! August 2008
11-15-Positive Psychology in Clinical Work; Cape Cod, MA
New England Educational Institute, NEEI, http://www.neei.org
18-24-The Possibilities Process: Breakthrough to new places in your life [Filled; next one January 19-25, 2009]; Truchas, NM
Possibilities, 505.983.2843, PossiBill@aol.comSeptember 2008
5-The Science of Happiness; San Diego, CA (American Psychotherapy Association Annual Conference)American Psychotherapy Association, 2750 E Sunshine, Springfield, MO 68504, 800-423-9737, conference@americanpsychotherapy.com; www.americanpsychotherapy.com12-Resolving Trauma Without Drama; St. Louis, MOBill Bumberry, St. John's Mercy Medical Center, 615 S. New Ballas Rd., St. Louis, MO 63141, billbumberry@charter.net26-28-Metaphors Be With You: Using Stories, Rituals, Analogies and Other Metaphorical Interventions in Changework; Whalley UKFran Burgess, Director of Training, Northern School of NLP, Whalley, ENGLAND; admin@nlpand.co.uk; www.nlpand.co.uk30/October 1-Working with Challenging Clients and Keeping your Soul Alive; Copenhagen, DENMARKHenrik Vesterhauge-Petersen, SOLUTION, www.solutionfocus.dk, tel +45 45874035, solution@solutionfocus.dkOctober 2008
3-Topic to be arranged; Ostersund, SWEDENMarie Forneman, marie.forneman@jll.se4/5-Positive Psychology: Practical Applications in Clinical Work; STOCKHOLM, SWEDENFramnas Skola & Terapicenter, Danderydsvagen 6, S-182 62 Djursholm, SWEDEN, fax 011+46+8.755.422.92, info@framnas.com; Ernst Salamon, Revisvorvagen 10, 120 47 Enskede Gara, SWEDEN, Tel: 011+46+8+91.30.30; ernst.salamon@bredband.net10-12-Positive Psychology: Practical Applications in Clinical Work; Santa Fe, NMNew England Educational Institute, NEEI, http://www.neei.org
27/28-Reel Love: Couples issues Through the Lens of the Movies; Toronto, ONT., CANADAMichael Kerman, Leading Edge Seminars, 88 Major St., Toronto, Ont, Canada M5S2L1; 416-964-1133; info@leadingedgeseminars.org; www.leadingedgeseminars.org
November 2008
8-Reel Love: Couples issues Through the Lens of the Movies; Albuquerque, NM
Jim Zacharias, NMAMFT, jzacharias1@gmail.com
13-Keeping Your Soul Alive (Keynote); Resolving Trauma Without Drama (3 hour presentation); Vancouver, BC, CANADA
Jack Hirose and Associates Inc., 1770 Orkney Place, North
Vancouver, BC, Canada V7H 2Z1; 604.924.0296; 1.800.456.5424; fax
604.924.0239
jackhirose@shaw.ca; www.jackhirose.com
17-21-Book Writing and Publishing Boot Camp; Santa Fe, NM
Possibilities, 505.983.2843, PossiBill@aol.com; see details at http://www.getyourbookwritten.com/publishingcourse/SantaFe.html
December 2008
8-10-Ericksonian Hypnosis (3-day intensive); Hilton Head, SC
11-Short session - Better Than Prozac: Translating the New Brain Science into Greater Clinical Results; Lunch session: How to Get More Time in Your Personal and Professional Life: The Promise of the 20-hour Workweek; Hilton Head, SC
The National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine,
6D Ledgebrook Dr., P.O. Box 523, Mansfield Center, CT 06250, 800.743.2226; 860.456.1153; fax 860.423.4512; www.nicabm.com
13-Panel: Person of the Therapist: (w/Ken Hardy, John Norcross &
Michele Weiner-Davis); Panel: Brief Therapy for Depression (w/
Christine Padesky; Janis Abrahms Spring & Michael Yapko); Clinical
Demonstration: Inclusive Therapy; 2008 Brief Therapy Conference; San
Diego, CA
14-Inclusive Therapy: A Simple and Powerful Method of Dissolving
Resistance Derived from Permissive Hypnosis and Eastern Religion;
Change 101: The Seven Ways Change Occurs in Therapy and Life; 2008
Brief Therapy Conference; San Diego, CA
The Milton H. Erickson Foundation, 3606 N. 24th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85016, 602-944-6529, www.brieftherapyconference.com
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