'For decades we have thought that the cognitive capacity of our brains is genetically determined, whereas it's now clear that it's a lifestyle choice. What we eat and drink, how we learn at school and what type of moods we have are all crucial,' says David Horne, a business lecturer at the University of Central Lancaster, and authority on thinking and learning.

'Teach Yourself Training Your Brain' gives a wide range of suggestions, including cuddling a baby, cheating at school, reading out loud and doing your university degree in business studies. Co-authors Terry Horne and Simon Wootton say their recommendations are based on and backed by the latest research by leading experts around the world.

'People can make lifestyle choices that will not only prevent what used to be seen as an inevitable decline in cognitive [ability] after the age of 17 - something that IQ tests seemed to bear out - but will constantly increase our cognitive capacity throughout our adult lives. Our far-reaching suggestions will empower people to develop their cognitive capacity or just let it decline.'

Training

Practitioner Foundation Training in Clinical Hypnosis One weekend in three (approx), starting 26 Jan 08. Book now and save! More details

NLP and Time Line Therapy Practitioner
Now booking for Feb 08. More details here.

Learn Time Line Therapy Techniques
to add to your NLP skills! 28&29 Feb 08 - call Richard to find out more. 

Featured article 
How to get testmonials, by Bernadette Doyle of Client Magnets. See article at my newsetter weblog (below).

Harassment or uncivil treatment of women at work is bad not only for female employees, but for the productivity of the whole organisation. More

When we praise a child, our wording can either be specific (e.g. "You did a good job drawing") or generic (e.g. "You are a good drawer"). Research shows that this makes a big difference to children's motivation when things go wrong. More

Blame Dad It's thanks to Dad that girls are more cautious than boys - not just biology. More

Unhealthy alliance Drug Companies and the EU will render health supplements useless. Together they will set limits that make carrots and brazil nuts look dangerous. More

Clean Language is causing a buzz in the world of change work, as one of the most sophisticated interventions to emerge in recent years. According to Judy, 'This approach works elegantly in a massive range of situations:

- with individuals and with groups
- in corporate work or in personal, therapeutic contexts
- to model excellence or to facilitate change
- to heal the past, or to generate even better results for the future.

Judy explains, 'Clean accesses and uses the unique, individual metaphors which underpin a person's unconscious wisdom, promoting powerful, rapid and ecological change. That means that changes tend to stay changed! '

'By its nature, it's tailored to the needs of the individual, because the process is designed to cut out presuppositions, suggestions and assumptions and to respect the integrity of the client's system. And that makes a facilitator's life easy - you can sit back and feel truly confident in your ability to deliver, even in new and tricky situations.'

Judy, the 'online voice of Clean', works alongside the leaders in this field to spread the word about this beyond its home ground in psychotherapy and into businesses and communities worldwide, to 'change the way we think about the way we think'. A former media executive and news journalist, she is now a director of specialist Clean Language training and consulting firm, Clean Change Company.

In this free event, you will begin you'll begin your own Clean Language adventure. You'll experience the unfolding of one of your own powerful metaphors, to enhance and develop your specific skills.

Contact Richard to book your free place! Space is limited, so book early!

Training

NLP and Time Line Therapy Practitioner
Now booking for 27 October. More details here.

Learn Time Line Therapy Techniques
to add to your NLP skills! 19&20 October - call Richard to find out more.

Experience The Keys to Personal Power and Fulfilment
A two-day event that could change your life. 'Thank you ever so much Richard for giving me my life back.' - RL, recent participant. 1 & 2 Dec 2007. more details

Click here for prices & timings and on-line booking.

Introduction to NLP & Hypnosis - learn to use your brain! 8 eves - Mondays Luton adult education course AESL251P7- link; Tuesdays Oaklands College St.Albans - link.

Free Events!!

Clean Language workshop- Wed 3 Oct, 7.15pm - see above.

Free Invitation!Experience Time Line Therapy for free on Fri 19 October. You will be a client for a new student, under supervision. Or learn to use the techniques by staying for the two-day training (see below).

Thinking yourself sick Sometimes we expect medical treatment to work - and maybe that's partly why it does (the 'placebo effect'). But the reverse or 'nocebo' effect can occur, where symptoms worsen, side effects are exacerbated and drugs are rendered less effective. In other words, you're as bad as you think - or 'expectation of sickness begets sickness' - more.
Are women more emotional? Women do seem to cry more readily than men, but is that because they are less able to control their emotions? Brain scans show men seem to 'out-think' their and 'outweigh' emotion-associated activation - more.
Depression 'is worse for your health than asthma or diabetes' This WHO study says "doctors treating long-term chronic diseases, tend to focus mainly on the physical diseases - they are not looking for depression.Yet it's a much more effective way to improve people's health than just dealing with chronic physical illness. Treatment of mental illness is a necessity, not a luxury." -more.
Simple Techniques for Happiness Marty Seligman and others identify two techniques as being particularly effective for long term (six months) happiness: (1) Three good things in life: write down three things that went well each day and their causes, every night for one week. (2) Character ('signature') strengths: take the online inventory of character strengths and then to use one of these top strengths in a new and different way every day for one week - more.
Check out your own current happiness and approach to life: Four-question happiness questionnaire
24 - qn Happiness questionnaire
Approaches to happiness 24qns
Work-life - 5qns
Satisfaction with life - 5 qns

Is psychological momentum like real momentum? Would you say a sportswoman is more or less likely than usual to win her next game if she won her last game? This is the phenomenon of 'psychological momentum' - the idea of being on a roll, or on song. Researchers have shown the way we think about psychological momentum is like the way we think about the physical momentum of objects. more

Why, when we're distressed, do we sometimes smile? You might have found yourself doing it: smiling when really you're upset or distressed. Why do we do it? Is it to camouflage our true feelings from others? Or is it because smiling comforts us and protects us from our distress? Research says the latter. more

How to Spot Mr. Right Do opposites really attract? According to Paul Dobransky, don't bother with those too similar to you! more In the meantime. until you get Mr(s) Right....

Dumped, But Not Down Rejection is a fundamental law of the (social) universe. But if you laser in on every 'dis', you'll likely trigger a self-fulfilling prophecy. Rejection-sensitivity is on the rise, but you can learn to brave even the biggest brush-offs. more

"The Treasurer, Peter Costello, today announced that Australia's ranking on the Gross National Happiness index rose by 0.3 points during 2010. Mr Costello said that the rise was due to strong pro-happiness policies pursued by the Coalition government. He warned that Labour's policies would jeopardise the happiness gains of the past decade, leading to a sadder Australia."

The concept of 'Gross National Happiness' has been creeping into the agenda in Australia for some time. It's even on the UK Govt's minds, with senior Advisor Lord Layard, of the LSE, advising happiness lessons at school! (That turns even me a bit pale, I have to say!)

Can we measure happiness? Should we care? Existing surveys have posed fascinating findings. One global survey has Australia near the top and UK lower than you might have expected. Another study published in New Scientist magazine suggests that the happiest people in the world live in Nigeria - and the least happy, in Romania. People in Latin America, Western Europe and North America are happier than their counterparts in Eastern Europe and Russia. Now, whilst I'd agree that such surveys are imperfect, I do think we might ask ourselves, 'What's going on? What really makes us happy?

Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert says that Americans do a tremendous amount of "miswanting" - wanting things that will never make us happy. Studies show that having enough money for the basic necessities of life - food, clothing, and shelter, which cost maybe $40,000 a year - is all we really need for happiness. The effect of the next $10 million is negligible.

The truth is that we usually don't know what will make us happy. Worse, we don't know that we don't know, so we ardently pursue the wrong things.

Well, I've got my own ideas too, based on experience of working with clients over some ten years. I have pulled them together into a concept that I call, 'The Physics of Happiness and Fulfilment'.

We might say that we really want something - but so often we ignore the change that needs to come with it. So what really motivates us? Ultimately, it's when the payoff is better than the current 'pain'. Even so, we tend to make excuses. In my experience, there are only three issues that can spoil your motivation:

1. you really do feel you know what you want, but you have self-doubt in the way
2. you are not doing what you really enjoy, but your head tells you that 'you should stick with it'
3. you have never considered following what you feel, or never felt it.

Gut Almighty Intuition really does come from the gut. There are times when trusting your gut is the smartest move- and times you'd better think twice.
Does watching TV make us happy?Long TV hours lower life satisfaction and are linked to higher material aspirations and anxiety.
Feeling life treats you unfairly 'raises heart attack risk' If you think life's against you, beware - it could do more harm than you think.
Culture of long hours at work is dying out Men are increasingly choosing to abandon a culture of long working hours in favour of a better work-life balance.