Attending a Richard Bandler training course is advertised as “promising a whole new level of experience.” Tempted, I recently joined one.
I was rather sceptical about how 350 people could all be affected similarly, but I went with an open mind. Getting to London is a bit of a trek with a car, train, two tubes and walk, all of which are invariably accompanied by engineering works, staff shortages and inclement foliage.
Thus it proved to be on my first inward trip, but on the return journey I was joined by a fellow attendee who asked for my assistance on finding the tube – a 15 minute walk away. A delightful lady from Scandinavia who entertained me on the hot walk back. We parted ways at Victoria and I made my way to the over ground station.
Trains here are infrequent at best and my usual poor timing invariably means that I wait between 25 and 58 minutes for a train. I was therefore stunned to find a train waiting for me on the platform. Of course it was heaving with day trippers all crammed into a train reduced to 5 carriages from the normal 8.
I hopped on and as I stood at the doorway and scanned the carriage for a seat, a woman waved to indicate a seat near her – sweet! To the left of me sat a blind couple with a beautiful Labrador guide dog at their feet. Even better!
I relaxed and decided to read my new purchase, Richard’s “An insider’s guide to sub-modalities”. We had only travelled one station when the couple, their dog and friends got up and left. The train was just about to depart when the doors were prized apart by a fat, sweaty drunk, who leant against the doors preventing their closure. The guard blew his whistle frantically and when ignored, a public announcement boomed across the platform, “Stand clear of the doors. This train is ready to depart.” But he stood defiantly, shouting encouragement to Sam, Brian and Zoe to hurry up. Slowly, three drunks wheezed and panted their way along the platform and staggered onto the train, loudly claiming that they were about to expire.
Naturally they sat next to me, puffing, belching and farting their toxic fumes over everyone nearby. They chatted loudly for a few minutes about the match before noticing me. One leaned over, “Say love, what you reading? Sub…model…tees. What’s that then? Something to do with submarines?” “No” says I. And I attempted a brief explanation using a football match where their team won as an example of a positive image. “Have you got an image?” “Yeah, it’s bright and colourful.” ”Yep, that’s it and you could compare that with an image of a memory that was not so good.” I was going to suggest a match where his team lost, but he was way ahead of me and said, “Oh you mean like a funeral?”!
Of course the others joined in and wanted to get back to submarines and asked me about the newly named one: “Boaty McBoatface”. They rambled on for a while and moved onto the topic of the new mayor of London and I realised I was never going to read my book!
They worked their way through a huge pile of cans of lager and provide me with a little respite when they went in search of bathroom facilities. An hour later they stood to leave and one guy gathered up all the empty cans in his arms. Although clearly not bothered about air pollution, he was going to do his bit for recycling! As he reached my seat he leaned towards me. “You’re such a lovely lady, I want to apologise for disturbing your peace and I just want to give you something…” I tensed, anticipating the worst, “I want to give you my last can of lager” and plonked a can on the table in front of me!
The woman opposite me burst out laughing and we chatted about her day. She had been to a hen party - a lunchtime do for a sick work colleague. I responded saying oh dear that must be difficult. She agreed and described how the woman had few friends being sick and was fortunate to find love so late in life but was moving to Birmingham as she thought that would help. At first I thought it impolite to ask for details, but after she described her friend as sick several times, my curiosity got the better of me and I asked “Goodness, just how sick is your friend?” She looked perplexed, “Sick? Oh no, she’s not sick, she’s Sikh.”
So for the entire journey from the moment I left the course to the time I got home, I had the most entertaining and delightful journey from start to finish. If this is any indication of the Bandler effect, then I can’t wait to see what magic the next 8 days hold for me. All I can say is, bring it on!
