Gary K. Burns

I’m often asked what attracted me to coaching, NLP, and hypnosis. How, they ask, did I get into training? What, they wonder, is my motivation?

I’ve met many different people over the years. Importantly, some have inspired me. Worryingly, a few have troubled me. Mostly, though, I’m struck by the thought that generally we’re all doing the best we can with what we’ve got. Indeed, it’s one of the presuppositions of NLP; everyone is doing the best they can with the resources that they have available.

I’ll be honest here. I’ve met people, many people, who don’t seem to be using all their potential, held back by whatever is holding them back. Prior to learning about NLP, I couldn’t understand how anyone would want to stay stuck, not move forward to more, to something better.

However, the reality is that our barriers to success come in many guises. Possibly, it’s a lack of self-belief. Maybe it’s about past negative experiences. Potentially, it could be a limited sense of who we are and what our place in the world is.

It is only now, or at least, more recently, that I’ve realised that I don’t often look back. Interestingly, my focus has almost always been on now and moving forward. Obviously the past is gone. I can learn from it (and I sometimes wish I’d done more of that) but the truth is that it’s been and done. Not everything has worked out. The experience, though, has always been rewarding.

Coaching, life coaching, gave me a route to work with people and support them as they also move forward into a new model of the world. Crucially, NLP has helped me understand the power of the mind, the power of language, and how we can engage both to our greatest advantage.

Additionally, hypnosis has given me insights into the power of the unconscious mind. And the more we use that power, the greater our results.

Finally, training is all about giving others tools which they can choose to use or not. I know that not all training is like that. Sometimes it does have to be directive. Yet, when talking about change, about being more, about being differently, it’s all about empowering and showing people how to be at cause, in charge, taking control.

So, this is me. Life is generally good. Obviously I mess things up. Sometimes I can be hard to live with. I am, after all, only human. I do, though, believe that I am routinely doing the very best that I can with all that is available to me. Of course, it’s also OK just to put your feet up from time to time and do nothing. So long as we’re all winning together, how much more can we ask?