There was once a British warship docked at Southampton that was suddenly called into service as a result of some international emergency. The Captain, having assembled his crew and given them their orders, commanded that the ship leave dock immediately. His Chief...
We were staying at a beautiful resort in Croatia - Anna and myself and our two girls, Claudia and Sara. We’d been there a few days and by now we were all very relaxed and getting into the holiday spirit. It had been a particularly hot day, most of which we’d spent on...
We all have insecurities of one kind or another. It’s hard to imagine a human being who never experiences a moment of nagging doubt, no matter how successful they have been or how confident they appear to be on the surface. Just read the autobiographies or published...
Two friends, Stan and Eric, get up early and meet down at the quayside, having hired a boat to go sea fishing. They plan to spend the whole day on the ocean and Eric, being the less experienced fisherman, is especially excited at the prospect. They take the boat out...
What would you consider to be the clearest indicators that a couple’s relationship is in trouble? Would you guess a breakdown in communication, maybe unresolved sexual problems leading to silly rows? The clues might be even more ‘domestic’ in nature. He continues to...
You do everything right. Sitting opposite the table from the client you adopt his posture – legs crossed, arms folded. Not in such a way that he would notice, of course. You go about it subtly, shifting your weight and adjusting your position to mirror his every move....
The text came through as I was sitting at a table outside the café with my latte, on an otherwise beautifully sunny day in early August. I stared at it in confusion and disbelief for several minutes before calling my wife to deliver the awful news. Anna immediately...
She stands before us in the spotlight, shoulders heaving, weeping inconsolably into the microphone as she tells her story. This moment, here and now, is what she has lived for all these years. It represents all she’s ever wanted, for as long as she can remember, and...
“Make yourself comfortable. You’re feeling drowsy. That’s right. You’re feeling so tired now that you can’t keep your eyelids open, no matter how hard you try. As you listen to my words, slowly let them close and allow yourself to drift down into a deep sleep…”...
I don’t gamble anymore these days. I gave it up a long time ago but this was one bet that I just couldn’t resist. It was a high-risk venture but after a sleepless night during which my mind did cartwheels weighing up the various probabilities I calculated that the...
It reads like a story from one of those books about angels, or a piece of testimony from the back of a religious pamphlet. I had been delivering a talk about the uses of NLP and explaining about the Three Principles that underlie them (along with everything else)....
He was working in a low-paid job, just bumbling along collecting his wages at the end of each week. He had never shone at school, never achieved much academically. No prizes had come his way, nor had anyone expressed any particular interest in anything he had to say....