How NLP Changed My Life - Part 1 by Linda McCall

By Linda McCall – Guest writer

I think there was a saying once that stuck in my mind and it went something like this ” a person who is most flexible in their thinking is the one who is likely to be the most successful in life” so stay bendy while you read the following.

NLP has changed my life in more ways than one and has been an amazing tool for me to marry up with the body work I do with Zen Shiatsu and Yoga as you may already know, when you work with the body you quickly realise you are working with the mind as the Body is the Mind and the Mind is the body.

I would like to share with you a little story if I may. I started my training with Tad James Company in 2009 with the Hypnosis weekend in Perth. Then I followed with the Practitioner training in 2010 Brisbane and I had no idea of the extent of how powerful this stuff was until last year, when I was preparing to go to the USA to train an do my Master Practitioner with Dr Tad and Adriana James in Las Vegas.

As was reviewing over my Practitioner manual I found the pictures I drew in my manual I had sketched while I was in the course listening to Brad Greentree at the Prac training Course. Please note (at the time I was working for Qantas International as a Business First flight Attendant) and was doing the course so that one day I could leave Qantas and start my own business. After the course I went back to the normal flying and didn’t really do much with it consciously however unconsciously what I learned in the NLP Training was all working in the background and the cogs were whirling and doing their magic.

In April 2012 I took my scheduled leave from Qantas of six weeks and decided get my pilot licence, as it was something I had always wanted to do but never gave myself the permission to spend the money and I figured I would spend the same amount of money gallivanting around the globe on holidays so this time I was going to do some pilot training and learn something I am passionate about on my holidays.

When I started my holidays I had a gut feeling things were not going to be the same when my holidays were over and my life would be markedly different I didn’t know how or what but I just had a feeling.

I started my pilot training (just because I love flying and aviation) and was doing an intensive course on the Sunshine Coast. Every day I would go to my flight training and unconsciously and not really aware myself what I was saying but my instructor later informed me of my constant want to leave Qantas and start a business, I would chat to him about it while I was doing my walk around the aircraft and he just listened. By week 5 I had soloed and was finishing up my training and I got a Phone call from someone from Qantas who I briefly met on a flight I did to South Africa before I went of holidays and we exchanged numbers because we lived near each other and had a giggle together.

Anyway she had decided to take the Package from Qantas and was asking me about something we had discussed on a trip to Joberg one time and she went on to say, she was taking the package I promptly asked ˜What package?” I knew then that I was leaving Qantas! and she said “Well they are offering the Last package and if you want to apply it closes the following day at 5pm.”

I got off the phone and said to my partner Mark “Mark I am leaving Qantas”. Stunned he said ” well let’s look at the numbers Linda” and I said “sure but I am still leaving, this is my opportunity to step out, I am leaving” I had this feeling that I was definitely going but financially on paper it like a crazy idea and not a smart move” but I left and it was the best thing I ever did.

After I put in the paperwork faxed it off, the next day I want to my flight training and my instructor said to me “How are you?” and I looked at him like a stunned wide eyed deer in the headlights of a truck and I said ” Well my life has changed overnight!” he said “Why?” (worried)

I said “Well I just left Qantas I am taking the package and I am leaving”, tears streamed down my face as the fear set in with the reality of 12 years of my sweet secure cushy extremely well paid job flashed by me.

Ouch! What do I do now? I had no idea, but I was excited at the same time. Once that door closed I was able to see before me all the doors opening, I was offered an instructor’s job if I continued my training at GoFly Aviation and I was offered an interview for flight attendant training job with another external company but I knew that wasn’t what I wanted.

That was it, I never went back to Qantas after my holidays, only to give back my uniform and for my exit interview a few weeks later. As I finished the interview my manager said good bye and thanked me for my years of service at Qantas and I said ” Thanks for a great fun time” with the biggest grin and the excitement I felt of my future was awesome, and so that was the end of my career at Qantas and the beginning of so much more as I stepped into the pilot seat of my life and was the in control of my destiny.

So back to the sketching’s I made in my NLP Practitioner training, a year and a bit before all this.

Continued in Part 2