May 2010

Another hectic month in prospect.  When not seeing clients or doing other work I am due to be shut away in my studio composing and producing music for the latest set of Second Chance recordings.

I have also decided to formalise my hypnotherapy learning and apply for the General Hypnotherapy Register which all being well means that I will be able to add the letters NRH (National Register of Hypnotherapists) after my name.  This consoldates the trance, hypnotherapy, relaxation and visualisation work that I am already using in my therapy work and of course recognises the training I have had from my friend and mentor (yes it's that man again), Mr Lovely Mark Stipanovsky.

Towards the end of the month we also plan to relauch Project Lovely after a period of inactivity whilst we focused on other projects.  Initially this will be online and will see the linking of several strands of our work including Songs of Katrina, my SongSmith nights, and my own music either being launched or re-launched primarily on Facebook.  For the first time we will also be dipping our toes into the murky waters of Twitter.  Links will be posted here when they are up and running.  We are also present on LinkedIn, the professional networking site and both of us have been involved in helping John set up and promote the new Process Communication group there,  It has many interesting discussions and is well worth a look.  We have met (virtually) many really interesting professionals from all over the world.  Mark was also very active in the management and expansion of the Transactional Analysis International Network group on the same site which again is a very useful resource for anyone interested in TA. 

April 2010

The dominating factor this month has been the Institute of Transactional Analysis conference.  As well as preparing our own workshop we have been deeply involved in the preparation and running of the conference.  Mark as Head of Presenter Services and myself as Co-Chair of Conference (along with my colleague Frances Townsend).

Our workshop material this time was drawn from the book  How to Cure, based on the work of Southy Swede and taken from the forthcoming re-printed version of the book of the same name to which we will be adding new material.  We aim for this to be available as a download in July and in print later in the year.

The high points of the conference for me however, apart from all the lovely people, were playing an hour set of covers and my own songs in the Keele Hall (lovey acoustics) and being able to introduce the closing plenary which was given by the inspirational octogenarian Jean Illsley-Clarke.  She has been involved in education for many decades and is an example of health and vigour to people half her age.  I love that she says that the last 25 years of her life have been the best and she gives me great hope and a target to have just a fraction of her thirst for knowledge and energy when I reach that age.

At the end of the month I completed my PCM training and now have to present 3 supervised coaching pieces and pass an oral exam later in the year to gain another qualification from this course recognised by the International Coaching Federation.

March 2010

Mark and I have been focusing on our continued professional development this month.  When we were presenting in New Orleans at the Mary Goulding Memorial Redecision Conference in November last year we were priviledged to have in our audience Dr Taibi Kahler and Dr Paul Ware who originated much of the material on which we based our presentation and sparked the inspiration for the ChoicesMap.  Dr Kahler as well as creating Process Therapy Model for Transactional Analysis which later inpired Vann Joines to co-author with our tutor Ian Stewart 'Personality Adaptations' has been very active in organisations including NASA expanding his theory for use in companies and corporations to improve communication and management.  He was good enough to put us in touch with his representative in the UK the lovely John Parr and we have attended his introductory workshop on Process Communicaiton Model with a view to taking the coaching qualification later in the year.  This will enable us to enhance the services to our coaching clients.

February 2010

This month Mark and I have been in the studio concentrating on expanding our range of hypnotherapy products and adding to the series The Secret of the Second Chance with another 5 titles due for release in June and July.

January 2010

This month has seen the digital release of the first installment in the Second of the Second Chance.  An Introduction to Positive Psychotherapy by Mark Stipanovsky and Quentin St.Clair is now available from I-Tunes, Amazon and all other good download sites.

This month's tops are a compiled list from various sources of Q's top tips for a happier life.

Q’s Top Happiness Tips
1. Gratitude list – regularly think who am I grateful to and why. Can be written or said as a pseudo-prayer or just thought. Make a list of all the lovely people in your life.
2. Regular accounting – particularly if you are the sort of person that worries about what you haven’t done try making a list of the things you have done and what you were successful in. Make a list of all the lovely things in your life.
3. Character Strengths and Virtues – instead of focusing on your faults remind yourself what is good about you, what your particular character strengths and virtues are.
4. Regular goal setting – what are you wanting to achieve in the next 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, 6 months. Keep your focus and keep it flexible and dynamic
5. ‘Not to do’ list – make a list of the things that you no longer want to do and spend your precious time on and stop doing them. Can be from practical things such as smoking or not hanging your keys up to mental activities such as negative thoughts and beating yourself up. Basically anything you do that doesn’t take you nearer to one of your goals stop doing and stay focused.
6. Reward yourself when you do something that takes you towards your goals – be ware of addictive rewards such as sugar and alcohol though allow yourself those too if you want – remember you can lose weight on the cake and red wine diet however focus more on stimulating things you enjoy – meeting a friend, watching a film, taking a long bath – make it something that takes time for yourself.
7. Don’t focus on stopping things, focus on what your going to do instead. Instead of smoking I will phone a friend for ten minutes. Instead of creating stress situations I will sit and meditate.
8. Plants – have greenery around you – care and nurture of a house garden
9. People – Friendships, Family, Partners – stay in relationships providing they are healthy ones for you
10. Animals – pet or some sort of animal related activity such as horse riding