NLP (neurolinguistic programming) is the art of turning language into action. In this longer episode (20 minute) Linda walks you through the four stages that transform an idea into something you do to get a result you like. You can get more background on NLP and more details about the four stages by reading this Free E-book.

Pain is experienced in your body, but it is created in your brain. When you appreciate that pain is a message designed to help you stay safe and heal, you can release your attention from the pain. At first, you notice the pain, and then you notice the parts of your body that are not experiencing pain. It becomes wonderful and interesting to explore what normal means and what normal allows you to do and to be. The episode takes you through an appreciation of your body's experience and your brain's experience and finally to your commitment to do what your brain and body need so that you can live with more engagement and more satisfaction.

Maybe you're stuck. You've been hurt or disappointed and you don't know what to do next. You're reaching for something you can't quite define. You're doing well, but you've hit the edge of your interest and there's no clear path ahead.  

When the Buddhists call it "monkey mind" they mean that the ideas, emotions, memories, passions and connections in your head act like a troop of monkeys, bouncing, climbing, feeding, interacting and making mischief. Use this brief exercise to help your monkeys settle into connection and prepare to work together.

This exercise takes a little more than 5 minutes to move your attention from wanting a strength to noticing that strength to expecting to find that strength in yourself and others. When you focus on how you experience a strength you would like to grow, you discover many different signs that strength exists in you and others. You also shift your focus from wanting to discovering, which builds the optimism that builds success.

Have you ever wondered how small changes in language can make a big difference to your ability to make a choice? In this podcast, we look at the difference between making a picture bigger and looking at the big picture when you want to learn to communicate better. Along the way, we'll think about how learning involves both new information and practice and the best way to combine those so that you see real change in your skills.

This is a shorter version of Linda Ferguson's 2014 Keynote at the HOPE Symposium: Go with Desire. It's an exploration of what it means to "want it" enough to endure and excel. Using the tools of NLP, Linda uncovers desire as an unconscious drive that creates different high-performance states and explores the consequences of dampening down desire to make other people more comfortable.

You can ride the lazy river of other people's expectations and circumstances beyond your control. You can notice that there is much that is already right and valuable in this moment's experience. But if you glance just once beyond the edges of the flow, you will awaken the hope that more is possible - more control of your direction and your momentum, more control of your results. And then hope will awaken desire - the fire in blood and bone and thought that drives you to action.