A thought for every Sunday in 2020

1. Linda R. Ferguson
AYear of NLP
A Thought for Every Sunday in 2020

2. Welcome to A Year of NLP
It’s likely that you’re looking forward to some tips and techniques that will improve your
feelings or your results. You’re hoping that I have something in this book that will make a
difference in your understanding of how people work. And you’d like to understand
quickly, because you have so much that needs to be done. I get that.
That’s why this is a book of poems. They work fast and they work deep. I know you
probably don’t think you read poems but you do look at the quotations on social media
posts. Poetry isn’t what it used to be. It’s often just a few words and a picture that make
you smile or think.
There’s a poem here for every month of the year, and you don’t have to read a whole
poem at once. You can think of them as a collection of Facebook posts, and just read
one every Sunday. You can even skip around and read the verse for your next vacation
or your birthday or someone else’s birthday. Each verse is part of a poem, but each
verse will also give you something good when you read it on its own.
Every Sunday, you can read a few words that represent an NLP technique applied to the
time of year and the theme of the poem. We begin with “Cold Starts” in January,
because don’t you hate getting out of bed when it’s dark and cold? I do, too. Yet January
is also a great time to get icy clear on what you want and what you value. And after
working through all four seasons, we will end back in December with the season of
lights.
If you’re a person who journals, consider writing about the Sunday verse two or three
different times. We are not good at repeating ourselves. Revisiting a thought invites new
insights. You can dig deeper the second or third time. Or write about two verses
together and find out how they speak in connection.
You can read the whole of each poem, and notice how the parts build the theme. You
can read all of the poems, and get a feeling for the whole of your year in just a few
minutes. This book is not a monument; it’s a set of building blocks.
When you need hope, you’ll find it here. When you need perspective, you’ll find that
here too. When you need a reframe or a shift or a new point of view, you’ll find those are
all here. This is a book of NLP tools. They just look like poems.

3. January
Cold Starts
January 5
Room temperature is lower
than womb temperature
From the beginning, we start cold
It is movement that makes us warm.
January 12
You’ll wait a long time for the perfect time
Every hot streak starts
With getting out of a warm bed
And making something happen.
January 19
It’s not just cold; it’s dark in the morning
You tap your phone to light the way to the coffee
Knowing a small light is enough
To show you the next step.
January 26
The circumstances in winter
Are always wrong. It’s too dark, too cold, too messy
Start anyway. Your inner climate
Is warmed by will, not won’t.

4. February
We Is A Magic Word
February 2
We are not alone
Born into connection
So we can borrow strength
February 9
Do something together
Movement drives connection
Learn from one another.
February 16
Family is a state of mind
A connection we build
With heart and hope
February 23
At the centre is you
You conduct your connections
Their voices, your music.

5. March
Slower Than You Hoped
March 1
Spring will come but almost always
it comes with uncertainty
slower than you hope
March 8
You cannot make change safe or certain
When you experiment
Failures are teachers too
March 15
Frustration won’t last forever
You will break through with unsteady steps
Falling forward, failing forward
March 22
Sharpen your eyes and open your ears
Give up what you know to discover
Signs of what you hope
March 29
Knowing change is almost upon you
Feel your breath and find your balance
Gather yourself for the spring ahead.

6. April
Recalibrate
April 5
Ask what comes next
as if you did not know
as if a new path might appear
April 12
Expectations are grimy windows
If you did not already know
What else would you notice?
April 19
Never ignore what shines
You cannot replicate
What you do not observe
April 26
Both hopes and fears
Are seeds fertilized with attention
What are you growing?

7. May
Small Wins
May 3
There’s nothing insignificant
About starting small
It takes acuity to see new growth
May 10
When you are not seeing progress
It is time to make some
A small step is an act of power.
May 17
Luck is like four leafed clovers
You find it by looking for it
A reward for active optimism.
May 24
Success sometimes arrives
Like rain on a long weekend
A messy messenger of growth.
May 31
Engage enthusiastically in your process
Joy comes from engagement
Achievement is a by-product.

8. June
Momentum
June 7
It’s easier to keep on moving
Than it is to start cold
So take that next step.
June 14
A checklist makes it easier
To make your next choice
A good choice.
June 21
Get outside for some tree time
Remember to balance on your roots
And reach for the sunshine.
June 28
Don’t go with the flow
Be the stream itself
Inevitably in motion.

9. July
In Flow
July 5
To be sense-able
is to give up analysis
seek out what you want five times over
one sense at a time.
July 12
Suddenly, a sensation
Pulls you out of presence
Into memory so clear and real
You can use its power
July 19
Laughter releases us into connection
We grow through the strengths of our friends
Not leaning
but leaping
July 26
Take your old ideas out of the box
Side by side they look different
Unfamiliar enough
To generate possibility

10. August
A Discovery of Edges
August 2
It’s the season for beach walks
where opposites meet
pull and release
August 9
On patios and picnic blankets
The world turns inside out
Exposed and relaxed
August 16
Power and freedom meet at an edge
Like the shifting between sand and sea
Experienced through bare soles
August 23
The rhythm at the edge
Alternately insists and soothes
Integrates air and skin and sea
August 30
In integration, we find
Not strength or achievement
But the energy in between.

11. September
Reconnect
September 6
New schedule, new routine, new rhythms
The familiar rush of return
To the work of connection.
September 13
What’s different as you step
Away from the edges
Your eyes on the horizon?
September 20
Feel the beat of your breath
An equinox of self and world
A syncopated give and take.
September 27
A new pulse pushes to your skin
Mental muscles tensing and relaxing
Exploration pulls toward discovery.

12. October
Collaborate
October 4
Resources grown in solitary reflection
in individual analysis and vision
are best when gathered
with a group.
October 11
Appreciation hangs from two threads
Perception and intention
If you don’t know why it’s good
You won’t be thankful.
October 18
What you appreciate grows
The strength you recognize stabilizes
In the person observed
And also in you.
October 25
In a team, each individual achievement
Is a note in a chord
Shared goals and shared strengths
Are also self discovery.

13. November
Loose Ties
November 1
To explore beyond the limits
Of comfort and understanding
Toss a line and tie it loosely.
November 8
Nothing is so strange
That it does not connect
With the edges of your understanding
November 15
Conversation depends on listening
Instead of choosing your words
Choose curiosity.
November 22
Reach out to mend the gaps
You can see from your side of the bridge
Everyone is stronger when the bridge holds.
November 29
Don’t check the mirror before you speak
Become a mirror for what you see
Reflect another’s strengths.

14. December
Make Light
December 6
When the days are short and dark
You have two choices
Find a light
or make one
December 13
Make light of what weighs you down
Interrupt your fear
With random acts of laughter
And small gifts
December 20
In the dark, sparks fly
Bits of the future you desire
Ready for a well-directed breath
To blow them into light
December 27
Hold tight to knowing
Night inevitably ends
Choose vision, choose courage
Choose hope.