ChoicePoints May 2003

"Every choice is a bridge that takes us from where we stand in this moment and moves us into a repetition of the past or the creation of something new. Either way, the future is of our own doing."  _{Louise LeBrun}

This issue released: Tuesday, May 6, 2003

Spotlight On - people, products and pronouncements
Today's Thought
Coming Attractions!
Quick Updates
The Morphing Continues…
Did you know? - arcane tidbits for fun & frolic
Thought Waves

Spotlight On — Two New Certification Programs!

Beginning in June, we are offering new four-day Certification programs for those seeking powerful and effective ways of engaging with clients. These cutting-edge program experiences - as Guide for personal wellbeing or Facilitator for corporate renewal - build on your existing credentials to expand your abilities and evoke mastery when working with others. Calling on specific WEL-Systems® models, you'll be challenged and supported to engage at higher levels of thinking and deeper states of mind -- to go beyond what you know and to discover what can be.

Spirals of Logic Facilitator Certification - the opportunity to engage both your willingness and your ability to facilitate generative change in organizational systems. As a Facilitator, discover what it takes to stay grounded and confident in the midst of uncertainty, carving out a path that others can follow… becoming the difference that makes the difference! Go beyond the ordinary to invite extraordinary thinking from those around you. This certification experience provides you with cutting-edge tools based in the New Science and its application to human behaviour. Visit our web site for More information.   Logic, Creativity and Results  is scheduled for Halifax in June and for Ottawa in August.

CODE Model Guide Certification - is designed for those who are already working with individuals or groups for personal growth and wellbeing… and want to take a quantum leap in guiding others through profound and generative change. The CODE Model™ is engaged as a framework that connects the structure of thought to the physical expression of the body, with each being a clue to the other. The WEL-Systems tools and models bridge the gap between the intellect and the body… and far beyond that, invite integration of body, mind and Spirit for an experience of wholeness with lasting results; More information is available on our web site. DeCoding Wellness  is scheduled for Ottawa in July.

All of our Certification experiences are intense, guided journeys of personal discovery and empowerment. As you claim greater clarity within yourself, you become more effective in guiding others through their own journey of discovery. Be sure to contact us directly at Spirals@WEL-Systems.com or CODE@WEL-Systems.com if you have any questions on either of these two new adventures!

Today's Thought

"The mind has exactly the same power as the hands;
not merely to grasp the world, but to change it"
Colin Wilson

Coming Attractions!

We are pleased to offer you the following seminars, workshops and programs. Each one designed to provide thought-provoking and life altering experiences for your on-going personal and professional development.

The listing above only shows the first scheduled date for a particular location. For more details and the complete program schedule, see http://www.WEL-Systems.com/schedule.htm

Quick Updates

We're at the May 2003 meeting of the ICF/Ottawa coaches group

When:	Wednesday, May 21st
Time:	7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Price:	$10.00 (cheque or cash)
Place:	Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepoint Drive, Room 1B, Ottawa
RSVP:	to Gaetane Lemieux at lemieuxg@sympatico.ca

Topic: Partnering

Going it alone often feels daunting. Indeed, who can be it all, all the time, given the rigours of today's business environments? The partnering option floats into our awareness, calling its seductive call… it would be so much easier with a partner; think of how much more diverse our offerings could be; we could serve the customer so much better; we'd be so much more creative. Or would we?

If you've thought of working with a partner or are currently dancing the partnering dance (successfully or otherwise), this conversation is for you. Gwen McCauley, founding partner and Executive Director of the WEL-Systems Institute, will explore what partnering means for you, what it takes to make it work, and how to decide when its time to move on!

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Halifax in June

Louise is in Halifax for the one-day program Rapport, Relationships and Results an introduction to WEL-Systems:NLP. This in-house program is an evocative and effective way of engaging with others to create mutually beneficial results. It covers:

• the power of rapport at multiple levels of thinking and how to engage it
• how to choose, establish and deepen relationships for mutual benefit
• how the results you produce reflect your thinking and your world view

Contact us at Rapport@WEL-Systems.com if you'd like to bring this program to your organization or group.

The Morphing Continues…

…expanding scope

As an adult, you'll spend more time at work than anywhere else in your life. It's common knowledge that organizations play a pivotal role in the quality of our lives - for better or for worse. Since we're committed to working with individuals and groups in the creation of compelling lives - the kind that you can hardly wait to get out of bed for - we're bringing WEL-Systems program experiences to the office!

With ProGenerations - the newest WEL-Systems Institute operating division - we focus on the special needs and interests of organizations and the people who bring them to life. Discover how quickly and easily you can achieve the changes you've been seeking in yourself, your teams and your organization.

ProGenerations a refreshing new approach to organizational wellbeing.

…stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Did you know?

Your thoughts move objects all the time?

Science is closing in on an understanding of how our thoughts are used to move objects! Every day when you move your body, neurons in the brain behave in ways that result in muscular movement.

The Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California has been working to unravel the mysteries of this phenomenon and has made some amazing movement forward. Along with bioengineers from Arizona State University, they have begun to intercept the electrical discharges from a small group of individual brain cells (from the billions that communicate with one another during movement) and save them as code on a computer. Monkeys then 'learn' to use this code to move a cursor through a virtual space to a specified target… without using their arms!

Andrew Schwartz of The Neurosciences Institute says "This is the first time learning has been directly visualized at the level of individual neurons in a movement task. This approach leads to very good performance, allowing subjects to move the cursor with direct 'brain control' almost as well as they can with their hands"

Further research is planned using a robotic arm to reach and retrieve food using this visualization capacity. Applications may well include allowing paralyzed individuals to use their thoughts to activate external devices. And ultimately assisted by electrical stimulation of muscle tissue, people may be able to "think" their own paralyzed limbs back into action!

Thought Waves

This article was written by Allister Hain who completed the Ignited the Self experience in July 2002 and was certified as a WEL-Systems:NLP Practitioner.   In February 2003, he participated in the WEL-Systems experiences: Resourcefulness in Action and Influencing with Intention.   Allister is now also certified as a Quantum TLC™ Facilitator and a WEL-Systems Master Facilitator.

What has WEL- Systems® meant for me?

In April 2002 I knew I had to make some changes. Life had become boring, day in and day out, the same old thing. Everywhere I looked it was gray, it just didn't seem exciting anymore. I was dead inside. A friend of mine had taken an NLP practitioner course and suggested it might offer me the resources I would need to make the changes I desperately wanted to make in my life. How little I knew last July, when I walked into the first day of the WEL-Systems Institute's seven-day "Igniting the Self" program, that I would make so many profound changes and emerge with a new outlook on life.

The WEL-Systems Institute goes beyond traditional NLP training programs by combining NLP techniques with insights gained from the quantum sciences. This new paradigm creates an experience that produces significant intensive, life-altering transformations in individuals. I certainly experienced them.

There was a lot to like about the Igniting the Self program, although "experience" would be a better word to use to describe it. Every morning for the first hour there was a "touching base" session - an Open Forum which allowed participants the chance to talk about anything they wanted - the dreams they had the night before, how they were feeling, what was bothering them. The forum was an opportunity to integrate our personal observations with the WEL-Systems context. I gained a lot from just listening but felt equally comfortable offering my own thoughts.

By the second or third day, I began to feel a strong, warm connection with everyone in the room. It was a comfortable environment that allowed me to lower my personal walls. During break times you got a chance to talk with other participants - where they lived, what they did, how many children they had. For me, however, it was the exercises and activities during the course (where the content of one's life wasn't the primary factor) which brought me much closer to my fellow participants. The exercises allowed me to create a genuine connection with others and also allowed me to experience a deeper intimacy with myself.

My most memorable, transformational moment happened in a trance-like induction, during which a set of open-ended questions were read aloud. After each question you simply let your body meditate until you were ready for the next. After the third question I felt a rumbling in my stomach, a stirring of energy. Suddenly, it jumped to my throat, which constricted and tightened. I felt as if I would cry. One of the instructors was right there to help me through this sudden onslaught of raw emotion.

Why a question with no specific content should touch off such a strong bodily reaction is something I could not comprehend at the time. Louise LeBrun, founder the WEL-Systems Institute, believes our bodies are giant bio-processors, composed of trillions of cells processing information at a phenomenal rate. Our job is to simply breathe and get out of the way once that informational energy starts moving. Later, after examining the work of scientists like Bruce Lipton, Candace Pert and Valerie Hunt, I also accepted LeBrun's basic premise.

We hold energy deep inside us. We often label this energy emotion. Through relaxation, breathing and centering your attention deep in your body, we can allow our inherent energetic pathways to open and let the energy move. Once the energetic impulse moves we can then use our mind to gain insights from it. It is a simple three-step process: breathe, follow the impulse and tell the truth about the energetic impulse. This is the basic, fundamental premise of WEL-Systems. It is also, how I now hold my reality to be.

So what has happened since taking Igniting the Self? What is different in me?

My approach to life has undergone significant changes. There is a "calmness" that didn't exist before July. I used to hold a lot of anger within my body, which affected many of my interactions at home and at work. That anger dissipated during the Igniting the Self program. Recognizing that it was simply energy, labeled as anger, has allowed me to use that same energy for activities and thought, I believe are more positive and creative. The people who have known me for some time now comment on how calmer I am than a year ago.

That calmness can be directly related to my breathing. I am now more aware of my breath. Now, my breath and my attention are found deep in my body. The change in breathing has helped me deal with some extremely stressful situations that have occurred since July. The ability to approach these crises with calmness, a positive outlook, even serenity, has given me added insight into what I am and who I can become.

The Igniting program helped me to develop a much higher level of sensory acuity or rapport, both with myself and others. This has allowed me to strengthen my daily interactions with others. My conversations have become deeper, more honest, more in tune. Often those conversations lead to resolution of problems in a quick and timely manner. Now, what's important to me is connecting, on an energetic level, with another person. It is the connection, the relationship I can establish, which excites me so much.

The Igniting experience has helped me realize that all facets of my life are connected. By making myself aware of my habitual patterns I realize just how habitual they really are. The same patterns exhibit themselves in work, in play, at home, in the car. By becoming aware of your habits, you then have the choice to keep doing the same thing (if they are useful to you) or changing them (to something more useful). And once you're aware you have a choice, I believe, you can never go back to your old life.

Finally, the program allowed me to discover an innate flexibility in me to adapt and roll with life. For me that's a profound insight. No longer do I need the control and certainty that we think is important to leading a happy life. I now revel in my world's uncertainty, this unpredictable life of my choosing. I accept life as it happens and if I choose, I also know I can change it at any time - this very second - if I want.

For me, the WEL-Systems Igniting the Self program was transformational. I now have an understanding of who I am and who I can become. It has led to an explosion of unlimited possibilities in my life. The sky is bluer. The music more melodic. The love much more intense. I am alive!

The WEL-Systems® Institute
260 Hearst Way, Suite 210
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada  K2L 3H1
Tel: (613) 254-7218
info@WEL-Systems.com