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Word Warrior — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:38:23 +0000

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Day 1 Fearless Flyers Course…

It occurred to me when listening to Madalyn the psychologist’s talk that one can get blasé about just what it takes to make the decision to go to Fearless Flyers. Basically the process starts at the point where everything else I tried failed.

1. I tried to hide my fear

2. I tried to distract myself from the fear

3. I tried telling myself I that I was just being soeky and silly

4. I figured everyone else flies, why can’t I?

5. I figured it might go away.

6. I took tranquilisers but they knock my body around and I don’t like the idea of drug dependancy at all especially since I am a massage therapist and am horrified that we take pills to solve our problems.

7. I once stuck a sewing needle in my leg in flight to bring me out of my ‘panic’ mode….

So enough reasons.. nothing I tried worked… and after missing out on all these years of not being able to just get on a plane and go and see my family SA and the UK … and xmas is coming up where I will be on my pat malone… I figured this is nonsense.. that was the moment I took the decision to jump through the eye of the needle instead of sticking it in my leg!

So here I was … sitting in Air Services Australia building with the Fearless Aunties.. Glenda, Julie, Pat … and listening to a psychologist, a pilot and a structural engineer… as the morning progressed I found myself realising that relaxation for me starts with the releasing of muscle tension and then breathing.. up until now, I had always started with the breathing… and that then became a ‘thing to control’… with no muscle tension, it is extremely hard to reach a state of panic… that is what I have control of via my para-sympathetic nervous system (the bits you can control.. to some degree.. your muscles and your breathing).. as opposed to your sympathetic nervous system (your heart beat, your liver doing its thing etc)…

This was a breakthrough for me because I have studied Pranayama Yogic Breathing with my Indian guru, Manish from the Relaxation Centre of Queensland. No reflection on him but I figured I had missed the point of what he was teaching when he first got us to release our muscles and then focus on breathing.. I skipped the clench muscle thing and just go into the breathing thinking that was gonna solve my problems.. so I GOT it finally….

Captain Nik (dreamy Capt. Nik)outlined the rigorous training pilots have to endure before they even make it to sit in the cockpit… it also became apparent to me (only at the end when he showed us a picture of his beautiful wife and gorgeous daughters) did I realise the pilot doesn’t want to crash the plane, he has loved ones he has to return home to as well.. This humanised the pilot for me .. for some reason, over time, I didn’t see how I had put the pilot in the zone of … not human….silly but true darlin’s… when I think about the pilot of the plane I will flying now.. I see his family… and I realise that I am part of the flying family.. he wants to get home to his family as much as I want to get home to mine and that makes us ONE and the same in our intentions .. this is where we are one, we are all connected, inextricably..

The structural engineer from melbourne explained how everything within the aviation industry is ‘controlled’ – from its people to its data to its equipment. Nothing is left to chance. All critical systems have built in redundancy, sometimes up to 3 redundancies for one critical system. It is clear to me that the industry takes itself very seriously and doesn’t allow any room for error. It is quite remarkable how we travel in cars on the ground and we aren’t afraid, yet some of us are terrified of planes…. Nik’s stats showed for 2005 we notched up a road toll of 1636 for the whole of Australia in comparison to 19 for the whole of Australia’s ‘anything and anyone can fly’… parachutists, gliders, planes, you name it…

In spite of the supportive environment, I couldn’t help notice that my buttons were being pressed here and there. My emotional issues surfaced without warning around certain topics.. and the thing that Madalyn also made me realise is that it is worth considering that sitting in a plane for 12 hours or so, you have little choice but to face where your mind is at.. I figured, if I took my mind on a trip and it was me and it on an island.. we would have killed each other by now.. the chatter, the incessant negative thoughts about flying , the fear it gives me around the concept of being in a plane – there is only one solution but to shut it up somehow.. (with a sharp implement of some sort)… Positive reframing of thoughts is the more effective positive way to deal with this and I have had much practice in this area since, I have come out of a 7 year PSTD in 1995… I have had several life experiences since where I have had to stay positive to get through and I have come along way. The plane is now my last frontier, I believe, apart from exploring and getting to know myself better. Here is where I will meet my nemesis.

All day yesterday, I was reacting … it was like the devil was sitting on my left shoulder…

‘You don’t have to go on this trip’

‘you can back out at any time’

‘you know you will have a panic attack up there, then what are you gonna do?’

‘you are so stupid, letting yourself in for another flight of terror – what are you thinking’

‘why are you doing this to us?’

‘you know this isn’t gonna work because you have tried this yourself before and no-one can help you darling, only you can.. and you know you’ve tried and it didn’t work.’

‘If you think you are going to get on that flight, you are dumber than I thought’

‘What makes you think this is gonna be any different?’

‘How are they going to cope with you when you get into that state up there?’

‘you are a sucker for punishment, it is so much easier just staying where you are…’

Gosh, all these thoughts and more, and then the angel on the other shoulder….

‘Damn it.. I am going to fly even if it kills me, I want to see my family, I want to be free, I want to travel anywhere I choose to be, I got things to do, I want to go to Hawaii, India, South Africa, Serbia.. I want to live my life man! I want to taste the cultures, language, experience the people, I have work to do, good work, I want to help out with disaster relief, I want to be the person who brings my healing abilities to those who really really need it and to do that I need to travel God Dammit.. and if I can’t heal myself, what use am I to anyone else?

Yeah… bloody hell.. so here we are Day 2.. I am sitting here with wet hair, wondering if I have to go into the control tower in the lift.. my stomach tightens.. freakin lifts.. lifts don’t have pilots do they? They bloody well should. AND they should have regulators.. we stuff people in lifts like cattle and there is little consideration for how much the passenger enjoys the trip… no-one cares if you get stuck in the box… not only that but they are a huge strain on the environment, sucking electricity to transport one lazy person up two flights of stairs.. decadence… lifts should only be used by people who can’t scale the stairs.. seriously.. I walk 6 flights of stairs on a daily basis.. (only because I am scared to travel in them.. for no other noble or environmental reason but that I don’t like to feel trapped).

All of this stems from being stuck in a lift when I was 4. I was too short to press the button.. and all my life I have been ‘stuck in a lift’.. I did some inner child therapy and walked her out the lift as my 42 year old self.. but she still stays there.. she isn’t out yet.. I want her to come out but it is like she wants to stay there for some reason.. hmmm contemplation needed on this one.. I must discuss with Madalyn… I must contemplate the payoff/benefits of remaining stuck … to see what this is really about…

K I had better end off now if I want to get some brekky before the course…

To infinity and beyond on Wunula Dreaming… I love that plane.. it is soo beautiful… that’s my plane…

Nikki Ward

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tatts Group

IT Documentation and Training Analyst

07 3637 1445 (LL)

0417 435 029 (Mob)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Posted via email from Fearless Flyer Nikki

3rd Hypnosis Session

Word Warrior — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:43:31 +0000

Download now or preview on posterous

My Safe Place – Blondies Palace.pdf (175 KB)

Subject: 3rd Hypnosis Session

Today Alex and I did the third hypnosis. This was a much longer experience and since I have studied a 3 day course in hypnotherapy it was extremely interesting to get his feedback and see how he goes about conducting the hypnosis.

I have found that I do sink into trance rather quickly and that focussing on Alex’s voice while I conjure up the imagery in my mind often takes me to a very relaxed place. Sometimes I catch myself just as I fall forward as I move between that state just between consciousness and sleep. That is the most fertile ground for hypnosis I have found… so I say this will embed nicely.

I drew a map of my safe place that I travel to in my mind and discussed all the nuances of the detail – see the diagram… It always starts on the beach with the wind and the sea lapping at my feet as I walk along it. It then goes up the stairs (with each and every step I feel more and more relaxed).. and then I am in a foresty grove tropical paradise where I can smell cut grass, hear the birds tweeting similar to those found in an Australian rain forest and the animals are tame… then down the sandy track to my house covered by a protective force field that no-one can penetrate.

I have a diamond encrusted swipe card that allows me access and then I step into a large white room with a big white couch that I can lie down on. Sometimes I invite my mother and have a chat with her or Boris… then I have three rooms off to the left, the first is round and is a place for my creative expression – painting, card making etc. any creative projects that I am working on.. I go in there for inspiration. The next room is the plane room and I go in there to just sit in the seats and if I get panicky I leave the room and go out… where I relax and then I attempt it again… when I am more at ease.. then the final room is where I consult with my guides… I tend to use that from time to time .. but no-one enters into my space uninvited. The entire room is white and the view is to the sea.. I can smell the beach and the sea air..

When we did the hypnosis, Alex described how I would walk up to the house, using all the same sensations, smells that I have just mentioned, and my encrusted card to enter the house. It felt really authentic for me because I knew we were in the right house.. not someone else’s house… I could fully immerse myself in my experience.. I then smiled when we saw the birds because the bird I saw in the garden yesterday.. that my ‘Leopard Bird’.. it was black like a crow, but it had leopard skin wings.. it was the most unusual bird but I know it was sent to me and it has some significance for my flight.. the wings are african and it was a sign for sure.. it was saying come home, be the bird and in the hypnosis, Alex made me see through the tv screen on the seat out of the plane and into the bird, my leopard bird… I became the bird, I was soaring and flying and free and high above the world, able to go anywhere and I felt an unbelievable sense of freedom and liberty.. wow!…

Then we came back into the plane and into the plane room and then we surface out of the hypnosis..

All I can say is we are laying the groundwork for this now.. I know with hypnosis it only triggers when you are in situ… so its difficult to try and assess results right now.. I have to be on the plane to do that.. I still have that nervous knot in my stomach knowing that I will be flying next Sunday… OMG!

Thanks,

Nikki Ward

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CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Please consider our environment before printing this email.This email and any attachments are confidential and may be subject to copyright, legal or some other professional privilege. They are intended solely for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). They may only be copied, distributed or disclosed with the consent of the copyright owner. If you have received this email by mistake or by breach of the confidentiality clause, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete or destroy all copies of the email. Any confidentiality, privilege or copyright is not waived or lost because this email has been sent to you by mistake. ———————————————————————

Posted via email from Fearless Flyer Nikki

Hypnosis

Word Warrior — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:43:44 +0000

Subject: Hypnosis

Working with my work colleague and stage hypnotist, Alex to do some
relaxation hypnosis before getting on a plane….

Interesting because I seem to respond well to the hypnosis – whether
it kicks in when I need it is a different story…(thunder rolls
outside)

Sent from my iPhone

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CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Please consider our environment before printing this email.This email and any attachments are confidential and may be subject to copyright, legal or some other professional privilege. They are intended solely for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). They may only be copied, distributed or disclosed with the consent of the copyright owner. If you have received this email by mistake or by breach of the confidentiality clause, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete or destroy all copies of the email. Any confidentiality, privilege or copyright is not waived or lost because this email has been sent to you by mistake. ———————————————————————

Posted via email from Fearless Flyer Nikki

First step of a new journey

Word Warrior — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:28:51 +0000

I will be posting often over the next few weeks… so I’ll be brief….

Scared shitless… brown pants material… got the picture? Good…

My stomach is feeling tight as I think about me actually going up in a plane…

This is my mantra to replace the original one of fear…

everytime i look at a plane i say, “i feel free.. the plane is taking me where i wanna be…” to replace: i feel trapped, something in me has snapped.

Reading the book put out by the mob doing the course. Qantas are involved somehow.. will find out more.

http://www.fearlessflyers.com.au

Posted via web from Fearless Flyer Nikki

Trip delayed till April 2010

Word Warrior — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:30:47 +0000

Well, I have now decided to fly back in April next year as dad wants to see his grandson!

I have fearless flyers booked for November and I intend on taking Jarrad back with me.. in reality, it means i do have a little more time to write the first draft however, I don’t think I have any more than 4 weeks more because I start Uni after that and it is simply going to be full-on!… So the book outline is sitting on the dining room table crying for attention.. I dedicate this coming weekend to it!… make time for writing as they say!

Nikki Ward
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tatts Group IT Documentation and Training Analyst
07 3637 1445 (LL)
0417 435 029 (Mob)
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CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Please consider our environment before printing this email.This email and any attachments are confidential and may be subject to copyright, legal or some other professional privilege. They are intended solely for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). They may only be copied, distributed or disclosed with the consent of the copyright owner. If you have received this email by mistake or by breach of the confidentiality clause, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete or destroy all copies of the email. Any confidentiality, privilege or copyright is not waived or lost because this email has been sent to you by mistake.
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Posted via email from Standard Six Book Blog

Mind Manager from Mindjet

Word Warrior — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:24:46 +0000

One of the most valuable tools I have in my techwriting arsenal is Mind Manager offered by http://www.mindjet.com/.

I am able to pump out and order my ideas in a matter of minutes instead of using Visio and labouring over getting things lined up. There are icons and markers readily available to annotate sub-topics and text notes that can be used to reference ideas and to expand on those ideas if necessary.

This tool takes the hard work out of producing ideas on paper compared to using a tool like Visio where the user can become bogged by managing the placement of shapes and linking them.

There is only one downside to Mind Manager and that is its multiple outputs. I have found that when you:

- output to Visio – it changes the layout of your mind map completely,
- output to PowerPoint – it chops off any sub-topics that don’t fit on the slide while export to Excel is just flaky to say the least…
- output to PDF – unless you have the latest patch, it triggers an error message: ”Could not print to PDF.. “

http://www.mindjet.com/

It also comes with a free reader (personal use only) so that everyone can view your document once you have published it in its native format. Unfortunately, the reader is not freely available for commercial use and must be purchased. I feel this is a somewhat short-sighted move by the company as it stops the proliferation of their product. If they were to make the reader available to all and sundry, once the product gains significant market share, then, perhaps it would be wise to ’sell’ the reader.

That said: Check it out, it is a tool worth having…

Writing for a Wiki – Wiki Diversification and Strangulation

Word Warrior — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:46:55 +0000

Given the recent implementation of a 3 separate wiki’s (using MediaWiki) within the same company, it has become apparent that people are simply not used to working collaboratively. We have three departments using the same wiki software you find on wikipedia. For the sake of confidentiality, lets refer to the departments as Support, DevelopmentProject1 and DevelopmentProject2.

In all three instances, there are a range of different behaviours (human) when it comes to updating the wiki.

Scenario 1….Support 1

In Support1, the approach to documentation is such that it resembles a bureacracy. They commissioned the development of the wiki as a primary information source for the running of their department and given that the nature of their business is ’support’, the wiki contains procedures, background information about systems and a range of troubleshooting flowcharts. In this instance, there is anxiety about just how much the information on the wiki can be messed with. To this end, two wiki masters were designated as the ‘master updaters’ of the wiki… I hear you all gasp – “that defies the whole object!”

Scenario 2…

In DevelopmentProject1, this department has been broken into a range of different teams, each handling a sub-set of projects and maintenance tasks for a set of systems that churn information on a 24/7 basis. The approach to the wiki has been one of random information capture, when and where it is deemed necessary.. some empty their emails into the wiki as if it were a bucket…. In this wiki, there have been some structure imposed in that the wiki has been divided into Teams and Products that is, the Wiki front page has been divided into TEAMS and PRODUCTS.

From here the organic growth of pages has been left largely to those who wish to contribute at any time they feel necessary.

Scenario 3…

In DevelopmentProject2, this department is developing a range of components for a national monitoring system. It is a development project that is considered cutting edge and the information depositing has been nothing short of random and haphazard. Contributions are at times just dumped into the wiki with no apparent organisation or consideration for the end reader. As a result, uptake has been minimal. Compounding the problem is the fact that several other incarnations of wiki (Twiki) abound so fragmentation of wiki’s have led back to the number one problem a wiki was designed to solve in the first place. Wiki users now not only have 3 implementations of wiki in 3 different departments to refer to but also a number of different types of wiki to refer to, each with their own editing rules. These include Mediawiki, SharePoint Wiki and Twiki Wiki.

In hindsight with clarity, the only conclusions I can draw from this situation is as follows:

When implementing a wiki in your organisation, it should span all departments. In other words rollout ONE wiki that everyone can use from the outset. Avoid using multiple types of wiki software.
Educate users on how to use a wiki effectively in terms of information capture. By this I mean that the wiki should not be used as an information dump (thus rendering it unwieldy and disorganised) but train users to consider their potential audience and to apply a little discipline when it comes to structure of the contribution.
If a wiki is intended to be used for procedures that affect business continuity, consider using SharePoint Document Libraries for that purpose and take advantage of its inbuilt document control procedures ie. Major and Minor Versioning, Security and Audit Trails.
Be aware of ‘wiki strangulation’. The original intention behind the wiki is collective collaboration not one or two ‘masters’ vetting every piece of information that appears on the site. This behaviour diminishes the wiki to the point where the power of this synergistic tool is lost.

Most useful tools… 2007(8) plus browser wars…

Word Warrior — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:33:57 +0000

Have a look at this document… http://d.scribd.com/docs/19re73m9mmqh8htx2lva.pdf

The list uses the responses of 109 people, which is a very small demographic sample, however in spite of the erroneous research methods, I can honestly say that it does list some of the most fantastic tools out there and most of the most popular tools come at the right price… “FREE”.. for example Skype. The document touts Firefox as the most used browser among its user group however, the browser market share statistics (June 2008) state that IE has 73.01% market share, next is Firefox at 19.30%, followed by Safari at 6.31% then Netscape, Mozilla, and others…Google’s Chrome will give these browsers a run for their money too.. so keep an eye out for it at …

Supposed to be released today…
http://www.misaustralia.com/viewer.aspx?EDP://1220310893071§ion=technology

and it comes with an interesting User Manual: (gives new meaning to technical writing)
http://books.google.com/books?id=8UsqHohwwVYC&printsec=frontcover#PPA5,M1

Check out the tools, they are fantastic.. I simply love Picassa.. and Captivate and…

WordWeb Dictionary Thesaurus and Word Finder

Word Warrior — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:12:39 +0000

I have found this a useful tool for quick lookups on my desktop. It sits unobtrusively in the system tray and just does the job! You don’t have to download the software if you prefer using it online so check it out.

http://wordweb.info/

NEO Email Organiser

Word Warrior — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:24:46 +0000

NEO Email Organiser (NEO 3.2 has just been released) is a very cool tool complements Microsoft Outlook and can be used in preference to Outlook.

I use MS-Outlook and run NEO in tandem that is, I run both programs at the same time.

The Outlook Search function is basically USELESS however, in NEO I can search back through several PST files (I keep on for each year on my local drive with backups on CD) and find whatever I want in seconds if I am specific in the search criteria.

It also eliminates the need to keep emails in folders – this is a great timesaver.

Check it out today… It is not very expensive and is well worth the expenditure. I have found emails that have saved me from near disaster at times when searching Outlook would never have located them.

Even the free version is useful but you do find yourself wanting to hook up more PST files. With the demo you are limited to only one PST file… My current NEO Message Stores goes back to 2005.

Save yourself alot of time and check it out today: http://www.EmailOrganizer.com

When you buy the product, all upgrades are free!…

No I am not getting a commission on this product, I just feel that it is a tool that cannot be ignored.

Enjoy,
Nikki