Читать книгу How to Take Charge of Your Life: The User’s Guide to NLP - Richard Bandler - Страница 8

When Friday came, Joe headed over to where the course was being held and registered with one of the assistants. The man, well dressed, wore a blue badge with the word ‘Trainer’ written clearly on it. He welcomed Joe with a warm smile. He searched a list for Joe’s name, and after recognizing his surname there said, ‘Oh, Maria’s brother, I presume. Joe, nice to meet you. I’m Alan.’

They shook hands.

‘If you need something during the course, I’d be delighted to help you out.’

Alan handed Joe a name tag and a manual, and then Joe walked into the auditorium. There was a stage at the end of the room, and rows of chairs faced the stage. Joe picked a seat halfway up the aisle on the right-hand side. Pop music in the background mixed with the mumbled buzzing of participants’ conversations. Joe looked around, confused. The seminar was full – there were about 500 people in the room. The topic of the course seemed to have aroused plenty of interest, though Joe was sceptical. What am I doing here? he thought. This is pointless. A waste of three days.

He turned and saw the grinning face of a woman who was settling into the seat beside him, then an outstretched hand. ‘Hi. My name is Anna. You can call me Ann, if you like.’

Joe braced himself for the social interaction, putting on his best polite act. ‘Hi, I’m Joe. Call me Joe,’ he said, smiling weakly at his attempt at a joke.

‘Nice to meet you, Joe. I’m a psychotherapist. It’s my first time here. I can’t wait to see Dr Bandler. I’ve heard he’s quite funny and controversial.’

Joe smiled and turned away uncomfortably to face the stage. Anna continued to talk, this time in a German accent. ‘Ya, Guten Tag. I’ve studied Freudian psychotherapy. My expertise is in psychoanalysis. I find de root cause of people’s problems. Don’t vorry, though; I von’t analyse you.’ Anna started laughing at her own attempt at the accent. Her features were sharp and her dark glasses matched her functional grey dress and shiny black hair tied back from her head. Joe smiled politely.

As Anna continued to talk about her job, Joe found himself locking gazes with a woman across the room with long brown hair. Almost as suddenly as they had seen each other, she had turned away.

Joe couldn’t look away. He was lost in her. She seemed to have her own distinctive dress style, a summery dress flowing down to her knees. Her air of confidence radiated in every direction around her, smiling beautifully at the two people on either side of her, and in turn drawing smiles from them. She is way out of my league, Joe immediately thought. He instinctively pulled his stomach in and sat straight up in his chair. The brown-haired girl sat in the same row as him, about ten seats away. Her skin was pale and white, but her lips were red and her eyes sparkled green like a lighthouse saving a ship in danger. When Joe looked away, Anna was still talking.

The music got louder and a motorcycle roar announced the beginning of the song ‘Born to Be Wild.’ Everybody’s attention was now directed to the stage. The seminar was about to begin. Joe relaxed. Let’s give this a go. What if his sister was right?

The man from the leaflet walked onstage to loud applause. The first thing Joe noticed about this guy was his calm and his impressive confidence. He was dressed in a strong suit, crisp white shirt and bold tie. After a few seconds the song dissipated into the silence of the auditorium and the man spoke. His voice was deep and warm. So this is Richard Bandler … Joe wondered if he would live up to his reputation.