Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.............

..........and just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed, nothing seems to fit, tra la la la la la la !!! Actually this is something akin to cabin fever - and with the amount of water dropping on S Andalucia at the moment, a cabin might be the best place for some of us. Water running down mountains, waterfalls where there should be pretty hillsides, bridges UNDER water, mudslides, OMG. None of which is a jot to do with Russia, which is my subject of the moment. I'm amazed - though perhaps I should be proud rather than amazed - that one of the major publishing groups in Russia is looking to come to a translation deal on Pause Button Therapy. Crikey! International readers NOT just in English! Ok that was my news of the moment. Back to the flood. Literally. There are drips falling from the beam to my right and to my left. Ho hum. Saludos Fiona

Pause for Thought

As one for whom deadlines was part of my profession several lifetimes ago, I'm now making quite a meal of having them appear sometimes on a daily basis once again. Close, tight, deadly deadlines I seem able to meet. Ok sometimes with panic and much huffing and puffing, but I meet them nonetheless. Example: Today I knew I had to create three more paragraphs for a piece to be issued by the Press Association. So I did them. Overlooking that in front of me when I made notes was black and white (pixellated, but black and white nonetheless) evidence that in face the publishers wanted to let the PA have five, so they had an element of choice. Five. Not three. A mad dash and much cursing later, the five had been sent. Own fault. No excuses. I said when we took on the PBT project that I would make the research and references something to do more diligently, efficiently and potentially swiftly. Which I did......... diligently efficiently and swiftly enough? Of course not. Come the GMB book (hopefully you know what I'm talking about) and I made a mental note to increase that diligence etc by several factors. Which I did. Enough, though? Nope. Book 10 I might be approaching the right level of focus! On which, a change of tack. Excitement, or what? We've got a foreword by Prof Philip G Zimbardo, eminent and well-known psychology expert, he of the Stanford prison experiment, the marshmallow experiment, Time Paradox, et al. All we have to do is sell *cough* rather a lot of books and at reprint stage it'll slot in. For the US POD version it's already there........ along with his name on the front cover! Yay! Woah! And other 21st century outbursts! Oh, and today we got news that mega Russian publishers (remaining nameless until deeds done, contracts signed, Ts crossed etc) have approached for a translation deal. Crikey let's hope they want (that other book I'm also blogging about on an intermittent hopefully-to-be-stepped-up-a-gear basis) too. Right let's publish this and be damned. Not. !! Saludos and Пока на данный момент Fiona

PBT in Portugal

As I type, Martin Marion and our colleague, educationalist Gay Jones, are in Coimbra, Portugal, preparing to present a paper on the use of Pause Button Therapy within weight loss. They are at the first ever International Time Perspective Conference, which is all about people's views/perceptions of time and the importance of it in their lives (often to do with decision making). A simple example or two: Do you floss your teeth? Why? Probably because of one or two reasons. Your dentist has told you to, your parents told you to and you still do, and/or you know that without flossing there's a chance your teeth won't last you into old age. That's future thinking. You really don't NEED to floss your teeth for TODAY - well not unless you've just eaten pineapple or a tough piece of pork, anyway!..... and PAST doesn't come into this one because that's all about considering that things will be the way they always have so why do anything too fundamental to change them (paraphrasing). But if you are thinking of your dental hygiene now to plan for say 10 or 20 years down the line, well that's future thinking. On the other hand you may floss BUT have to floss because you've just eaten a whole packet of doughnuts. That's definitely PRESENT thinking; if you thought of the future you might have given more weight to the knowledge that fat, sugar, e-numbers et al aren't really terribly good for maintaining a healthy body at a healthy weight. So put the two concepts together and then wind round them the theory that how you view your past is also fundamental.... if you remember it as unhappy, you'll possibly predict an unhappy future etc..... and that's what Time Perspective Theory is. Weight Loss requires a clear understanding of and acceptance of, and adoption of, future thinking. Of course that's only one application of PBT: anger management, addressing addictive behaviours, road rage, all these uses for PBT and many more actually have roots in understanding time perspective. Consequences, after all, are what happens somewhere down the line (ie in the future) as a result of your actions now, in the PRESENT. Which reminds me. I had a cup of tea earlier. Need the bathroom. Need another cup of tea!! Saludos Fiona

Update on the wildfire

Further to the last post, I just read that it was INDEED a barbecue which got whipped out of control by the strong winds which cause the incident....... which involved 250 people and a number of aircraft. And yes, the helicopters are STILL filling with water at Lake Vinuela. What a terrible waste of time and money. And probably preventable.

Mindless Wildfire?

There was a fire near Canillas de Aceituno, in the Axarquia region where I live, yesterday........ in fact as I type I just saw a helicopter going off in that direction, I imagine on one of many 'check' flights to ensure the flames haven't taken hold again. 85 hectares - 210 acres - that's a LOT of land - was engulfed in the several hours the fire had hold. I think because of the wind direction, the village nearby escaped damage. Just thinking, though - what caused it? Sometimes when you read up about forest fires, wildfires, whatever they're called at the time; it turns out someone's stupidity was at the root of it all. A casually, and thoughtlessly, chucked cigarette but. A smashed beer bottle causing smouldering because of the intensity of the sun. An abandoned country BBQ not damped down with water. Such carelessness. Don't people think? Well clearly not - but it only takes a moment to reflect on the consequences of your actions and see both the negatives and positives if you do a certain thing, say a particular thing. PBT's all about that. Visualising the outcome by pressing Pause and giving yourself that 'safe' time, giving yourself the space to not bother about the immediate, just slow the process down. As I said, we don't know (I did just google the local media...) what caused the fire but if it was someone's stupid mindless action, what would it have cost them to press that pause button and think of the effect on so many other people's lives? Saludos Fiona

Psychologies, radio and so on

Well it seems persisting with Facebook likes has paid off, though of course quite what this means remains to be seen. PBT has 90 likes currently, way ahead of GMB but I'm going to do something to sort that asap (ie as soon as family life allows!). And I've been joined up to a self-help social media discussion group, and .... omg the pixels! Meanwhile back at the rock face, Martin's heard that Psychologies magazine is planning to do an interview which we hope will be in the October issue(out Sept ie in time for publication) and I've turned up a handful of English language radio stations in Spain who'll run something too. As to pressing pause myself, that remains the challenge when it comes to dealing with a pre-hormonal 10 year old...... saludos Fiona

Hay House, Roger and so on..

Well things are looking good, only had a few (*ahem*) Pause Button moments in my own life.... but you learn as you go along, even if you're living with it 24/7! Best thing is to have your thumb at the ready, in my view. Or be prepared by wearing your wristband. That way something is on hand, literally, to put you in your safe zone. Anyway, back to the plot. Hay House now have the press release ready. Martin is buoyed up and looking for producers/TV & radio shows to try to get them on board and interested. Psychologies Magazine is setting up an interview for (hopefully) the October edition, which should be out in Sept just in time for publication. I continue tweeting et al, and on top of everything there's a new puppy in the household. Roger. Stupid name yet somehow absolutely right!! Chihuahua cross with a small fluffy thing = small cute thing;) note to self. Google House training. Saludos Fiona