Tomorrow, I will go back to Kigali. How worthless it had been to send me to Rwanda I start wondering if my boss had wanted to get rid of me

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1 I love telling this story to children, I mean, all kind of children, like those sleeping very deep inside you just in case something interesting arises! This story calms me down, and makes me feel confident in life: beauty hides where you don t always expect it to be including in magicians and toothless old men! Everything had started well I had been sent by my faculty to make astronomical measures around the Wolf constellation, from the southern hemisphere. I left so happy, and all my dreams in my suitcase! However, I soon had to let my illusions fade away My tools were not powerful enough to even distinguish the constellation from the other myriads of stars around I had found manuscripts from China, Japan and Korea from 1000 PCN, describing such a bright supernova that it remained visible during daytime for more than two years! But today, my internship looks like a punishment on my photos, I can hardly see its brightest star! And I must say that even the boundless sky, splashed by these twinkling little gold lights did not quieten my sorrow Tomorrow, I will go back to Kigali. How worthless it had been to send me to Rwanda I start wondering if my boss had wanted to get rid of me

2 While walking back to my hotel, feeling lost and frustrated, I suddenly fell on a group of overexcited children. Someone told me Max had seen her! What does she look like? asked one of them. Who is she? Ha ha! He has seen a magician! He looks awkward now, very different, actually, very calm indeed! I had a hard time calming them down, when at the end, I managed to ask them: But who are you talking about? She s the magician from Kilimbi! The magician of Kilimbi? Where is Max? Over there, he is over there!! They were pointing to a young boy, hiding behind another one. I took him by the hand and dragged him further. Well boy, what s up? He was speaking very gently, so I had to lean towards him.

3 What they re saying is just nonsense do you know the magician of Kilimbi, by any chance? No, but I m interested in your story. Would you like bringing me to her and introduce her to me? While we are walking, you can talk about her. Oh, yes! She lives in the bay, next to the lake. You know, she s a scotch, something like that! Do you mean a coach?!? Euh, yeas, that s it! You know, she hosts so many people, people of all age like you and me well when I say you, I mean you in black! There are no many people queuing to see her! Oh, and where does she live? I don t know actually. She s not always at the same place; sometimes she s walking on the beach next to the Kivu lake, sometimes she goes in the forest. She told me it depended on the people coming to see her. You ll see, she is SO nice, her eyes look sometimes deep and serious, you know, like a rainbow, on and off. You know what? When she looks at you, she makes you want to become the most beautiful person on earth, the best I would say but

4 nothing else than yourself! I tell you, I like her so much, she is a true nice person, she will never harm anyone, she only says positive things to people, like for me, she said I was handsome and intelligent, and that I have to pursue my studies to be able to help others and my country and all that stuff, and that s what I really want now. Wow, she really looks great! More than that, she s super great!!! But why do people call her the magician? Hum, it s somehow because of me. I exaggerated a little, I told my pals she s doing a lot of good to people, that she s going to save the planet with her superpowers she explained to me but I have forgotten, it s called NLP, it ends with Power, so before Power I guess it could be No Limit, YOU SEE? NO LIMIT POWER!!! Can you stop your nonsense a second, you should really write a novel! Yes, that s what she tells me too!! Come on, let s go down near the water, the house is just after the turn, or not very far. Max starts running and I just manage to follow him on the stony path. SO-PHIE, SO-PHIE he calls her. Wow, her name is Sophie, that s new!

5 Yes, you ll see, you ll see!! Sophie was sitting alone by the lake, below a huge tree. She was reading, and had not seen us yet. A fire was slowly burning next to her, and she had a fennec on her knees. She was stroking him, just between his long ears. A strong scent of wood surrounded her, which was giving this moment a small aura of magic... When he saw us, the fennec jumped down and hid behind the tree. Good morning Max said Sophie, happy to see you! Good morning (looking at me). Hum, Chloé, Chloé did I manage to say somehow too quickly. I was indeed impressed, more by what Max had told me than by Sophie herself, who looked nothing like a magician! She was calm and just seemed to be waiting for us I read the title of her book: NLP! Could this story of No Limit Power be true? I explained to her what Max had told me and she started to burst in laugh! Even Max, who was day-dreaming, turned his head towards us, with a nice and big smile over his face! Of course was he grumbling between his teeth, it cannot be No Limit Power, I know it s Neuro-Linguistic Programming, but how can you attract anyone with such a lousy name? He remembered perfectly the first time he met Sophie. He was absolutely dead of fear after having tread on a snake! She found him trembling on the ground, and had brought him home.

6 She started asking him to close his eyes, and he felt a very gentle fur under his fingers, that took him very far with nice memories of goats, of hot milk, of the family yard right outside of the house where his brothers and sisters were playing Today, he just had to close his eyes to remember the feeling of the soft fennec s fur He remembered his right hand was still trembling of the fear caused by the snake, while his left hand was nice and warm after his contact with the fennec Sophie had gently put his left hand over the other one he remembered the heat from his left hand spreading through the right one, still cold and wet and suddenly, he realized that evoking the snake did not make him feel so threatening anymore! She was a magician! Actually, when he spoke of her to his pals, he said magician to try and keep her for himself You know, said Sophie to me, NLP looks like magic until you understand what lies behind! You also practice NLP, without knowing it! You do rely on of all your senses (Neuro), the language (Linguistic) and on your experience (Programming) to be in relation with the outside world, aren t you? The scents from the fire, the beauty of the stars in the dark night, the air, fresh and slightly humid on the skin, Sophie s voice, calm and profound, and a sudden impression of starving all of these invaded me instantly! Seeing, feeling, tasting, listening and touching let me show you! I am going to sit down next to Sharp (the little fennec). You are going to sit in front of me, without touching me, but close enough. Just look at me, take your time. Try and breathe like me, do the same gestures, the same mimics. And after that, you ll tell me what you have experienced. After having done what she asked me to, I felt invaded by a strange feeling, close to love, compassion, a kind of overall understanding of life. I would have been unable to harm her, even to think something bad about her You see said Sophie smiling, I use this approach when I need to open up a dialog between to people willing to become closer but cannot manage it consciously It s different for everyone, you have probably noticed. Sometimes you just cannot see the solution, which is however in front of our eyes I love listening, I love people you know, they are so incredibly rich! And so, I feel like a photographic developer! Chloé was staring at the stars, the constellation of the Wolf, and it was as if the stars had changed galaxy, even with naked eyes, she could see them better Sharp the little Fennec was sitting next to her, and his eyes were bright in the sky She imagined the constellation of the Fennec, with his long ears and his foxes profile Sophie was talking to an old man, who had the same eyes as Sharp. When he smiled, Chloé saw his unique tooth shine in the night She smiled, finding that the world was finally funny and rather well shaped, despite its weaknesses Paul Etienne Chipp - Psychologue / Ecrivain So Coach Copyright 2015 all rights reserved