I love those witty prosaic sayings like: I am nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore I’m perfect! Yay! They’re easy to remember, usually make me smile and often give me pause for thought.

They can even enable a major shift or ‘reframe’ of a situation: Someone whom I know carries great anger for someone else, read a little phrase I had printed out: Holding a grudge against someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die...and they literally had a lightbulb moment (an ‘Aha!’).

Metaphors have a way of speaking to our inner selves that other language can’t match. When I’m training others in the art of making memorable presentation speeches, I always recommend finding analogies and metaphors to support the facts – it makes them so much more palatable! Also, when I create handbooks to accompany my training courses, I include an appropriate ‘bon mot’ at the bottom of each page – usually beginning on page one with: Sorry I’m late. I’ll leave early to make up for it. This often breaks the ice regarding late arrivers!

The internet is a great place to pick up these one-liners, many of which are anonymous, eg:

• Success comes in cans
• If you want to forget all your other troubles, wear too tight shoes

However, a few are attributable, such as:

• “Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is” Will Rogers
• ”Do not let what you cannot do, interfere with what you can do” John Warden
• “Two monologues do not make a dialogue” Jeff Daly

Often I don’t know of the person who originated the quote, though there are a few exceptions, such as:

• “It’s a funny thing, the more I practice, the luckier I get” Arnold Palmer

…but recently I wrote a blog and quoted a chap called Peter McWilliams, when I put:

“Guilt is anger directed at ourselves.” I had simply got this quote from the net as usual, just because I liked the words – but suddenly I’ve become aware of a tiny bit about the man behind the words…and it’s made the sentence unexpectedly real and special.

It’s actually the 10^th anniversary of Peter’s death this year (1949 to 2000). A Wikipedia style summary says things like: ‘He was a writer of best-selling self-help books and in later years …terminally ill with AIDS and cancer, he became a vocal campaigner for the legalisation of medical cannabis.’ Well, I don’t really know anything about those aspects of Peter’s life: my relationship with him is new. However, have you had a look at this fellow? Have you seen his expressive, amazing, life-full face? (www.myspace.com/petermcwilliamstribute) And when you see that face, then add in some of his poetry, books or even just some of his quotes…such as:

• “Health is more than just the absence of illness, health is the presence of aliveness, energy, joy”
• “Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort.”
• “Mistakes show us what we need to learn.”
• “It’s your life. Live it with people who are alive. It tends to be contagious.”
• “Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from.”
• “To overcome a fear, here’s all you have to do: realise the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway.”

…and my favourite yet:

• “To the degree we’re not living our dreams, our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves.”

….and if you’re like me, you feel the words and perceive the face – and what you get is a profound sense of loss. A loss of someone I never met? And yet it’s true: I know I miss him. How do you do that, Peter McWilliams? You are indeed the Food For Thought generator. And on that note, have any of you ever played that silly word game about planning the perfect dinner party – and who would you invite along (dead or alive, historical or current). Well, I’ve just discovered the man I want to sit next to at dinner and so you all had better find someone else interesting, because I intend to monopolise my guest the whole evening long to learn and ask what I need to, before I leave it too, too late again.