‘Mastery of Self’, first introduced by Omar Khan in Sri Lanka in the mid-nineties has inspired thousands of Sri Lankans to make ‘Lemonade’ out of the ‘Lemon’ in them. They are known as NLPers rather than HELPers as they HELP the world with the tools of Neuro Linguistic Programming [NLP] they mastered during this 4-day experience.

Alumni of ‘Mastery of Self’ are no strangers to paradigm expansion. Our NLPers see the world as raw material; they are architects. Instead of ‘obstacles’ they create ‘possibilities’; not by ducking facts, but by courageously facing them, reframing them, and transforming them!

They are willing to have their ‘hearts broken’ for things they believe in; they know the alchemy that purpose, partnerships, stretching and living ‘bottom line by bottom line’ can produce [bottom lines are the minimum amount of action NLPers take, in the areas of being, brain, heart, people, body, money, environment, society and time to live a purposeful life]

But the world finally lives and dies on the quality of our communication. In order to improve our communications we need to learn to remove toxic judgment and emotional violence from all communication. We need to learn to convert ‘love’ from an intention to a reality you can manifest behaviorally, in ways that meets both parties’ needs. We need to gain the ability to share and effectively receive authentic feelings and needs fast. We need to defuse long-standing conflicts gracefully and holistically. We need to practice a way of interacting that will allow us to TEACH PEACE practically in the world through your own living communication. We need to transform our own stuck patterns and defensiveness.

This methodology titled “AE” (Authentic Engagement) is based on extensive modeling done based on Omar’s work with M. Scott Peck’s Foundation for Community Encouragement, interfaith efforts with the Interfaith Seminary, Oxford University’s Nightline (which Omar helped direct years ago), NLP insights, work on non-violent communication that has been the underpinning of peace programs used in places like Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, Serbia, Croatia, Ireland, Malaysia, Indonesia and more.