Bruno Deshayes Copywriting Blog

The Ten Commandments are wrapped up in this one simple rule but why is it such tall order for most of us?

So put yourself at the receiving end and ponder: "Do to others as you would like it done onto you."

When you greet somebody and matter-of-factly say "How are you?" do you actually wait to hear the answer - and furthermore are you prepared to listen to any concern the person might express?

Someone had the nerve to ask Jesus "And who is my neighbour?" and so came the parable of the Good Samaritan. So in short your neighbour (the person you need to care about as much as you care about yourself) is anybody who crosses your path...

Ouch! How do we fall short of that... yet that would be the number one reason for the moral decay in our society.

Observe a mother. How she is tuned-in to the cries of her child. Even before the infant is able to verbalize anything she knows by the intonation if the problem is hunger, discomfort, lack of sleep or the sheer need for physical contact.

"How to win friends and influence people" the bestseller from Dale Carnegie has become a de-facto must-read for every aspiring network marketing distributor. Unfortunately if it is done with selfish motives it falls flat onto the ground because people are suspicious as to why a total stranger would suddenly be nice to them...

"Love your neighbour as yourself" has been replaced with "What's in it for me?"
No wonder we are not cutting it as social animals... So checkout this little score card and see how you rate and where there might be room for improvement:

When is the last time you called a taxi to take home safely a drunken person?

When did you last take the time to get acquainted with somebody over a cup of coffee?

When did you last entertain strangers in your home?

Is the spare room in your house kept tidy to offer shelter for somebody coming to town or is it filled with junk?

When did you last pick the tab for a relative's medical expenses?

Do you know the people next door by first names and have you sneakily figured out the date on which to wish them a happy birthday?

Do you offer to share a ride downtown from the airport with other passengers or do you storm the first cab and take off?

As a matter of courtesy do you offer to share some of your food with the one sitting next to you on a park bench, at the library or in public transport?

Do you engage in conversation with strangers from the country who would address anybody they meet in the train or the elevator - or do you give them a blank stare to signal they have broken a social taboo in the big cities?

Do you carry in your pocket some meal vouchers to hand out to a homeless beggar? (rather than giving out cash which would be promptly converted into drugs or alcohol)

Women naturally compliment each other on their attire - men would come across as sissy if they did the same - but everyone can seek eye-contact with someone who is looking down and give a word of encouragement.

I think you get the gist now. Start the day asking yourself: "Who's day will I have a chance to brighten today?" As you practice this you will get such buzz out of putting a smile on the face of the downcast and you will open heaven's gates to empower you to do even more.

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Emotional abuse is a powerplay for the control of your mind. It does not come from someone who is a stranger rather that control uses an existing relationship to manipulate you - let it be a parent/child, husband/wife or boss/employee relationship.

The abuse operates because you cannot easily break out from the relationship. It takes hold over a period of time through repetition. The scars remain long after the abuse has stopped (ie - you take that hurt with you into adulthood).

The manipulation operates through words, through actions or through neglect. The abuser is often a victim of abuse and repeats the pattern of behaviour learned from the past generation. To the offender, manipulating you is a way to prop up their low self-esteem and their un-fulfilled life at your expense. What should be a win-win situation is now a lose-lose situation.

Through words spoken the abuse is things like: being always right, judging you, calling you names, making fun of you, lecturing you, reminding you of every detail of your past and lastly isolating you through complete silence.

Through actions the abuse can be a perfectly regimented lifestyle, threats and outbursts of anger, opposite swings of mood taking you by surprise, a perfect personality in public and an outrageous character at home, favouritism towards your siblings, finally chores or responsibilities a child should not bear.

Through neglect the abuser treats you like you do not exist, or is physically missing from the house or cuts out all emotional interaction.

Emotional abuse is an attack on your identity as a person. It prevents you from intimacy. It can be the root cause of anger and depression (which is really anger directed inwards). As you are unable to express yourself, take risks in relationships and enjoy life you become self centered and tend to magnify your problems. In turn you are likely to dish out the same abuse you have suffered.

So what is the way to break the vicious circle of abuse? Well, there is someone who knows you very well and loves you very much. Once your relationship with Him is restored then your relationship with yourself will fall into place and your relationship with others will blossom. So who is that person? Well you know Him already but I guess you need to have a second look.

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Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a cover-up for self-hypnosis and should be exposed for what it is.

Hypnosis has been used as a method of mental, emotional, behavioural, and physical healing for hundreds and even thousands of years.Witchdoctors, Sufi practitioners, shamans, Hindus, Buddhists, and yogis have practiced hypnosis, and now medical doctors, dentists, psychotherapists, and others have joined them. From witchdoctors to medical doctors and from past to present, the rituals and results have been reproduced, revised, and repeated. The hypnotic trance begins by focusing a person's attention and produces many results. According to its advocates, the practice of hypnotism may alter behaviour in such a way as to change habits; stimulate the mind to recall forgotten events and information; enable a person to overcome shyness, fears, and depression; cure maladies such as asthma and hay fever; improve a person's sex life; and remove pain.

Self-hypnosis abounds in rock music, self-help tapes and other "claim it and you have it" business motivation trainings.

Some life-coach practitioners peddle the method under various guises to cultivate a captive market. As a consumer you know how to start but you are in the dark as to when and how it is going to end.

Psychology Today published an article titled "Hypnosis may be hazardous," which says: A teenage girl with no history of psychological problems was hypnotized on stage as part of a show. Soon after leaving with her friends, she apparently re-entered the trance. No one could rouse her. She had to be hospitalized and fed intravenously, and took months to recover. (source hypnosis ebook)

We live in a spiritual world whether you acknowledge it or not. If you seek after some magic powers you may get some early results but at what price?

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? These are the words of Jesus Christ recorded in the gospel of Mark (8:36 NIV). Obviously if you are reading this you may have kept the best for last. Do yourself a favour - don't settle for substitutes - go for the real thing. Check out Witness 4 Christ.

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What does the wife of a public relation expert say when she cannot sleep at night? "Tell me again darling, just what is it that you do for a living?"

Of course Michael Jackson is alive... I just heard him sing on the radio..

I have been consolidating all my debts. Now each month I just have one bill I cannot pay.

Hey I will be a father in August. I just don't know how to tell my wife.

A PR consultant wants to impress his first client coming to his office by saying on the phone to someone else: "We are so successful I just won't be able to start on your campaign straight away..." then he turns to a young man who walked in the office and asks "What can I do for you?" the young man says "Nothing I'm just here to hook-up your phone!"

Fat? He is so fat when he travels by train he has to buy two tickets.

Fat? He is so fat he bought himself a car with the steering wheel in the middle of the dashboard.

My wife likes fiction rather than non-fiction. So I never tell her the truth.

I really have to acknowledge this about my wife: whenever she's right, she's the first one to admit it.

A tree surgeon recently opened a branch in our neighborhood. The local paper says: "... injured himself critically after falling out of one of his patients."

I was an only child - I learned to play hide and seek with myself.

I'm a free spirit. I have no hang-ups whatsoever!
This explains why my clothes are always on the floor.

Ugly? She's so ugly her licence mentions she can only drive at night.

I was so drunk I fell asleep precisely when my head hit the accelerator.

My wife sometimes runs a garage sale so we can meet with people of similar appalling taste.

Passionate? You can tell how passionate she feels by how she digs her fingernails into my wallet.

The tax system is odd. You pay tax in 2010 on money you earned in 2009... and spent in 2008.

Another thoughtful and inspiring mother's day gift: the ride-on vacuum cleaner.

Poverty: I started out with nothing and I've got most of it left.

Blessed are those who aim for nothing for they shall not be disappointed.

Being caught in traffic: entering a roundabout only to find out all exits have a wrong way sign.

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Poatina, 70km from Launceston, Tasmania was built in the 1960's to house the labour force building the hydro electric scheme of the Great Lake. With the advent of automation the hydro power station is now monitored remotely from Hobart and only a skeleton staff remains on site. The Fusion Christian organisation was able to buy the whole village complete with a general store, a motel, a service station, primary and secondary schools, an oval, a golf course, a swimming pool and a community hall.

Poatina is the hub of Fusion with regular seminars, a radio station, TAFE accredited social work courses and an office overseeing missions overseas.

Poatina is run as a strata title rather than being an open real-estate market. Bar a few, all the people here are involved with Fusion. The organisation had a major setback in 2009 when its charismatic leader Mal Garvin fell from grace in a case of sexual indiscretion with a young woman he was ministering to. He admitted his guilt and resigned. Three years on, the organisation changed its structure with a CEO and a board of directors. Poatina is searching for a new identity. Some key people left either to the overseas mission field or out of a sense of betrayal.

There are 2 new buildings in the town. A new library for the school and an aircraft hangar acquired and erected to house a new tourist attraction: a glass blowing studio.

There is no courthouse, no lawyer, no constable, no pub, no liquor outlet, no drugs. The only offenders are the large possums who turn you garbage bin upside down during the night and pooh everywhere on the lawns. A fly invades your house the moment you leave your door ajar but they don't bother you when you are outside. The weather can change in an instant. You may head off with T-shirt and thongs and a sun hat and return drenched and shivering after a howling wind dumps a surprise shower.

I arrived in early January 2012 as a volunteer and helped as a kitchen hand during the 'Faith And The Arts Festival'. Even the simplest things require you to use your brains as I found out when my task was to peel the shell of some 100 hard boiled eggs. After 20 eggs the skin of my left thumb was red and sore. I developed a technique to roll the egg on the table bench to make many small cracks along the middle and then peeling the egg under water like an orange.

My task is to come up with ways to put the Poatina Chalet Motel and Restaurant back on the tourist map. I took photos of all the rooms and cabins and uploaded them onto a booking website

This week I served fuel at the service station which doubles as a bank since it is the only place in town with an ATM. There again I was on my own fumbling on how to replace the roll of paper so that we could continue issuing receipts. There is no longer a mechanic on duty. But he suddenly appeared back from Canberra with his wife who teaches at the next conference. He was quick to reopen the work bay and hoisted on the lift a 'Thomas Tank Engine' with a petrol engine. It was to be maintained for the Australia Day parade and is featured on the Google Maps Street View.

I hardly have time to scratch myself but I managed to do some sightseeing last Saturday and visit a church in Launceston on Sunday.

The dining room looks more like a canteen than a restaurant and passing tourists would be forgiven to think they landed in the midst of some grand church retreat. The people you meet are affable and easy to talk to. Most of them are from an open brethren, church of Christ, evangelical background but I also found an ex Christian Outreach Centre pastor from Western Australia.

Well, time to sign off now as I am heading for the Foundation Course - the one week long intensive Fusion discipleship program.

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