What fills you up?

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 I am surrounded by books and have a zillion tabs open (okay, I am exaggerating a wee bit). For the past few weeks, I have been sussing out resources for the graphic memoir writing course I am enrolled in. It’s both a blessing and a curse when the folks taking the course are as avid as I am about sharing book titles, podcasts, and videos. Granted, I don’t HAVE to track them all down, yet… Happily, the county in which I live has a robust collection of graphic memoirs and resources for writers. (Oh! I didn’t even share the book titles on my Kindle!)

Resources, opportunities to learn from others—from their knowledge, skills, and experiences—

are exciting, thought-provoking, and galvanizing to me! 

What is inspiring to you?

Are you up to your eyebrows in resources, considering taking a new course, reading a new book, or enhancing your practice in another way?

One of the resources suggested by more than one of the women in the graphic memoir group was the work of The Sneaky Artist. I was intrigued, as I am always looking for other ways to draw figures—something totally different than my style. I did a bit of reading and listening to Nishant Jain… And signed up for an outdoor event in Brooklyn hosted by him and Samantha Dion Baker on March 5th. I believe it’s a creative experience that will support me in trying something really different. (And, it turns out that two of my colleagues from the graphic memoir group have decided to join me for Sam and Nishant Draw Brooklyn! We will meet in person for the first time—so awesome!)

If I expand my thinking to include more adventures in visualizing/visual thinking/visual storytelling, then my stack of books grows! Reading sources on end-of-life issues and concerns informs my work in the areas of creating visual obituaries, and working with individuals on their advance care planning.

My final year of chaplaincy training involves a capstone project—I am in the throes of crafting my proposal. Ever the curriculum designer, it’s my desire to design a program/book that creates alchemy between contemplative practices and creative processes. I am exploring several ways in which use my expertise in Appreciative Inquiry to develop a program full of experiences in which people find ways to increase their awareness, mindfulness, and equanimity. In engaging in such practices,  they can more readily and easily plan for the lives they wish to live and the ways in which they want to live their final days. There are many wonderful resources for such work (another stack of books and list of websites) yet I want a comprehensive guide to processes that folks can work with on their own, with a partner, or me/a professional skilled in accompanying individuals as they work through their thoughts and feelings, and imagine their lives.

I’m also starting to work as a teaching artist at an agency that serves survivors of human trafficking. While I devoted more than twenty years to volunteering and then directing programs for survivors of sexual violence (and their families), the world has changed and the two fields are related yet different. There is much for me to learn. I am delighted to be stepping back into this work and using art and craft to support creativity and healing. (Have you read about “craftivism”? It’s fascinating!)

What are the areas of your life that call for more learning, something new and compelling, or perhaps challenging? 

What’s your stack of books, podcasts or videos look like? I’d love to know!

 

If you’re feeling in need of a spark and not sure of your direction, let’s talk! Appreciative Inquiry coaching is an engaging, generative, and delightful process.

How do you do your best work?

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What’s your style of engaging in a new project?

A few experiences I’ve had over the past month have highlighted and reminded me of the ways in which I work best. Yesterday, I participated in the #WICxWorld Records: Guinness World Records title attempt for the most users in a vision board hangout. Patti Dobrowolski was the presenter and I joined several hundred people in an attempt to make a world record. I met Patti at the 2013 IFVP (International Forum of Visual Practitioners)  Big Apple conference, where I attended her workshop, bought her book, and used her future planning/visioning technique.

Her approach resonates with me and I have used her template myself and with conference participants over the years. My most memorable event was in Bucharest in 2015. I combined questions to be answered by using The Coaching Game deck* with teaching people to draw, and then creating their goals for the upcoming year based on their conversations with colleagues.

   

Last night, I discovered several aspects of my process/endeavoring to do my best work that aren’t always apparent to me.

  • I like the idea of getting together with folks and using a process that is fun, exciting, and will yield a tangible result.
  • Gathering up my tools—big paper, markers, colored pencils, and Gelly Roll Pens—is such fun and enables me to slip easily into a generative frame of mind.
  • When there is constant conversation/auditory stimuli (talking), I can only work at a surface level on tasks. I require quiet time (silence or instrumental music—I love using the app,  focus@will)  to set the stage for me to engage in deeper work.

While I like what I created last night, it was not the in-depth work that I needed and wanted to do. So that will be my work later today or over the weekend using my own, slightly different approach. (I am a huge fan of mindmapping for this visioning process.)

I also just completed a paper that was a reflection exercise on my development over the past year in my chaplaincy training program. In my desire to answer respond to the prompts thoroughly, I reread all my papers about the courses I have taken, the books read, the projects completed, and field trips to agencies and organizations.

I had to smile at my approach. I’m reminded of my dad who would chide me for being a woman with a doctorate who had to read every item on the menu for making a decision about what to eat.

As you may imagine, it’s a style of engaging with what’s in front of me. I use that approach with everything I do. I need to know all the possibilities or the scope and depth of the information to be considered before I can move forward comfortably. I have found this approach to be both a blessing and a curse.

What’s your style? Is it to respond to the prompts in front of you knowing that the answers are within you and you can easily access them?

Or, do you prefer to review and reflect then sift and sort?

Ultimately, I crafted the story of my transformation. Well, it didn’t follow the smooth storyline that I enjoy—here’s where I was a while ago, here is where I am now, and this is what I see for the future—I believe I conveyed answers to the prompts in a way that revealed not only the answers but also me and my story.

As we take a moment to reflect on your processes of engagement, what do you realize? I’d love to hear it!

*If you are not familiar with this card deck, it is a wonderful tool that can be used in so many different ways. You can learn more about it on my website here.