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In arranging flowers earlier this week, I found surprising parallels to endeavors in life! Have a vision Bring your tools

• scissors, vase(s)

Be open to the reality of materials at hand

• be flexible

Cut as necessary

• length of stems to create bouquet

Choose

• use everything in one arrangement or making several

Manage frustration when challenges arise

• no leafiness/fullness, imperfect blooms, having to switch vases after initial dissatisfaction

Think about next time

• learn/remember that different flowers require different resources/vase, materials/greenery/baby’s breath

Be resourceful

• consider greenery from the backyard
...
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How are you taking exceptional care of yourself? How do you feel about that question? Does it seem over the top, just a little too much? Would you be more comfortable with me asking about taking good care of yourself? Perhaps, because of the pandemic, most of us have finally accepted the idea that taking care of ourselves is critical to our well-being and success in every aspect of our lives. I’ve been saying it for years and I propose that we elevate our self-care to an exceptional level because these are extraordinary times… these times though can make it ...
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Though it feels almost trite to talk about endings and beginnings… that is truly where we are at this point in time. While we can engage in such reflection any day of the year, I found myself feeling and thinking so many different things toward the end of December. I was looking forward to the

• end of a challenging year that had bright spots or “silver linings”, as I prefer to call them
• beginning of a new year with the promise of significant change.

Do you recognize, celebrate, memorialize, or in some way acknowledge the ending of one ...
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Happily, a stroke of genius at almost the 11th hour! I don’t know about your experience of late—meaning during the pandemic—but I can tell you that I’m experiencing projects with colleagues that are coming together, very often, at the last minute... For someone who loves the slight pressure of a deadline, that feels okay—until it doesn’t. I got dangerously close to the latter situation this week. A recent example was my offering to deliver an activity for the networking portion of the ATD-NYC Holiday Party. I really like connecting with people—listening to them describe the essence of their work-selves, discovering ...
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The Setting: Meeting this Week Earlier in the week, I bumped up against some folks’ inability to envision something that was outside of their experience...  And, their subsequent thoughts that it couldn’t be done. I had hoped for their considering the opportunity with curiosity and possibility. What do you do when you are suddenly, and surprisingly, faced with folks who are not (hopefully, not yet) on the same page as you? It took me about half a minute to tap into my strength of creativity and swing into a different frame of mind. I understand that if people aren't able ...
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I can’t say that I have a love-hate relationship with time but my feelings about it vary due to the circumstances… Perhaps that’s no surprise but my experience of it does take very different shapes. What about you—when is the last time you thought deeply about how you engage with time? In general, I tend to run toward deadlines because I like that feeling of some, but not too much, pressure.  Honestly, I prefer if someone else imposes it. When I make a deadline for myself, unless there is a deliverable to a client or a colleague, I am likely ...
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I’ll be honest, last week was a tough one for me, my family and friends, for our nation, and for the world. How did you cope effectively last week? What tools do you have at the ready for times of challenge or distress? Were you able to find glimmers of joy in your days? I found that I needed to really lean into my Appreciative Inquiry practice. One of my favorite tools from the Appreciative Living Learning Circle I am hosting is the creation and use of “Goodness Glasses.” (I created my very tangible reminder with a pair of extra ...
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Ahhhh, It’s happened again! My strength of creativity* had wreaked a wee bit of havoc in my schedule… because it's also my weakness. As I am seeking to continuously enhance and add value to how I deliver my bikablo trainings, I decided to explore some new mobile elements. We use that term for items that can be added, moved, and removed when creating charts for graphic recording, graphic facilitating, and training. The elements might be sticky notes that are rather ordinary, such as squares or circles, or cute, such as thought bubbles or punctuation marks, or that might be handcrafted ...
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As I was thinking ahead to my session on Appreciative Inquiry this morning for FacWeek, I reflected on my plan to ask people about their understanding of the term, AI, as it would become the foundation for the work we were going to do together. The Back Story At Positive Pivot: A Global Virtual AI Jam, the conference I attended over the weekend with over 170 people from around the world, we were all asked that question, what does Appreciative Inquiry mean to each of us. The answers formed a giant Venn diagram with both overlapping circles and some concentric ...
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Please take a walk down memory lane with me. Reflect, for a moment, on your professional and personal growth experiences over the years. Have you ever felt that you weren’t quite sure you wanted to do an activity or exercise suggested by a trainer, facilitator, or coach? It doesn’t happen to me too often. (What happens more often is having done the activity, I wonder about its purpose, importance, and usefulness.) I’m currently taking an online course in learning how to draw in new and different new ways. I am really enjoying it and I think the teacher is very ...
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How do you find the time, really, make the time to be creative? I think we all define or describe creativity differently—from diving into new opportunities at work, to drawing, painting, building, cooking, sewing, knitting, singing, to playing instruments, and more. As I think about creativity in my work or in my play, it means total immersion, commitment to process,  and oftentimes to product, too.

• What about you?
• What does creativity mean to you?
• In what ways are you creative?

If you’re not in a formal program that gives you some structure and freedom to nurture ...
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Have you ever had a situation in which you go to do a skill that you learned long ago, practiced, enjoyed, and see as part of your identity, and it’s like… you’re starting at the beginning again? Just the other day my daughter and I decided to go to the town tennis courts, just down the street from us. While I still have my tennis racket, I can’t remember the last time I picked it up — over a dozen years ago easily. But I grew up playing tennis with my dad, that’s how we’d spend our spring, summer, and ...
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What do you do when you’re stuck? I was stuck the other day... I took part in an online class, Day Schildkret’s offering on impermanent earth art, and found myself blocked—unable to move forward because of my preconceived notion of what I should be doing/creating. Day’s beautiful work is symmetrical—and his creations often look like a kaleidoscope though they are made from petals, leaves shells, stones, and more. I entered my design stage of the workshop experience with a vision of what the final product should look like. The vision of my goal got in the way of moving forward! ...
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This very question leapt into my mind when I viewed the beautiful impermanent earth art work of Day Schildkret, on instagram in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. I’ve seen his work before and I am awestruck. The experience led me to think about what inspires me, and by that, I mean moving away from what people generally say—heroic actions, speeches, quotations—to what is really meaningful, powerful, and energizing for me. My shortlist of inspiring experiences from the past few weeks Visual beauty

• Mayumi Oda, Japanese American visionary, read about her work here
• A particular walk in the ...
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Memories of long ago... At the beginning of the summer, with the possibility of carefree days of vacation—camp, friends, sometimes a bit of travel—the idea of having to complete a summer project for high school felt like a burden. By the time the summer was over, with the project completed, I had a sense of accomplishment. As it was a time filled with fun and a bit of work, which was usually (mostly) of my own design... it was really not so bad after all. What was your project this summer? Was it making it through every day endeavoring to ...
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When I started considering this question, the answers began falling through my mind like an avalanche and I felt buried under the chaos! I had to create an organizing principle or two… I decided to make categories. My thinking centered around how I interact with each of the mediums rather than the content of what I was reading. Let’s see if I have made it comprehensible or… not. I landed on a few key areas: "reference" books, books I’m actively engaged with, Kindle reading, Audible selections, magazines, newsletters, a podcast, and a recent video. I begin to wonder how I ...
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I had a moment this morning when I realized I was being consummately myself. I love those moments, don’t you? They are such great reminders! Do you find that too? Here’s the scenario… I’m working to complete my last in-class/synchronous assignment for the Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator certification. I need to create a simple book to show my personal plan for my continuing work in the field. So last night, even though I was running out of steam, I knew I wanted to start working on my project because it was drawing, so it was fun, and I wanted to devote ...
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What do you think? I’m no fan of that phrase or thinking.

• What kind of practice?
• Why do I need to make it perfect?

Perhaps a little context is needed here... I’m not a heart surgeon or a rocket scientist for NASA. If I were in either of those fields or a variety of others, then perfectionism might be a worthy trait... not so much in my work as a visual practitioner. Let me tell you how this plays out for me and then I hope you’ll let me know what you think. I create visuals to teach people ...
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In what ways do you lock in your learning and have ready access to it all the time? I’ve been pondering this critical question of late—for me and for the participants in my bikablo training programs. The most urgent concerns I hear from participants at the end of the bikablo Basics training courses is about assimilating the new skills into their everyday lives. Participants wonder about how to consistently and consciously practice their visual thinking skills. My answer is always the same… first I say, Use your skills every day in every way!

• Goal setting—for yourself and/or with others
• Planning ...
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What motivates you? Just last week I was presented with the opportunity to do something I’ve been meaning to get to for a few months—something that I enjoy doing, love to share, and have folks ask me about often—teaching Zentangle! Background The practice of this art form, (developed by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts), is meditative and relaxing in nature. The tangling looks complex, yet it’s the use of one or more of five simple lines to form myriad patterns, and there are guidelines for doing so. Engaging in the drawing transforms people’s beliefs about themselves. Really! Learners enter the ...
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The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust  How do you have new eyes about your work? Just the other week, when Jill Langer and I were delivering the Day 2 of the Bikablo Basic Virtual Training course, I facilitated an activity for folks to:

• discover what they remembered from Day 1
• see how quickly they could access and re-create/apply the learning
• observe how they would handle a new layer of complexity

all within a very short timeframe. It was challenging! Their responses to the experience were ...
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Here’s the fruits of my labor! All those thoughts I shared in words the other week, "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly" have become an interactive zine!* The fun begins after you:

1. download the file (below)
2. print the zine (as a double-sided page)
3. make a slice (scissors or x-acto) 
4. then, fold the zine(directions in the file below)

Read through the zine AND draw your solutions! There’s also a big, juicy panel for you to visualize and draw “The Best” virtual experience you can imagine! I hope that you will take a photo of your drawings and ...
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.............................................................. .............................................................. How are you feeling about the variety of online experiences you are having of late? What are you loving, hating (too strong?), or wondering about? What would you do differently? In 2015, I designed, developed, and delivered a course on (wait for it) the design and development of live online deliveries. Even earlier (2013), I had the contract to create a course on successful strategies for facilitating live online training. Both courses attracted hundreds of people for one of the largest training companies in the world. Probably just like you, I have spent an extraordinary amount of time ...
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Looking toward the second half of 2020 causes me to pause… so much has changed so fast. I relish the opportunity to sit with markers and paper to savor and learn from my experiences.

• How are you making time in your busy life to reflect?
• What’s the nature of the journey you’re experiencing?
• How are you dancing with the realities, and the possibilities contained within the changes you have experienced?

In the beginning… My year started at a breakneck pace, it was exciting! By early March, my professional and personal lives had settled into a rhythm, and ...
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Yesterday, I felt the high of being with people as they transformed before my eyes. For this bikablo Basic Virtual Training, we had four sessions of plorking (playing and working) over two days —their diligent practice and collegial nature led to exciting results. This morning, my realization upon awakening was, “This will be a different day… training is over. “And while our next session is in July, I am missing the joy that goes into creating the learning environment and experience. This virtual training of the Basic course has required new approaches to delivery and the creation of new ...
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As I sit down to write this week, I am filled with swirling thoughts and emotions. While I want to share my ideas and questions around my work, to connect with you and be of service, I am also keenly aware of the heaviness in my heart. I love to focus on what brings me joy and areas that challenge me in my work yet I need to honor this moment in time. I am not just my work. Even when I am working, I bring all of me to everything I do. So I am going to pause now ...
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when I look at my calendar this morning. No appointments, calls, or video chats, no classes or deadlines for today! While there’s lots to be done, I am the designer of my day—and I LOVE it! Sure, we all have (varying degrees) of opportunity to shape our days—this one is bliss for me, as I am feeling overstuffed of late. The chance to plan, prepare, and dive into my projects is exhilarating. What about you? How are you feeling about your days (and evenings)? Have you figured out how to ride the waves of work, opportunity, and connection — both ...
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I came to the realization slowly… after I had written and drawn all my thoughts. The ideas, questions, concerns, and feelings of frustration, curiosity, and uncertainty were still fresh for me. Once I stepped back from my drawing and realized that I was using it as a reflection and self-coaching tool, I had to chuckle! Templates, creating vision maps (hand-drawn, as different from visions boards {though I do that too and LOVE it}), and capturing coaching client sessions by graphically recording them (for my notes of the experience) are all in my wheelhouse… but I had never done this before ...
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How did you get to where you are now? Was yours a rather straight path to your current work or were there bends in the road or interesting side trips that enriched your travel to your current destination? Over the past few weeks, I‘ve been having conversations with folks from around the world about how I found my way to being a visual practitioner. People are curious as to the path I have taken… and I get it! How did I shift from teacher to instructional designer to principal to administrator to my current foci/passions for the roles of trainer, ...
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Do you have a sense of where in the world your work can be found and how it is being seen, understood, and, perhaps, used? Just a few days ago, I woke up early, checked in on social media, and became emotionally involved with a post. Truth be told, I wrote a fairly thoughtful response to the visual and shared it, then I edited the post, shared my thoughts a second time, and edited it a second time, all within the space of less than five or six minutes. By the third posting, I took it down and replaced my ...
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It's been a wonderful two weeks of sussing out interesting sources, reading, listening, thinking, and drawing about feedback! Where I was last week… I have been doing a deep dive into my course notes from Responding to the Call of Our Times (NVC Academy) with Miki Kashtan/www.thefearlessheart.org, resources from Mary Alice Arthur's site, the field of Appreciative Inquiry and my notes from readings and thinking over the years. I want to share this still in-process work with you—to invite you into where I am in sifting and sorting material to create a cohesive picture… This week’s musings… In looking at ...
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I’m curious about your thinking! I’m up to my eyebrows in thoughts and questions around the topic of feedback. I engage in giving feedback almost every day, and I often articulate the context of my approach yet I want to dig deeper... When I look up the dictionary definition, it feels incomplete—it’s not big enough or inclusive enough or human enough... so I am on a quest to re-define it for myself and enhance the processes I offer my clients. And, I want your help. Would you share the following with me? How do you come to the topic of ...
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Don’t you love it when an idea that has been bubbling, just at the edges of your consciousness, springs forth in full bloom from a completely serendipitous encounter? I sure do! Habits from “before” are supporting me now… For the past few months, I have taken to listening to a podcast early in the morning—specifically those that feed my soul and inspire my thinking. It’s become my time to quietly enjoy the start to the day… it is such a treat! What are your rituals—whether they start your day, are a breather during your work, or a nighttime delight? In ...
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As I pondered the subject of today’s post, I was struck by several ideas simultaneously. I want to

• create a visual of what I am living/experiencing right now in my life
• use a new technique in Procreate to illustrate my vision
• share a shift in my thinking about living my life/our lives right now.

So, of course, this idea for creating the visual came to me last night, as I was reflecting on a conversation I’d had just the day before with a potential client about how/in what ways visuals can be used in the workplace. I had ...
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You know how you do something for so long… that you don’t even think about how you do it—it’s second nature? Then someone changes the way you think about it or approach it and well… then it’s really different? A colleague, whom I know through bringing Bikablo to her neck of the woods almost a year and a half ago, is working on her coach certification. In our wide-ranging conversation about what’s new since we last spoke and planning future Bikablo sessions, she asked if I would be one of her practice clients. Who doesn’t love a free coaching session ...
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Our Setting—Agile Coach Camp at the South Patio Club in Gurugram, India Imagine a lovely, warm, setting in a venue created for small events... people are milling about, drinking coffee, getting to know one another or reconnecting with colleagues, and there's a sense of anticipation in the air. Our Task Agile Coach Camp, (an initiative of Agile Alliance), uses Open Space Technology to enable participants to easily share questions, experiences, discoveries, learnings, and offers opportunities to generate ideas for solutions to the challenges put forward. Honestly, I find OST to be a gamble… I have had both excellent and less ...
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I am wondering if you took up the challenge I proposed a few weeks ago... Did you think through, and perhaps sketch out, how you talk about the work you do so you can explain it easily to others? Do you have some drawings to share? I hope so! Sharing my love of the bikablo method As I put my fingers to the keyboard, I’m chuckling… once again my strength of creativity has gotten me into trouble! While I have a new, hand-drawn, very different version of the visual that “describes” my work… I am already thinking of yet a ...
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Just yesterday morning, while out for our morning walk, I realized that so many of my work-life realities are mirrored in my daily experiences with Gus. Surround yourself with the people that support you. To do our best work we need to feel grounded, with folks who understand us, and who will also challenge us in ways that make us grow. Eat right and make time for play. It’s basic, yet how often do we overlook our physical, mental, and emotional well-being? How can we make the habit/the time to eat in ways which nourish us (take a break at ...
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When was the last time you faced that moment, when you knew that you would need to bridge the gap between the work you do and people’s lack of familiarity with your field? Just the other week I was a professional association meeting (the name remains secret to protect the identity), which began with the typical unstructured networking time that I so loathe. I know some folks who attend the meetings and I feel compelled to say hello and chat for a bit. I don’t know lots of folks and want to meet them, as that is in large part, ...
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I have just a few goals this year— and I am working at being just fine with that (it's a process). I have taken to heart the work of Greg McKeown, the author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. It’s time to focus ONLY on what I do best, and that’s difficult for me.  I LOVE so many things and do more than one or two of them rather well—like most people! How do you come to this conversation? Are you enjoying an abundance of many passions, ideas, and goals or are you more laser-like in your focus? How ...
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Just last week I had an inkling that this bold, desirable, and challenging choice might be too audacious to achieve. I designed a month of work for myself that was just a wee bit over the top—with training, travel, projects and new initiatives. By the second week of the month, I found myself having to apologize to a few folks for my delay in responding to their emails. I started to feel frustrated and that turned to feeling troubled, bordering on disheartened, though not hopeless. How about you? What successes are you experiencing with your resolution(s)? While I hope they’re ...
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What do you find challenging in your work? My challenge is truly integrating my new learning with my existing knowledge to create new approaches, content, and materials. Remembering/refreshing my memories of what I have learned over time with new concepts and practices is daunting and yet delicious! Just this month… I chose to step into the opportunity to unite two areas of interest to support my practice. I joined the “Commit to Sit—A 90-Day Commitment to Practice” program offered by Koshin Paley Ellison, one of the founders of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. It’s a wonderful opportunity ...
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With just a few days distance from 2019, I can without hesitation, claim that it was a year of great opportunities, unexpected personal challenges, and ultimately, one of transformation. What about you? Where did you begin the year? What hopes and dreams materialized as planned, what difficulties did you face, and what did you experience, learn, and accomplish? My highlights were

• sifting and sorting through all the types of work I have done through the years and landing in a new, more cohesive, place and space/site (www.jillgreenbaum.com)
• reviewing and reflecting upon my visual practitioner work, and creating a visual ...
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When is the last time you devoted your precious time, energy, and resources to attend a retreat, conference, or meeting? How’d it go for you? What did you learn along the way and in reflection after the event? Earlier this month, I participated in a story-prototyping lab—Friday evening to Sunday evening—that’s a big commitment! It’s an aspect of my work that I enjoy yet it’s not central to what I do. I was intrigued with the opportunity to meet folks in different fields—film, graphic design, illustrators, cartoonists, advertising, marketing—and to use our collective skills to create an original visual narrative ...
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It’s been a whirlwind of experiences! The last three weeks have held:

• the six day Fast and Loose Sketching Retreat with Christina Merkley and Rhoda Draws in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
• the last of three NYCNVC (nonviolent communication) Integration Program retreats
• and, a bikablo training at University of St. Thomas (as part of my bikablo + Lettering partnership with Heather Martinez)

I won’t lie, with all the work and play of the last three weeks, it’s been challenging to cleave to my goal of immediate application of my new knowledge and skills. In each of my experiences, ...
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I am super-excited to be preparing to go to San Miguel de Allende for Fast & Loose Sketching with Christina Merkley and Rhoda Draws (yes, that is really her last name—these days). The Backstory… I have been thinking about this trip for almost a year now. When I first started seeing Christina post about a drawing course she was taking in Mexico during, wait for it, Day of the Dead, I was intrigued. I was diligent in tracking down Rhoda, asking about her schedule for this year, and then had to sit on my hands and wait until decisions about ...
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I am passionate about being in connection with folks. And, I’ve realized of late (through doing a deep dive into Nonviolent Communication Training) that I have a need to contribute. The question of how to share my love of visualization/visual thinking/drawing with more folks for whom this work is intriguing, a bit foreign, perhaps even scary, has been rolling about in my mind. Honestly, I have done more than my share of coordinating groups and meetings over the years. I have no desire to be the glue that holds a group of folks together. I’m searching for people who share ...
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Yay! It FINALLY feels like fall is here! I bask in the memories of getting ready for the adventures of a new school year. Getting new notebooks, organizing pens, markers, and pencils, making book covers from grocery bags—wow, there’s a memory—are the stuff of halcyon days. Before diving into the remainder of this year, I’m getting out my iPad and Apple Pencil and envisioning the future… I’ve drafted it here. Are you feeling the same? I am asking myself,

• Where have I been this year—both literally/on the planet, mentally, and emotionally?
• Where am I now and what are my ...
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The reality feels more nuanced to me,,, I get it. Folks all want to feel like they have their lives under control—I like to feel that way too. The idea of balance, feels really cozy and, well, balanced, stable. It seems like an ideal to be realized, that becomes a way of living, a practice. My life feels different. The idea I have worked with, and endeavored to achieve over the past dozen years or so is, harmony. So while there are days that I feel like this I am always seeking this Years ago, early in having my own ...
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I’m so happy that you’re here! I am passionate about bridging the chasms that sometimes open up in our daily conversations. When interactions become challenging, I turn to my existing tools that I may not be using fully, or look for new resources to support me and others. I find the ways in which we engage with each other endlessly fascinating, and quite often, amenable to immediate change. Just over two weeks ago, I hosted a session, “Why is this conversation so difficult?” at the International Forum of Visual Practitioner’s annual conference. We did a deep dive into our personal ...
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