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Rituals Create a Rhythm

This time of year, the late fall, and the beginning of the holiday season has a different rhythm and feel to it. What do you think?

I start to plan differently, make space in my schedule to slow down, to shift the balance of work, studies, play, and connection—areas which are really overlapping circles in the Venn diagram I imagine.

I easily slip into rituals of baking, shopping, and making gifts, choosing a photo for the holiday card (I am a paper and pen gal), envisioning my yearly drawing that will accompany our card, and more.

What rituals and habits support you?  What has become second nature and comfortable?

What new traditions are you creating in response to your changing circumstances?

These questions are equally relevant to our work, wouldn’t you agree?

What practices do you bring to your work to create and hold space, build rapport, increase connection, and nurture success?

I considered this question, “How are working in person and online similar and different?” with a new lens last week at an in-person training (an event that remains relatively rare).

Here are a few of the methods I use in my training and facilitation work.

  • When I’m online I ask people about where their feet touch the ground, to learn where people are coming from at that moment —literally—to create greater awareness of who is in the room. And I share that I live and work on the land of the Munsee Lenape and the Schaghticoke, in New York.
  • When in person, I’m relating to where folks are from yet making that connection in a different way. Last week when I was in NYC with participants from the five boroughs, I shared where I lived in the city, on the land of the Lenape on the Upper West Side, during my years in graduate school, and saw nods of recognition around the room.
  • Rituals in my work include using methods and practices that will create a warm and welcoming environment by recognizing people’s individuality and their group affiliations.
  • I plan for co-creating the learning experience. I endeavor to ensure that participants are fully engaged not merely consuming content, which means making the time and space for participants to think, question, practice with real-life applications, reflect, capture their knowledge, and plan for using it.
  • Asking for their written feedback about their learning and experiences is a sign of respect (from me to the participants) and an opportunity for me to learn what was new, important, interesting, perhaps puzzling, and what can be improved.

In your work, what are rituals, routines, habits, or practices that serve you and others?

What needs to be explored for its continuing efficacy, as people and circumstances change?

What is your North Star/the values or principles that guide your assessment?

My approach for all design and re-imagining/re-design—whether for change and growth in my personal or work worlds—is the 5D model of Appreciative Inquiry, because it:

  • is supportive/grounded on a positive foundation
  • exploratory
  • invites experimentation
  • flexible, and
  • results/success oriented.

I seek to create rituals, habits, and practices that support my own growth and that of everyone with whom I work.

I’d love to learn what you think and feel as you take a step back to reflect on the habits and practices that support you. Perhaps you will even share one or two with me!

Feeling Gratitude & Being Appreciative

Off the top of my head, and in less than 5 minutes, I generated all these ideas—big and small, specific and general of people, relationships, and experiences that fill me with gratitude.

As I breathe in the crisp, cold, early morning air as I walk Gus, a sense of gratitude washes over me. I start to explore that feeling.  A cascade of experiences and names of people start tumbling through my mind— the training courses I have attended, the courses created and delivered, the people met, the new relationships formed, the books read and listened to, the places traveled, times with family and friends, and the list goes on. And these are very specific memories I’m thinking of—like snapshots in my mind.

Honestly, there have been challenges this year too. Life is full of ups and downs. In my world of family and friends—sickness, chronic conditions, and death—to the state of our country, the ever-present scourges of racism, misogyny, lack of adequate food, healthcare, and housing, gun violence, immigration atrocities, unequal educational opportunities, our class system, the reality of climate change, unstable geopolitics, and more.

I have had to develop ways to effectively work with and handle these realities. In essence, I am particular about the sources of information I choose to consume and conscious of the “right” amount of information. I seek to be informed and engaged without becoming overwhelmed as this is the way I move forward.

What are the tools and resources you use to re-balance?

Who and what support you in your efforts to live in a state of equilibrium?

I want to be sure that I’m being clear that working to achieve equilibrium through:

  • eating well
  • hydrating
  • exercising
  • connecting with family and friends
  • learning
  • creating art consistently
  • and reading books that challenge me

enables me to volunteer my time to organizations/causes I believe in and pursue my (rigorous) studies in chaplaincy. I’m not talking about ignoring the world and our challenges to sit and eat bonbons on the couch (but you knew that). I am talking about ensuring that I have the energy to pursue change in my personal and the larger world.

Here are just a few books I’ve read over the past few years that support my mind, body, and soul. Perhaps you will find one or more of them interesting.

I’d love to hear from you about the resources and practices you turn to on this journey. Please share them!

I realize what a very full year I have had…   I am reminded of how much there is to appreciate in my life. With that in mind, I was thinking it’s time to offer another Appreciative Living Learning Circle. It seems fitting to start before the end of this year and continue it into the beginning of next year. If you’re curious to learn more, check my Calendar page.

Quick, name your recent, best learning experience!

Oh my gosh! The past two weeks have been a deep dive into training—expanding my knowledge and giving me opportunities to practice my new learning. I have revisited material from a new perspective, (Nonviolent Communication), faced the challenge of working with emotionally difficult material  (the reality of homelessness in the US), explored hope with Valerie Brown (Hope Leans Forward), and tangled with new patterns and materials from dawn to dusk (okay, a slight exaggeration, 9:30 am-6 pm) with my Certified Zentangle Teacher colleagues).

It became so clear to me, once again, that content and engaging in deep processes (time for reflection, powerful questions, discussion with others, and more) must be integrated into my learning experiences, as they are essential for me. These elements are more than preferences. I do my best learning when I have an opportunity to engage with the material in ways that are meaningful to me—and I am clear about what that looks like.

What about you? What are the components of your quintessential educational experiences?

How do you compensate for the instances in which the teacher/trainer/professor/speaker/expert doesn’t measure up? 

If I’m presented with new facts and concepts, then learning about them through working with them is more interesting and fruitful than a didactic presentation from the speaker. The opportunity to ask questions, to hear others’ queries, and to be prompted to further discovery through thought-provoking questions makes for a rich experience. 

For me, “less is more”… meaning, I’d rather have a deeper understanding of less material than an overview and little depth. The phrase, “A mile wide, and inch deep,” comes to mind. 

When the task is conceptual and psycho-motor, (visualization, drawing, tangling), I need a clear, logical, well-paced approach, and some time to reflect on my work as I am doing it. Playing with the materials is also a factor — what pens, markers, pencils, and paper am I using? How familiar am I with the inner interaction of the different variables?

Sharing what I have learned in a cohesive manner, through organizing my thoughts, writing papers, and/or teaching classes requires me to engage with my learning experience (my notes, and/or my drawings). That process brings me to a greater understanding and brings me to a higher level of knowledge and skill.

As I reflect on the different ways in which I learn and then share my learning, I envision a path or steps in a process:

  1. Listening for enjoyment and understanding
  2. Sharing my visual notes with someone (talking through what I have learned)
  3. Clearly and concisely articulating the essence of my learning in a conversation, paper, and/or visual
  4. Teaching the material to colleagues and/or students

What opportunities exist—or can you create—to broaden and deepen your knowledge and skills? 

What will you learn next? How will you integrate your learning? I hope to see you on your journey!

Reflecting on the Shape of Our Lives

Two weeks ago, I posed these questions…

🌀 What experiences have nurtured and shaped you throughout your life?

🌀 Who has inspired and supported you over the years? Who might do so in the future?

🌀 As you view and reflect on all these answers, how have these “nutrients” formed your essence? (Another metaphor may be, “What is the foundation you are standing on?“)

🌀 What more do you want to bring into your life? And, conversely, what will you let go of or re-shape to better serve who you are now and want to be in the future?

I am wondering if you made the time to answer them. I hope so! Here’s the overview of my thoughts:

As promised, I devoted time to reflecting on the people in my life—past and present—who have helped me grow intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. While my drawing identifies few folks by name, I took a walk through my memories, from childhood through to the present. The revisiting of my life experiences—from relationships to schooling, travel, work, and more has led me to appreciate the successes and challenges that have, in part, formed who I am at this moment in time.

Happily, I have an ever-widening circle of friends and colleagues who continue to inspire me. Interestingly, I am letting go of just a few of my projects (though I love them) to make more time for what I am deciding matters most to me.

I hope that you have savored your journey from the past to the present too.

Opportunities for learning and growing—oh my!

Gosh, it’s been an amazing couple of weeks! I’m stretching in new and unexpected ways!

What’s your spring been like?

  • In March, I began a course of study that requires me to use new processes and formats. Part of the work is writing/drafting, submitting, revising, submitting, revising, and sending off finished papers about all of our courses. It’s a rigorous (and lengthy) process! 
  • I’ve started working with a mentor. Deciding on the shape of that experience with a person completely new to me is both exciting and challenging. I am at the beginning of a two-year journey and there is much to consider… my background, interests and goals, her expertise, our styles of interaction, the nature of such a relationship—it’s complex!

  • Just last week, I offered a joint coaching session to the two participants who had most successfully followed the guidelines I created for assessing graphic recording work, (from my session for the Visual Jam). It was such a delight working with these women who came in with high-quality visuals and helping them to make their pieces even better. Another set of eyes, a different perspective, it’s a gift.
  • I’m developing a visual storytelling piece to present at a conference in July. While the concept is really clear in my mind, how it comes together on paper/my iPad is still a work in progress. I decided that I needed support and so reached out for an accountability buddy—to get the work and play of it done—and to offer me feedback. It’s been awesome! My colleague, who is an accomplished author, shares ideas that would never have occurred to me. Happily, I do the same for her current project.
  • One of my clients is seeking to dramatically change her approach to digital recording. Each coaching session we review recent pieces together, identifying what’s working and why, then we discuss alternatives to the options chosen re: layout, use of color, lettering hierarchy, iconography, and the harmony of text and drawings. (This is the type of work I do for myself too. At the end of almost every project, I look at what I have created and think of at least one other way to do it completely differently! It is both a blessing and a curse to have those insights.)

What projects are on your plate?

How are you gaining perspective about your work? 

Who are your mentors, guides, or coaches as you continue to learn and grow? 

How is the “feedforward” you’re receiving supporting your goals?

As you can tell, I always believe that it’s possible to do things just a bit better! Old dog, new tricks!

Reach out to me if you want to explore your next best steps.

 

Postscript: In honor of  May as Mental Health Awareness Month, I am going to post again tomorrow with my visual from two weeks ago and one of my favorite resources for taking good care of myself.