What is an underlying question that gives form to your work or interest in this field?
How do we open the door to our inner knowledge?
What is your personal experience of collective
wisdom in groups?
For me as a seminar leader, there is nothing like experiencing
a group of people discovering themselves in a new way. I love to see
them discover that they do have collective wisdom! This is especially
true when there is diversity in the group. For example, when two age
groups are together, one tends to be focused on practicality, the other
on meaning. Together they come up with something totally unexpected,
something that works for everyone and is richer than either could create
alone. It is amazing to me that we so tenaciously stick to “the
answer” when just opening the door a crack brings in such creativity,
aliveness, and so much fun.
What is it about the work in this field that excites
you and connects you to your own deepest self?
My life is dedicated to helping people live rich, full
lives. My focus is exploring what I consider to be the richest part
of our lives: the harvest of our souls, and minds, and experiences.
Collective wisdom comes out of groups, but it could also be seen as
the collected wisdom in ourselves over time, our unique accumulation
of life’s experiences. In a sense we have been doing the research
all our lives that allows us to contribute to the collective wisdom
of the group.
If we are going to survive as a planet—by learning
to be inclusive, or at least tolerating those who think differently,
so we can manage not to extinguish each other and to create a life of
safety, meaning and promise—we need to rely on the collective
wisdom of people who have been here a while and those who have fresh
ideas.
At 62, when I listen to and work with people like myself
between the ages of 50-75, I see that we share a certain gustiness as
well as comfort with ourselves that give us the ability to step out
and dare to do some of the things we haven’t done but have dreamed
of doing. We feel differently than we did before, not really young and
not yet old, but it is a time we have yet to name. Seventy years ago
there was no concept of “teenager,” and until we identified
that time we now call teenage, we couldn’t reap its particular
rewards. In the same way, without a clear concept of this vital wiser
time, we cannot harvest its fruits and take advantage of its deeply
rewarding bounty.
Please provide a brief storyline or snapshot of
what brought you to this work.
When I was very young, seven or so, I felt I was “here”
for something. I spent the next 50 years looking for that something.
I tried whatever fascinated me: art, manufacturing, retailing. In my
late forties I went back to college. In 1974 an old friend said, “Do
the est training.” This was a turning point for me. What I saw
happening was people getting a sense of Self and their personal power.
They experienced the uniqueness of who they were, and that it was good
news. After that, my life got split up into three unconnected parts:
being an est volunteer, working, and raising children as a single mother.
I had no idea how it would, or if it would come together. I had finally
lived long enough to start eliminating what didn’t matter, what
didn’t touch my heart. As I did that, the work that I am now doing
emerged. Through a process I developed called the PaperRoom™,
I help people become conscious of the knowledge and wisdom they have
learned over a lifetime as well as what is their true work now. This
past spring my book Choice Points was published by Davies-Black, so
that people could use this process on their own.
How would you like to be available to others in
this field?
My life is busy, so I fear having to say “no”
a lot. But I would still like to get e-mail, get together with people,
and/or be invited to anything that explores this time of life, so together
we can discover what it is really about.
Links to this site or others:
The Boston
Coaching Company, Inc.
The Paper Room
Process
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