Welcome!

Gestalting YOUR Day

Being in Flow:

I just returned from a glorious threes days in Philadelphia at an International Gestalt Conference. Glorious - a conference? Yup! I was on cloud 9 and didn’t want to come home; well not literally, but I hated for the conference to end. I reconnected with my valued teachers and mentors in most heart-warming and memorable conversations and reminiscences, met with fellow-students of long ago, became acquainted with many individuals from many countries – I felt like I came home. I realized once again how much the Gestalt philosophy, its practice and science is grounded in my whole being. As such, I can honestly say that, like me, it had it’s origin in Germany and history brought us both to the United States. Perhaps this is a bit of a grandiose statement, however, having this background in common I, as a Gestalt Therapist/Coach, can reach out with comfort and love in our shared humanity and together create a better world to live in. How do I/ we do this?  We believe that change can only happen when an individual becomes who s/he really is not when s/he tries to live a life based on other’s expectations (A. Beisser M.D.). Paradoxically, the answers lie within; the degree to which an individual feels troubled is a relative indicator that the answers already exist. On our journey we can explore the use of Bodymind, perceptions and stuck points, lingering unfinished business, hopes and dreams; a process which changes both the client and me. Forgive me for this over simplified version of this extraordinary therapeutic and coaching process.

Being in Flow: Personal Reflections:

As I was writing the above introduction, I became once gain aware of how much the practice of living my personal values provide me with life satisfaction and joy. True, I have certain attributes that make it very easy to be with other people in joy or pain, work toward equality regardless of nationality, religious orientation or political views. I can listen without judging and see learning opportunities in all life offers. However, to practice what I value is inevitably a choice, sometimes even a struggle. I, as everyone and everything else in this universe, functions on the basis of opposites - the Yin and Yang, polarities in Gestalt terms, if you will. While I reach out often, I also can be withholding, I am understanding, and sometimes judgmental. I accept life as a process of learning and becoming and I can be damn impatient and ready to give it up as la-la-land. In spite or because of all said, I humbly love myself and my contradictory experiences as testimonials to authentic living of my humaneness. And most of all, I savor being alive!

So how about you?

What stands out most for me is that I savor being alive and how paying attention to the positive has the power to sustain me in darker moments or, minimally, lessens the impact of less welcome experiences. Would you like to join me in this life-changing adaptation? Here are some hints:

• Make some time and notice something enjoyable on the way to work
• Linger over the first sip of coffee in the morning and relish the taste
• Become absorbed momentarily in the weather outside, watching sleeping children or partners
• Anticipate finding something joyful during the day
• Linger over good memories
• Share a good experience with a friend
• Make a special effort to smile at people when you meet them and become curious about their reaction
• If positive, realize you contributed to make it happen
• Be grateful
• Savor disappointments because they can teach you something
• Keep a log to recognize your potential for savoring.

These are small observations; however, given that we have a propensity to pay attention to negatives, these small practices have the potential to enrich life enormously. One of my group members has become the Savoring Queen, a life change she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams.

“While with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.” Wordsworth: Tintern Abbey

“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a “hearty” yes to your adventure.”  Joseph Campbell

“who re you,little i

(five or six years old)
peering from some high

window;at the gold

of november sunset

(and feeling:that if day
has to become night

this is a beautiful way.)  e.e.cummings

The Pleasure Prescription: To Love, to Work, to Play - Life in the Balance Paul Pearsall

Current wisdom dictates that anything that tastes, smells, or feels good can't be good for us. But pleasure is the way to health, not a temptation away from it. In The Pleasure Prescription, Pearsall gives the antidote for "delight dyslexia," his name for misreading of intensity for joy, accomplishment for worth, busyness for connection, and excitement for love.

The Paradox of Choice; Why More is Less. How the Culture of Abundance robs us of Satisfaction Barry Schwartz

In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice -- the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish -- becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice -- from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs -- has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse.

The Art of Possibility. Transforming Professional and Personal Life Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander

Packed with such examples of personal and professional interactions, the book presents complex ideas on perception and recognition in a readable, useable style. The authors' combined, eclectic experience in music and painting (as well as family therapy and executive workshops) infuses their examples with vibrant color and sound. The relevance to corporate situations and relationships is well developed, and they don't rely on dry case studies to do it. Indeed, this book assumes the emotional intelligence and desire to engage of its reader, promising access to the rewards of that door-opening notion--possibility--in return.

Addiction Resistance Forgiveness And Treatment

The seven chapters of this popular eBook provide a stunning glimpse of how a positive addiction treatment approach using a Gestalt perspective can transform an individual's life to freedom. This eBook explains the process of contributing family of origin factors prior to the onset of substance abuse contributing to full addiction and eventual recovery.