I Am No Longer Here

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• I Am No Longer Here
• A Request
• Announcements

I am no longer here

Now that's a strange statement.  How can I say "I am no longer here" if I am not here?

"I am no longer here" cannot be a true statement.  The only way I can make the statement is if I am here in which case the statement is false because, in truth, I am here.

This is a paradox.

But rather than see paradox as contradiction, why not see it as an opportunity for creativity, as an opportunity to challenge ourselves to find new insights.

I would like to propose that awareness of the paradoxes in our lives has the potential to expand our creativity in several ways:

• Paradox forces us to examine our assumptions thereby freeing us from becoming prisoners of our own mind.
• Paradox invites us to address the apparent tension in the paradox.  How can two things that contradict each other both be true?
• Paradox requires us to hold two contradictory ideas in our thoughts at the same time thereby extending our consciousness into levels of nuance that lead to new information, new food for thought and new insights.
• Paradox may very well be our prevalent state of being rather than harmony and balance--in other words, we spend more time living in contradiction and tension than we do in harmony.  This means we need to develop awareness of where paradox exists in our lives as a stepping stone into greater coherence and creativity.
• Paradox is by its very nature disruptive.  Disruption is a critical element of creativity.

A Request

I am beginning to explore a project that centers on the relationship between paradox and creativity.  I am interested in collecting paradoxes people experience in their lives.  Here are a few examples:

• Seeing beauty in ugliness
• Finding hope through despair
• Solving a problem by giving up on it
• A place that is both ending and beginning
•  Succeeding by failing

I would like to ask you dear readers for your help.  Can you think of paradoxes that have shown up in your life or the lives of others you know and would you kindly send them to me.

Your paradox can be as simple or complex as you like, many words or a few.  Where have you experienced contradictions in your life?  Do you currently see contradictions in your life?

A quick sketch of myself as paradox

Announcement

Good news about 

The Coach's Studio; Where Outrageously Creative Coaching Happens!

  

The ICF just increased the CCE credits to 7.5 in core competencies. 

If you are interested in the program you can now earn more credits.

Also don't forget to take advantage of the early bird discount of $250 which expires on September 7th. 

"This is my all time favorite class!  This is "THE" class for developing your inner creative muse as well as your client's, to address all those life challenges."  Eileen Caroscio, Life Coach

 

To register directly go to www.lcacoach.com
Or contact me directly with questions.

Bald Faced Promotion

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Intersect

• Bald Faced Promotion
• Additional Thoughts

Bald Faced Promotions

I usually don't use the main topic of my bloutcher to promote stuff but as my wife is fond of reminding me:  consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Actually, she acknowledges that Emerson said it first.  But, hey, there's that consistency thing again.

So here's the deal.

I am extremely excited by what my partners Kathy Jordan and Donna Krone and I have created:

        The Coach's Studio; Where Outrageously Creative           Coaching Happens.

As one participant put it:

"Imagine learning a cornucopia of creative approaches to life's challenges and applying new tools, techniques and having heaps of fun too.   That is what the master creative geniuses, Fred, Kathy and Donna direct you to do in class via a variety of platforms using large group, small group, videos, community chat and much, much more.  This is my all time favorite class!  I have integrated what I learned into my personal life as well as professionally with my clients.  This "THE" class for developing your inner creative muse as well as your client's, to address all those life challenges."

So if you are a coach please consider joining us.  The program is approved for 6 CEU credits in the core competencies.  Our Fall Session begins October 3rd.  We have arranged a substantial early bird discount if you register before September 7th.

Please forward this bloutcher entry to others you think might have interest.

To register directly, go to: www.lcacoach.com

Of course, I would be happy to talk to you directly if you have any questions.  Just contact me at:  famandell@verizon.net

And if you would like to view the video we use to introduce the program please click on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_iHESaZMD4

 And one more thing.  Click on this link to view one of my all time favorite paintings.  It's by Rembrandt and it is entitled The Artist in His Studio.  This has been called the littlest large painting ever painting because it gives such a sense of space yet it is only 10 by 12 inches in size.  I like to think of it as a metaphor for how we think of ourselves.  Sometimes we think of ourselves as smaller than we really are, especially when you think of the great expanses contained within us!


Additional Thoughts

• I'm writing from Quebec and half way through Joseph Jaworski's new book Source; The Inner Path of Knowledge Creation.  Jaworski continues his intellectual and spiritual journey in an effort to understand how to create profound change in the world.  As part of this journey he applies the ideas of David Bohm (he of quantum physics and the implicate order) to bring us to a "place of deeper knowing."  This is heady stuff and hard not to be swept up in the scope of its ambitions.
• I have also just begun a fabulous new biography of Vincent Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.  Reads like a novel.  I am trying to find Van Gogh's "place of deeper knowing."  Wouldn't it be a marvel and perhaps NOT surprising to discover there are parallel access points between the science of "deeper knowing" and the art of "deeper knowing."

http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/32665