creative problem solving

HARD-WIRED FOR COLLABORATION: PHYSICAL TOUCH INCREASES PERFORMANCE

Physical touch stengthens creative problem solving and performance. In Born To Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life (Norton, 2009), Dacher Keltner cites research indicating that simply giving a reassuring physical touch (a high-five, a chest bump, a shoulder pat) can increase performance on the basketball court, in intimate relationship, in the classroom, everywhere! Humans are wired to seek collaborative effort to "share the load" of problem solving.

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Focusing and Architecture: Designing From The Inside Out

Architecture is revisioned through Susanka's Not So Big concept, design which starts with the wants and needs of owners. "Masculine" vs. "Feminine" struggle archetypically with house design. Gendlin's Focusing, and Active Listening look for compromise in designing from the inside (unique wants/needs/functions) out as well as the outside (site, location, artistic vision) in.

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ADHD OR HANDS-ON LEARNING? “FOCUSED” TODDLER” BECOMES “ATTENTION-DEFICIT” STUDENT?

Active,hands-on learners are intensely interested in learning skills as toddlers. They will pay attention to the mechanics of any task, and practice, practice, practice until they can master it. How is it that this focused learner becomes labelled as ADHD, "attention-deficit," upon reaching fourth grade? Do we really offer "equal opportunity" for education if we do not provide equal access to these "non-academic," non-reading and -writing-oriented learners?

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TRANSITION TOWNS: LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY FOR GLOBAL CHANGE

The Transition Town movement is an example of bottom-up empowerment, local community organization for global climate change. Political action and emotional growth and support are combined with conflict resolution skill training, so that Head, Heart, and Hands are all enlisted in common cause. Listening/Focusing Communities are one model of peer support that could be incorporated into Transition Towns.

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CREATIVE EDGE LISTENING: ACTIVE, EMPATHIC, FOCUSED LISTENING ALLOWS CREATIVITY TO EMERGE

Creativity comes from inside, from articulation of The Creative Edge, the "something-more-than-words" experienced as intuitions, gut instincts, the vague, blurry "feel" of "the whole thing." Creative Edge Listening and Creative Edge Focusing are self-help skills that facilitate exploration of the "not-yet-known. Applications at home and work, alone, for interpersonal conflict and for creative problem solving in organizations.

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INTUITIVE FOCUSING: FROM INTUITION TO CREATIVITY, TRANSFORMATION, PARADIGM SHIFTS.PHOTOS OF CHILD’S FIRST CHRISTMAS PRESENT ILLUSTRATE CLICK!

Intuitive Focusing, based on Gendlin's Focusing, is a six-step self-help process for going deeper into vague, bodily-felt discomforts, intuitions, gut instincts legitimated by Malcolm Gladwell in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. When just-right words and images are found for the "bodily-felt sense" of issues and ideas, "Ahah!" experiences, transformation, paradigm shifts follow. George Soros uses something like Intuitive Focusing in deciding when to rearrange his portfolio. Focusing can be used for problem solving at home and at work. A child's first exploration of a Christmas present makes a good visual image of this "going deeper" into the "implicit" information held in the "bodily-felt sense.

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INTUITIVE FOCUSING: FROM MUD POTS TO GEISERS AND TECHTONIC SHIFTS PHOTOS YELLOWSTONE CLICK!

Photos of Yellowstone mists, mud pots, steaming cauldrons, geisers are used to illustrate the ever-changing nature of the psyche and the Intuitive Focusing process, a simple self-help skill for "sitting with" this teeming creativity and finding words and images which allow a techtonic shift, an Instant "Ahah!" of insight and creative problem solving. The Creative Edge Focusing Pyramid allows the use of Intuitive Focusing at home and at work, alone, in conflict, for group problem solving.

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CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN BUSINESSES: TEACHING INTERPERSONAL FOCUSING

The Creative Edge Organization model from Creative Edge Focusing (TM) includes the Interpersonal Focusing method, often with a Third Person Listening Facilitator, for the resolution of interpersonal conflicts. Intuitive Focusing and Focused Listening skills are used, either in a separate session or right during a Collaboration Edge Decision Making Meeting. How do you teach Interpersonal Focusing in a business or organization, especially if there are not evident conflicts present? Free download of Interpersonal Focusing Chapter, as well as creative ideas for teaching.

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THE CREATIVE EDGE FOCUSING PYRAMID IN BUSINESS SETTINGS: FOCUSING, LISTENING, AND COLLABORATIVE EDGE MEETINGS

The Creative Edge Focusing Pyramid shows how to maximize creativity, innovation, and mutual support at every level in businesses and organizations. Simple self-help skills of Intuitive Focusing and Focused Listening allow the articulation of non-linear, right-brain solutions at every level of problem solving, with carry-over for conflict resolution, stress reduction, and emotional problem solving at home as well as at work.

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INTUITIVE FOCUSING: CAT DOING FOCUSING = “SITTING WITH” THE “INTUITIVE FEEL”

Intuitive Focusing involves noticing that there is "something more than words" inside and making the decision to stop, pause, and spend some time "sitting with" this "intuitive feel" until it is allowed to open and "carry forward" into new actions steps, solutions and ideas. Here, a cat models this "sitting with."

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