Duality

This question on the back of this image is “What beauty lies within your prickly situation?" This image is so perfect in exploring a duality. So many times for our clients they are of two minds and they feel like they have to choose one or the other. This image allows us to have both –and. Using this image with a client or friend may help them step out of their interpretation that they have to choose one and give up the other. With a little imagination they may find a way to bring together their two minds. Something can be both beautiful and prickly. Kind of like chocolate covered pretzels that are both sweet and salty.

Perfect Ending

It always amazes me how differently people interpret the same image. I was sitting around after a full day of site seeing with out of town friends around Washington DC. We were relaxing with a glass of wine and I brought out the images. We spread all 72 of them out on the table and each one of us chose an image that captured how we felt about the day.

My husband, Chaz, selected the old truck. He said that he had been to many of the museums before, but that he treasured each visit just like he treasured this old truck. One of our guests was so surprised because all she saw was a piece of junk! There was much more to day and our 45- minute conversation was a perfect ending to a perfect day with friends!

Sound and Smell

Using images is a terrific way to expand the modalities with which we engage clients. So much of our work as trainers, coaches, and facilitators is focused on language. Images allow us to access the visual and to tap into our right brain.

But what about bringing in the other sense of sound and smell?

• What sounds come to mind as you view this image?

• Can you imagine the sound of the footprints crunching in the snow or does this image bring a kind of winter silence? And how does the snow smell?

• How might sound and smell enrich the conversation and bring forth more meaning?

Ann Deaton

I attended a great webinar presented by Newfield Coach, Dr. Ann Deaton, on Tapping the Visualization Power of the Brain. Ann uses visualization as an engaging, different way to create awareness for her coaching clients. She encourages them to imagine a visual metaphor to help them get new insights or get ‘unstuck’.

For example, a client, who feels trapped by a situation at work, may visualize being an eagle high up in a nest and thus able to see from a very different viewpoint. Speaking as the bird in the nest, the client shares what she sees from this viewpoint and what it might feel like to be an eagle. As the client speaks, she can begin to apply this metaphor to her the situation at work. If she were an eagle, what could she see? With the ability to move quickly with ease, what is possible?

Ann says, “using visual imagery helps bring the client out of their story, recognizing that it IS a story that they are telling and that they could choose to tell a different one instead.” Ann has her clients imagine the image.

This image of the bird’s nest in the tree is part of a 72 card selection that can also help coaches and clients work with visual metaphors.

To learn more from Ann, contact her at Ann@DavinciResources.com.

Summer Class

I am teaching a class on using images with groups in Chautauqua, NY this summer. I can prepare the structure, but I must wait for the people to show up. It is their stories in response to the images that will bring our time together alive. And as a coach, it is how I respond to their imagination, memory, and playfulness that will determine where we go as a group. I am excited to share our JICT images and to explore the myriad of ways they can be used with groups to deepen relationships, increase alignment, problem solve, and innovate.

Look Up

Transformation Testimonial...

During our Getting to the Heart of the Matter webinar on June 14th, we used 6 JICT Images and simulated the first meeting of a new team. Each participant was to choose an image and share what he or she cared about as a way of introducing themselves to the new team.

We processed afterwards and it was amazing what value everyone felt and saw from this experience. Sydney shared that she related to the strengths and passions that each person shared. Andrea said that this activity opened the door for her to make connections with team members. Susan shared that she felt alignment with both the collective and individual “cares”, and Tracey shared that the activity brought a group cohesion and a “buy-in” from the team that just doing the usual name/organization thing would never have offered. Wow!


When you look up and through the trees rather than at them, amazingly different things can be felt.

Staycation

On the Journey...
Where are you going this summer? Whether you are having a “staycation” or floating the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon… or just working… we encourage you to take a moment each day to look at the images around you and see how many different ways you can observe what is before you. There is a message in each one and in each way. We do have a choice…

JICT Images Webinar

Creativity in Action...
June 14th was our first JICT Images Webinar: Getting to the Heart of the Matter. I hope you were there! The JICT Team had a great time and was so impressed with all that was shared by the participants. A lot of ideas for using images as way to go deeper into the emotional realm with groups, individuals, and for personal use, were discussed. I shared that I had used the JICT Images with my 90-year-old mother who had early Alzheimer’s. They allowed her to access a part of her heart… and brain that even this disease could not block. One of the participants shared something similar and we encouraged everyone to explore using images with older folks or those with any kind of mental/emotional challenge. If you have used images in this way, we encourage you to share by posting your comment to this blog!

Tree thru Bars

Image This...
What do you feel when you view this image?

It is amazing that every time I look, I notice something different and the meaning shifts. Today, I see the beautiful shades of blue in the sky and how gracefully the tree limbs reach up through it. I feel the heat of summer in the middle of the day and I’m glad I’m writing in the cool softer light within my home office. I realize I have a choice in shifting my emotions and when I see the bars and feel that I’m trapped, there is another way to see and feel what is before me.

Window Viewpoint

A client, deciding upon whether or not to take a new job, randomly chose this image out of the deck of cards. After several minutes of reflection, she said that the image inspired her to take a different approach in her decision-making. At first look, she was drawn to the women in the foreground. She realized that she was hyper focused on only the short-term issues involved in whether or not to accept the job offer. It meant she would have to leave her workmates, sell her apartment, and relocate to a new city half-way across the country. It truly seemed daunting. But as her eyes drifted outside the window, across the lawn and landed on the US Capital dome, she was able to focus farther into the future. She recognized that the new job would open up many new opportunities and that she had always wanted to live in the mid-west. This was the push she needed to take the job!

Dilemmas

‘How big are you showing up?’ That is the question on the back of this image. Which dog captures your attention? Which one do you relate to? Is it the solid statuesque Husky or the tiny, live Chihuahua? And why? Think of a dilemma that you are facing right now. Which dog would serve you best in dealing with that dilemma? Any new insights?

Focus

When you look at this image, where does your eye focus? Is it on the sky far above the branches? I do. I find this a very hopeful picture. My face lifts upwards and my eyes reach for the sky. My body actually feels taller and I find myself feeling patient and willing to hang on. I know others see a very opposite view. They tend to focus on the dense multitude of branches that block out the light. They feel small and trapped, unable to imagine breaking free. Each one of us sees this image in a slightly different way.

Current Mood

In need of shifting your mood? Take a look at this image and choose which part of this picture reflects your current mood. Are you in a dark, down place and relating to the black border of the image? Are you standing behind the window pane, as if stuck behind bars? Perhaps you are one of the five colored glasses. Which one represents a mood that would better serve you? Might you need to feel more centered and feel drawn to the tall, thin red vase in the middle? Or, perhaps, you would like to be more playful and relate to the blue pitcher with the two feathers. What part of this image is what you need right now?