INQUIRING WITH CURIOSITY (sustained empathic questioning into the deeper structure of experience)

:  Inquiry takes active noticing a step further. This is a more penetrating investigation into the organizing principles behind thoughts, speech, feeling and actions.  It’s a focused examination that uses the previous answer to probe even deeper, activating a kind of cascading effect that further uncovers the hidden dimensions of both your shadow side and your latent capabilities.

PRACTICING WITH INTENTION (experimenting, practicing and deepening what works)

Practice is the art of skillful doing; it’s about experimenting, testing, expanding, circulating and deepening and feeling into what works.  Basically, it’s a crystallization process that provides the support, nourishment and cultivation of your ongoing change process.  In fact, it is the linchpin to the whole shebang; without practice, nothing sets.

So, in an nutshell, ChangeWork Strategies is a comprehensive, highly effective approach for creating real and lasting change.  It’s based on a systematic step-wise process for training the mind, working with obstacles and developing the self-knowledge to move forward with passion, clarity and direction.

These strategies are interdependent; focusing on one, activates the others. They are strategies that zero in on the way you organize your life and structure your experience. They go behind the scenes, directly to the “HOW” of what you think, say, feel and do. They illuminate where you get stuck and where you are out of alignment so you can make conscious adjustments and get on with business of living YOUR life.

Unique Features of CWS

Present Focused;
Many therapeutic models concentrate on analyzing negative past experience so you’ll better understand “WHY” your problems persist. From a CWS perspective, your past experience will show up anyway, in the form of memories, triggers, images, feelings and behavior. But, instead of analysis, we’ll explore HOW these impact you now… thus, giving you more choice, insight and flexibility for running your life.

Focuses on patterns, not problems:
CWS focuses squarely on the underlying patterns, strategies and mind-set that hold problems in place. It comes from the perspective that problems are not wrong and you are not bad for having them. Rather problems are simply unresourceful patterns that are creating obstacles in your life.  Although most patterns operate under the radar of ordinary consciousness, asking the right questions can open them up for exploration, clarification and transformation.

Understands thoughts in a new way:
Our thoughts generally seem very close and very real, so CWS helps you create space so that fearful or unpleasant thoughts will have less impact. Learning to separate your actual experience from mere thoughts about experience, will help you diffuse limiting beliefs, negative self-talk and un-resourceful patterns.

Focuses on the Authentic Self:
CWS helps you discover who you are at the core, helping you bypass all the internalized ideas about who you or others think you should be. The underlying belief here is that everyone has unique gifts, qualities, temperaments, areas of resiliency, talents, skills, passions, and ways of being and doing in the world. Getting on track by aligning your authentic self with your actions, brings a deeper abiding joy that guides you through the more transient moments of uncertainty or unpleasantness.

Focuses on Language:
CWS views language as far more than what you say; in fact, it sees the non-verbal components of language as holding most of the meaning that’s communicated.. These  non-verbals include images, feeling states, memories, self-talk, some reflexive, automatic responses and more. Understanding how these drive your life, then  learning to work with them, increases flexibility, self awareness and choice.

Focuses on Self-knowledge:
ChangeWork Strategies is about tapping into self-knowledge and the unambiguous clarity of knowing what you’re up to – without self-judging, criticizing or comparing… so you can accurately see what works, what doesn’t and how to get more of what you truly want.

This is about understanding the depth of your inner world so you can fully align your actions and values with the outer circumstances of your life… rather than trying to mold yourself to fit someone else’s idea of success and achievement.

Focuses on what works, not what doesn’t work:
Shifting our focus to what is already working, how it’s working, in what contexts it works, with whom it works and all the other dimensions of effectiveness begins to breakup the stronghold of problems and unworkable strategies. Additionally focusing on what’s alive, vital and energetic within you further reduces the hold of blocks and obstacles.

Focuses on living well, not symptom reduction:
ChangeWork Strategies takes it’s cue from ACT Therapy where the focus is on fully experiencing the wide range of human emotions, not on trying to rid of, or suppress, the ones you simply don’t like. Interestingly, what, at first, appears to be an unwanted symptom often turns out to be hidden gold.

Includes Context:
ChangeWork Strategies takes an integral view that incorporates all aspects of your being; work, relationship, community, spiritual life and your shadow side, realizing that building psychological flexibility is about allowing you to adjust to the changing circumstances and contexts of your life.

Incorporates Scientific Findings:
ChangeWork Strategies is an ever-evolving method that strives to incorporate validated scientific findings as they relate to the brain, the mind, consciousness, behavior and psychological flexibility.

Incorporates Practices from Wisdom Traditions:
Twenty-five hundred years of systematic investigation into the nature of human consciousness by spiritual adepts has left us with a variety of practices for cultivating mindfulness, acceptance, gratitude, patience, generosity, compassion, and self-kindness. Interestingly, modern neurobiology has validated that these practices, in fact, re-wire the brain, produce psychological flexibility and engender a sense of deep abiding joy.

Focuses on Skill Building:
Effective change takes place outside the therapy office, where breakthroughs are integrated into the real world of work, relationships and family. ChangeWork Strategies focuses on building the skillful means and practices that align therapeutic work with the demands of real life.

Incorporates Strategic Interventions:
ChangeWork strategies is based on 5 dynamically connected interventions; noticing, inquiry, clarity, practice and action.

Incorporates Fresh Ideas About Goals:
Although we’ll pay attention to your goals, desired outcomes and plans, we’ll use these more as a baseline from which something open, fresh and unexpected can emerge. When you aren’t so attached to having things come out a certain way, opportunities and synchronicities become available, while obstacles and blocks recede.

Builds Sensory Acuity:
Increasing self-knowledge brings the added benefit of enhancing your senses. As you take the time to understand how you tick… your ability to see yourself in action, hear your own self talk, watch how you make decisions, create images, and use memories… as you do all this, a much larger world will open up in which the senses are more alive, activated and expanded.

Engages Internal GPS:
As you cultivate more self-knowledge and build your sensory acuity, a more fully functioning internal GPS will help you accurately gage how to move forward effectively and efficiently. The idea here is that by consistently doing what works, you’ll build new patterns that then begin to function automatically… like an internal guidance system.

Acceptance and Expansion:
Ancient wisdom traditions all seem to meet at this point: accepting reality as it presents itself brings more comfort, happiness and peace…as opposed to fighting against it or pushing it away.  This is because reality is neutral; it is we who create the positive or negative valances with our thoughts, feelings and expectations.  As we create more space in our lives. by accepting what is, we become more connected to the present moment, ourselves and others.