Workshops Completed!

Last week's workshops are over, and they were very well received. We had six participants in the college workshop, and an average of 11 participants in the evening church group. In both cases, the participants found that the changes in thinking that come from reflecting on our concepts, then seeing how they apply in our lives made an impact on how they were approaching their work and home lives. There was also a lot of interest in the idea of direct vs indirect understanding, a topic I plan to review in more detail in a later post. There was some frustration, especially during the first few days, among both groups, but this was expected. The feedback by the end of the week was positive, if not enthusiastic. Both groups have indicated that they would like more training or follow-up to the seminar, and we are currently planning some additional workshops for the church that Al will be presenting later this month. We expect to have some additional work from the college, as well, though it would take longer to set up those (more formal) programs.

One point that is clear in both cases: we do not think about our ideas nearly as much as we believe we do. While we are a conceptual culture, in general, we are not often a reflective one, and this is where many of our weaknesses arise. It is very common for someone to explain a mistake (theirs or another's) with the phrase "he wasn't thinking," and this explanation is usually exactly right. Our ability to think about what we are doing - not just our actions but also our way of making decisions or problem solving - has a huge impact on what we are capable of accomplishing. These workshops are proving to be a great way to help people develop the ability to not just think about what they are doing, but also about what they are thinking. We have found that when you focus on how you think, life becomes a lot more managable.

The content of the feedback was very positive. Even the suggestions for changes were given more as "ways to improve" instead of "bad, and you must change." Some of the feedback we received:

• "It pushed us out of our comfort zone!"*
• "...I would like to take a longer course on this subject. I would change it to be more like a 4 hour class, rather than just 2."
•  "Brevity was good. [Good] discussion."
• "...with this class I will look at the 'why' in what I do so that I can broaden my effect on family and friends."
• "I liked the homework"

The last one was genuinely surprising (and, to be fair, not universal). We have found, though, that people do like to stretch their abilities, as long as they don't feel like failures when they run into trouble. This is, by far, the most difficult point of the workshop to get across--we aren't looking for "right" answers, we are trying to help people learn how to discern what the "right" answers may be. Once a person learns how to learn, there is very little that can stop him or her.

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* Just to be clear, this comment was in response to the question: "What was your favorite part of the workshop?"