-
Celebrating imperfection
He wants to be nothing except what he is.That is home.That is happiness. Herman Hesse, pp.53 This essay is inspired by my own uneasy road to be more authentic, and my encounters with my clients and with people who are longing to be who they are. More inspiration comes from often seen basic tension between perfection and authenticity when I make compositions(1) with my clients. This tension sometimes divides the self, and is visible as a pattern in these composition. In my practice and privately I wish to encourage people to be more who they are (self-realization) and discover the beauty of being authentic despite not necessarily being perfect. Imperfection is a part of the self, there can be no authenticity without imperfection. The beauty of imperfection has been celebrated by Japanese value of Wabi. On the road to becoming authentic we can be inspired by celebrating imperfection. To…
-
What is composition work?
Composition work belongs to the dialogical self approach and is inspired by art and a scientific model of the self (Dialogical Self Theory). The client is invited to take the position of an artist and to compose his own self-landscape. This method is relevant for coaching, training, counseling and education. Landscape of the mind The Dialogical Self has been described as dynamic multiplicity of I-positions in the landscape of mind (Hermans, Kempen, & Van Loon, 1992). I-positions are understood as different sides one‟s personality, characters belonging to one person (e.g. I as anxious, I as strong, I as happy, I as demanding). I-positions are not only internal but also external ones, like significant others or external aspects of one‟s self (e.g. my friend, nature, my father). We ask a person to make a composition which represents a variety of I–positions and emotions. The relations between them are explored and a…
-
Emotional Coaching in Dialogical Self Approach
In usual education people learn how to think, to count and use words but they do not learn how to involve emotions in their personal and professional development. At school many people had to study a lot about the lungs of a frog, legs of a spider but did not learn what their sadness, anger, or joy can signalize and how they could deal with them. This gap can be filled by emotional coaching training, developed within the Dialogical Self Approach (DSA) which is based on both research and practice (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010, Greenberg, 2000,2008). This model is rooted in Dialogical Self Theory, Emotion Focused Therapy (Greenberg, 2000) and a model of immersed and detached experience (Lambie & Marcel, 2002). DSA offers a method of emotional coaching which aims to teach how to use the potential of one’s emotions in order to stimulate personal and professional development. Emotions are…
