The educator Maxine Green once said: “I find that, when a space is provided, something rather wonderful can happen.”
Empty space allows things to evolve in an organic way. It creates room for what we DON’T know and can’t expect. Empty space allows Something greater to come through us.
So next time you’re stuck, don’t search for a solution.
Instead, open space for it.
Creating space is the first step toward transforming anything.
The same could be said for knowing anything of any depth or complexity … our universe, each other, or how to navigate through a turbulent situation. The metaphors that we hold are what enable us to construct meaning and find our way. Metaphor is much more than a tool of language–it’s how we make sense…
My current muse is this painting by Tsuguhara Foujita (1886-1968), a Japanese artist who applied Japanese ink techniques to Western-style paintings. There’s something that’s really captivating about it…the simple lines and muted color make me want to go draw and paint. I love the girl’s expression and the cat is cute and hilarious. My photo…
Albert Einstein said that imagination is the “highest form of research.” The Australian animal pathologist William Ian Beardmore Beveridge (1908-2006), said that facts and ideas are “dead in themselves. It is the imagination that gives them life.” We humans are blessed with the ability to imagine a world beyond the ordinary. Let’s make good use…
Many who teach, train, coach, or mentor focus on content and strategies, but it’s the opening of space that’s transformative. When we focus solely on content, learning becomes static. We have no room to let the wisdom under the surface reveal itself. Try shifting your focus to the space. ✨ For more about the potency…
The composer Leonard Bernstein would complain sometimes about being dry and blocked. During those times, he’d sit for long hours at the piano and just improvise–strum chords or try a sequence of notes. And then suddenly, he would find one chord or note that “hit.” That one note suggested the next. Bernstein said that the…
A few years ago my intuition nudged me to give a class the assignment of writing a song. Only three students had musical ability (I came up with an alternate assignment for the others), and of those three students, only one young woman—Carmel Bracken, a workshop leader and educator from Ireland—was inspired to give it…