Since 1977, I have been sending out a newsletter called LEARNINGS. Here is how I began the first issue:
This newsletter—LEARNINGS—is my way of sharing with you what I am learning. Often I learn something with one client that would have been useful with another client the day before. In order to bridge that gap of time and also to bridge the gap of space that separates me from clients and other friends outside Cleveland, I will share my learnings with you regularly in this newsletter.
That statement feels amazingly accurate more than 35 years later. The only real change is that I moved from Cleveland to London and then on to the Crook of Devon in Scotland.
In the earlier newsletters, I shared one or two learnings each time. Then I read a wonderful book by Michael Phillips called The Seven Laws of Money. He describes the Taoist approach to creating Seven Laws about anything.
I like that approach except that instead of announcing Laws, I prefer to share Learnings. I’ve now discovered Seven Learnings about all sorts of things, including Journaling, Love, Retreat, and Diversity. The latest Learnings starts here; the rest are in the Learnings Archive.
GREETINGS
This newsletter—LEARNINGS—is my way of sharing with you what I am learning. Often I learn something with one client that would have been useful with another client the day before. In order to bridge that gap of time and also to bridge the gap of space that separates me from clients and other friends outside Cleveland, I will share my learnings with you regularly in this newsletter.
The idea for and the format of this newsletter come from several sources. I have edited newsletters for two organizations and Dick Bolles has inspired me with his newsletter. But the original impetus for this comes from a doctor I read about who sent out such a newsletter with his bills. If you do not receive a bill with this newsletter, please call and we will arrange to enclose one next time.
A LEARNING
LEARNING: I can use both sides of my brain to solve a problem. The left hemisphere of my brain gives me the ability to verbalize and to see things in sequence while the right hemisphere of my brain gives me the ability to visualize and to see things as a totality. When I integrate these two abilities, I can solve problems in a flexible and effective way.
At a two-week conference on life/work planning in Kansas City during August, Dick Bolles encouraged us to use the side of the brain we don’t usually use. For me that meant lots of experimenting with my right-brain abilities.
One of our tasks was to make a list of what needs doing in the world. Once I had my list I had to decide how I could tackle some of the big issues that I had listed. I could have used my right brain and made a sketch or I could have used my left brain and made a list of steps. But then Laurie Simons showed me a book calledUse Both Sides of Your Brain and I decided to try that—using some diagrams in the book as a base.
In the center of a sheet of paper, I put the issue. Then I asked Dick’s question: “What has to happen in order for that to happen?” I drew several lines out from the center and put the answers on those lines. Then I asked the question again and drew more lines. I alternated sides of the brain by following one sequence for a while and then looking at the whole diagram to make connections and come up with new sequences. When I saw a connection, I drew arrows. As I got out to the edge of the paper, the answers of the questions became very specific and I began to see things that I could do. So I circled the skills that I have and I circled the names of people that I know.
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My original diagram was in many different colors, but you can get an idea of the process from this reproduction. You might take note of how you study this idea. Do you read what I have written? Do you look at what I have drawn? Do you look at both? None of these approaches is necessarily any better than the others, but it is worth knowing what works best for you.
ANOTHER LEARNING
LEARNING: I can draw a map of myself as a country and use it as a source for writing in my journal. At a workshop in July, George Simons suggested this idea; he calls such a map “Soul Country” and that will probably be the title of his new book. By surfacing major issues in the form of metaphors, the map helps me concentrate my journal writing on the most important parts of my life.