Lives In Progress

The ability to craft and deliver a story is a key professional skill that is even more Workshop  and Hand-Out by Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, CGP, MT valuable in the digital world, in which there are constant competing demands on peoples' attention. According to neuroscientist Paul Zak , who conducts research into what is happening in the brain when impacted by story, the ability to command and sustain attention is the core challenge to all of us who seek to deliver information and impact others in positive ways. "Any Hollywood writer will tell you that attention is a scarce resource," he writes in "How Stories Change The Brain" on UC-Berkeley's Greater Good website. "Movies, TV shows, and books always include “hooks” that make you turn the page, stay on the channel through the commercial, or keep you in a theater seat. Scientists liken attention to a spotlight. We are only able to shine it on a narrow area. If that area seems less interesting than

The games used to train improvisers are particularly effective for developing Workshop design and facilitation by Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, CGP, MT interpersonal skills, because of the unique challenges of improvisation: to create something in real time collaboration with others, having no script, no director, no rehearsal and no preplanning. Improvisers closely listen, observe, notice, and support one another. And through learning to read and respond to what our improv partners are expressing through play, we can cultivate skills that are essential for real life relationships.   The concept that play has serious learning value in American social-emotional development and education was originated by  social service worker Neva Boyd , who was prominent in the first half of the 20th century and very involved with the playground and recreation movement.  In her essay The Theory Of Play  she wrote that through games " children learn language skills, socialization, cooperation,

by Jude  Treder-Wolff, LCSW, CGP, MT In his article  "The Tao Of Improv"  psychotherapist Robert Taibbi describes his introduction to improvisation at a particularly challenging period in his life.   " I had just finished emotionally marching through a some significant losses – the death of my father, then my first wife – the hospitalization of my daughter," he writes. "I was also bored with my job – lots of long-winded, stagnant community meetings, worries about the morale among my 40+ staff, sweating the quarterly budget review, and having little time for clinical work. I felt dazed, dull. Then one day I stumbled on a sign posted in a store window. A woman was offering improv classes, and to my own surprise, I called, and then actually showed up. The class was a good mix of men, women and backgrounds – a computer guy, an aikido instructor, a research biologist, a salesman, a musician, a poli-sci student – folks very different from my usual world." 

"Words can introduce you to an idea,  but we think it takes an experience to transform you."  Alan Alda, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face "We define resilience as 'the capacity to be resourceful and creative, to make choices, and to take effective action, no matter what is going on.'" Presence and Resilience Workshop design and facilitation by Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, CGP, MT Resilient people share 3 common traits, according to research discussed in  Harvard Business Review : 1)  a cceptance of reality; 2) deep belief that life is meaningful; 3) an uncanny ability to improvise.  Training in improvisation is an engaging, imaginative way to power up all three of these traits. For therapists, educators and other professionals working with human development, the games and exercises that cultivate the skills for improvisation are remarkably effective tools.  The "yes...and" principle at the heart of improvisation i

Stories are what we make out of our experiences, and improvisation is the experience we Workshop design and facilitation by Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, CGP, MT make. Attitudes - defined by the American Psychological Association as "the cognitive and emotional tendencies to perceive the world in a certain way" and powerful determinants of the choices we feel are available to us and are an expression of the story we tell about ourselves and the way we view the world. Because behavior is so closely linked to attitudes, focusing on attitude change is much more likely to lead to successful behavior change. Attitudes change through experiences that can give rise to a new narrative about who we are, what we freely choose and our potential for transformation. The Will and The Skill Both attitudes and behavior are more likely to change when we have the will to navigate through the discomfort of going against ingrained mental and emotional patterns, and the skills we need to t