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08-05-2015, 05:05 PM
Dr. Charlotte Reznick (http://imageryforkids.com/) seeks to open the hearts of children by healing the wounded with loving kindness. She empowers each person she encounters with tools to heal, broaden their creative process, and ultimately reach their potential. In fact, she has 9 tools for doing so, all documented in her book: The Power of Your Child's Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success (http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Your-Childs-Imagination/dp/0399535071). She lives and breathes these practices, as a function of her love of life and people. I know this about Charlotte because I've been studying her work since 2010, and she has been a trusted friend and colleague ever since 2011, when we collaborated on TEDxStudioCityED (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enoQlZxShUw&list=PL7E96D040F8663439&index=6). In 2012, Charlotte was named Imagery Person of the Year by International Imagery (http://imageryforkids.com/pdf/ImagiNews-Dec13-13.pdf) because her imagery work reaches a global audience with much needed impact.
"What you think, you become." ~Buddha
Mindful awareness practices such as meditation, training in mental focus, and visualizing all contribute to the cultivation of imagination, actualizing potential, and the power of creativity. Several years ago, Charlotte and I had lunch at the restaurant at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles (http://www.getty.edu/). Ever the gracious one, she insisted I sit facing the window, so I could enjoy the spectacular view all the way to the ocean. This moment stays with me always because it represents Charlotte's generosity with the gifts she sees all around us. One of the gifts she sees and offers is the belief and wholehearted conviction that thoughts have the power to become reality, especially the ones generated in the mind's eye.
"As a (wo)man thinketh, so is (s)he." ~Proverbs
Thoughts direct the flow of energy, which is used to create, manipulate, learn, play, heal, interact, and react. When I want to use my body to get somewhere, I think about it, and then energy is dispatched to my legs, and I begin moving. Like magic, action follows thought! According to the research of Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, (http://www.sott.net/article/270006-Thoughts-create-reality-Researchers-show-how-mindfulness-can-induce-specific-molecular-changes-to-your-genes) "rapid alterations in gene expression" are associated with mindfulness meditation practice. This means that what we think about can alter reality even at the molecular and genetic levels.
First, let's explore the power of thoughts a little further before returning to Charlotte's 9 tools for potentiating imagination. When people practice mindfulness meditation, they learn to observe thoughts and discriminate between them. There are different kinds of thoughts, here are 2: Firstly, thoughts can form a building; a physical expression of human creativity, which is limited by physics, space, and time. When an artist or architect, for example, has a thought about a creation, the creation becomes reality after many thoughts are activated, practiced, executed, and realized. Secondly, thoughts can create union and interconnection. Union and interconnection in this context remind me of Daniel Siegel, MD's work on integration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyhxXwclfNs). Siegel describes the interpersonal neurobiology behind health and well-being, and it occurs when different parts of the brain are integrated and operating in concert with each other. We have the freedom to choose between thoughts that empower us, and integrate wholesome aspects of being human, and/or those that limit and constrain us. To oversimplify, thoughts can be negative and contribute negatively to our lives, and they can be positive, generating goodness all around. Imagination is a skill for manifesting desires, dreams, and wishes. When we visualize our goals and the desired effects, we initiate the cycle that brings them into reality. This is where Charlotte's 9 tools come in handy; they train the mind in shortcuts and patterns that promote the occurrence of good things. The brain loves shortcuts so her methods are particularly appealing to most anyone!
In a blog post for Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-imagination/201212/opening-the-heart-child), Charlotte described the cold-heartedness of some children, especially those presented in the documentary, Bully (http://www.thebullyproject.com/about_film). She wrote about how they seem not to care about others yet are really detached from caring for themselves which impacts how they relate to others. She continued with a profound statement that requires repetition: Empathy and compassion for others begins with self-empathy and self-compassion. Charlotte believes that a cold heart that lacks empathy and compassion is a closed heart, and she has the tools to open hearts, gently with loving kindness.
"Be ye therefore transformed by the renewing of your mind." ~Romans 12:2
Charlotte's 9 tools empower people to hear with the mind's ear and see with creative power. They teach us how to tap into the infinite energy and wisdom that already reside within. Most importantly, she brings us these gifts with a playful approach that appeals to kids, and adults alike. She inspires me in this way, all the time! In 2014, I co-founded The Connect Group School with students to test my educational model EmpathicEducation for a CompassionateNation (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=leeanne-gray-psyd/the-result-of-design-thin_b_7696404.html), I invited youngsters to imagine themselves as school founders, principals, administrators, and educators; to have self-empathy and create what they need in a school. They imagined what it would be like to run their own school, and so it was! Students, parents, and visitors alike were all empowered and amazed as young people transformed themselves and renewed their minds. No longer beholden to thoughts of ranking, testing, and arduous work sheets, they were creating community partnerships, building, collaborating, and thinking critically about what school could be. This wasn't just an educational experience, it was the embodiment of the power of children's imagination at play. It involved taking deep "balloon breaths," (tool #1) listening to "wise animal friends" (tool #3) and "personal wizards," (tool #4) and "tapping into energy" (tool #9,) to create a learning community that promotes warm open-heartedness, empathy, and compassion.
I love Charlotte, not only for who she is, but also for what she contributes to the children of the world. It's a long view that we need to hold. As Nelson Mandela once said: "Children are our greatest treasure. They are our future." And I believe they need open and warm hearts to lead happy, healthy lives full of empathy and compassion. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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"What you think, you become." ~Buddha
Mindful awareness practices such as meditation, training in mental focus, and visualizing all contribute to the cultivation of imagination, actualizing potential, and the power of creativity. Several years ago, Charlotte and I had lunch at the restaurant at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles (http://www.getty.edu/). Ever the gracious one, she insisted I sit facing the window, so I could enjoy the spectacular view all the way to the ocean. This moment stays with me always because it represents Charlotte's generosity with the gifts she sees all around us. One of the gifts she sees and offers is the belief and wholehearted conviction that thoughts have the power to become reality, especially the ones generated in the mind's eye.
"As a (wo)man thinketh, so is (s)he." ~Proverbs
Thoughts direct the flow of energy, which is used to create, manipulate, learn, play, heal, interact, and react. When I want to use my body to get somewhere, I think about it, and then energy is dispatched to my legs, and I begin moving. Like magic, action follows thought! According to the research of Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, (http://www.sott.net/article/270006-Thoughts-create-reality-Researchers-show-how-mindfulness-can-induce-specific-molecular-changes-to-your-genes) "rapid alterations in gene expression" are associated with mindfulness meditation practice. This means that what we think about can alter reality even at the molecular and genetic levels.
First, let's explore the power of thoughts a little further before returning to Charlotte's 9 tools for potentiating imagination. When people practice mindfulness meditation, they learn to observe thoughts and discriminate between them. There are different kinds of thoughts, here are 2: Firstly, thoughts can form a building; a physical expression of human creativity, which is limited by physics, space, and time. When an artist or architect, for example, has a thought about a creation, the creation becomes reality after many thoughts are activated, practiced, executed, and realized. Secondly, thoughts can create union and interconnection. Union and interconnection in this context remind me of Daniel Siegel, MD's work on integration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyhxXwclfNs). Siegel describes the interpersonal neurobiology behind health and well-being, and it occurs when different parts of the brain are integrated and operating in concert with each other. We have the freedom to choose between thoughts that empower us, and integrate wholesome aspects of being human, and/or those that limit and constrain us. To oversimplify, thoughts can be negative and contribute negatively to our lives, and they can be positive, generating goodness all around. Imagination is a skill for manifesting desires, dreams, and wishes. When we visualize our goals and the desired effects, we initiate the cycle that brings them into reality. This is where Charlotte's 9 tools come in handy; they train the mind in shortcuts and patterns that promote the occurrence of good things. The brain loves shortcuts so her methods are particularly appealing to most anyone!
In a blog post for Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-imagination/201212/opening-the-heart-child), Charlotte described the cold-heartedness of some children, especially those presented in the documentary, Bully (http://www.thebullyproject.com/about_film). She wrote about how they seem not to care about others yet are really detached from caring for themselves which impacts how they relate to others. She continued with a profound statement that requires repetition: Empathy and compassion for others begins with self-empathy and self-compassion. Charlotte believes that a cold heart that lacks empathy and compassion is a closed heart, and she has the tools to open hearts, gently with loving kindness.
"Be ye therefore transformed by the renewing of your mind." ~Romans 12:2
Charlotte's 9 tools empower people to hear with the mind's ear and see with creative power. They teach us how to tap into the infinite energy and wisdom that already reside within. Most importantly, she brings us these gifts with a playful approach that appeals to kids, and adults alike. She inspires me in this way, all the time! In 2014, I co-founded The Connect Group School with students to test my educational model EmpathicEducation for a CompassionateNation (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=leeanne-gray-psyd/the-result-of-design-thin_b_7696404.html), I invited youngsters to imagine themselves as school founders, principals, administrators, and educators; to have self-empathy and create what they need in a school. They imagined what it would be like to run their own school, and so it was! Students, parents, and visitors alike were all empowered and amazed as young people transformed themselves and renewed their minds. No longer beholden to thoughts of ranking, testing, and arduous work sheets, they were creating community partnerships, building, collaborating, and thinking critically about what school could be. This wasn't just an educational experience, it was the embodiment of the power of children's imagination at play. It involved taking deep "balloon breaths," (tool #1) listening to "wise animal friends" (tool #3) and "personal wizards," (tool #4) and "tapping into energy" (tool #9,) to create a learning community that promotes warm open-heartedness, empathy, and compassion.
I love Charlotte, not only for who she is, but also for what she contributes to the children of the world. It's a long view that we need to hold. As Nelson Mandela once said: "Children are our greatest treasure. They are our future." And I believe they need open and warm hearts to lead happy, healthy lives full of empathy and compassion. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566667515/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48bc4ddb/sc/14/rc/1/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566667515/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48bc4ddb/sc/14/rc/1/rc.htm)
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