496 Smithtown Bypass Suite 202 Smithtown NY 11787 631-366-4265
publications@lifestage.org
NEWS 
2012 Crazytown Performance Schedule: Sat. Jan 21, 7 p.m. Lifestage, Inc. 496 Smithtown Bypass Suite 202 Smithtown Ny Sat. Feb. 18, 7 p.m.Broadway Comedy Club 318 W. 53rd St. (8th Ave & 53rd St), New York, NY $5 cover, pay at the door or online through smarttix.com ( 2-drink minimum) Sat. Feb. 25, 2012 , 7 p.m. Broadway Comedy Club, 318 W. 53rd St. (8th Ave & 53rd St), New York, NY $5 cover, pay at the door or online through smarttix.com Friday April 20, The Examined Life Conference, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine MORE INFORMATION "Self-medicate with real-life therapist Jude Treder-Wolff. Expect the unexpected! And without the hourly rates." New York Daily News. "A touch of therapy with a lot of laughs and music seems exactly what the world needs now." Cabaret Scenes 'Well-written and funny." BackStage Listen to Jude Treder-Wolff on Dr. Annie Abrams Blogtalkradio program, discussing the healing power of storytelling on November 7, 2011 Jude Treder-Wolff writes about Interpersonal Relationships for Examiner.com WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: RELATIONSHIP 2ND ACTS AND SELF-REINVENTION Relationships are the architecture of our personal and professional lives, something especially important to keep in mind during times of rapid, roller-coaster-ride-type economic upheaval. Like right now and into the uncertain future. Improvisation is a key concept here, because it is all about taking and building on offers. READ MORE TAKE YOUR PARTNER FOR A RIDE: ON LOVE, RELATIONSHIPS & BICYCLES Partnerships - especially between people making a life together in which every important choice one person makes has an effect on the others' well-being - are a bit like bike and rider. Balance is key, focus required, shifting gears when necessary definitely recommended. READ MORE IT GETS BETTER WHEN WE DO: CELEBRATE GAY CITIZENS AND SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS Nothing is more central to healthy interpersonal relationships than the knowledge that we are safe to be who and what we are, a human experience often denied to gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender (GLBT) individuals. But change is happening and we are all witness to it. READ MORE Recent articles: THE LIVE COMEDY SHOW; BEST DATE NIGHT EVER FIVE CREATIVE THINKING TOOLS THAT ENERGIZE RELATIONSHIPS TweetABOUT US
Possible Futures: Creative Thinking For TheSpeed of Life. will be available soon on Kindle with updates, revisions, and 2 new chapters. |
WHEN A DOOR CLOSES, OPEN YOUR MIND by Nicholas Wolff"When a paradigm shifts, everything goes back to zero," writes Joel Barker, author of Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future, in which he mentions the telephone and movies with sound as inventions that were disparaged and passed over by corporate giants. Digital Equipment (never heard of them? That's my point) went out of business because they could not let go of an old idea about who could use or understand computers. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates changed history by re-imagining the computer as something anyone could own and use. What's true in business, science and technology is also true in the way we think and live. When events beyond our control force us onto an entirely different course, letting go of the old is about the most important - and for many of us most difficult - aspect of thriving in the "new normal." A famous example of this - and the subject of the recent New York Times essay "Leadership Lessons From The ShackletonExpedition" by Harvard research historian Nancy Koehn - is the story of the Antarctic-bound ship appropriately-named The Endurance which became trapped in thick Arctic ice for 2 years. Ernest Shackleton took his ship and crew on what began as a bold, history-making vision to be the first men to walk across the continent but within a year life-threatening conditions upended those plans completely. "A man must shape himself to a new mark directly the old one goes to ground," he wrote in his diary, and the record shows that his ability to quickly and completely let go of the original plan and create a new one in real time led to his entire crew's survival against overwhelming odds. READ MORE 
CREATIVE COURAGE: FREEDOM TO FAIL, FLAIL, FLOP AND FLOUNDER by Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, RMT,CGP Friday nights at 6 p.m. The Pit-NYC offers a free, drop-in improv jam they call Happy Hour. It has all the "you've-had-a-hard-week-just-have-some-fun" ethos of any conventional Happy Hour, minus the alcohol and the self-pity. Everyone puts their name in a jar. The host pulls 2 names. Those two people get up on stage. A suggestion is offered from the audience. Lights go out. A Beat. Lights go up. The scene begins, then unfolds through a series of offers and responses. Two minutes - lights out. Scene over. New names. New scene. And so on. This "anything goes" and anyone-is-welcome improv event is unpredictable enough to induce tension but warm and supportive at the same time; it provides exhilerating relief from the stresses of the week, the intensity of the city just a few feet away, and the thinking thinking thinking self that can never work it all out but never lets up. What makes this a kind of spiritual process is the faith required to do it. Faith that the people who show up will keep the agreements that make improv work, e.g. accept all offers, respect your partner and make them look good; choose moving the scene forward over ego; contribute and let go of control over outcomes. In this context, faith is freedom. Freedom to flail. The structured world of work, business and community trains us to be so structured in our thinking that many people feel extremely uncomfortable and self-conscious in any situation that might remotely involve "flailing." And there are everyday situations that feed our discomfort with not-knowing - the ridiculous ego needs of people we must deal with every day, systems we must navigate set up by institutions that take forever to change, colleagues who willfully crush others' chances out of rank self-interest, the eyes of others on our children's behavior ready to pounce on our parenting skills, to name a few. And yet the creative mind -with all it's rich potential to come up with an idea that blows away the competition or sparks the best behavior in the kids, - revels in flailing, as long as we can stay with it long enough to have some fun. READ MORE
"
Lessons can be learned from improvisation, both in theater and music, for application to business. In addition, training exercises from the performing arts can be used to convey the principles of improvisation in corporate settings.
"
Dr. Mary Crossan, Organizational Dynamics, Spring 1996.
"
There are countless ways to apply the tenets of improv beyond the stage. They form a foundational mindset and way of looking at the world that opens up possibilities and collaboration - two things the world really needs now. Every cause gets stronger when people accept that the world has more options than they can come up with on their own. "
Zohar Adner, author of The Gift of Stress
"
Applied improv helps us look at the process of communication, not just the content, which has helped me enormously when in conflicts of my own. Because I have some tools with which to constructively engage in conflict, I have more courage to address a difficult situation rather than sweep it under the carpet. Improv has also heightened my awareness to how interdependent I am. I am keenly aware that it takes a village to get me out of bed in the morning!
"
Caitlin McClure, MA
" The world is changing so quickly that promoting the ability for creative thinking and promoting cultural adaptability is essential. Remember that kids starting school this year will be retiring in 2065. We don't have a clue about what the world will be like then. "
Sir Ken Robinson, quoted in "Reading, Writing and Creativity" Business Week February 23, 2006 |
Self-Awareness Workshop Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
DATE: Thursday Feb. 2, 6-9 p.m. Facilitator: Laura Grossman, ACSW, LCSW-R, CASAC, Certified MBTI practitioner The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) workshop is a fascinating opportunity to explore your personal style and preferences and use that information to improve relationships, maximize opportunities for learning and growth and realize potential. According to the Myers-Briggs Foundation, the essence of the theory behind the MBTI is that "seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment." The MBTI is a valid and reliable scientific instrument that has been used for over 40 years as a method to assess personality types, and an extremely useful guide to understanding; · Your learning style and approach to teaching others or parenting; · Differences in relationships with friends, partners, and children; · How personality type can help you work better with others and manage your own work; · Stages of personal growth and development and tools to navigate each one; · The unique gifts you bring to your life at home and work; · Insights that unravel puzzling interactions; · How to best foster cooperation and appreciation in your personal and professional relationships. Registration deadline January 10, 2012 Fee: $50 By check payable to Lifestage, Inc - or online at brownpapertickets.com 
EXPERIENTIAL ACTION METHODS IN GROUP WORK 
Group psychotherapy, improvisation workshops, journaling and other types of creativity-enhancing group experiences are to our mind and brain what vitamin-rich but also delicious food is to the body. Research in Interpersonal Neurobiology shows the importance of positive social connections to health, and the added value of engaging in creative experiences with supportive groups for navigating 21st century life.
Dr. Dan Siegel and his colleagues have created a HEALTH MIND PLATTER to demonstrate the optimal balance of brain activity: Learn more about Interpersonal Neurobiology at www.mindsight.com 
"Coping with the complexity of today's business environment is not about predicting the future or reducing risk. It's about building the capacity, in yourself, your people, and the organization to adapt continuously and learn speedily, in order to maximize the chances of seizing fleeting opportunities."
Coping With Complexity Ivey Business Journal May/June 2010.
"Scientific understanding of creativity is far from complete, but one lesson already seems plain: originality is not a gift doled out sparingly by the gods. We can call it up from within us through training and encouragement. Not every man, woman or child is a potential genius, but we can get the most out of our abilities by performing certain kinds of exercises and by optimizing our attitudes and environment-the same factors that help us maximize other cognitive powers. Some of the steps are deceptively simple, such as reminding ourselves to stay curious about the world around us and to have the courage to tear down mental preconceptions.
"
Ulrich Kraft, quoted in Unleashing Creativity" Scientific American Volume 16 Number 1 (2005).
" First, the core human reality that "heart and soul" language points to has been given many names by diverse traditions. Hasidic Jews call it the spark of the divine in every being. Christians may call it spirit, though some (e.g., the Quakers) call it the inner teacher, and Thomas Merton (a Trappist monk) called it true self. Secular humanists call it identity and integrity. Depth psychologists call it the outcome of individuation.
"
Parker Palmer, quoted in "Teaching With Heart and Soul: Reflections on Spirituality in Teacher Education" Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 54, No. 5, (2003) |
Read articles by Lifestage Senior Trainers