Link: "Identifying with Social Groups Helps Clinically Depressed Patients Recover"

This is a good, quick read that makes a lot of sense.

What I Love to Do

Right now, at this moment, I'm struggling with the byproducts of stress. What that means for me is my mind is flooded with thoughts; after all, I'm a thinker -- it's one of the things I do well. It's natural for me, then, for my stress to manifest that way.

It's a problem, however, because when my mind is flooded with thoughts, all sorts of "bummer" side effects tend to follow. I have a harder-than-normal time staying focused on a task or conversation, which makes day-to-day interactions and duties feel extremely burdensome. As a result of that, I tend to withdraw, which, while intuitive to me, is highly counterproductive; for when I withdraw, I am left alone with -- you guessed it -- my roiling thoughts.

Even writing this is a chore. (Reading it might feel like a chore right now, too!)

At any rate, I'd been really amped up about some work stuff, and in the aftermath of said stuff, I found myself thinking about my goals and vision for my life; I also found myself thinking about my purpose. It was a very post-modern discussion with myself, which was both exhausting and counterproductive (my love-hate relationship with post-modern critical analysis is a different topic -- read: Pandora's Box -- altogether).

What I came here to write, then, was something simple, namely, to address the question: what do I LOVE to do?

-I love it when I find the tipping point in a conversation or train of thought, or when I bear witness to, or participate in, a breakthrough. It doesn't matter if they're big or small moments, incidentally -- I love 'em either way. This "what do I LOVE to do?" question was one such "ah-ha!" moment, for example.

-I love it when I identify a solid working metaphor that helps illuminate a problem, idea, theory, or process for myself or another person. For example, I've used baseball as a metaphor -- a vehicle, really -- for lots of problems, processes, etc. in my life. And it doesn't need to be a formal metaphor, incidentally -- it can really just be any instance of successfully and appropriately applying one set of rules and circumstances and ideas to another for the sake of illumination and furthered understanding.

-I love to manage money when I'm operating with a clear or semi-clear vision of what my goals and/or endgame are. I love it. I also love thinking about managing money, and, really, money in general. I love visualizing cash flow models; I love visualizing and dreaming up models for generating increased cash flow, and visualizing the factors and variables that detract from cash flow.

-I love achieving deeper understanding of things I find interesting.

-I love speaking to groups and crowds of people about ideas.

-I love facilitating conversations among people about pretty much anything.

-I love digging into new and unconventional ways of doing things -- I love moving past, through, and around conventional wisdom.

-I love the New York Mets. I love baseball. I love consuming information about the New York Mets and baseball.

-I love to sit and read.

-I love to listen to really good speeches, or conversations, or podcasts (hello, Radiolab!). Similarly, I love to watch really well-written, acted, and produced movies, TV shows, and theatrical productions.

-I love to listen to really good and interesting music. (Totally subjective, of course, but we're talking about me here.)

-Other things.

I think there's real value in articulating these sorts of things to oneself. To my way of thinking, they make up some of the most important "stuff" of personhood. And besides -- going through this list has been a huge boost. My mind is clear, my mood is lifted, and I'm "unstuck." Sweet.

The Nature of Working with Groups (In a variety of settings)

At a group’s onset, my philosophy is to explore our goals as a group; i.e., to identify group members’ endgame, or to ask, "We have convened here; what issue have we convened to tackle? What is our desired outcome? What is the next step beyond this group? What is the next level that we're all trying to get to?" While individual goals may differ, there will be similarities among the participants that the leader or facilitator can and should invoke; after all, the logic is simple: groups and organizations exist for a specific reason, and if an individual is part of that group or organization, there is an implicit thematic connection between the individual and the group or organization.

The work we all do as individuals, and, by extension, in groups and organizations, does not occur in a vacuum; rather, it is in view of the reality that we humans are all in 'place A' right now, and we will eventually be in 'place B.' In other words, in this life, change is constant, and we are always moving forward. That process is inexorable; but it becomes truly beneficial if and when we consciously recognize and engage it as the paradigm of life-as-evolution, and life-as-process. We are constantly in motion, encountering new information, meeting new people, and occupying never-before-experienced moments in time. All that "newness" represents the opportunity and potential to grow, and to expand into the authenticity of ourselves. We are here to learn, to make ourselves manifest, and to help others do the same.

Once these themes have been explored, we render the work more concrete; to do this, we ask the questions, “Ok, how do we get there (i.e., 'place B')? What do we have to do to get there?” The consideration of these questions becomes the roadmap of the work. It also becomes the lens, or the framework for everything that is discussed in the group, as well as everything that is worked on outside of the group. So, "How is this group member’s issue/participation/process, and how is the reflection and mutual aid that arises from group members’ issues/participation/processes, going to move us toward where we want to go? What can we learn from that setback? What can we take with us from that disagreement between group members?" The meta-themes (represented, again, by questions) are, “How are we going to tap into, and act upon, our deeper values? How are we going to gain access to the leader within ourselves, and, in turn, help others get where they want to go?” We must become curious, we must be willing to externalize our questions, we must be willing to explore, and we must be willing to provide others the supportive space necessary to do the same.

We do our best as humans when we connect our own mission with the missions of other individuals around us, and with the organizations, groups, and systems with which we are connected. Essentially, then, the facilitator's, or leader's, tasks are to invoke the path we are all traveling, and, by virtue of drawing connections between meta-evolution and the work at hand, to help participants along that path. By articulating goals, and bringing the endgame / termination plan into view, the leader brings focus to the work in a very practical sense, and reminds us that we’re here, in this room, for a clear purpose.

This process can apply in any work setting, and to any group. It could pertain to a focus group, a task group, or a therapy group, for example. These are principles, after all, and can be applied as needed; but we are all human beings, and when we convene for a purpose, we can let these principles guide our work.