TAE Award – and it’s importanat to me ’cause…..

Here’s an explanation (in the simplest, and perhaps cheerfuly simplistic, terms) of what TAE is.

A bit of background:

Eugene Gendlin developed Focusing out of research that sought to understand why some forms of emotional therapy “worked” and led to improvement, while others did not.

From qualitative research, it emerged that people who were able to explain coherently and clearly the reasons for things did not benefit from therapy (they remained in the same place). In contrast, those who paused, hesitated, said, “It’s like…”, and turned toward images or bodily sensations—these were the people in whom significant changes occurred.

Out of this, the “technique” of Focusing developed.

About two decades later, he turned to writing the conceptual foundation that explains this. Why is it helpful to turn toward the body? How does change happen at all?

From this grew his seminal book, A Process Model.

And the final stage of his remarkable life’s work was to develop, out of the philosophy of Focusing, a Focusing-based practice of “thinking,” intended primarily to support creative processes (as distinct from therapeutic processes). Through it, one can take a person’s field of knowledge, expertise, or even “just” experience and intuition, and transform them into a new conceptual system and a kind of “mini-theory” that allows them to bring it productively into the world.

So the short answer is:

A practice of thinking and creating that grows out of the philosophical foundations of Focusing.

Proud to share:

It may seem like a niche. It may seem like many people will have no idea what I’m talking about.

But for me, this is the core of:

The work—in meetings with people for healing and for supporting creative processes.

At home, in parenting, in partnership, in sexuality.

And more generally, in the joy of being alive.

If you ask me about it, I’ll be glad to talk.

#TAE_Is_Life