Psychotherapist's Journal | Thoughts and Tools to Inspire Wellness in Mind and Body by Karen Gorrin

All About Not Knowing

“… Not knowing – the answer, the goal, or even the next step – is generally associated with deficit or failure in our culture. How then, do artists, writers, and other creative people cope with such indeterminacy, learning to live with the anxiety it produces and even coming to understand it as part of the creative process? …”

These were the opening words I shared at the Thriving Beyond Cancer: Thriving in Uncertainty workshop I facilitated last year at Harmony Hill Retreat Center. The insightful author of those words was the UCLA Fowler Museum staff from long-ago exhibit materials.

How relevant to the artist, this idea of not-knowing. How relevent to us all, as we create our lives one day at a time. One moment at a time. The perpetual blank page. The on-going creative process.

Have you ever noticed the tendency to avoid "not knowing" by placing something ontop, as a way to try and make not-knowing into the known? How does that work for you? I welcome your thoughts.

I will be offering this program again soon ... Monday, April 28. You are welcomed to attend this program at no-cost if you are a cancer survivor or a cancer caregiver; and you are physically able to move between buildings and short distances. For more information or to register, click here. Hope to see you there.

An Idea Worth Spreading

One of my areas of inquiry these days is the brain. I am fascinated by the neuropsychology of how we learn, come to know the experience of love, form and hold our belief systems, and so much more. (See one of my favorite books about the brain, A General Theory of Love.)

So you can imagine I was thrilled when my colleague Sue Ann Birdwell, a family therapist in Kirkland, sent me the below link. I think you'll enjoy listening to brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor's speech from the recent TED conference. It's a powerful account of her experience watching her own stroke unfold, and reveals surprising insights into the very nature of life itself.

Inspiration ...

What a great way to start the day! (Thank you, Ben.) I awoke this morning to receive the below video of Steve Jobs, and the speech he offered to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford University. I had heard an audio of this speech at the time, but had long since forgotten how valuable each of the stories Jobs tells were to me. Jobs shares with the students three stories from his life: Connecting the Dots; Love and Loss; and Facing Death.