The Rationale

These chaotic times call for us to show up as the best versions of ourselves. We need to be clear, resilient, kind, and on purpose. And how do we do that?

• determine what thriving is for us
• release patterns that no longer serve
• practice compassionate communication

Whether we are facing personal challenges or just attempting to stay on track through economic, climate, and political upheavals around us, we do better when we are conscious of our intentions and our actions. Each person has an important role to play in creating the world to which we want to belong – personally and societally. This course provides grounding in who we are, our aspirations for our lives, and support for acting consciously.

We can set our intentions and then we need to learn how to bring them into reality. We want to be kind, and then we get annoyed by someone, and we are unkind. We want to be acting on our purposes, and then we get lost in worries or crises or social media. We say we want to be a good listener and then we find ourselves interrupting. It takes both intention and attention to change habitual patterns of behavior and to become aware of the greater field of our interactions.

Paradoxically, we can simplify and break things down so that we build up our ability to observe and our skills to take action.

How it works

This course combines understandings and techniques from the human potential movement and brings them into our present actions and future plans. Think of it as becoming more of who you really are.

Though we will be meeting remotely, we will be experimenting with behavior and responses in real time as well as practicing skills between sessions. We will each be explorers of our own worlds and the worlds of the people around us, in personal life and on our teams, projects, and communities.

Indeed, this is a chance to set your focus so that you accelerate the growth that is needed now.

The Process

There will be a small group so that we can all participate fully and get to know one another’s journeys. We meet for 1 1/2 hours each week for six weeks. The sessions themselves are designed to be kernels that will pop during the week. A structure is offered for each of the check-in conversations.

The Course Includes

Preparation

Readings and short videos introducing our field of study. A twenty-minute one-on-one conversation before we begin. 

Curriculum

Who Do You Choose to Be?

How You Do Anything is How You Do Everything

Who Are We to Each Other?

The Flow of Requests and Agreements

From Life Scripts to Self-Care: A Living Systems Mindset

Celebrations and Anticipations

Resources

Reading

• Who Do We Choose to Be? by Margaret Wheatley
• Smart Work: The Syntax Guide to Influence by Lucy Freedman and Lisa Marshall
• How to Know a Person by David Brooks

Videos 

• Retelling the Story of Humans and Nature by Damon Gameau

• Breaking Boundaries, Embracing Wholeness: My Journey with Intersectionality by Sejal Thakkar

Applicants are invited for a half-hour consultation at no additional charge.

Enter your name and email if you have questions or want to learn more before deciding to register. (We do not share or sell email addresses.) We will reply promptly.

About Lucy

Lucy Freedman hopes that we as human beings can share the world in peace rather than destroying it. She is a thinker, teacher, and author who delivers observations, insights, and advice about our relationships with ourselves and others so that we can live our best lives. Lucy has officially been a high school teacher, a psychotherapist, a corporate consultant, a life coach, and leader in professional associations.

She holds a BA and Master’s in Teaching from Harvard University, is a Certified Transactional Analyst (ITAA), a TA Practitioner Instructor (NATAA) and Founder and CEO of Syntax for Change, a consulting, coaching, and learning and development firm based in California.

She is co-author of the book Smart Work: The Syntax Guide to Influence.