Connecting to our Heart (Reflections on Gestalt)
Figure - Ground
Figure and Ground is a Gestalt concept - the figure is the focus of attention, while the ground is the background against which the image is defined. (reference: Making a Difference with Your Presence). The sharing below is based on my experience in a session organized by Besonder Consulting.
If you are familiar with concepts such as the cycle of experience and unit of work, do keep this at the back of your mind as you read on :)
I want, we need (Assessing what is)
One exercise that can help to illustrate figure-ground is “I want” and “we need”. What do I want? What do we need?
“I want” to see what is emerging in the group and these individual figures gradually form the ground;
“we need” to choose what to attend to - naming what is figural - helping the group land on a shared figure to work on. Sometimes there may be an individual’s figure that’s powerful enough that the group wants to focus on. Often the work here is, how do we get to a shared figure? Via exercising an activity, or question(s)?
Notice: What reasonates on the Head, Heart Gut level; Content (what is said), delivery (how its being said), behavior (what is done), impact (result); Past and future; What is missing
Often groups have a leader who decides, short-circuiting the process. Hence in our practice, it is important to slow ourselves down to look at each step. This process is an inclusive way to attend to each individual’s wants and collective perspective of what we need.
Choosing what to attend to
In this process, we are trying to identify a unit of work that the group would like to work on - which is a shared figure, or the contracted work. However, it’s often not easy. As the intervener, one has to be aware of what is wanted, what is avoided, and what unit of work is possible within the available time.
This can applied to a coaching context as well. In a coaching session, the coachee may bring up a figure - but this may not be the actual figure that they need to work on. The coach needs to help the coachee explore the figures beyond the ‘head’ level, but also the heart and gut - which would be the figure that holds the most energy?
After an ‘energetic’ exploration of the figures, the coachee/group will need to choose one to attend to.
Note: Interestingly, it was mentioned that a shared figure tends to start with 2 people (it’s usually harder to establish shared figures in a group). It takes one to get interested in another, and takes two to create a heart connection - and whatever that is created between the two, see if the rest is aligned with it as a shared figure. This resonates with my own experience as most projects started from a conversation with a friend about an idea we’re both passionate about!
Acting on the choice
This is similar to the action phase in the cycle of experience, where action is taken to make contact. If action is being avoided, the intervener or any individual in the group would need to name what is being avoided to heighten the awareness of the group. Even naming that the group seems to be stuck in the ‘head’ space - which we were, and you’d feel a sense of stuckness when it happens, helps the group to be aware and perhaps to start connecting to their heart.
When action is not taken, it is likely that there may be some projection going on. Projection as resistance limits contact with the environment, e.g. i may be feeling confused, and i make it about you - that your presentation was confusing - where in fact it was clear and understood by many, that i may not have been paying attention. Hence i may not take action to get clear, as i’ve blamed it on the presenter and it’s not ‘my unit of work’. (reference: cycles of experience; Making a Difference with Your Presence)
Closing
We close the unit of work by giving it form - by naming, savouring, and acknowledging it by asking, “what has changed? What have we learnt?” And this should give us enough energy to move on to the next unit of work.
Change could be illustrated as such - when boundaries collide and awareness is raised – assimilation occurs when contact is made. When the change is not occuring, the next unit of work needs to attend to the nature and source of the repeated work.
Adding 2 more questions, which were helpful reminders to myself:
How do we become aware?
Pay attention to the cycle of experience. In our daily lives, we tend to fast track this, and we may not become aware of a unit of work that deserves our energy. SLOW DOWN!
How do we create safe(er) spaces?
Model it. Say from your heart.
I just had to put this here because, it’s so simple, yet sometimes it takes a hell lot of courage - yet i am sure it’s something we’ve all done before, and we just need to do it again, and again, and again. :)
Choosing courage is an individual choice but having a friend, or being in a community helps so, so much!
Further reading: Cycle of experience x unit of work