The M.A.P. Maker

Visual self-exploration: Your life in pictures #1

[Click on the image to see it full-sized.]

This is the first in my Your Life in Pictures series, where you will find photos to use as a point of departure for self-exploration.

Q: What insight does this picture offer about your career? About your life?

Need help sparking your image-based self exploration? Try these questions.

More information on self-exploration using the Your Life in Pictures series.

Visit the Your Life in Pictures archive.

[photo by Curt Rosengren]

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Self-exploration: Your life in pictures

I've been looking at the world through a camera viewfinder since I was ten. Photography is high on the list of things that light me up, so it was probably only a matter of time before I found a way to incorporate it into my focus helping people create careers and lives that energize and inspire them.

Today I am starting a new series on this blog, Your Life in Pictures. Each Monday, I will post a new picture to use as a point of departure for self-exploration. 

The basic idea

The basic idea is to look at each picture and ask, "What does this mean to me?" You might want to focus on a specific part of your life - e.g., "How does this relate to what's happening in my career?" Or you might want to simply let the insights flow about whatever part of your life the exploration leads you to. 

Doorway to insights & ideas

Part of the power of self-exploration through images is the way it taps into the non-linear, intuitive part of your mind. 

The picture doesn't have any inherent meaning. It simply gives your mind something to respond to. It's a starting point.

The self-exploration in the Your Life in Pictures series isn't about "interpreting the picture." In fact, it isn't about the picture at all. It's about what doors of insight the picture opens about yourself and your life. There are no wrong answers or insights, so open the floodgates and let them flow.

The next post will be the first image. After that, watch for a new one every Monday.

Enjoy!

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Don't just think - create a right-brain file

In a culture that places a high value on taking a left-brained, analytical approach, many of us are only tapping into part of our brain's potential. We completely miss out on the right-brained, intuitive, flash-of-brilliance-out-of-nowhere potential each of us have.

Of course, it's easy to pay lip service to expanding our approach to encompass a fuller range of our brain's potential, but how do you actually do it?

Michael Melcher over on The Creative Lawyer has an interesting approach he calls creating a right-brain file. As he puts it, "it's a way of thinking without, well, thinking."

What you put into your Right-Brain File is anything that tickles your fancy. It could be an article, a photo, a travel brochure, an email, an overheard snatch of dialogue. My Right-Brain File consists mainly of articles, but that’s just me. What you put into your Right-Brain File might excite you, it might intrigue you, it might make you boil with envy, it might just make you say, “huh.” There’s something there, you’re just not sure what. And the key is: don’t think about it. Just put it in the file.

So far so good. The key is to resist the urge to analyze and just toss it in there. And then...

Later, once your file has grown, take a look at what you’ve collected. What do you see? Any patterns, inspirations, insights?  What you have is a record of what your right brain—the intuitive, associative, non-logical part of you—has noticed. It’s been noticing things, even if you haven’t been able to put words around it. Indeed, sometimes avoiding putting words around your impulses is one of the best ways to let them develop.

Another way to think about it - one that keeps your left brain in the loop so it doesn't rebel - is that all this is really doing is gathering data from the right brain that your left brain doesn't have immediately available. Once it has the data, your analytical side can group and sort and analyze and pattern-recognize to its heart's content.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst