“Safe” Me
The real question we are asking each other is “Am I safe with you?” “Is it alright for me to reveal my wishes, my un-spokens, my hidden truths, my guilt, my shame, my yearnings...
We Don’t Know How to Rest
We don’t know how to rest. We think that resting is for the lazy, the inefficient and the ineffective. Yet when we think we are resting, our eyes are entranced by the endless scroll...
The Deliberate Road
When I look back over the last decade, there is one common theme: I have a huge tendency to overestimate what I can do in the short-term, and underestimate what I can achieve in...
Outrospection
This originally appeared in the book, The First Kiss: Undoing the Intake Model and Igniting First Sessions in Psychotherapy, Chapter 19. “What is Your View of the Problem?” “Curiosity never killed the cat.” ~...
It’s Not About You.
One common advice that is often given to someone preparing for a speech is to rehearse in front of a mirror. This is one of those common wisdom that is not helpful. What happens...
The Cobra Effect
Way back, the British wanted to reduce the amount of cobras in colonial Delhi, so they decided to start a bounty on those snakes. And they expected this would solve the problem. All of...
The Tyranny of Metrics
For all this talk about the importance of measuring outcomes, we must resist the other side, the tyranny of metrics that can undermine the dignity of our human experience. A lack of appreciation and...
#4. The Dyson Vacuum Cleaner and Making Progress Visible
No manufacturing company in the US and UK was initially willing to license his vacuum cleaner. James Dyson was laughed at for designing a transparent vacuum cleaner that showed all the filth it sucked...
#3. The Inevitable in Psychotherapy (Frontiers Radio)
The 9 Forces That Will Shape The Field of Psychotherapy… and Why This Matters to You. The actual path of a raindrop as it goes down the valley is unpredictable, but the general direction...
#1. Introduction to Frontiers Radio by Daryl Chow, Ph.D.
Frontiers Radio is a podcast for psychotherapists who value deep learning and individualized development that translates to better results with the people you aspire to improve. On the show, you’d acquire cutting edge knowledge that pushes beyond the...
Leave an Empty Chair
Here’s a suggestion: Whenever you conduct a supervision session, leave one empty chair in the room. [1] Why? This is to remind both parties, that we are talking about someone else who is not...
Problem Solvers and Problem Finders
“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” ~ Pablo Picasso Some of the best clinical supervisors I know are not just good problem solvers, but they are highly perceptive problem finders. Why...
To Understand? Easy. To Help Someone Feel Understood? Difficult.
Recently, someone said something to me that cast doubt on my ability as a therapist. This person said, “It’s not that hard to help someone feel understood. With good eye contact, attentive listening sprinkled...
The Holy Grail of Learning
In more ways than one, therapists are bridge makers. Except that one of the greatest challenges is the process of bridging what we’ve learned into fruitfulness for our clients. Demis Hassabis, founder of the...
Extend Your Mind Using Knowledge Centralisation
After figuring a way to create space and protect deep learning, one of the biggest barriers in the deep learning process is that most of the knowledge acquired over time are not accessible in ...
A Deep Learner Needs a Möbius Strip
When I first heard about a “möbius strip” from writer Parker Palmer, I thought it was a name for a German freeway or something. The Smithsonian magazine explains that “a Möbius strip can be...
#5. When Performing Impedes Learning
For a video version of this episode, see below: “I spent half of my life lost in an education system that pushed for results and performance… and failed.. Even when I Began to perform...
A Deep Learner Needs Direction and Depth
School tells you what to learn. In real life, you have to figure out WHAT TO LEARN. In psychotherapy land, we are inundated with so many types of “whats and hows”, in the forms...
A Deep Learner Needs to Create Play
I believe that a good life is a deep life; it’s prerequisite is to be a deep learner. My job is to help practitioners become Deep Learners. This week, I want to take you...
#6. All Things Shall Pass
I found myself telling this story to me kids some nights ago. I believe it’s worth retelling here, especially in the current anxious climate surrounding the coronavirus. After the story, I say a few...
#7. A Tribute to K. Anders Ericsson
[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14947670/height/100/width//thumbnail/yes/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/1733435/custom-color/fd0e35″ height=”100″ width=”100%” scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] We pay tribute to K. Anders Ericsson in today’s episode. He is known by many to be “the expert on expertise.” His work,...
10 Frontiers Problems to Solve
Date: 23rd June 2020. I started writing the first draft of this list of problems to solve in April 2019. There were like 15-17 problems at first… and that was more than a year...
Focus on What’s Not Going to Change
Here is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, on the importance of what’s not going to change: I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is...
Protect Deep Learning
Participants from all over the globe have just completed the first two stages of the inaugural batch of the Deep Learner web-based workshop. Instead of just a bunch of pre-recorded lectures, Deep Learner is...
Homeschooling?
A Smorgasbord of Tips to Keep Your Kids Engaged, Learning and Connected During Home Isolation. Note: This article is cross-posted on two of my blog sites, Frontiers of Psychotherapist Development and Full Circles. While FPD aims...
Personal Learnings: Looking Back at 2019 in Order to Move Forward (Part II of II)
(Update 20 March 2020: Like other countries, Australia has now instituted a travel ban. COVID-19 has impacted so many families directly and indirectly. My thoughts and prayers go out to you). In the previous...
Personal Mistakes: Looking Back at 2019 in Order to Move Forward (Part I of II)
Two years ago, I started a project of capturing highlights on a weekly basis, previously called “A Year in Weeks”. I shared my private reflections and my personal learnings from looking back at 2018. ...
No More American Idol
American Idol and the likes of other singing contests have created a false impression that what it takes to be a musical star is to sing really well. The aim of reality television singing...
The Language of Inner Life
“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” ~ Tractatus, Ludwig Wittgenstein. The language that we need to learn and to know, not so much as to explain things (see this...
Myths About Myth
A myth is the image we have of the world and our relationship with it, and the story we tell ourselves. A myth is not the opposite of fact. All of us carry myths—implicit...
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