RECORDING session: Viewing life with an appreciative lens - by Jill Greenbaum

In this interactive workshop, Drawifier and Appreciative Inquiry (AI) facilitator Jill helped us face the challenge of viewing the world through a new lens: how do we broaden and refine our perspectives to create stories that pull us forward into the life we desire. 
Looking at the positive side of things gives us the courage, the inspiration and the motivation to deal with difficult things. It is also important to recognize that the more negative perspective of our brain, is essential to keep us safe, to watch out for us. So, a complete view of life is looking at the positive and negative. And we can redirect our brains to think more positively, to intentionally change our thought patterns and repeat them. This is the context of the workshop. 

With Jill we explored the five principles of AI and applied them to our lives immediately through reflecting, drawing, and writing. The audience shared drawings and thoughts. We worked with materials created in Drawify that Jill uses in her AI workshops and projects. 

The five core principles support a way of seeing the world that invites us to attend to the positive dynamics in our relationships. It requires cycles of reflection and action. 

The 5 principles are the following:

1. The Poetic Principle. Life stories can be rewritten to better fit how we see ourselves in the present or future. Enabling a more helpful and joyful action. 
2. The Constructionist Principle. We construct our stories. There are always multiple perspectives; we need to hold the reality that we create lightly. What we think we know, affects our actions. We take a look at what’s working in the present and we build from there. We can reflect on our past successes to create the future that we desire, and expand our boundaries.
3. The Anticipatory Principle. It’s all about living into the future that we imagine. We can change the future by visualizing what we want and move in the direction of the images that we create. It’s how we want to feel. 
4. The Simultaneity Principle. The moment we ask about something, we simultaneously begin to move towards it. Our questions are powerful tools for change.
5. The Positive Principle. Positive questions lead to positive change. Which of your strengths can you use to create a positive experience in the future? Instead of focusing on weaknesses. The more positive an image or question, the more positive the action.

Watch the full video of Jill’s Workshop to practice and start applying AI to your life!