A Gestalt urge, if acted on, has its own cycle. It’s like a wave.
You follow the urge and see where it takes you. A glass of water will most
likely quench your thirst. A nap will most likely leave you feeling refreshed.
A walk in fresh air will also leave you feeling refreshed, and you might meet
some interesting people on the way. It is a bit like surfing. At the end of the
wave you either enjoy the satisfaction of completion, or catch a new wave,
which might be a new idea or workaround to a challenge. You have relinquished
that first wave. It’s now gone. You may have now caught a new wave, or not. You
might go back to your awareness space and enjoy the satisfaction. Or, like the
surfer, you might see another wave coming and ride it. It’s all good an you are
the master of your own choice.
A Gestalt cycle, described simply, looks like this:
awareness of the attractive urge, action, satisfaction and completion. If you Google “Gestalt awareness cycle”
you will find many diagrams, some of which are overly complex and are usually
written for therapist, trainers or consultants. I suggest that you keep it
simple to start with, and work from the home base of awareness. This is an
experiment in applying applied Gestalt psychology to your life and work. Simple
is elegant, and revealing. Follow the simplicity. When a Gestalt comes along, like a new wave, you might choose
to catch it and ride along. Then the wave completes, enjoy your satisfaction,
and come back to your base point of the awareness space. Feel your breath
coming into your nostrils and moving down toward your lungs. Enjoys this and
the experience you have just had. Take a few moments and feel the breath move
into your belly area. Relax. Enjoy.
Take-away from this essay: Jot down a little about your
recent experiences in your Gestalt notebook. What attractive urges have you had
recently? Which of them have you followed? What happened? Once you took action, where did it lead you?
What was the result? Keep it simple.
Surfer Wave Catcher Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp_3MgUbShk&feature=youtu.be
Please check out the Surfer Video link above and notice how the
surfer catches waves. Is there
just one wave? How many times does a wave end? Does the surfer catch new waves
as he completes one wave? How many times does the surfer come to an
ending? What did you notice?
Copyright 2013: Dr. Earon Kavanagh. Readers can use and repost as long as they cite source.
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