MINDFUL LIFE FOCUS COMMUNITY
"Therapy is too good to be limited to the sick"
Erv Polster
Facilitated by Caroline Paltin, Ph.D. a licensed psychologist, The Mindful Life Focus Community
seeks to provide an ongoing community of individuals who come
together to explore, sanctify, notice, honor and celebrate our lives in supportive relational encounter.
Mindful Life Focus Community is a co-creation, collaboration labor of love and elaboration of vision and design with my dear mentor, friend, colleague Dr. Erving Polster who developed the idea of Life Focus Communities.
Erv passed away at the phenomenal age of 101 in March of 2024, having just finished his last manuscript in the months prior. He is greatly missed, and I am deeply grateful for the friendship and collaborations with him. He will forever be in our hearts at Mindful Life Focus Community, and his work lives on in our continued emergent experiences and activities.
Next 2024 Event TBA
Life Focus Demonstration "Will We Do the Fandango?"
Workshop Facilitated by Dr. Caroline Paltin
at the IAAGT Biennial Conference
Vera Cruz Mexico, September 2024
JOIN IN ON THE GATHERINGS Live & Via Zoom
NEXT LIVE EVENT TBA
Past Event
MINDFUL LIFE FOCUS
A Virtually Enchanting Conversation with Erving Polster
SUNDAY APRIL 18th 3 to 5pm PST!
THIS EVENT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
A virtual event with limited space.
To Reserve your spot complete the form below or contact Caroline Paltin at [email protected]
"Music I heard with you was more than music" - Conrad Aiken
Upcoming Event with Erv Polster in La Jolla will be announced in Summer 2023. Check back for details.
Life Focus Event Coming in Summer 2023.
hosted by Mindful Life Focus Community will feature interactive experiences to enliven renew and refresh your life.
Be well and live well with focus,
Caroline Paltin Ph.D.
Mindful Life Focus Community
www.mindfullifefocuscommunity.com
[email protected]
Dr. Polster's newest books
Enchantment and Gestalt Therapy: Partners in Exploring Life
BEYOND THERAPY: IGNITING LIFE FOCUS COMMUNITY MOVEMENTS
http://www.transactionpub.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?
http://www.transactionpub.com/title/Beyond-Therapy-978-1-4128-5689-8.html
PAST EVENTS
Dr. Paltin was pleased to present at the AAGT Biennial Conference in Toronto Canada on August 14, 2018!
"Art of Radical Respect and Change; Amplifying Fascination and Acceptance of the Unacceptable Through Art Music and Contact Engagements"
OTHER PAST EVENTS
Erving Polster and Caroline Paltin
November 18, 2017 Orange CA
Living Life Fully in Uncertain Times: An Art Sparked Gathering with Dr. Erving Polster,and Dr. Caroline Paltin EARLY BIRD! 75.00
50.00
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION JUST $50 UNTIL OCTOBER 18! FULL RATE $75
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18 2017 1:30-4:30pm El Modena Branch Library, Orange CA Community Room
Pre-Meeting Warming-In will take place at 11:am for a small additional fee. This experience will enable attendees to gather, ground and begin connection for the day ahead, followed at noon by lunch on your own. We will then convene at 1:30 for the gathering with Erving Polster and Caroline Paltin. (Inidivudals who register for the main event will be sent information and opportunity to register for Pre-Meeting Activity.
In the uncertain times we find ourselves in, it is crucial that we maintain our focus of attention and energy to living the full life. Through music, laughter and lively conversation, renowned master Gestalt Therapist Erving Polster will share his talents gifts and wisdom of 95 years living the well lived life and how we can regain a sense of vitality, connection, and spirited curiosity and fascination about the daily act of living. Together with Caroline Paltin, Licensed Psychologist, Gestalt educator, practitioner and researcher, we will explore our lives and these times in a very special gathering focused on the enhancement of everyday life. This experience is open to practitioners creatives, the curious and the general public. Continuing Education Credit is available for a small additional fee for Psychologists and Marriage Family Therapists.
PAST EVENT
AUGUST 2015 - Terrific Life Focus Event at National University Costa Mesa!
Erv Polster visited us at National University Costa Mesa for a wonderful day, sharing his talents insights and perspectives on psychotherapy and the uses of Life Focus Communities to enhance our daily lives. We are very thankful to him for a terrific day. We will be co-presenting again in La Jolla in Spring of 2016. Details to be announced.
Experience new ways of enlivening your creative energies,
share your ideas, experiences and imaginings in a friendly,
curious and welcoming setting. We are here for the encounter, and for the pleasure of knowing others and being known.
Join us.
share your ideas, experiences and imaginings in a friendly,
curious and welcoming setting. We are here for the encounter, and for the pleasure of knowing others and being known.
Join us.
Caroline Paltin and Erving Polster co-presented on Life Focus in all-day workshop in Washington DC, March 2013
Mindful Life Focus Community
Opportunity to intensify the mundane is readily available to us if we take the time to notice. Transforming ordinary into extraordinary is often a matter of simple awareness.
Photo: Catherine Paltin
This unique experience intertwining many elements of psychotherapy and the
focused exploration of life through lively conversation and attention to the
arts, was envisioned and created by the pr-eminent Gestalt Psychotherapist,
Dr. Erving Polster. As Polster writes in his book Uncommon Ground (2006), the Life Focus Community would create an ongoing opportunity to gather with others and "consistently pay attention to certain aspects of living itself, rather than "just living."
focused exploration of life through lively conversation and attention to the
arts, was envisioned and created by the pr-eminent Gestalt Psychotherapist,
Dr. Erving Polster. As Polster writes in his book Uncommon Ground (2006), the Life Focus Community would create an ongoing opportunity to gather with others and "consistently pay attention to certain aspects of living itself, rather than "just living."
Polster has observed that traditional psychotherapy has focused primarily on cure and personal growth, leaving life focus to the work of artists musicians, story-tellers, and religious groups.
"Fascination is a key to productivity; it unites experiences; it is
even its own reward." - Erving Polster
The Mindful Life Focus Community seeks to create a context in
which the pursuit of life focus is an end in itself. This distinguishes it
fundamentally from traditional psychotherapy in the office, which has so often
pursued "cause" and the cure.
The Life Focus Community is unique in it's design. Harmonizing elements of
focused attention found in Gestalt psychotherapeutic method, together with the
amplification, illustration and awareness of perspective brought to us in mindful exploration of the arts. It also draws upon the hallowing and sanctification of
experience of a communal gathering generally found only in religious settings.
In the same way as artists, writers, musicians, dancers and painters
portray life, the Mindful Life Focus Community, illuminates and sanctifys the
lived life. Through story telling and in listening to the stories others tell,
through exploration of living via the arts, we enliven and enrich our attention and
focus to the living of everyday life.
"through the experiences of participating in these communities, every experience of connectedness will lead to more connectedness." - Polster (2006)
Through the application of methods grounded in Gestalt psychotherapy, this community will explore our lives in conversation and telling of our stories through music, literature, painting and the arts, and in other interactional activities designed to create amplification and increased awareness of our life experiences. The group will provide guidance in being able to relate to each other, to know and be known, and to recognize and appreciate the lives we are living. It is an opportunity to experience a deepening of our sense of being alive and our feeling of communal belonging by engaging with others in ways many may not ordinarily have opportunities to be engaged in. It is my belief that this harmonizing of person to person conversation, arts and experience will enliven and enrich the lives of its members in a deeply meaningful and lasting way.
A blended experience of individuality and interconnectedness through our life stories is at the heart of the Mindful Life Focus Community. As Polster asserts, these communities "would be filled with opportunities to tell each other stories. In the atmosphere of focused attention, these stories would be high points of engagement. They would not only organize the events of a lifetime, they would also serve to reveal individual identity and be a major lubricant of engagement with each other."
What Happens at a Mindful Life Focus Meeting? It is designed to provide a regular
meeting place of individuals to create a sense of belonging and communal connection based on Life Focus. Meetings would consist of introductory discussion or presentations, often involving music, film, literature and other art forms to emphasize a specific life theme. This would be followed by a discussion of how to explore this theme. Members would then break into smaller groups and explore via arts and discussion the stories of their
lives as they relate to and respond to these themes. Sharing stories of our lives with others serves to amplify both our sense of contact with self and others, and our ability to experience deepening awareness of our the living of our lives. The group would then
connect together as a whole and discuss what was explored in smaller groups,
with concluding of process and integration of ideas at the end of the
meeting.
What might be specific to the Mindful Life Focus Community? Each leader of a Life Focus Community will bring his or her own individual personality to the creation of
the group. Dr. Paltin's experience with music, Madonari painting, and theatre no
doubt influence her approach, and she is intending to incorporate these elements
in to various monthly meetings in one form or another. Our first included
the gift of a visit from Gestalt's own Life Focus Community creator, Erving Polster, who will be a visiting member of our community.
What it is Not
Mindful Life Focus Community is not a religious organization. It does not seek to promote religious, political or personal agendas. It does not discriminate in it's population diversity. It is open to individuals of all back grounds beliefs and orientations. It is not psychotherapy, but it can be an adjunct to therapy, with therapeutic benefits. While psychotherapy is often driven by the agenda for change, the Life Focus Community does not direct its attention to this agenda, but rather to the amplification of ordinary life experience.
Meetings are held weekends, generally Saturday or Sunday, announced a month prior, at the office of Dr. Paltin at 173 B North Glassell, Orange California.
Dr. Paltin is pleased to announce that Dr. Polster is a visiting member of our community from time to time.
The Regular fee of $30.00 per meeting is due no later than one week prior to meetings, and registration forms can be found on the Fees and Registration page of this site.
If you are interested in receiving information about the Mindful Life Focus Community and would like to be placed on the mailing list, please feel free to contact Dr. Paltin or submit a request on the Contact Page of this site. This is a unique opportunity to experience and explore life on a meaningful level, in a unique and most innovative encounter.
All Good Things,
Caroline Paltin
Licensed Psychologist, #PSY14274
173 B North Glassell Orange California 92866
(949) 203-1595
[email protected]
visit Dr. Paltin's practice website at http://www.carolinepaltinphd.com
Visit us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=292483264138353?sk=wall
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Caroline Paltin with Erving Polster
