By Michael Kline

From the title, you might be guessing that I’m making clever use of some metaphors to make decisions. Well, only kinda-sorta. Yes, they are great metaphoric images, and these were the actual visions that came up for me recently while deciding on a new company name. Have you ever found yourself ruminating over a simple decision? It’s common, and we don’t have to waste days, weeks, or months or forever not making a decision.

I knew it was time to change. My company started as Kline Seminars, which fit for a while. Six years later it changed to Intus Personal & Group Transformation. The goal was to make it not all about me, but I never fell in love with the new name. My mind was spinning. Endless questions ran through my mind. Should I be the brand? Will others want to partner with me on projects under just my name? Does it need to clearly indicate what I actually do? Should I make it more colorful and playful like me? Should it be more serious and grounded like my work? Should it be more feminine? Masculine? Round? Oval? Artistic? Should I include a subtle fire image or is that too woo-woo? I’m guessing you appreciate getting lost in what seems like a simple decision. After two days of spinning, my husband was bored with the topic and tells me it doesn’t matter – just pick one! The truth is, no one can choose but me.

Lucky for me, I have friends with excellent processing skills. So, as I was stuck in circular thinking, my friend Coco says, “let’s try something different – close your eyes”.  Since I was the one who taught her this skill, I felt a little like a parent being coached by their teenager, but I begged my ego to take a back seat as I welcomed the help. Coco skillfully guided me through some body sensing to get me out of my ego/thinking mind. Let’s call him Thinker. She knows that Thinker has no access to the emotions that are keeping me stuck, and that my gut already knows the answer. So, let’s go there, she says.

Through body sensing, I found the energy of my indecision in my solar plexus – my imagination gave it the form of a blue sphere, spinning fast. As I sat with it for a while, it morphed into different shapes and kept spinning until I noticed I could shape it myself just by moving my hands around it. Finally, it became like a decorative blown-glass vase, still a swirling mix of blues and yellows, with lots of slopes and curves. I tell Thinker to stop applying meaning to the colors and trust the process. Coco invites me to move into the blown glass, and I imagined myself being two inches tall, sitting on the side slope of this giant jar, looking down at the edge of what seemed like a cliff over an abyss. As a former skier, my body held its breath as I visualized the earth disappearing over the edge, not knowing what, if anything was beyond the bottom of my swooping slope.

As I looked across to the other side of the glass vase, I could see a cliff with a mountain towering into the clouds behind it. I could see hundreds of blue butterflies flying around a crowd of minions. They were all very busy, as I heard Thinker judge this as crazy and pointless. After all, how is this going to help me choose a company name?! I know that creativity comes from weird places, and even though I do this type of work for a living, I admit that my own ego is alive and well judging the things that show up in my head. And I know that’s normal and okay.

As I drifted back into the scene, I noticed a group of minions and butterflies had flown over to me and were outfitting me with wings and a flying suit. As I look down my slope, I noticed it was shaped like a giant water slide, dropping almost straight down, then swooping up to launch me high into the air… over a vast emptiness. A minion handed me a skateboard and told me to lie on it on my stomach and roll down the slope head-first to launch and I can fly. Oddly, I find this exciting and fun, and I can’t wait!

So, I launch, and now I’m flying and flying… and eventually, I fly over to the ledge with all the minions and butterflies. As I land, they welcome me with open arms. It’s clear they want me as their leader, and it’s clear I have no idea what to do with that. I’m not one of them, how will I lead them?! Then a wizard appears – he looks a little like Gandolf, but Thinker says that’s a cliché, so we won’t name him that.  Then I realize he is an old, wise version of me, or perhaps my inner wizard. Fine, cliché it is, we’ll call him Wizard-Me. Magically, I’m now wearing a minion costume. The costume doesn’t fit me at all, and the minions all laugh at my arms and legs sticking out. With a knowing exchange of glances with Wizard-Me, I remove the costume and agree to join the minions heading up the mountain. Wizard-Me leads the way through steep, narrow, snow-covered passages, with a long line of minions following, then me in the middle, and many more minions bringing up the rear. Judge it as you will, I read the books and saw the movies, and still, we’re allowing the cliché!

When we finally make our way to a plateau, Thinker is ready for some answers – are we ever going to resolve my company name? Instantly, the minions set up a creative problem-solving workshop. Thinker reminds me that I recently presented at the Florida Creativity Conference, where everyone was a workshop leader armed with sticky notes, image cards, and colored markers. Just like at the conference, the minions start placing sticky notes on poster paper. They were clearly having a blast brainstorming lots of ideas, none of which would relieve me from owning my own identity. They didn’t want me to become one of them. The playful energy of the minions was to create something that was uniquely my brand, something that spoke my name and kept it simple enough for me to continue to expand, grow, and be creative in what I do and how I do it.

I realized that human me got the message and was ready to leave, so Wizard Me agreed to stay with the minions and butterflies and they will continue to work behind the scenes for me on whatever I need.

So after only about 15 minutes in this experience, I had a decision. I opened my eyes and returned to my computer and Thinker registered the name Kline Training Group, LLC.

The technique used is called RIM (Regenerating Images in Memory). RIM is a system of evidence based skills that allow us to quickly tap into the magic of our “two minds”, or our mind- body connection. It taps into the subconscious language of metaphor and imagery that easily accesses the emotions, intuition, and resourcing to which our left-brain, intellectual mind (Thinker) simply has no access. It can be used in deepening creativity, identifying, and dissolving limiting beliefs, releasing stuck emotions, and even healing trauma.

​Michael J. Kline is a Master Trainer, Retreat Leader and Firekeeper. You can often find him teaching RIM (Regenerating Images in Memory), or assisting Jack Canfield, training transformational trainers, or hosting a retreat at Con Smania in Costa Rica. Otherwise, he’s at home in Sarasota FL, with his husband of 34 years, and their labradoodle Luke. You can reach him through his website www.michaeljkline.com or e-mail mike@michaeljkline.com

By Colleen Sorensen

​Creating a syllabus for my college course is an expectation. It is basically a contract between the professor and students as to how the course will flow and how the grades will be assessed. I have been creating syllabi for nearly 25 years. What is newer to me is creating a “Guidelines and Agreements” contract. It establishes how we are going to show up and behave while in a collective learning space together. This is a separate document that I go over line by line during the first week of class, while I just reference the syllabus for the students to review on their own time. 
 
Why do I take precious class time to review a “Guidelines and Agreements” document that could easily be read outside of class?  Because this document is my first step to creating safety for my students and myself in how we will behave together during the semester. Creating safety…I didn’t realize until 17 years into my teaching that it was my job to establish an emotional safe space in my classroom. No one ever discussed the importance of or how to “create a safe space” with me.  If teachers had been doing that in my student experience, I was oblivious to it. 
 
In 2016, I discovered Jack Canfield, Creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Success Principles, and took some coursework in Jack’s teaching philosophy, called “The Canfield Methodology”. Within his Train the Trainer program, I started hearing phrases like “gradients of safety” and “creating a safe space for my students”.  Ummm…hello! Why have I never heard these terms before? I was a good teacher, I had good reviews from my students, yet something was drawing me in, inviting me to consider this new idea of taking a conscious look at my teaching style, my classroom, and asking myself if my students really felt safe during our 75 min/2x per week for 16 weeks together. That’s 2400 minutes that I have with these young adults, that is a lot of opportunity to create a space of safety that encourages growth, a sense of belonging, and a place where one always feels welcomed! 
 
Some of the things in my G&A document include statements like: 

• Be on time & prepared
• Be Present and play full out
• Attend all sessions and complete course unless otherwise negotiated with the class
• Communicate any upsets/concerns to the facilitator, not other students
• Put technology away until it is needed for an activity or break
• Minimal side talking
• Ask for what you need
• No one gets to be wrong
• No unsolicited advice
• Do not share other’s experiences without their permission

 
I spend time explaining and discussing what each line means…especially the last one about sharing other’s experiences without their permission. I encourage lots of discussion within the group throughout this process and in the end, I have each person acknowledge their overall agreement, while also identifying any push back from anyone to discover a win-win.  Also, I follow a cardinal rule of never mentioning my intention of creating a “safe space”.  How my students feel is completely up to them, not me.  By saying something like “this is a safe space” or “this classroom is intended to be a safe space”... those words feel 
 
Within one or two semesters of adding a G&A contract in my classroom, I noticed some new comments I had never seen before on my open-ended feedback questions at the end of the semester. I ask two questions:

1. What did you enjoy most or find yourself talking about most from our classroom experience?
2. If you could change anything about this course, what would it be?

 
Responses to these questions started including words and phrases about feeling safe. Students were sharing that they had never felt safe to share their true thoughts and opinions until this class.  I was floored! I never once said or discussed the topic of “emotional safety” with my students. I never mentioned my goal of creating a safe space, yet my students recognized it and of anything they could share about their experience, they chose to talk about feeling safe in my classroom for their final feedback to me. 
 
I have learned to never underestimate what a G&A document can do to help me create emotional safety in a classroom or workshop setting. It’s not a stand alone guarantee, it needs to be followed up with additional skills that will be discussed in other articles, yet it is always the place I start as my first steps towards creating an emotionally safe space for my students and workshop participants. 
 
What works for you to establish emotional safety and what have your challenges been?  I would love to hear from you!

Colleen Moon Sorensen is a teacher, trainer, and efficiency strategist. You can often find her teaching courses on the Success Principles and The 7 Habits, or facilitating RIM and coaching sessions, assisting Jack Canfield, training transformational trainers, or partnering with my fellow Canfield trainers on projects around the globe. Otherwise, she’s at home in Salem, UT, with her husband, hiking with her 2 working class dogs, or playing with one of her 4 children or 4 grandchildren. You can reach her at colleenmoonsorensen@gmail.com