Hello Friends,
Greetings from Barcelona☀️where I am in full swing on preparing my Breakthrough Facilitation course, having several of my own breakthroughs along the way😅. More on that below👇.
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest. A special shout out to Caroline in Barcelona, Caroline in London, Gillian in Kingston, Barry and Michaele in Bracebridge, Connie in Toronto, and Allegra in Seattle.
If you are joining for the first time, welcome to our exploration of creativity, facilitation, and learning.
You can catch up on the last edition ✨On Presence, Breath, and Silence, and all past editions here.
🤔Have you ever felt stuck in a rut trying to solve a problem?
You spend hours, days, even months thinking about it.
You write out pros and cons. You brainstorm ideas. You come up with a plan. Or ten.
You wait for the answer to come to you.
But still nothing. Nada. Zilch.
So you give up and go wash the dishes.
And then it happens. A sudden flash of insight.
As you are contemplating the different sizes of soap bubbles, the solution magically appears! Eureka! You feel elated.
Aha! moments are important. They can give you insights about yourself. They can spark creative discoveries. These sudden insights are often the only way to shift your thinking and solve big complex problems.
I used to think that these flashes of insight came randomly. But not anymore.
I learned that you can create conditions for having your own breakthroughs, and for sparking breakthroughs for others.
I had a big Aha! moment when I led my first online facilitation session 18 months ago. I had been wrestling for years with the question of how to do the international facilitation work I love, but without the burnout of a lot of travel.
It was in that online session that I realised that it was possible to create engaging, dynamic experiences in the virtual space. It allowed me to breakthrough my own uncertainty and fear. I felt freer and lighter. As if I had untied a huge boulder from my foot. And it opened a whole new professional chapter in my life.
So what exactly is an Aha! Moment and how can you create conditions for them to happen?
That’s our Quest for this week🔎
👉The Science of Eureka Moments
👉Oprah Winfrey on the Meaning of Aha! Moments
👉4 Steps to Having More Eureka Moments
👉 The Aha! Moments of Famous Entrepreurs + more
PLUS🚀 This week is the last chance to join the Breakthrough Facilitation course where you’ll learn the art of facilitating Aha! moments for your virtual groups. You can sign up 👉hereuntil September 27.
Let’s dive right in!
🔬The Science of Eureka Moments
A fascinating article by Dr. Hannah England from the Ness Labs blog. Dr. England studies the scientific foundation of eureka moments, and the steps you can take to increase your chance of having more eureka moments at work.
It turns out that a period of incubation is often needed before a eureka moment can occur. Incubation is the time before you have a solution during which you stop thinking about your dilemma. That’s why you often have eureka moments when you are having a shower or washing the dishes.
Here are the 4 steps Dr. England outlines for having more eureka moments:
- Seek solitude. Freeing yourself from external stimuli helps your mind to wander freely.
- Sit with the idea. Allow yourself to slow down and let an idea or problem ruminate over time so that new ideas rise to the surface.
- Get some sleep. Sleep allows your brain to subconsciously process previous events to construct potential future scenarios.
- Seek inspiration. Indulging in inspiring moments and changing environments can heighten your senses.
Read the full article 👉here.
What do you do to create the conditions for eureka moments?
⚡Oprah Explains What an Aha! Moment Really Means
Did you know that Oprah Winfrey is the reason that Aha! moment is in the Miriam Webster dictionary?
It’s defined as:
“A moment of sudden inspiration, insight, recognition or comprehension.”
I can’t think of anyone more skilled at creating Aha! moments for people than Oprah. Just reading this short article, she helped me have an Aha! moment on how we have personal breakthroughs.
Here’s what she says:
“You think that you’ve never thought of it before. But you can’t have an “aha” unless you already knew it”.
The Aha! is a moment of insight into yourself. It’s the remembering of what you already knew, articulated in a way that resonates with your own truth.
Ophrah’s advice on paving the way for Aha! Moments? 👇
- Learn from life’s curveballs. Many of Oprah’s Aha! Moments came out of what looked like a major setback.
- Read. Sitting with a great author’s thoughts can so often inspire your own.
Read the full article👉 here.
What might you already know that is ready to surface in an Aha! moment?
😌4 Steps to Having More Aha! Moments
A Harvard Business Review article by David Rock and Josh Davis of the Neuroleadership Institute. Rock and Davis. They write that
Aha! Moments that spark brilliant, unexpected solutions tend to crop up with our minds are quiet and our consciousness is at rest.
Here’s their advice:
- Notice Quiet Signals. Create room for Aha! Moments by taking breaks, going for walks, and meditating.
- Look Inward. Turn off your devices, zone out, and let your mind wander. Blocking out external information can help you notice an internal Aha! Moment.
- Take a Positive Approach. Do something that makes you feel happy, as opposed to anxious. It’s conducive to eureka moments.
- Use Less Effort. Insight happens when you are not actively making an effort to choose what to do. It allows you to unravel you unconscious thought.
In other words – take breaks, zone out, feel happy, and reduce effort. I can roll with that!
Read the full article👉 here.
🔥 Aha! Moments of Famous Entrepreneurs
A cool infographic by Anna Vital on the Aha! Moments that turned famous entrepreneurs onto their missions. What makes us Aha? She points to three drivers: inconvenience, limited resources, and pain and tragedy.
My favourite? Jan Koum WhatsApp founder who could not afford to call his father in the Ukraine. He sure solved that problem! Read the full article 👉here.
The Breakthrough Facilitation course kicks off on October 3🎉. I’ve been so moved by your response so far. Thank you!
It’s not too late to jump in before registration closes on September 27.
You can still learn to be a facilitator who creates breakthrough experiences for your groups online. Register 👉 here.
You’ll gain:
👉 A proven facilitation framework that will boost your confidence leading virtual groups.
👉Loads of expert techniques and tools that you can use straight away.
But the part that I am most excited about is this:
👉A global community of motivated peers who you’ll be learning with. Here are just a few to give you an idea of some of the fabulous people joining Cohort 1:
If you have any questions – big or small – don’t hesitate to contact me by hitting reply to this email.
Do you know any budding facilitators who could benefit from the course? Please feel free to share the course link: https://www.breakthrough-facilitation.com.
💌Thanks for reading The Quest
I always love hearing your feedback and suggestions. Just hit reply to share your thoughts and ideas. Visit my website for ways we can work together here.
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Creatively yours,
