Prompting new thinking

Questions come in different forms; not all have a hard finish with a question mark. I love to play with Sharon Gal's Etudes - a gorgeous 78-card deck, saturated with colour on one side and with minimal prompts on the other - as a reflective practice as part of my coaching.

An extraordinary experimental vocalist and composer whom I got to work with when we studied at Goldsmiths Uni, Sharon developed these as "[a] music, performance and art resource, the work acts as a catalyst to inspire and trigger the imagination...an invitation to play, engage, contemplate and explore; to enhance and expand one’s experience, thinking, practice and performance."

Reflective practice can sometimes feel heavy, demanding a clear eye on what I'm learning through my coaching practice. These cards lighten it, working with rather than against my grain: playful, spacious, and their sheer beauty makes me want to explore the sometimes unexpected connection.

One unexpected - and delightful - connection I made through talking about this on Linked In was to Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies which I hadn’t come across previously.

#coaching #ReflectivePractice #play