Adam Blatner

Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner

May, 2008

The Dynamics of Dancing

I was wondering recently at the way my engaging in a session of dancing—either square dancing or folk dancing—can so lift my overall psychosomatic energy level. After a while of warming-up, what may have felt “tired,” “dragging,” “low key” disappears and I feel delighted, lighter, happier, more vital. What was it about dancing?! Then I […]

Posted in Foolin Around, My Favorite Things | No Comments »

Improvisation & Confabulation—an Art Form?

Whether consciously or unconsciously, we are improvising, making it up as we go along. We pretend that we are following rules, sticking to what’s expected, playing out the lessons we learn, and to some degree we are. However, in greater and lesser ways we are adding our own creative twists, nuances, stylistic elaborations, exaggerations, accentuations, […]

Posted in Essays and Papers, Foolin Around | 1 Comment »

The Myth of Efficiency, Burn-out, and Role Overload

A common source of burn-out and/or employee stress in modern organizations is what I call the myth of efficiency. It assumes that there is a degree of inefficiency in work, and one of the tasks of the efficient professional or competent worker is to figure out how to “cut the fat” and detect those inefficiencies, […]

Posted in Essays and Papers | 1 Comment »

The Game of Philosophy

I think of philosophy as a game: It’s not a frivolous game, but rather it’s a game in the sense of challenge, flexibility, and its provisional nature. It’s a game of building the best possible explanation, a working model that accounts for an expanding range of phenomena. Of course, the game  should be played with […]

Posted in Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | 1 Comment »

Broadening Horizons of Psychotherapy

I’ve been reading Brent Willock’s, Comparative-Integrative Psychoanalysis: A Relational Perspective fro the Discipline’s Second Century (New York: The Analytic Press, 2007). Great book—erudite, and significant in its purpose: We should consider more how it is time (theoretically and practically) to get past the era of competing “schools” of analysis (e.g., the object relations, self-psychology, neo-Freudian […]

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Reflections on New Communications Tools

In a recent trip to California we used a GPS (geographic positioning system) as a new electronic device in our rental car and I was impressed with it. In combination with a cell-phone, we were able to navigate to some places (and in time for the appointment) that otherwise might have left me lost, exasperatedly […]

Posted in Current Events | No Comments »

Introversion

Lately I’ve come to appreciate even more Carl Jung’s ideas about introversion and extraversion, especially as I’ve watched my own fluctuations of mental “energy.” I get drained by external stimuli, distracted, overloaded, rather than energized by these sources; on the other hand, I am energized when I can process ideas through my own active creativity. […]

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Paparazzi Play Set

On a recent trip to California, in Santa Monica (west of Los Angeles), on their “Promenade” of special shops near the beach, they had a toy shop with various toys, including those little sets of toy soldiers or medieval knights. What struck me was a set of these little figures titled “Paparazzi Play Set.” It […]

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