[Ailist] RE: I need a new word

[Don Austin]

Thank you, Jane.  The difference between what Rodgers, Maslow, et al. meant
to me, also, and what I am proposing, is that the eight themes of
"affirmative interaction" are concrete, moment by moment, interactive
behavior that we can do any and all of the time, that build into positive
social construction, as AI does.

Your question, "Isn't that interesting," serves me very well, also.  That
question enhances respectful attention to the details of the presence of
others (and of our own), which is the basis of "doing" affirmative
interaction.

Don

Don Austin, Ph.D. 
Bedrock Effective Action 
Developed for You-with You
 
Cobblestone Coaching 
http://cobblestonecoaching.com
78 Water Street, P.O. Box 21 
Elizabethtown, NY 12932
518-873-6891   
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jane Magruder Watkins [mailto:jane at appreciativeinquiryunlimited.com]
> Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 1:03 PM
> To: 'Don Austin'; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
> Subject: RE: [Ailist] I need a new word
> 
> Dear Don: Thanks for reminding me about Rodgers and Unconditional Positive
> Regard! Back in the days of the so-called "Pop" psychology, I read so many
> things that have served me well over the years and no doubt enabled me to
> grasp the power of AI in the early 1980's when I first met and began
working
> with David. Things that come to mind along with Rogers are the
transactional
> analysis stuff (I'm OK; You're OK); Maslow and the other "new" therapist
> folks; and I could go on.
> 
> I think that all of those theorists/practitioners were already onto the
idea
> of wholeness and social construction -- ....
> 
> Some of you have heard me talk about my "Isn't that interesting!" approach
> to our work -- i.e., no matter what my automatic response (and I DO LOVE a
> good debate - NT that I am), I pause and say to myself, "Isn't that
> interesting that s/he feels so differently than I do. I wonder what that's
> all about." I know that I got to this place of wanting to understand
rather
> than to judge because of that long list of people who wrote books and
> impacted my life!