Landscaping Your Life

Landscaping Your life is a tool I use in my coaching and facilitation with clients. Since its conception in 2000 there's been many different ways that landscapes and nature have been used to obtain insight on situations whether for teams, boards, managers, leaders or personally.

I've shared a number of the different ways previously on this blog - going for a walk, envisoning changes to a landscape, short story, observational video blogs, coaching sessions in nature, and using sayings such as can't see the wood for the trees to find the antidote.

Here I'd like to go back in time and return to the first ever time I used it - which involves choosing a picture that best describes the current situation and then making changes to it until it's just right. (you can do this in your mind but using real pictures and cutting them up adds something to the process).

I can't tell you how you'll know 'it's just right' but you will know. It's as if as you make the changes your mind makes sense of the original situation, and the changes you make to enable it to become clearer as a result.  

Here's an example 

I then decide what to add or take away from the picture

and then realise I need to cut even more away 

That's better - and then add something

and again

and again

You may end up with very little of the original picture left - there is no right or wrong - it's as if you've gone on a journey from where you are to where you want to be and your mind will now make sense of what that means in reality. Of course you may never know what it means - you may just feel differently and the situation may just change.

Have a go yourself and notice what you notice - and let me know how you get on. Just a word of warning I've found for 99.99% of people it's useful for the landscapes to be on earth rather than out of this world. That is the normal rules of gravity apply.

I know a number of those early guinea pigs who still have their end landscape, even 15 years later, and it's on view in their office as a reminder of the insight they gained. A sign I always think of a truly profound process - even if I say so myself :-).

Individual coaching and group facilitation sessions using Landscaping Your Life or a number of other tools are available so do please get in touch if you've been grappling with a challenge for some time and would like a different perspective. alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159.

More can also be found on Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.

Postscript: a Landscaping Your Life website was launched in November 2015 - so for more on this effective process do please go and visit.