By Barbara Dickinson

If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog, you can find it on YouTube.

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULAR POSTS FOR A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Greetings to You All! For this post, we have a special announcement, following the release of “Sundays with Gene - A Memoir.” 

By the very kind invitation of Lynn Preston’s “Help for Helpers,” I gave a presentation recently about the Memoir. You can find the video of that presentation on the Help for Helpers Channel on YouTube.

The presentation was fun and rewarding, and a very special part was the poem that was created especially for the occasion. 

There is one person without whom “Sundays with Gene - A Memoir” would have never come to be. She read the drafts, made inspiring suggestions, and even gave her “thumbs up” on the final version. Here is the acknowledgement from the Memoir about my friend Ann: “...to my mentor, muse, inspiration, and ‘co-conspirator,’ Ann Cefola, a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid for your trust, faith, and unfailing support.”

When it came time to offer a poem to accompany the presentation of the Memoir, because she is an extraordinary poet, I asked Ann if she might have a poem in her collection appropriate to the tradition of Help for Helpers. She replied with a poem she wrote for the occasion, “Gendlin.”

More of Ann’s work can be found here.

And here is her poem, “Gendlin.” 

Celebration

On December 25, we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Eugene T. Gendlin – he would have been 98 years old.

• In 2026, we will celebrate his 100th Birthday at the 30th International Focusing Conference, to be held in the place of his birth, Vienna, Austria
• If you would like to read an amazing account, including the telling of his escape with his parents from Austria, you might like the article, “Eugene Gendlin,” written by Lore Korbei,  translated by Elisabeth Zinschitz, introductory material translated by Marlys Mayfield. The article can be found in the Gendlin Online Library here. 

Learning Opportunities

For more about Lynn Preston's Help for Helpers and Relational Psychotherapy, start with the YouTube Channel. 

Did you know LearnFocusing offers Focusing skills training for beginners through certification? Our courses are set up to be easy to start, review or continue from wherever you are. You can find our 2025 course schedule HERE. If you are not sure what fits your background best, set up a 30 min free chat with Sandy. Here is an introduction to what we offer. Follow the links to the website for more details. Sandy can be reached at sandyjahmi@gmail.com for questions or to set up a chat.

• We offer a 15 month Focusing skills training for beginners called Creating Space for Lasting Change. This 4 part online series has three goals: relationship with self, developing a 1:1 partnership practice and bringing these skills into the way you interact with the world around you. 
• We utilize Inner Relationship Focusing, Neuroscience and Spatial Awareness exercises spread out over a few months per course to ground ourselves in the basics of Self-in-Presence as a way of being that creates space for lasting change. 
• In Part 4 we branch out to explore other ways of learning Focusing, ending with a crossing project. You are encouraged to practice both in partnerships and with brief pauses during your day. This series can be your first step toward professional certification by completing Parts 1-4, then entering the ongoing Learning Community for Mastery in Guiding Change.
• As we are on Eastern New York time, you can find similar times to those we offer for the Changes meetings. 
• Sandy Jahmi Burg's LearnFocusing.org Classes

Up Next

In our next post, we will look at Janet Klein’s book for Teachers. “Inside-Me Stories: ‘Something is Happening Inside-Me!” is where she relates teaching the skills of Focusing to students to Social and Emotional Learning programs and the work of Daniel Goleman, author of “Emotional Intelligence.”

If you would like to read the book sooner, you can find it at the Bookstore on the International Focusing Institute website here.

Questions? 

If any of this prompts a question or a comment, we would love to hear from you. Use our Contact Form at the bottom of the page to reach out.

Until next time!

• Our Monthly Virtual Changes Meeting for Exploring Interaction Schedule and Registration is here. 
• Watch our Demonstration of Interactive Focusing with Sandy and Barbara here.
• Read more about Exploring Interaction here. 
• Resources about Interactive Focusing are found here. 
• You can read the latest from Sandy about Smartview Conversations here.
• Read Sandy’s latest blog post on how Relational Neuroscience Compliments Focusing.