Sorry to upload this primer again.
I get a lot of queries and questions that show a hesitation about attending the upcoming creativity workshop. Due to the number of people asking via email, I have decided to make a Q and A to give everyone an better idea of what the TAPPING THE CREATIVE UNIVERSE (TCU) workshop is about.
Can you describe the workshop?
It’s a workshop that unleashes dormant creativity. It is where the participants uncover, face and overcome the issues that block their productivity, creativity and joy.
What kind of people have taken TCU?
All types—CEOs, housewives, students, engineers, businessmen, teachers, writers, painters, nuns, military, priests, counselors, retirees, OFWs, trainees, etc. of all ages from 18 to past 70. Normally, I do not accept students below 18 unless I can talk to them first and determine if they are ready for it.
Why is that?
The workshop works best with people who have actually lived and worked and faced disappointments and frustrations that have affected or blocked their natural, in-born creativity. I feel that many times, people who are too young react to the workshop intellectually, and not in the experiential manner that I would want them to. Thus, deep and lasting change does not happen as much.
Why six days? Is there a one day run?
If I could hold it longer, it would be better. It works quite well when people learn new concepts and try them out ‘live’ at home or at the office or other situations. They are able to experience the workshop in real life and not just theoretically.
In the US and Australia, I have offered the workshop as one day affairs because people are too busy to commit to 6 days. Strangely enough, it works quite well too as former attendees can attest.
How exactly does the TCU help unblock people?
By allowing one’s creative self to emerge above the contrived, made up self.
TCU is an action-oriented workshop which believes that when people get a glimpse of their innate creative selves, they will re-experience and remember a joy that they had forgotten. The exercises, habits, tasks and the concepts introduced in the workshop are tried and tested ways to get people to always be in touch with their creative states. By doing certain things and following certain steps, one can be constantly creative and happy. I suspect these practices can serve people for life! I know it helps me with mine. I have been on a creative streak for many years now.
If I am, say, a writer, or a CEO, or a housewife for example, how can the workshop help me?
First of all, let me be clear. The workshop will not teach you how to write, or cook, or do business, dance, sing or whatever you do in your occupation. I do not know what to teach you about such things. However, I can awaken in you the enthusiasm and joy of being who you are and what you do and teach you the practice to be able to do things as well as you can and do so consistently in a creative and joyful manner. There’s a method to it although many times, it s a spontaneous experienv=ce that seems to happen. I will introduce to you the practices of being the best, joyful person that you can be and doing what you do.
What’s the batting average among those who have taken it? How successful has it been in transforming lives?
I’d say in all humilty and honesty that the success rate is probably about 90 percent. Five years after people have taken it, I still get congratulations from students for helping them with their newly transformed lives. Many came to the workshop stuck in their lives, stuck between marriages, occupations, dreams, relationships, or simply unable to overcome inertia. Many have done really wonderful work in getting new phases of their lives going after the workshop.
What if I am a shy person? Will I be forced to participate?
Participation is encouraged but not forced. It’s best to seek your level of comfort and start from there. But let me say that people only get from the workshop what they are willing to put in. Progress is an individual thing. Some really go the whole 9 yards while some are more timid. That’s OK. Nobody will force anyone to be or do anything.
Didn’t you teach the same thing at the Ateneo de Manila University?
Yes, I taught it for a number of semesters. In a semester run under the confines of a university, the dynamic is different but it works as well too. I feel very honored that many students, years after they graduated are telling me that my course was one of the subjects they not only learned a lot from, but enjoyed the most. One of them put it well when she said that it was a ‘life course’ that has done her well in many facets of her life even after school.
Anything else you want to say?
TCU is a workshop for people who want change in their lives. This is not an easy workshop to join and finish. It is not always being offered, There is a lot of work involved. I will work hard and you will work harder but I guarantee you, you will love to do the work. I only facilitate. You will discover and wake up to your own greatness.
When: August 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11
Time: 7 to 9PM
Where: 113 B. Gonzales, Loyola Heights, QC
How much: Still 5000 Pesos
Please contact emailjimp@gmail.com or call Ollie at 0916-8554303 or 426-5375 for any other queries or for reservations. Visit http://tappingthecreativeuniverse.com for the syllabus, and testimonials and more details.