I’m watching with interest how David Beckham adjusts to life in the US. Particularly to see if he can regain the flow state he’s been in since the early part of the year in regard to his form on the pitch. Having caught a bit of news this morning on the BBC’s Today programme about how he’ll not be impressed by the most recent performance of his new colleagues. Given that he’s also sufferiing from an ankle injury he’s got a challenge or two head of him.
Flow is something that I’ve experienced frequently. For me it’s when I’ve got an appropriate balance between affect (feelings), cognition (thoughts) and behaviour (actions). This triad is one of the many things I’ve learned about on the Counselling Skills course at Wealden Institute over the last weekend. The first weekend was fantastic – a great blend of theory and practise. I also learned how hard it is to actively listen and hear back appropriately – using skills of straight reflection, paraphrasing, summarising and using open questions. This is all set within Carl Rogers‘ necessary and sufficient context for counsellors using their capacity to demonstrate congruence, empathy and respect. I like his approach and the notion of unconditional positive regard in relation to others. Rogers’ also held the view that these skills were not the preserve of an elite but accessible to the layman. This simple philosophy also chimes with my view of communications advanced by the web and what it must continue to be – simple to use, accessible and available to all – with the user or client at the centre. So there we are – client or person-centred counselling and user-centred design – an interesting loose-coupling that I look forward to exploring more in theory and practice.
So good luck to David Beckham, a fine footballer and broader inspiration to his peers (possibly his sigificant contribution at Real Madrid). I hope he regains his flow quickly.
