Post Conference Recap
Sustaining Your Momentum: Closing Plenary
by Lee Ann Barnhardt

Sustaining Your Momentum: Maintaining Your Creative Spark, the closing plenary of the conference, was designed to promote and cultivate ongoing freshness and creativity for judicial educators. Using the Cycle of Renewal developed by Frederic Hudson, participants reflected on the interface between their personal and professional selves.

Alanna K. Moravetz of Alanna Consulting in Woodbury, Minnesota and Isabel D. Van Sicklen, a marriage, family, and child therapist with Tortuga Coaching and Consulting of Modesto, California, served as faculty.

Using an appreciative inquiry model of discovery and dreaming, participants were asked to look at their lives through the lenses of mindfulness, positive psychology, and the Cycle of Renewal.

The session started with each person creating a lifeline from age 20 to the present and answering a series of questions. The questions were appreciative reflections on the lifelines and were part of the discovery mode of appreciative inquiry.

In introducing the renewal cycle, the faculty discussed some of the changing rules of society and the patterns of change. There are four phases on the Cycle of Renewal. Phase 1 is Go For It. This a period of stability that is purposive, focused, and committed. Phase 2 is The Doldrums. This is a period of detachment and restlessness where individuals feel disenchanted, trapped, or defeated. Phase 3 is Cocooning. This period is where you come to terms with yourself. It is a time of healing, exploring, and reconstructing. Phase 4 is Getting Ready. This is time for experimenting. This period is for testing, tasking risks, networking, and creativity.

Still in the discovery mode, participants were asked to reflect on where they have been on the cycle and where they are now.  The next step in the appreciative inquiry process is dream and design. Participants looked at where they might be going on the cycle (dream) and how they might get there (design).

To help with this process, the faculty offered Ten Practices that will help individuals manage their place on the cycle and their own renewal. The practices are as follows:

1. Mindfulness
2. Build positive emotional states and generating positive words
3. Practice gratitude
4. Practice “Belly Breathing” throughout the day
5. Physical exercise
6. Use your strengths
7. Plan leisure time
8. Find flow activities
9. Journal regularly
10. Examine and change counterproductive self-talk

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