On Saturday night while hosting the third and final OSD weekend cohort at Kayser Ridge, John D. Carter, PhD and Veronica Hopper Carter, PhD presented me with the Gestalt Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Also present from the Gestalt OSD Faculty was Rachel Ciporen and Faculty Monika Moss-Gransberry, MFA. I’m including a few pictures below (Rachel had to dart to the airport and is not pictured).
The word “honored” doesn’t completely cut it, but it was a start to find one or several that did justice to describe what it meant/means to receive this award. I deeply respect John as a thought leader/mentor and consider the Gestalt community “my peeps.” I lost count of the graduates of the Polarity Mastery program who migrated in from the Gestalt community. My introduction to Gestalt concepts came from my graduate work in Organization Development at American University and coincided with some pretty harrowing personal difficulties / life transitions. The timing for learning with that proving ground for application was perfect. While there were many supports through that painful era — Gestalt was a key one. Years later, “XPERIENCE LLC” took its name from the Gestalt Cycle of Experience — together with my favorite quote from the late Carl Rogers (who John Carter studied/learned with):
“Experience, for me is the highest authority. The touchstone of validity is my own experience. It is to experience th Save at I must return again and again to discover a new approximation of truth as it is in the process of becoming in me.”
John and Barry Johnson’s early history at the Gestalt Institute spans four decades. To count them both as mentors, colleagues, and friends are gifts that give daily and in every moment. When I met Barry in 2006, he shared that Polarity principles and the Polarity Map was an outgrowth from his work as a Gestalt therapist. I’m joining him as a Lifetime Achievement awardee which conjures up the words “proud” and “blessed” — proud to be in such company/community and blessed — beyond words.
