Navigating Life’s Challenges
I first met Sarah Thurber, one of the creators of the Foursight Thinking Profile, at a half day course she taught at a global Creativity Conference in Oklahoma City. I was immediately captivated by the principles of Creative Problem Solving she shared that day, and went full fan girl on her after the class.
I knew I wanted to learn more, because by the end of the class I was already seeing how I could apply the principles in my workplace at the church where I was serving as a minister, and at home with my kids. When you are navigating the challenges of raising and advocating for a neurodiverse child and his needs, you need all the tools you can get.
The following January, I was taking my first training to be a Certified Trainer in the Foursight Thinking Profile, and my ability to lead my teams at work and navigate the challenges of everyday life at home immediately improved.
Within the next five years, I had trained not just the teams I led, but also the entire church staff, as well as the staff at my physical therapists office, multiple teams of college interns with Americorps, and even a group of leaders in the small town of Locust Grove, Oklahoma through a Creative Communities grant from Creative Oklahoma who had hosted the original conference where I met Sarah.
Every step of the way, I witnessed again and again how intentionally applying the Creative Problem Solving steps allowed individuals, teams and even entire communities to navigate the challenges that stood between them and the goals they desired.
One of the greatest things I discovered is that the principles of Creative Problem Solving are intuitive, whether it’s looking for your glasses or something much bigger.
When I was faced with a brain cancer diagnosis just over a decade prior to all of the above, I first had to go through 18 months of testing and visits to clarify exactly what my brain tumor was. Then I had to ideate all my different options of where to go to find the best treatment.
Once I found Dr. Berger at UCSF who did the surgery that saved my life, I had to develop a plan that included how to get dozens of my MRIs, a brain tissue sample from my biopsy, my husband, parents, toddler daughter and I all to San Francisco for that first office visit. (We wanted my daughter to see the city where mom was gonna be for 10 days while I went there for my surgery. While mom and I were at the hospital getting my tests done, she was with her dad and grandpa going to the wharf and FAO Schwarz. She even got to ride in a limousine back from the wharf when grandpa got tired of waiting for the trolley.)
Finally, we had to implement the plan that Dr, Berger and my neuro oncologist Dr. Prados put together for me that included my brain surgery, 6 weeks of radiation and a year of chemotherapy.
Not every challenge will be as major as the one I face in 2000-2001, but I am so thankful there were people around me helping to intentionally implement the steps I needed to do in order to overcome what I did. When I look back on that time, I wouldn’t change a thing, but I do know I would have had an added level of comfort had I known then what I know now about how much intentionally applying Creative Problem Solving can empower me to tackle whatever my life may bring.