Coaching for Autistic Individuals

Autistic individuals find it difficult to fit into society - it is not tailored to their specialised needs. They therefore require support services that are tailored to assist them in daily tasks to function better. For autistic individuals careers and relationships can be very complicated and difficult to understand. The coach needs to know how to effectively communicate and integrate with the unique learning methods of autistic individuals.

Some of the areas where many autistic individuals require support are the following:

• Developing skills to organise and focus
• To overcome hurt and to become motivated
• Helping to overcome communication difficulties
• Choosing a career path
• Assistance to create goals
• General planning for the future
• Assistance in solving problems
• Assistance in bridging various gaps
• Assistance to find solutions for environmental challenges
•  Assistance to make sense of concepts that are difficult to understand
• Guidance in building a support network
• Establishing and maintaining (business and personal) relationships
• Guidance about rules in different environments and social structures
• Deal with attention issues, frustrations and difficulties
• Recognise the joys of autism, strengths, talents and positive qualities
• Assisting in striving towards aspirations, as well as setting and achieving goals

Autism does not disappear, it is a life-long journey of learning and improvement. Autistic individuals may greatly benefit from an advisor who can help them break monumental challenges and aspirations into easy to accomplish goals.

Perceptions

An interesting perception of reality, from a short story "Bullet in the brain": A literary critic standing in the queue at the bank, suddenly became a victim of a bank robbery.

He didn't seem afraid at all. In fact, linguistically, the events that followed were so hilarious to him that he couldn't help commenting out loud and later exploding into laughter. Soon enough the bank robber lost his patience and shot him.

Even as the bullet traveled into his brain – in a last highly detailed memory flash he discovers a quaint literary gem he missed in childhood. He dies in awe.

Intending to make it happen?

A few imaginative suggestions can go a long way in getting thoughts put into ACTION. It is a bit like preparing one’s mind for the possibilities - envisioning a variety of tasty ‘recipes’ for making things happen.

Focus

You could think of your thoughts as keys to achieving the intentions you have. Take time to consider your intentions. Focus a large portion of your thoughts on the subject of your intent. The more familiar you are with the territory, the better will the outcome of your efforts be. The clearer you are, the more likely it is that you’ll stay on track. By rethinking your intentions, you will be able to purify and improve upon it - add onto it with the benefit of new experience you gain each day. This focus is about now, now is the continuum between thoughts and results.  The moment you step up to the dream, is the moment the dream is getting real.

Talk

Say what you want to do, to be, to have...  What you say can have a way of motivating you. It plants the seeds of your intent in you and those who listen to you. Talking to someone also serves as a sound board, making you aware of your valuable, insightful thoughts – some of which you never knew existed. Or those thoughts may have been created during a conversation. Notice whether the way you talk is constructive, this helps you to notice whether your thoughts are constructive.

Learn

Find a variety of your favourite avenues for learning. Gain all the necessary skills and knowledge needed to succeed.  While you learn and practice, spur yourself on with a double dose of belief that you can do it, and you will push through those valleys and plateaus to reach the top. You can keep your energy levels high by incorporating something fun and by assuring yourself that you are doing well, and bring back thoughts about your intent. Incorporate your whole being into the learning and make sure that you stretch yourself but do it gently, a bit further every day.  

Grow

Developing confidence means that what you are learning and doing becomes your second nature. It feels natural and real – your hard work pays off in the form of a set of hardcore skills and the ability to apply your knowledge well.  Begin with the easy stuff and gradually move towards more difficult things – rinse and repeat. What’s hard today is easy tomorrow. Make the process of growing enjoyable for yourself. Be generous with praising and appreciating yourself for your efforts. Keep finding motivation.  Keep in mind that you are growing, so every day the ‘new you’ gets smarter and smarter.  

Monitor

By monitoring your progress, you learn to trust your own judgement. Find ways to monitor yourself which will help you to see how much you have developed. This helps you to make decisions about what would be the next step. You might even notice a need to change direction or to adjust your strategy in some or other way.  Although feedback from others can be very useful, you also need to know for yourself where you are at in the process of acting out your intentions.

Take it on

This is what you wanted. Can you feel it in every inch of your body?  This is the mindset needed to keep you going! Consciously grow, adopt a good attitude and nurture motivational thoughts – eventually it becomes subconscious and automatic. All else will follow. Share your enjoyment and the love for what you do with those around you and get others involved with what you are doing.  Remind yourself that you are busy realising something that is important to you. 

Golden Grid - first draft

Before doing any design, I create a 'pre-design', which consists of different compositions of rectangles which have ratio aspects of the golden ratio. So I started thinking that it would be nice to have a standard one that I can simply place over the work area and it is ready to work on.

By the way, using the Golden Ratio helps one to create a well balanced design. I use it in all my work, from logos to websites. It can be placed on the borders of the work-area or even overlapping the work-area, if you have items that are only half-way on the page. You can add as many grids onto a design as you want, and can place a smaller one over a big one, or place a larger one behind, fitting onto any of the lines of that grid. You can also just keep it on the side to determine heights and widths of fonts, margins and any objects on a page.

Here's the first draft of my golden grid:

The grid can also be used in a ratio such as 2:1 like this:

Positive feedback loop

A positive feedback loop doubly affects the expected outcome of your efforts! The result, whether good or an outright achievement further encourages you. This can also be called a continuous self-improvement loop.

Here are two types of feedback loops:

Achievements: Achievements that arise from external events. The nature of achievements can vary considerably. For example, a minor achievement might result from a minor fortunate co-incidence. Larger achievements may result from understanding what is required for reaching an objective. When in this positive loop, one is able to remain focussed and keep working with few breaks and remain interested in achieving an objective. The key for success is being meticulous, methodical and attentive, taking notes for later reference, and looking for gaps in one's proposed solutions.

Self-improvement stems from internal factors such as developing a good fit for reaching an objective. Through a positive feedback loop, the resulting self-improvement may include being more confident, patient, interested, relaxed and understanding what is really important to focus on to reach an objective.

Develop a positive feedback loop that will help you achieve the following:

• continuous self-improvement
• continuous higher degrees of success
• more easily getting started and reaching objectives
• continuous increase in the likelihood of success
• continuous increase in common sense
• continuous increase in shrewdness
• continuous increase in constructive activity
• continuous increase in initiative
• more and more enthusiasm
• more and more encouraged
• self-empowerment

A positive feedback loop has a ‘snow-ball’ effect, so get one going and watch it grow!

How to be happy...

Keep life, as much as possible, based on experiences, rather than ideas. An awareness of the experience of being alive in the present will make you thrive!

Meditation and yoga are good ways to develop the faculty of remaining aware of the present moment.

Also, create helpful, happy, loving metaphors for the way you think about your life. Thinking patterns establish and reenforce neural pathways. Change any unhelpful metaphors like "if only..." to helpful ones... Your brain remains plastic throughout your life and the patterns it maintains can be changed at will.

It's never too late to learn new things, have new experiences, appreciate what you have, enjoy the wonder and the love.Live presently in every moment of life.

Working outdoors

People who work outdoors remind me of the flowers and trees - using the environment directly to provide services to those around them. All day out and about, feeling sun, rain and wind and interacting with the passersby. Here are some of the photos I have taken of people who work outdoors...

SA's super cop Piet Beyleveld

South Africa’s super cop... Piet Byleveld, is one of the best known detectives in the world!

Went to the launch of his book, "Byleveld: Dossier of a Serial Sleuth" by Hanlie Retief.

He loves South Africa and its beautiful people - he wants to live in a crime-free country and he believes it is possible. That is his biggest hope in life!

He is now retired, but his life-long commitment to serving the people of South Africa still holds firm. He advises everyone to get to know some of their neighbours, and generally to take note of who lives in and travels through their area and to be observant.

He also strongly supports the idea of policing on foot, as opposed to police officers riding around in fancy cars – as well as a more stringent process to recruit only police officers with the necessary dedication to do a good job. Police officers should not be out to just arrest criminals, they should be out to get convictions. He said that the specialized units are essential to solve cases effectively and get convictions.

His reputation is built on a 100 percent success rate with bringing serial murderers to justice. He has several exceptional talents, the most exceptional of which is his total dedication - he will not rest or give up until he solved the crime. He is the recipient of several international awards, he is consulted by FBI and Scotland Yard, amongst various other international agencies.

Took some video clips, this is my favourite, where he answers the question - "...could you perhaps start a detective school?"... I just love his energy and enthusiasm.

In an interview on 702 talk radio, he also mentioned that he would be very interested in assisting in training of police officers. This is something everyone in SA can support and get involved in.

Stay active

Take healthy action from a healthy GUT feeling

The diagram below explains a view on 'acting from the gut' and how uncertain feelings in the GUT are processed and resolved. The aim is to choose the best actions and feel OK about taking the chosen actions - especially really difficult ones. Meditation and relaxation is a great way to enhance the process. The 'let-go' part is very important - let go of anything that may somehow lead to unhealthy actions or that may place a restriction on healthy actions.

A Poem: She loves you

 by Benjine Gerber

Her love is eternal
She is all the love in one
She is all your needs content
- regard the love you share

She is vulnerable
She embodies your fear
She is in doubt and delusion
- release her into your heart

Two longing hearts
Her joy is your freedom

Her essence is the master key
She puts your heart at ease

Yours through all the senses
Every expression even pain

Delightful reason to live,
Nourishment and rest.

Now you and she are
by no means apart.

She gives,
She holds on,
She completes.

Always there,
her loving touch,
her hidden grief.

Deeper,
ever deeper,
in union.

Love her
in return.

Touching the void - inspiration for entrepreneurs!

Simpson

A presenter once mentioned how the movie 'Touching the Void' is a must-see for entrepreneurs... extremely curious as to why - I watched it. And then I watched the movie many more times. It is inspirational!

What do you do when all the odds and natural elements are stacked against your chances of survival? Perhaps if he asked the question, hardly anyone would have told him that they think he could make it out of that one! Everything gloom-and-doom to the first order, do you give up? Even if you don’t give up... perhaps you don't have support and plenty of drawbacks, how do you go the distance?

A lesson that stood out for me was how he (Simpson) kept setting small, reachable targets and when he reached each one, he celebrated it and then set another... and so, 50-feet target by 10-feet target, he reached the five miles he was aiming for. The only option he gave himself was reaching the target!

This is how the movie goes, so don’t read this is you’re going to watch the movie:

• (+) The pair were the first to successfully ascend to the summit of Siula Grande via the almost vertical west face.
• (-) Due to bad weather, the trip took longer than they intended and base camp was about another 3,000 feet below
• (-) Disaster struck. On the descent Simpson slipped down an ice cliff and broke his tibia into his knee joint
• (-) They had run out of water
• (-) The second disaster struck. Yates lowered Simpson with a rope over a 100 foot overhanging cliff where he dangled in mid-air under freezing conditions
• (-) Simpson’s weight on the rope was slowly pulling Yates down the mountain.
• (-) Yates was forced to cut the rope, dropping Simpson into a crevasse.
• (-) The next morning Yates descended the mountain certain that Simpson must have died.
• (+) Simpson had survived, despite a 100 foot fall and broken leg.
• (+) He abseiled from his landing spot on an ice bridge into a void
• (+) He unexpectedly reached a thin ice roof with an opening onto the glacier.
• (+) He crawled out back onto the glacier!
• (+) He spent three days setting targets, crawling and hopping back to the base camp
• (-) He had no food and only splashes of water from melting ice
• (+) He reached base camp a few hours before Yates intended to leave.
• (+) Simpson’s survival is regarded as amongst the most amazing pieces of mountaineering lore.

Somehow, in spite of many hectic unfortunately's (-) one can produce the fortunate legendary ending (+).

Learning more about digital photography

Yesterday I did a basic introduction to digital photography.

Learned where to find everything on my camera, how and why to choose different settings, new techniques and very importantly, how to reset everything back to default settings, when the photo just doesn't come out right because of one forgotten setting that was changed along the way.

It was great to learn from an experienced photographer, who gave us valuable practical guidance and warnings about everything from buying the equipment, weather conditions, what to look out for on every occasion and how he does things.

I would certainly want to do more photography courses, as I am sure that each photographer has a host of important tips to depart. And maybe joining a photography club would also be a good next step.

  

How do they find the time to live?

Every day swarms of people are caught up in a cyclone of busyness - frantically racing and rushing about. At the end of each day they are worn and stressed out. They live lives filled with frustration, resentment and anger instead of lives of serenity. They experience their existence as empty and meaningless.
Amazingly often you will find that they are busy simply for the sake of being busy... that many of their actions are undirected or misdirected.

They are too busy scooping water out of the boat - to fix the leak. Too disorganised - to get organised. Too concerned with what they are doing - to consider all the implications. They are too busy growing that venture - to focus on their own growth. Their relationships suffer because they are too busy with red tape. Squeezing ‘being-busy’ into every moment of the day.

Both busyness and laziness lead to the same end, the neglect of the essential things in their lives.

How can they disentangle themselves from a life of perpetual busyness to one of purposeful and carefully thought out action?

• They need to take the time to go from ‘busy’ to ‘productive' - this means moving from impulsive action to purposeful action.
• They need to take quiet time for their inner creative force to study their options, analyze obstacles, and build a road map to successfully bring their dreams into reality.
• They need to break down the goal of controlling their lives into small manageable steps and start working at regaining control bit by bit.
• They need to grant themselves the time needed for rest, nutrition and exercise to perform at top efficiency.
• They need to plan and assemble resources. Then, when they have worked out what the next important step is, they need to take focused action.
• They need to aim at doing things thoroughly and right the first time, which is one of the biggest time savers and remember that the "desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done properly."
• They need to improve their definition of success, which may help them reduce the demands on their time and energy, and they will get far more from life, despite perhaps having a lower income and fewer friends.
• They need to make better choices - like saying no to any unfair expectations of anyone and switching the TV off more often.
• They need to pack more value into their activities by combining them - like going to the park to spend quality time with family/friends, getting some form of exercise done and savouring nature all at the same time.
• They need to be alert, present and aware of their every action, remain focused on reversing their trend, always thinking before they act, always reflecting on the purpose and outcome of their actions.

They do have enough time! They always need to respect their time and use it wisely so that they can reap the great benefits and fulfilling life it holds in store for them.

'Delivering the goods' like freshly squeezed OJ

Just read a blog post about how ‘delivering the goods’ aka being great in business, management, leadership, getting hired or keeping your job is like freshly squeezed Orange Juice... It goes for pretty much anybody.

Orange Juice represents getting that ongoing everyday enjoyment from something, even though it is the same thing over and over again, day in and day out. It’s great. It works. It delivers. It does the job. It’s perfect.

Do you deliver the goods the way real freshly squeezed orange juice does?

• It always delivers on the promise
• It’s honest-to-goodness real thing
• It does the job perfectly every time
• It serves a purpose and fulfills a need
• It’s best when present - past success is no guarantee of future results 
• It’s best when on time - every day delivery keeps them coming back
• It’s best freshly squeezed, not frozen, diluted or in any way diminished
• If it’s great in one situation, it won’t necessarily be great in another setting 
• It’s widely accepted in every country and city 
• It makes its mark on the w-o-r-l-d.  
• It's consistent, day in, day out.
• It can be enjoyed everyday!

Think of yourself, your staff, your product, your company as having the qualities and value of orange juice! Set your sights, lock in our trajectory, and set off to deliver the goods like freshly squeezed OJ.

How do you ensure success?

Stick to these points and you’ll go far in this world:

• Striving to be exceptional - a rare commodity
• Showing up on time armed with creativity and enthusiasm
• Being open to communication and dedicated to grow
• Setting glitches or mistakes straight right away
• Being committed to help solve problems
• Making sure that what you provide fits the need 
• Respecting the ecology and well-being of all

The Prophet

This must be one of the most inspirational books of all time. On a daily basis quotes from it are shared between friends and associates to provide comfort and encouragement for handling daily events.

This inspired me to embark on an artistic journey with this book to exhibit what the poems mean to me in other formats, such as the word-cloud on the right, 26 individual artworks and readings which are accompanied with music created to fit each one of the poems.

The word-cloud consists of the 82 most commonly used words in the book. The size of each word reflects the relative frequency of the use of the word.

Here's a snippet on Joy and Sorrow:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked...
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain...
I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

They got me so emotional!

This performance group acted out the life stories of a couple of women through abstraction, mostly movement... man-oh-man, I had to bite my lip, think of other things and so forth, but the emotions they stirred in me was almost over-powering... others in the audience also felt that way. It is something about the performing arts that catches you so off guard, there's no scope for hiding from or becoming comfortably numb to it. It makes me wonder, are those the emotions we should be feeling about everyday tragedies around us, rather than just shrugging it off as we need to get on with our lives?

At last, a dictaphone!

Thank goodness that my next assignment requires the use of a Dictaphone, which I got today - it is something I always wanted :-) at the age of 8 or so, I fell in love with office equipment, from staplers to rubber stamps!

The Dictaphone is a really cute compact black number, records in stereo, great sound quality - records every squeeck even when under the table or inside a jacket pocket! Have a look:

So, I am hoping to make very good use of it for various projects in future - for doing interviews for writing articles, and much more. The trick would be keeping all those audio files organised :-)

Below is just an abandoned ice-cream box I saw on the way. 

"Pre-design" for my next artwork

Depending on what one's approach to design/art is, creating what I like to call a "pre-design" before one actually starts producing the design can be very helpful in saving you loads of time. A pre-design is ideally done  quickly - it is left looking relatively unattractive and contains all of the important elements you envision seeing in the final work, such as layout ratios, representations of the elements that will be present, roughly sketched, but firmly in place. This is the ideal time to do your ratio-ing, as elements are flexible and changes, resizing, moving, adding, removing can be done quickly and painlessly. This stage also give you lots of freedom to find new inspiration, to simplifying and enrich the artwork. Knowing that this isn't the final artwork takes a lot of the mental blockages out of the way.

To produce the pre-design below, I first sketched the idea I had in mine, then I downloaded some free vectors of trees, created the art-board in the golden ratio, set up more ratio lines and plonked the trees on, and added a bit of rough color. The artwork can now be finalized, which will involve merging photos I took of grass and acorn trees into becoming a photo-realistic artwork resembling this scene.

The inspiration for this artwork: One day, a security guard at a building where I had my office told me to go sit behind his desk. Not really knowing what he was getting at, I did so... this was a surprisingly pleasant experience... In front of me I saw a very wide panoramic photo of a nature scene, stuck on the inside of the reception desk. The photo made me feel like I was out and about frolicking in nature. And this is why I am creating this artwork... to provide the viewer with that feeling that they are in nature, soaking in the sunlight, laying or walking on soft grass, surrounded by numerous shades spring fresh greens, and hugged by timeless, caring acorn trees.

Here's a snap-shot of the starting phase: