The Genesis Paradigm: Strategies for Creative Living

By Jeffrey Mintz

This book is for anyone who is searching and aware that life is a journey and looking for ways to better understand the endless possibilities and challenges involved in that process. The Genesis Paradigm comes from a unique perspective the author has developed where the idea is essentially that we are all capable of living our lives to a far greater potential than we do. However to achieve our potential, we need to develop our inherently creative selves. We need to develop our imaginations to allow ourselves to tap into our higher selves. As our world becomes satiated with material wealth and prosperity, people are searching for more. They are aware on some level of this latent potential.
This book is relevant to anyone interested in change. There are many transitions and challenges for people everywhere right now, but none more than the baby boomer generation who are now entering a new phase of their lives. With the changing economy, many are not able to retire as they had planned. There are many who are going through health challenges, divorce, redefining themselves as many begin new careers and hobbies. There is an explosion of technology and the world is changing rapidly as never before. Many people are facing the need to change and adapt. Many are struggling. This is a unique perspective from a professional therapist, and someone who has lived a spiritual life for the past 25 years. There are many ideas contained in this book that are of universal interest to many readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496931634

Jeffrey Mintz

Jeff was born in Toronto, Canada and has been a clinical social worker for the past 25 years. He graduated from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University in New York and is a licensed mental health practitioner. He has lived and worked in New York, Israel and Toronto. He is currently a manager at Jewish Family & Child in Toronto, as well as a faculty member of the High Conflict Forum where he does training for professionals working with families experiencing high conflict separation and divorce. He is also the coordinator of Family Group Conferences at JF&CS where he facilitates conflict resolution through his role as the chair person and mediator. This role requires great sensitivity and creativity to work together to come up with imaginative solutions to real problems. Recently, Jeff opened the Genesis Centre, where he sees private clients and provides consultation to organizations dealing with change and transition. He has presented seminars on change and transition for organizations. He is a divorced father of 5 and lives in Toronto with his partner who is an associate at the Genesis Centre. She is also a clinical supervisor at a children's mental health centre working with adolescents and teens with addictions and their families.

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© 2014 Jeffrey Mintz. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/14/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-3164-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-3163-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014914101

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Overview

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Vision

Chapter 2 Transition

Chapter 3 The Challenge

Chapter 4 What Do You Really Want?

Chapter 5 Imagination

Chapter 6 The Process of Change

Chapter 7 Believing in a Purpose

Chapter 8 Creativity

Chapter 9 Growth

Chapter 10 Right Brain/Left Brain

Chapter 11 Seeing Things Differently

Chapter 12 Imagining the Future Today

Chapter 13 Motivation and Inspiration

Chapter 14 Shifting Your Focus

Chapter 15 Starting Over

Chapter 16 Interference

Chapter 17 Money

Chapter 18 Sexuality

Conclusion

About The Author

Bibliography

Overview

In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, then the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open except yourself.

J. Krishnamurti

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I have been a psychotherapist since 1986. I have worked in New York, Jerusalem, and Toronto, in both private practice and at family and child clinics. I grew up in a secular home for the first 25 years of my life, and then I became born again and began living an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle for 25 years. I married, had 5 children, then divorced and became secular again. However I have always been a spiritual person and would describe the work I do as a therapist as psycho-spiritual or Holistic where I take into account body-mind-spirit. I have been thinking about change and transition for the majority of my life. I have personally experienced many changes and transitions. A seminal time in my life was in 1992 when I was employed by Jewish Family & Child in Toronto, (a family service agency and children’s aid society) and was asked to do psychosocial assessments by representatives for the Israeli government, of prospective applicants who were seeking to move to Israel. I began reading and learning as much as I could about the immigrant experience with an eye to the concepts of change and transition. I learned so much about the process that I felt it might be an exciting journey for my own family. Two years later, I moved with my family to Israel. It was an unbelievable journey. I learned much from that experience. I began to start thinking about how the process was parallel to what I do as a therapist with clients. Helping people move from one state of being to another. I lived in Israel for 8 years and ultimately decided to return to Canada. When I returned from Israel I began to write about the process and to write up case summaries of clients I had worked with seeking to explore these parallels.

This book is for anyone who is searching and aware that life is a journey and looking for ways to better understand the endless possibilities and challenges involved in that process. The Genesis Paradigm comes from a unique perspective I have developed beginning in graduate school, where I first came across the work of Rabbi J.B. Soleveitchik in The Lonely Man of Faith, where he describes the two natures of man and continued with other influences in my professional development, like William Bridges who wrote Transitions, and Betty Edwards who wrote Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

All of these books and others that I site in my book are pieces of an outlook that I have found to be personally helpful and also describe the work that I do in my professional life and I have put all of these together to formulate a comprehensive formula for embracing change and transition.

Essentially the idea is that we are all capable of living our lives to a far greater potential than we do. However to achieve our potential, we need to develop our inherently creative selves. We need to develop our imaginations to allow ourselves to tap into our higher selves. As our world becomes satiated with material wealth and prosperity, people are searching for more. They are aware on some level of this latent potential.

When the organization I work with, Jewish Family & Child in Toronto began to go through a major reorganization in 2007, I began to formalize these ideas into a workshop that was presented to every employee in the organization. It was a model for change and transition that provided a framework and a lens to view the impending changes. Staff found this to be very helpful and inspiring. One of the directors said it this way: you took all the ideas of change management and put it in a human perspective.

I have begun to work as a change management consultant in addition to being in private practice. I opened the Genesis Centre in 2011 to further develop these initiatives. The next step is to publish this book that will allow me to take my ideas to a greater audience of readers that can benefit from them and allow a greater contribution than I can make on my own. These are changing times and I believe that I have something unique to offer to anyone seeking a greater understanding of their own hidden potential and are struggling with these changing times.

This book is relevant to anyone interested in change. There are many transitions and challenges for people everywhere right now, but none more than the baby boomer generation who are now entering a new phase of their lives. With the changing economy, many are not able to retire as they had planned. There are many who are going through health challenges, divorce, redefining themselves as many begin new careers, hobbies. There is an explosion of technology and the world is changing rapidly as never before. Many people are facing the need to change and adapt. Many are struggling. I see this in my professional work. I believe that I have a unique perspective, as a professional therapist, and as someone who has lived a spiritual life for the past 25 years. There are many ideas contained in this book that are of universal interest to many readers.

Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory. We come from the Creator with creativity. I think that each one of us is born with creativity.

Maya Angelou

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Introduction

I would venture to say that no act stirs the emotions and offers the rewards that our own creativity engenders. The Genesis Paradigm describes the process of creativity that is at the heart of what makes us human. From the dawn of civilization, man has been making use of this most unique human quality. I believe that everyone possesses this magnificent talent but for many, it lies dormant. It is for this purpose