Walt was an enthusiastic early adopter on many fronts, including Appreciative Inquiry. He adopted the euro as a method of payment for British and European clients while it was still very theoretical. He adopted Apple’s HyperCard, a hypermedia system that predated the web, when it was still very much in its infancy, to organise and author his Castles project for Castle Consultants. Shelagh Aitken worked on the HyperCard stack for him with Jenny Saunders. Did it lead to published results? She says, “I’m not sure, but I don’t think that was entirely the point. Walt wanted to experiment with new ways of organising his knowledge, his information; the project was close to his heart.” He revised The Castle Guide many times, until shortly before his death.
Walt was also an innovator when it came to facilitation and training. He was held in high esteem by both his colleagues and his students from around the world. He ended his emails with the phrase “A Goal Is A Dream Taken Seriously”, a phrase that came to be when he founded Castle Consultants in 1983 with two colleagues, and advice that he followed himself and that inspired many people.
In the mid-1990s, he and Anne Radford were introduced to – and adopted – Appreciative Inquiry. Without Walt and Anne, Appreciative Inquiry wouldn’t have arrived in the UK and further afield as early as it did. They organised an event at Disneyland Paris to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Castle Consultants. In 1995, as a follow up, Anne and Walt organised the first Appreciative Inquiry workshop in London, given by Jane Magruder Watkins and Barbara Sloan. Later they were involved in the Crossing Boundaries conference, one of the first Appreciative Inquiry events, in Cambridge, UK where David Cooperrider was one of the leading facilitators.
While Anne started the newsletter that became AI Practitioner, Walt continued inquiring appreciatively, enthusiastically, warmly, and generously via Castle Consultants, using Appreciative Inquiry as one of the fundamentals for his work and his publications. He brought Appreciative Inquiry to organisations like the UN World Food Programme and the European Space Agency. His latest work, released at the beginning of 2026, was The Castle Process for Designing Your Life and Career. What maybe says more than anything else was that many of his clients became friends, staying in touch long after the workshops finished. In 2022, a film portrait of Walt was released. We believe it captures the wonderful man he was.
Tojo Thatchenkery, PhD is professor and director of the Organization Development and Knowledge Management program at the Schar School of Policy & Government, George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia, USA.
If you are already familiar with Appreciative Inquiry, the first part of this book’s title may sound familiar. Many books – including my own – have explored Appreciative Inquiry as an approach to organizational change, alongside hundreds of scholarly articles. But it is the second part of the title that immediately captures one’s curiosity: What is “Drenching”? And what could it possibly have to do with organization development?
It was with that question in mind that I began reading Organizational Transformation through Appreciative Inquiry: Experiences and Reflections on Drenching Processes, by Sankarasubramanyan Ramamoorthy and Wasundhara Joshi. For the sake of transparency, I have known both authors and their work for many years, and they have cited some of my own work in this book.
Let’s get drenched!
Here is the elevator pitch I would offer: most books on Appreciative Inquiry emphasize its pragmatic value – the methods and tools that help organizations shift their attention from problems to possibilities. The underlying assumption is that by focusing on what works rather than what is broken, we become better equipped to address challenges. Ramamoorthy and Joshi certainly acknowledge this practical dimension, but they invite us to go much further. They encourage us to immerse ourselves in the process, embrace the journey, remain curious, and allow ourselves to dwell in the emerging possibilities rather than rushing toward conclusions.
Of course, this is an oversimplification. Let me explain.
As the classic work The Social Construction of Reality by Berger and Luckmann (1966) reminds us, language is the primary medium through which we experience and make sense of the world. (If you prefer a lighter – and surprisingly insightful – illustration of this idea, I recommend watching The Gods Must Be Crazy, directed by Jamie Uys, 1984. The film humorously demonstrates how meaning depends on the stories we construct around our experiences.)
An invitation into discovery
Acclaimed German philosopher Martin Heidegger famously observed that “language is the house of Being”. Language is not merely a tool for describing organizations; it shapes how we experience them. We inhabit the worlds that language makes possible. (If you want to read a few sleep-inducingly dense articles about this, I have included three of my own in the references!). Heidegger even argued that poetry represents language in its most authentic form because it opens new possibilities for understanding, whereas everyday language often becomes routine and mechanical. Drenching and Appreciative Inquiry operate in much the same spirit. Through carefully crafted questions, it invites us into discovery, imagination, and the creation of new organizational realities.
This is where the authors’ concept of Drenching becomes especially compelling.
Ramamoorthy and Joshi begin with a solid theoretical foundation for Appreciative Inquiry before introducing a variety of practical models, tools, and applications. Readers will find clear frameworks, useful toolkits, and numerous examples illustrating Appreciative Inquiry in practice. I especially appreciated the global perspective reflected in the case studies. Rather than relying primarily on examples from the western hemisphere, the authors intentionally broaden their lens to include experiences from other parts of the world. Their writing is refreshingly accessible, avoiding unnecessary jargon, making the book suitable for both newcomers and experienced practitioners working in business, government, or nonprofit organizations.
The book’s real contribution, and the “hook” for me, however, lies in its development of the concept of Drenching. The authors write:
Drenching is to soak in the dream. Drenching is standing in the rain and allowing raindrops to seep into each pore of our skin… To drench is to stay in the energy of the dream … In a world where clarity is important, Drenching asks that we remain in a hazy state. (pp. 32–33)
As I read this passage, I found myself thinking of the unforgettable closing scenes of Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding (2001), where the characters dance and celebrate joyfully in a torrential rainstorm, seemingly unconcerned about preserving their elegant wedding clothes. It is a beautiful metaphor for surrendering fully to an experience rather than merely observing it or avoiding it all together.
Mindfulness, Appreciative Inquriy and Drenching
My thoughts soon shifted from cinema to theory, particularly to mindfulness. In an article that Ellen Byrne and I published in Harvard Business Review (2018), we argued that mindfulness can significantly enhance creativity within teams. I see a strong conceptual connection between mindfulness, Appreciative Inquiry, and Drenching.
Mindfulness encourages us to experience the present moment without judgment – to observe what is before us without immediately labeling it as good or bad. Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994) so memorably expressed this sentiment in the title of his classic book, Wherever You Go, There You Are. Drenching embodies that same spirit: it invites participants to remain fully present with their experiences, resisting the temptation to move too quickly toward analysis or action.
Traditional Appreciative Inquiry begins with interviews that uncover peak experiences and identify core values. Drenching deepens this process. Rather than simply collecting positive stories, it encourages participants to linger within them, to bring increased awareness of them – to relive them, absorb them, and experience their emotional richness to the fullest form. By cultivating this heightened awareness, I believe, Drenching adds a dimension of mindfulness to Appreciative Inquiry that has the potential to make organization development interventions both richer and more transformative.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Organizational Transformation through Appreciative Inquiry: Experiences and Reflections on Drenching Processes. Having read dozens of books on Appreciative Inquiry over the years, I found this one refreshingly different. By introducing the concept of Drenching, Ramamoorthy and Joshi remind us that transformative change is not only about asking better questions, or staying positive; it is also about learning to remain fully present (by Drenching) with the possibilities those questions may uncover.
This is a valuable contribution to the Appreciative Inquiry literature, and one that I believe OD and change management practitioners, scholars, and students alike will find both insightful and inspiring.
REFERENCES
Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality. Penguin.
Byrne, E. and Thatchenkery, T., (2018, July 12) How to Use Mindfulness to Increase Your Team’s Creativity. Harvard Business Review.
Heidegger, M. (1982) On The Way To Language, (Trans.) P. Hertz, Harper & Row,
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994) Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. Hachette, 1994.
Thatchenkery, T. (2004) Paradox and Organizational Change: The transformative power of hermeneutic appreciation. Advances in Appreciative Inquiry, 1, 77–102. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s1475-9152(04)01004-x
Thatchenkery, T. (2002) Mining for Meaning: Reading organizations using hermeneutic philosophy. In R. I Westwood and S. A. Linstead (Eds), pp.112–131. The Language of Organization. Sage. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446217368.n6
Thatchenkery, T. (1992) Organizations as Texts: Hermeneutics as a model for understanding organizational change. Research in Organization Development and Change, 6, 197–233.
Federico Varona, born in Spain, has lived and taught in Central America and the USA for 35 years. He is a professor emeritus at San José State University, California. He has taught the Appreciative Research course at San José State University for over ten years. Now he writes about, publishes, and delivers international webinars on the Appreciative Paradigm.
From an appreciative paradigmatic point of view, Betsy Martínez’s article, below, makes an original and significant contribution: it applies the Appreciative Paradigm to the human experience of moving through adversity and, in doing so, reveals it in an organic, interdependent, and integrative way through its five essential components – ontology, epistemology, praxis, axiology, and language. From this new way of seeing and operating, which has been profoundly transformative for her, Betsy’s article suggests, implicitly, the possibility of exploring beyond the methodological view of Appreciative Inquiry and of understanding the practice of personal and social change from the Appreciative Paradigm, which shows how everything is integrated, organic, and interdependent, and how this understanding radically transforms our way of seeing, interpreting, inhabiting, and accompanying processes of personal and social change.
Betsy Martínez Montero
Conscious productivity strategist and business coach. Specialist in Positive Psychology and qualitative researcher in human and organizational wellbeing. TEDx Speaker. Betsy is from Costa Rica and now lives in Mexico.
Life as Mystery: The Appreciative Turn When Facing the Trials We Are Called to Cross Through
There are days when life turns upside down and, without warning, places us before a path we did not ask for. The call that changes everything. The diagnosis. The goodbye. The job that comes to an end. And there, with a somewhat crumpled heart, we face doubts, exhaustion, and even fear; we understand that there is no shortcut: all that remains is to cross through.
Crossing through is not leaping over adversity or pretending it does not hurt. It is crossing a threshold: entering and holding steady, step by step, knowing that once we cross it we will not be the same. And it is not crossed by denying the storm, but by saying yes to life in the midst of pain, doubts, and fear. The suffering we did not choose does not disappear by ignoring it; it becomes inhabitable when we find, even there, a purpose. In this sea of words, I share reflections from my own lived experience, and also from what I have learned while accompanying people on their journeys: you do not need to feel brave when you are afraid, nor strong when you are exhausted. I discovered that crossing through is better done with an appreciative turn.
From the Appreciative Paradigm (Varona, 2025), beyond a new paradigm for change, I discover a new way of seeing, inquiring, transforming, valuing, and speaking about ourselves and the world: different ways of being in life that are also different ways of crossing through it.
Seeing differently
Appreciative ontology offers us a perspective that changes everything: life is a mystery to be inhabited, not a problem to be solved. When you stop demanding a solution from yourself, you can finally breathe within what you do not understand. And there is more: in every person, while crossing through their worst storm, there is a core of strengths waiting to emerge. The blows do not destroy that core; often, they are what is needed to reveal its light.
Inquiring into what gives life
Appreciative epistemology invites us to be curious, even in the midst of the storm, about what still enlivens us: in the ordinary, in the extraordinary, and even in the tragic. Instead of questioning only the wound – “what did I do wrong?” – we ask, “what in me has endured, what is still beating, what purpose is this serving for me?” Something extraordinary happens: change does not wait until the end of the road. It begins the moment we start looking with different eyes.
Transforming wholly and together
Appreciative praxis reminds us that no one crosses through completely alone: when your legs falter, someone else walks beside you. We cross through as a whole person: with the emotion that weeps, the reason that brings order, the intuition that sometimes knows before you do, and the will that takes one more step. Not with relentless strength, but with complete presence. From there, we build small prototypes of the future: a gesture, a loving boundary, an “I will solve it tomorrow”.
Valuing what sustains
Appreciative axiology chooses to appreciate what gives life in any context, because it believes that everything that happens to us is an opportunity to learn. Here lives the anticipatory principle: we move toward the image we hold of the future. Imagining who you want to be on the other side is not denying the present; it is planting direction in the midst of the fog.
Naming anew
Appreciative language affirms that words create the world we live in and the one we want. That is why it listens to the negative in order to reframe it: “this thing that breaks me also shows me what matters to me”. And it seeks a committed language, moving from the impersonal “one must be strong” to “I will take care of myself as I move forward”. That nuance, so small, can sustain us through entire nights.
Five components that do not come one after another, but rather interweave each time we decide to cross through. And it is worth saying with tenderness: at some point in the journey you will feel that you are in no-man’s-land, where what came before is no longer there and what is new is not yet understood. That unsettled middle is not a sign that something is wrong with you; it is the fertile zone, the seedbed where, beneath the path, what is to come is being formed. And that middle cannot be rushed; the new beginning cannot be forced. It emerges when you are ready inside, at your own pace and not by anyone else’s clock.
I think of someone who lost their job at fifty and, instead of repeating “I am no longer useful,” dared to ask what they were made of; or I think of someone who lost a loved one and, instead of trying to “get over it,” dared to cross through grief without sweeteners or shortcuts. The storm did not change; the way of crossing through it did.
On this journey, we are not heroes without scars. We become more compassionate people, more attentive to what gives life, capable of naming the good even while life remains a mystery we do not control. We discover that strength was not the absence of fear, but companionship for fear. Today you do not have to be brave or relentless, nor cross in a single leap. Just take one step, and then another, noticing what still blooms within you; sustaining yourself in a purpose that matters to you. That, too, is crossing through. And on the other side, I promise you, there is a version of you waiting to be inhabited.
Varona, F. (2025) Appreciative Paradigm. From Methodology to Paradigm. A New Paradigm for Personal and Social Change and Social Sciences. Available from Amazon in print and Kindle formats, in Spanish, English, and Portuguese.
Desde una lectura paradigmática apreciativa, el artículo de Betsy Martínez realiza una contribución original y significativa: aplica el Paradigma Apreciativo a la experiencia humana de atravesar la adversidad, y al hacerlo lo revela de manera orgánica, interdependiente e integradora a través de sus cinco componentes esenciales — ontología, epistemología, praxis, axiología y lenguaje. Desde esta nueva forma de ver y operar, que ha sido profundamente transformadora para ella, el artículo de Betsy parece invitarnos, de manera implícita, a explorar más allá de la mirada metodológica de la indagación apreciativa y a comprender la práctica del cambio personal y social desde el paradigma apreciativo, que muestra cómo todo está integrado, orgánico e interdependiente, y cómo esa comprensión transforma radicalmente nuestra manera de ver, interpretar, habitar y acompañar los procesos de cambio personal y social.
Betsy Martínez Montero
Conscious productivity strategist and business coach. Specialist in Positive Psychology and qualitative researcher in human and organizational wellbeing. TEDx Speaker. Betsy is from Costa Rica and now lives in Mexico.
La vida como misterio: El giro apreciativo ante los embates que nos toca cruzar
Hay días en que la vida da un vuelco y, sin avisar, nos pone frente a un camino que no pedimos. La llamada que lo cambia todo. El diagnóstico. El adiós. El trabajo que termina. Y ahí, con el corazón algo arrugado, nos enfrentamos a dudas, cansancio y hasta miedo; comprendemos que no hay atajo: solo queda atravesar.
Atravesar no es saltar por encima de la adversidad ni fingir que no duele. Es cruzar un umbral: entrar y sostenerse, paso a paso, sabiendo que al cruzarlo… no seremos los mismos. Y no se cruza negando la tormenta, sino diciéndole sí a la vida en medio de ella; con dolor, dudas y miedo. El sufrimiento que no elegimos no desaparece al ignorarlo; se vuelve habitable cuando encontramos, aun ahí, un para qué.
En este mar de palabras, comparto reflexiones desde mi propia piel; pero también, es algo que aprendí acompañando personas en sus travesías: no necesitas ser valiente cuando tienes miedo, ni fuerte cuando estás agotado. Descubrí que se atraviesa mejor con un giro apreciativo.
Desde el Paradigma Apreciativo (Varona, 2025), más allá del nuevo paradigma para el cambio, descubro una forma nueva de ver, indagar, transformar, valorar y hablar de nosotros mismos y del mundo. Distintas maneras de estar en la vida que son también distintas maneras de atravesarla.
Ver distinto
La ontología apreciativa nos ofrece una mirada que lo cambia todo: la vida es un misterio que se habita, no un problema que hay que resolver. Cuando dejas de exigirte una solución, por fin respiras dentro de lo que no entiendes. Y hay algo más: en cada persona, atravesando su peor tormenta, existe un núcleo de fortalezas esperando emerger. Los embates no la destruyen; muchas veces son lo necesario para mostrar su luz.
Investigar lo que da vida
La epistemología apreciativa nos invita a ser curiosos, incluso en plena tormenta, lo que todavía nos anima: en lo ordinario, en lo extraordinario y hasta en lo trágico. En vez de interrogar solo la herida, “qué hice mal”, preguntamos “qué de mí ha resistido, qué sigue latiendo, para qué me está sirviendo esto”. Y ocurre algo extraordinario, el cambio no espera al final del camino. Comienza en el instante en que empezamos a mirar con otros ojos.
Transformar entero y acompañado
La praxis apreciativa nos recuerda que nadie atraviesa del todo en soledad: cuando tus piernas dudan, alguien más camina al lado. Se atraviesa completo, entero como persona: con la emoción que llora, la razón que ordena, la intuición que a veces sabe antes que tú, y la voluntad que da un paso más. No con fuerza implacable, sino con presencia completa. Desde ahí construimos pequeños prototipos del futuro: un gesto, un límite amoroso, un “mañana lo resolveré”.
Valorar lo que sostiene
La axiología apreciativa elige apreciar lo que da vida en cualquier contexto, porque cree que todo lo que nos pasa es oportunidad para aprender. Aquí vive el principio anticipatorio: nos movemos hacia la imagen que sostenemos del futuro. Imaginar quién quieres ser del otro lado no es negar el presente; es sembrar dirección en medio de la niebla.
Nombrar de nuevo
El lenguaje apreciativo afirma que las palabras crean el mundo en que vivimos y el que queremos. Por eso escucha lo negativo para reformularlo: “esto que me rompe también me muestra lo que me importa”. Y busca un lenguaje comprometido, del impersonal “hay que ser fuerte” al “yo voy a cuidarme mientras avanzo”. Ese matiz, tan pequeño, sostiene noches enteras.
Cinco componentes que no van uno tras otro, sino que se entretejen cada vez que decidimos cruzar. Y conviene decirlo con ternura: en algún punto de la travesía te sentirás en tierra de nadie, donde lo anterior ya no está y lo nuevo todavía no se entiende. Esa mitad revuelta no es señal de que algo ande mal en ti; es la zona fértil, el semillero donde bajo el camino, se gesta lo que viene. Y a esa mitad no se le puede meter prisa, el nuevo comienzo no se fuerza; brota cuando por dentro estás listo, a tu ritmo y no al del reloj de nadie.
Pienso en quien perdió su empleo a los cincuenta y, en vez de repetir “ya no sirvo”, se atrevió a preguntar de qué estaba hecho; o pienso en alguien que perdió a un ser querido y, en vez de intentar “superarlo”, se atrevió a atravesar el duelo sin edulcorante ni atajos. No cambió la tormenta, cambió la forma de atravesarla.
En este viaje, no somos héroes sin cicatrices. Nos volvemos personas más compasivas, más atentas a lo que da vida, capaces de nombrar lo bueno, aunque la vida siga siendo un misterio que no controlamos. Descubrimos que la fortaleza no era ausencia de miedo, sino compañía para el miedo. Hoy no tienes que ser valiente ni implacable, ni cruzar de un salto. Solo da un paso, y luego otro, mirando lo que aún florece en ti; sosteniéndote en un para qué que te importe. Eso, también, es atravesar. Y del otro lado, te lo prometo, hay una versión tuya esperando ser habitada.
Varona, F. (2025) Paradigma apreciativo: De la metodología al paradigma. Un nuevo paradigma para el cambio personal y social y las ciencias sociales. Amazon. Disponible en formato impreso y Kindle, en español, inglés y portugués.
Keith Storace is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) and an associate fellow with the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). He manages a private practice at Kiku Imagination where he applies the Appreciative Dialogue (ApDi) therapy program to assist individuals move toward, strengthen and enjoy what is meaningful while dealing with the challenges they encounter along the way. Keith has been the editor of the Nourish to Flourish column for AI Practitioner since 2016.
Oona D’mello has become a familiar and valued contributor to Voices from the Field, and it is a pleasure to welcome her back once again. Since first meeting Oona at the 2019 World Appreciative Inquiry Conference in Nice, I have admired her thoughtful ability to bridge Appreciative Inquiry with broader conversations about human flourishing. In this article, Oona invites us to consider language not simply as a way of describing our experience, but as the very terrain on which our experience is shaped. Her reflections offer a compelling exploration of the words we live inside, the questions we ask, and the possibilities they create for ourselves and the systems of which we are a part.
Oona D’mello | India
Oona D’mello is an entrepreneur and educator whose work sits at the intersection of sustainability, e-learning, and human development. Co-founder and past CEO of MySustainOnline, her work has been showcased at the G20 Equity Lounge and published in AI Practitioner, Springer, and Vogue. She is certified in executive coaching and as an Appreciative Inquiry practitioner.
The Words We Live Inside
Language is not a vehicle for fulfillment. It must be recognized as the terrain.
Where Appreciative Inquiry meets human flourishing – and why the words we live inside determine the life we can imagine.
We tend to think of language as the medium through which we express what we already feel, already know, and already are. We experience an emotion – joy, a sense of purpose, perhaps, or belonging – and then we find words for it. Language, in this view, is a carrier, a delivery system for what we already know. Let’s challenge this sequence, shall we?
What if the words arrive first? Would they hold the potential to shape perception before feeling even has a chance to form?
This is not a philosophical provocation. It is what we know about how human beings work. Before we act, we narrate to others and to ourselves. The internal language we carry about our sense of self, capacity, and worth becomes the emotional reality we inhabit. The terrain of a fulfilled life is built, in no small part, from the words we live inside.
Inquiry is a generative act
David Cooperrider’s work in Appreciative Inquiry reframed the field of organizational change and the way individuals navigate it. The questions organizations asked about themselves determined what they found – and what they found determined what became possible.
Ask “what’s broken?” and you discover a deficit. Ask “what’s alive and working?” and you discover energy, possibility, the latent strengths that have been there all along, often waiting for the right question to bring them into view.
This is a foundational insight of Appreciative Inquiry: inquiry is not neutral; it is generative. Asking “what’s alive and working?” goes beyond discovery towards creating a new reality.
Let me share some further context: one of the most ancient schools in Hinduism is the Bhakti tradition, where Kabir Das, a fifteenth-century mystic, speaks of shabd – word, in English. Kabir was a weaver and poet who lived in Banaras and wrote in plain, everyday language so that ordinary people could understand him. For him, shabd was not simply something we speak. It was the living word that shapes who we become – the word comes first; what we say, to others and to ourselves, quietly builds the reality we then live in.
This is the same truth The Fulfillment Institute works with, arriving from a much older place. The Fulfillment Institute (TFI) was founded on the principle of purna (Sanskrit for wholeness). The continuous reach for wholeness or fulfillment has been designed into the Four Dimensions of Fulfillment model, which in turn has become the model through which we cultivate fulfilment across ecosystems. This lens helps us build an internal capacity for fulfilment, holding self at the core while exploring harmony in relation to: self in self, self in relationships, self in work, and self in nature.
The words we carry about ourselves, our worth, and our work become the ground beneath a life. When we change the words, we change what becomes possible. This is why the reach toward purna – wholeness – begins with the stories we tell ourselves. To choose our words with care is not a small thing. It is, in the end, how we author a self.
When a person in their relationship with themselves or in a system begins to ask different questions of their own life and ecosystem, something shifts. This shift will not come from the question “why does this keep happening to me?” Rather it lies in “when have I felt most fully alive, what was true in those moments, and what worked for me when I felt like my best self?”
This principle is at the heart of cultivating human fulfillment. This is its meeting point with language, the discovery that language, and specifically the quality of our inquiry, is not incidental to the work of flourishing. It sets the ground for the work and allows us to move beyond solving into creating. How we present ourselves is a feature of the language we use. There is a particular moment that makes this real: the moment we introduce ourselves.
Watch what happens in a room when someone is asked to speak about who they are and what they do. Some people expand – they inhabit their words, they claim their story with quiet authority. Others contract – they qualify, they diminish, they rush past themselves as if their presence requires an explanation.
These are not personality differences. They are acts of language.
The way we introduce ourselves, describe our work, and tell our story are choices. And like all choices, they can be made consciously, from strength, from vision, from a place of genuine self-authorship. To speak ourselves into the room with clarity and care is not performance – it’s the opportunity to set the ground on which we build, heal, nurture, and repair.
Dialogue as a key dimension of fulfillment
The Fulfillment Institute’s Four Dimensions of Fulfillment (self, work, relationships, and nature) are not experienced in isolation. They emerge in conversation. How we engage others. How we listen. How we ask. And most importantly, how we speak to ourselves.
The dimension of self is shaped by the stories we tell about who we are – often, to ourselves. The dimension of relationships is shaped by the quality of our listening, the questions we bring, and the way we show up in dialogue. Even our relationship to nature – to community, to purpose, to the world beyond ourselves – is mediated by the words we use to locate ourselves within it.
Language is not one tool among many in the pursuit of fulfillment. It is the architecture of a fulfilled life.
Lastly, the lenses through which possibility is perceived
Appreciative Inquiry gives us a practice. Human fulfilment gives us the capacity, which, if leveraged, can help us build fulfilling lives. Language gives us the medium in which both can be realized.
The words we choose are the lenses through which possibility is perceived – or closed off.
To ask better questions of ourselves and of each other.
To listen to our internal narration with curiosity rather than compliance.
To step into the act of introduction, description, and dialogue, with the awareness that we are not simply reporting a self – we are, in an essential sense, authoring one.
This is what it means to recognize language not as a vehicle for fulfillment, but as its terrain. Not the path to the destination, but as the ground beneath our feet.
And the ground, it turns out, is far more responsive than we ever thought.
Jill Greenbaum is a chaplain/spiritual caregiver in the Zen Buddhist tradition, certified Appreciative Inquiry facilitator, trainer, graphic facilitator, coach, and end-of-life literacy specialist. Jill co-creates transformative experiences with her clients.
Reading Rise: The Deep Resilience Way by Neena Verma is immersive, thought-provoking, and enlightening. This work shares the author’s extensive research from a vast array of sources, her experiences with loss and grief, real-life stories of personal adversity, and practical exercises. This inclusive approach creates the foundation for describing and working with her framework of Deep Resilience. The book can become a companion on the journey of personal discovery, inviting us to deeply explore our own knowledge and beliefs, and reflect on the ways in which we have weathered grief and trauma in our lives.
The structure of the book creates a broad foundation for understanding how Rise, the model, developed. This work describes and illustrates the elements of a resilient mindset and deep resilience. We learn and have opportunities to engage with the skills of restorative adaptation, imaginal growth, and expansive emergence supported by supple strength. The end-of-chapter REAP (Resilience Embodiment And Practice) exercises invite us to dive more deeply into reflection and practice opportunities.
An alignment with Appreciative Inquiry
What particularly resonated for me was the almost unspoken alignment with Appreciative Inquiry. The model described invites the reader to discover, explore, and activate their own deep resilience. The book delves into our innate or cultivated capacities – our will to face, recover from, and work with life storms, to ultimately adapt to life, to rise above and grow beyond our perceived fears, limits, and doubts.
Our personal will and effort are foundational components of this model. As a chaplain and grief coach working both inside and outside of systems, (at work, in communities, and the world at large), I am sensitive to the impact of systems on individuals. Interestingly, so many of the stories shared pointed to individuals working to impact or transform the systems that affected them. This feels like a fruitful area of further exploration. How does our everyday resilience become deep resilience, and can that become the change needed in systems even without the experience of trauma? Might this model be a framework for systemic change which would be in alignment with Appreciative Inquiry? In this instance, it would be personal everyday experience with resilience that could provide the impetus for organizational change.
Developing thinking: Examples and action maps
As I worked my way through the end-of-chapters REAP and exercises, I wished for examples of answers from some of the people whose stories were shared. A workbook with a compilation of exercises would be a fabulous addition to this book, enabling readers to see their thinking develop over the course of the book. As a graphic facilitator, I would benefit from examples of the personal action templates and action maps suggested in the book. Readers would learn about what to consider and do. Having examples of how some people engaged with the material would both broaden and deepen the book’s impact.
I do wonder about those who feel that they don’t have the capacity or the will, the tools or the support of others, to do this work. Perhaps there is a workbook that precedes this book to help people cultivate an Appreciative Inquiry view of themselves and begin to develop a resilient mindset.
Slowing the pace, lingering over ideas
I did a lot of thinking while reading this book – I was actively engaged in checking in with my previous learning, experiences as a chaplain and grief coach, and beliefs. Reading this book was no academic exercise. It is like walking the Camino trail: a time for slowing one’s pace, lingering over ideas, imagining into the future, choosing the ways to move forward.
This is a book for those primed to take a thoughtful journey. If you are ready for personal exploration and reflection, assessing, planning for, and integrating new processes into your life, this book will support you in recognizing your innate capabilities and cultivating new skills to work with the challenges that life presents.
Nourish to Flourish brings together practitioners’ voices and creative practices, and appreciative reviews of resources that support strengths-based approaches to human interactions.
Keith Storace is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) and an associate fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). He works in private practice at kikuIMAGINATION®, providing counselling and psychotherapy for individuals, couples, and groups, consulting on leadership and wellbeing, and facilitating workshops. His work includes Appreciative Dialogue (ApDi) therapy, which helps people find meaning as they navigate challenges. Keith has been the editor of the Voices from the Field column in AI Practitioner since 2016
Federico Varona | USA Section editor, A Practitioner’s Journey/RIPAPA
Federico Varona, born in Spain, has lived and taught in Central America and the USA for 35 years. He is a professor emeritus at San José State University, California. He has taught the Appreciative Research course at San José State University for over ten years. Now he writes about, publishes, and delivers international webinars on the Appreciative Paradigm.
When we read Jorge Sciupac’s article “Connection in Action” through the theoretical and organic lens of the Appreciative Paradigm, six essential components clearly emerge: how he sees himself (Appreciative Ontology of the human being); how he understands the social world (Appreciative Ontology of the social world); which questions guide him (epistemology), which methodologies enable his transformation (methodology); which values sustain his practice (axiology); and which language drives change (language). This reading reveals the deep connections that exist between who we are and how we act as practitioners of Appreciative Inquiry/Intervention.
Connection in Action: Strategic Co-Creativity to grow our professional practices
Years ago, my mentor posed a very simple yet profoundly challenging question, one that changed my career forever:
Why is your work important to you or to the world?
I didn’t know how to respond. Ideas swirled in my mind, but none seemed clear or meaningful.
It was the first step in my strategic history, a path marked by “bridges of tension” between what I wanted and what the world needed. I went from artist to architect, from building designer to urban planner, from Latin America to the world, from consultant to strategic co-creator.
What have I learned in my last two decades? To connect through strategic co-creativity!
Strategy is not an abstract concept or a lengthy document, but a compass for decisions. Sometimes, in our daily lives, we focus so much on tasks that we forget our WHY: the human connection. That energy that drives us to go further. As Federico Varona has written, the Appreciative Paradigm is about “discovering what gives life … to build a better world”. When we are disconnected we forget our need for humans to relate.
Why do we get disconnected?
Although connection is a fundamental human need and a powerful motivator, I have discovered five common, sometimes almost invisible, barriers that make us feel disconnected:
We get overwhelmed Information overload or complicated tasks.
We don’t “understand” Lack of clarity regarding strategy or our role.
We are afraid Fear of failures, changes, or job security.
We miss the whole picture Our work doesn’t fit into the overall strategy.
We feel like we don’t own “it” Confusion about our responsibility or control over the outcomes.
Studies reveal that between 60% and 90% of strategies fail not due to a lack of quality, but because people don’t feel committed to them. It’s a statistic that has followed me since my early years as a consultant.
I learned that the best strategies aren’t necessarily the smartest. They’re the ones that have connections and are co-created. When someone helps create something, they automatically become its advocate, not its critic.
Four roots of strategic connections
Imagine your strategy as a metaphorical tree with “four roots” – roots that anchor our energy, nourish us with life, and propel us to give our best. It is like the Appreciative Inquiry Paradigm: a holistic way of living in the world.
We are part of something bigger
How to apply it Connect any work to a higher purpose. “Every sale is a family gaining access to food, health and education.”
2. We belong authentically
What I learned In my early years as a consultant, I made a classic mistake: imposing “proven” methodologies without considering each organization’s unique context. Today, I begin by asking: “What has worked for you before?”
3. We have an adventure
Example By reframing a “growth imperative” as an “adventure to democratize access to technology in underserved markets”, one team’s motivation skyrocketed.
4. We contribute with impact
Recommendation I urge leaders to regularly visit the “front lines” – the place where their work translates into real value for others.
Three ways to co-create strategically
Visualization for connecting
I traded dense reports for hand-drawn maps, a technique I brought with me from my time as an architect. There’s something powerful about the visual and the handcrafted that awakens a different part of the brain.
2. Dialogue, not a monologue
My favorite questions in any strategic presentation: “What part of this strategy excites you and what worries you?” This simple double question transforms a one-way presentation into a two-way conversation where everyone has a voice.
3. Daily practice after the workshop
For a client seeking a digital transformation, we replaced a two-day workshop with twelve monthly role-playing sessions where everyone experimented and could “fail” in a safe environment. We simulated scenarios, practiced new tools, and allowed ourselves to make mistakes (practice) without real consequences. Confidence increased by 70%.
Further connection in action = more bridges of tension
My path has been a series of bridges between opposites: art and pragmatism, theory and action, individual and community. All co-creation involves tension. Tension is not the enemy of progress, it’s the fuel; it’s the exact place where growth happens.
“A strategy is not a written document, it is the story that people choose to live together.”
Jorge Sciupac | RIPAPA Author
With a worldwide background in business, psychology, architecture, and environment design, Jorge has successfully led and implemented strategies for teams, departments, regional offices, and organizations around the world.
Cuando leemos el artículo “Conexión en Acción” de Jorge Sciupac desde el marco teórico y orgánico del Paradigma Apreciativo, emergen con claridad seis componentes esenciales: cómo se ve a sí mismo (Ontología del ser humano), cómo entiende lo social (Ontología del mundo social), qué preguntas lo guían (epistemología), qué metodologías lo transforman (metodología), qué valores lo sostienen (axiología) y qué lenguaje impulsa el cambio (lenguaje). Una lectura que revela las conexiones profundas que existen entre lo que somos y cómo actuamos como practicantes de la Intervención/Indagación Apreciativa.
Conexión en Acción: Co-creatividad estratégica para crecer nuestras prácticas profesionales
Hace años, mi mentor planteó una pregunta muy simple pero profundamente desafiante, una que cambió mi carrera para siempre:
¿Por qué tu trabajo es importante para ti o para el mundo?
No sabía cómo responder. Ideas me daban vueltas en la cabeza, pero ninguna parecía clara.
Fue el primer paso en mi trayectoria estratégica, un camino marcado por puentes de tensión entre lo que yo quería y lo que el mundo necesitaba. Pasé de artista a arquitecto, de diseñador de edificios a urbanista, de Latinoamérica al mundo, de consultor a cocreador estratégico.
¿Qué he aprendido en mis últimas dos décadas? ¡Utilizar la co-creatividad estratégica!
Una estrategia no es un concepto abstracto ni un documento extenso, sino una brújula para la toma de decisiones. A veces, en nuestra vida diaria, nos focalizamos en tareas y olvidamos nuestro POR QUÉ: La conexión humana. Esa energía que nos impulsa. Como dijo Federico Varona, el Paradigma Apreciativo es “descubrir lo que da vida… para construir un mundo mejor.” Cuando nos desconectamos, olvidamos nuestra necesidad humana de relacionarnos.
¿Por qué nos desconectamos?
Aunque la conexión es una necesidad humana fundamental y un poderoso motivador, He descubierto cinco factores, a veces casi invisibles, que nos hace sentir desconectados:
Nos sentimos abrumados La sobrecarga de información o las tareas complicadas lo hacen difícil.
No “entendemos” Falta de claridad respecto a la estrategia o nuestro rol.
Tenemos miedo Miedo al fracaso, al cambio o a la seguridad laboral.
Nos perdemos el panorama completo Nuestro trabajo no encaja en la estrategia global.
Sentimos que no nos pertenece Confusión
sobre nuestra responsabilidad o control sobre los resultados.
Los estudios revelan que entre el 60% y el 90% de las estrategias fracasan, no por falta de calidad, sino porque las personas no se sienten comprometidas con ellas. Es una estadística que me ha seguido desde mis inicios como consultor. Aprendí que las mejores estrategias no son necesariamente las más inteligentes. Son las que tienen conexiones y se crean en conjunto. Cuando alguien ayuda a crear algo, automáticamente se convierte en su defensor, no en su crítico.
Cuatro raíces de conexiones estratégicas
Imagina tu estrategia como un árbol metafórico con “cuatro raíces”: raíces que anclan nuestra energía, nos nutren de vida y nos impulsan a dar lo mejor de nosotros. Es como el Paradigma de la Indagación Apreciativa: una forma holística de vivir en el mundo.
Somos parte de algo más grande
Cómo aplicarlo Conectar cualquier trabajo con un propósito superior. “Cada venta es una familia que obtiene acceso a alimento, salud y educación.”
2. Pertenecemos auténticamente
Lo que aprendí En mis primeros años como consultor, cometí el clásico error de imponer metodologías probadas sin considerar el contexto único de cada organización. Hoy, empiezo a preguntarme: “¿Qué les ha funcionado antes?”.
3. Tenemos una aventura
Ejemplo Al reformular un “imperativo de crecimiento” como una “aventura para democratizar el acceso a la tecnología en mercados desatendidos”, la motivación del equipo se disparó.
4. Contribuimos con impacto
Recomendación Sugiero a los líderes que visiten periódicamente las “líneas del frente,” el lugar donde su trabajo se traduce en valor real para los demás.
Tres maneras de co-crear estratégicamente
Visualización para conectar
Cambié los informes densos por mapas dibujados a mano, una técnica que traje de mi época de arquitecto. Hay algo poderoso en lo visual y lo artesanal que despierta una parte diferente del cerebro.
2. Diálogo, no monólogo
Mi pregunta favorita en cualquier presentación estratégica: “¿Qué parte de esta estrategia te entusiasma y qué te preocupa?”. Esta simple pregunta doble transforma una presentación unidireccional en una conversación bidireccional donde todos tienen voz.
3. Práctica diaria después del taller
Para un cliente que buscaba una transformación digital, reemplazamos un taller de dos días con 12 sesiones mensuales de juego de roles donde todos experimentaban y podían “fallar” en un entorno seguro. Simulamos escenarios, practicamos con nuevas herramientas y nos permitimos cometer errores (practicar) sin consecuencias reales. La confianza creció un 70 %.
Más Conexión en acción = Más puentes de tensión
Mi camino ha sido una serie de puentes entre opuestos: arte y pragmatismo, teoría y acción, individuo y comunidad. Toda co-creación implica tensión. La tensión no es enemiga del progreso; es su combustible, es el lugar preciso donde se produce el crecimiento.
“Una estrategia no es un documento escrito, es la historia que las personas
eligen vivir juntas”.
Nick Heap | United Kingdom Section editor
Dr Nick Heap was a scientist, then an OD consultant with ICI (Imperial Chemicals Industries). Nick has been using Appreciative Inquiry since 2004 and is the editor of the ‘Practices That Deepen Appreciative Inquiry’ column for AI Practitioner.
The Ripple Effect of Taking Good Care of Me…
I gravitate towards challenges and uncomfortable topics. They intrigue and inspire me to step into my best self. At times, they are messy. Perhaps I should say that I face challenges in working with myself – because it really is about me and how I respond to what shows up in front of me.
Throughout my life – whether as a teacher and principal in special education settings, as a director of two anti-sexual violence programs, as a DEI trainer, graphic facilitator and Appreciative Inquiry coach, or as a contemplative chaplain and grief coach focused on dying, death, grief, and loss – I have turned to the healing arts to support my personal and professional life. Breathwork, meditation, visual storytelling, Zentangle, and, most recently, the creation of ephemeral earth art are my primary sources of self-care.
Creating evanescent earth art is a practice that fosters a deep connection with nature, grounding me in the present moment. By mindfully arranging natural elements into intricate designs, I engage in a practice that nurtures reflection, meaning-making, and a sense of interconnectedness with the universe, supporting emotional and spiritual growth. This process encourages me to listen to myself, formulate questions or intentions, and process what is in my mind or perhaps on my heart through ritual and creation.
I find that the steps of the Morning Altars practice align with the Appreciative Inquiry model. Take a moment to reflect on what you know and understand about the Appreciative Inquiry model. In essence:
Discover – Appreciating our strengths/foundation without minimizing challenges
Dream – Visualizing the future
Design – Constructing the future
Deliver – Manifesting and sustaining the changes
Now, step with me into the Morning Altars practice: I become immersed in a multisensory experience that supports gentle inquiry into my inner landscape and offers opportunities for insights and expression.
The alchemy of being in nature, using ritual and process and adding my creativity envelops me. The rest of the world falls away for a time. I experience the seven steps of the practice seamlessly:
Wonder and wander – Treasure hunting in nature to collect what has fallen to the ground and inspires me in relation to my query or intention.
Place – Slowing down to arrive in the space, listening to nature.
Clear – Making space at my feet to reveal a blank canvas so that inspiration can flow.
Play – Laying out everything I have foraged, exploring shapes, textures, and colors to develop patterns.
Gift – Dedicating my creation/art to my intention.
Share – Crafting a memory, capturing it in my mind or in a photo to memorialize the experience.
Let go – Walking away, giving up any attachment to the physical manifestation of my work and play.
Over the past year, my subjects of introspection and subsequent altar construction have included: Releasing and Readying, Many Conversations/ Listening for Other Voices/Perspectives, Becoming/Unfolding, Transforming a Gift, Letting Go, and Crossing a Threshold. My altars are created indoors or outdoors, in 15 minutes or 60, using materials ranging from all nature-based (branches, leaves, flowers, berries, shells, bark, ashes, and more) to the inclusion of my artwork and art materials, and from sizes that fit in my palm to others with a four-foot diameter.
An early morning celebration
In the early morning, following my 43rd wedding anniversary, I stepped outside into a beautiful, warm day, grass glistening with dew. My intention was to create an earth sculpture encapsulating the essence of a journey through time. The construction of this simple, radiating form became an opportunity to honor a shared past and present, and imagine a future. A patch in the backyard, and the elements – long leaves and fluffy, feathered seedheads from reeds, petals from store-bought white chrysanthemums, rich, yellow drying petals from a favorite pot of sunflowers, and a giant skunk cabbage leaf to cradle the delicate center of it all—formed a space to invite a deep and heart-opening conversation. A beautiful way to begin another year together.
I believe I have taken to this practice like a fish to water because it aligns with my background in positive psychology, Appreciative Inquiry, and a contemplative spiritual approach. In both the AI model and the Morning Altars practice, I become grounded in my foundation, self-reflective, imaginative, design-oriented, and selective, in service of manifesting a result. While there is no one-to-one correspondence between the lived experiences of these methods, they resonate with me in the same way.
I invite you to immerse yourself in the 7 Steps of the Morning Altar practice, then reflect on your impressions of the experience. How did you feel? What did you think? How would you describe it?
Lastly, make time to explore the similarities and differences between these methods. Regardless of whether we see eye to eye, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Most of all, I hope it is a deep, rich, moving experience that supports your self-care. May the effects of this practice benefit you and those with whom you live and work.
Nick Heap was a scientist and then an OD consultant with ICI. He has been a Samaritan and a Relate Counsellor. He is a self-employed coach, counsellor, facilitator and trainer. He works with individuals, teams and organisations in the charity, private and public sectors. He has used Appreciative Inquiry since 2004.
Federico Varona
ISBN-13 (Kindle) 979-8218680428
Available in Kindle editions in English, Spanish, and Portuguese
Appreciative Paradigm by Federico Varona is a meticulously researched and conceptually rich exploration of a truly transformative way of seeing the world. It is a pioneering synthesis of theory, scholarship and lived passion that invites readers to reconsider not only how they work with Appreciative Inquiry, but how they live.
From the individual to the cosmic perspective
The book first focuses on the individual and then expands into cosmology, the earth, and a more-than-human perspective. This structure mirrors the journey from inner awareness to planetary responsibility, and some of the most moving passages emerge when the author writes about the earth and the bigger picture, where the text feels less like an academic treatise and more like a revealing of his soul. Those sections, especially the reflections on appreciative ontology, are at times genuinely beautiful and inspiring.
He argues persuasively that Appreciative Inquiry is not just a method but a paradigm shift. Instead of focusing on what does not work and reinforcing a sense of powerlessness, this appreciative paradigm turns attention to what gives life and what we could create. It helps people feel more hopeful, resourceful, and empowered. It is a positive shift not only in the social sciences but also in the way human beings can understand themselves, relate to one another, and live in the natural world.
A book to savour
The book’s design supports careful study. It is comprehensive, with clear summaries and cues that help readers navigate complex material. This book is not a quick read. It is like a fine wine to savour slowly. You can dip into it, open a page, and let a single idea or passage work on your thinking for days.
The language and level of abstraction can make the book demanding. The author acknowledges that it can feel “too academic” for some people.
Principal audiences
It is not clear whether the primary audience is scholars, students, practitioners or the author himself working through his own intellectual and personal journey.
Stories illustrating the appreciative paradigm in action with individuals, teams and communities would make the ideas more accessible and memorable.
Overall, Appreciative Paradigm is a groundbreaking and ambitious work that lays a foundational, integrative framework for appreciative theory and practice. It will be most rewarding for readers who are already familiar with Appreciative Inquiry and are willing to co-create this emerging paradigm.
Federico Varona, born in Spain, has lived and taught in Central America and the USA for 35 years. He is a professor emeritus at San José State University, California. He has taught the Appreciative Research course at San José State University for over ten years. Now he writes about, publishes and delivers international webinars on the Appreciative Paradigm.
Karen Pérez Molina | RIPAPA
Karen Pérez Molina holds a master’s degree in education and is a PCC‑level coach (ICF), with 21 years of experience in public policy. She teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and is the creator of Mujer Apreciativa (Appreciative Woman). Her work weaves together positive psychology, appreciative inquiry, neuroscience, and ancestral wisdom..
RIPAPA, the Iberoamerican Network of Academics and Practitioners of the Appreciative Paradigm, is a vibrant, multilingual community committed to expanding the Appreciative Paradigm and advancing the practice of Appreciative Inquiry methodology worldwide. Publishing member-generated articles in AI Practitioner, translated from Spanish, opens a global window into our ideas, innovations, and lived experiences. Through writing, we affirm our identity, share our learning, and contribute to the appreciative future we are co creating.
We open this series with Karen Pérez Molina, whose writing invites us into a deeply lived encounter between ancestral wisdom and the Appreciative Paradigm. Writing from within the Iberoamerican context, Karen brings a voice shaped by lineage, land, and lived practice, returning appreciation to its roots in memory, ritual, and relationship. By beginning the series here, we are invited to slow down, listen across generations, and sense how appreciative practice can be lived as a way of being, carried through lineage, reciprocity, and service.”
Appreciative Ancestrality: An Initiatory Path Between Karpay and the Soul’s Questions
What happens when ancestral wisdom meets a contemporary philosophy that honors what gives life? This question opens an initiatory path that weaves together the Andean cosmovision and the Appreciative Paradigm – lived not only as a conceptual framework, but as an experience embodied in the body, the heart, and the soul.
I write these words as an offering during Inti Raymi, the Festival of the Sun that marks a time of spiritual renewal, to share the testimony of a ten day initiatory retreat through the sacred lands of Peru, where I received the three Karpay of the Q’ero lineage. This journey awakened ancestral memories and revealed how the heart of the Appreciative Paradigm also lives within the Andean worldview. The Karpay are rites of transmission of energy and wisdom that activate the spiritual seed, Inca Muju, and open the path of service. The Q’ero lineage, a Quechua nation considered a living guardian of Inca knowledge, has preserved its ancestral wisdom for centuries in the high Andes until receiving the call to share it with the world.
The initiation began with an offering in the heart temple of Pachamama, near Cusco. I understood then that no spiritual path can be walked without profound respect for nature. The gesture of offering – giving, receiving, and giving thanks— – became the central axis of the process, lived as ayni, the principle of reciprocity that sustains life.
The rite unfolded as a language of the soul, awakening essential questions: What meaning do rituals hold in our daily lives? How does the ordinary become sacred? What memories are waiting to be remembered? The A rainbow accompanied this journey as a symbol of the portal that unites the three Andean worlds: Hanan Pacha, Kay Pacha, and Uku Pacha. For the Q’ero elders, it was a sign of blessing and permission to continue.
The first Karpay took place at Lake Titicaca, considered the second chakra of the world. There, in icy waters more than four thousand meters above sea level, I experienced a profound cleansing. My body trembled, my breath quickened, and my heart beat like a drum of life. The energetic transmission occurred in the temple of Pachamama on Amantaní Island. In that sacred space, I received a vision that now guides my purpose: I saw my soul descend into Uku Pacha, nourish itself in the darkness, transform into a firefly, then into a yellow flower, and finally into a bee returning to its hive. I understood that my purpose is not only to accompany, but to serve from a light that blossoms in community.
The second Karpay took place at Apu Ausangate, the tutelary mountain of the Q’ero people. Amid strong winds and eternal snows, I experienced a silent dialogue with this ancestral energy. There I understood the gentle strength of presence: life sustains us when we trust and surrender to the greater flow that holds us.
The third Karpay was carried out near Apu Pachatusán, guardian of balance. Through a healing with kuyas – living stones collected from sacred places – I received the transmission of kawsay, vital energy, and yachay, wisdom. The final consecration came, blessed by María Apaza, the last living Alto Misayoq. Her luminous presence sealed the process and confirmed my commitment to service.
This initiatory journey awakened dormant ancestral memories and re signified the Appreciative Paradigm through an embodied experience. I understood that the five phases of Appreciative Inquiry can be lived as a rite of the soul: defining the inner call, discovering the ancestral roots, dreaming from the soul, designing with ritual intention, and delivering with collective purpose.
From this experience, I name appreciative ancestrality as this deep process of remembering what is essential. To remember, in its etymological sense, is to pass again through the heart: to recognize, honor, and collaborate with the universal life force, latent across generations, that awakens within us. It is not only an individual memory; it is, but a collective and intergenerational remembering that emerges from living lineages and Indigenous peoples.
Appreciative ancestrality integrates the Appreciative Paradigm with the Andean cosmovision, understanding that everything we seek already lives within us and simply awaits being remembered. To appreciate is a profound ancestral act. I resonate with Miriam Subirana in understanding appreciation as an act of deep consciousness, and with Federico Varona in recognizing appreciative language as an ethical action that gives voice to knowledge historically silenced.
Today I integrate these learnings into my life and into my gatherings with women, through rituals, drum led visualizations, and practices that connect with the three Andean worlds. Offering is a collective act that generates life. From this awareness arises the question that continues to echo: What offering do we become for the world when we honor what gives us life?
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Jenkins, J. E. (2008) Iniciación: La sabiduría viva de los Andes. Barcelona: Editorial Obelisco.
Subirana, M. (2024) Indagación Apreciativa: Un enfoque innovador para la transformación personal y de las organizaciones (7th ed.). Barcelona: Editorial Kairós.
Varona, F. (2025) Appreciative Paradigm. From Methodology to Paradigm: A New Paradigm for Social Change and Social Sciences. Amazon: Paperback and Kindle.
Keith Storace is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) and an associate fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). He works in private practice at kikuIMAGINATION®, providing counselling and psychotherapy for individuals, couples, and groups, consulting on leadership and wellbeing, and facilitating workshops. His work includes Appreciative Dialogue (ApDi) therapy, which helps people find meaning as they navigate challenges. Keith has been the editor of the Voices from the Field column in AI Practitioner since 2016
Nick Heap | United Kingdom
Dr Nick Heap was a scientist, then an OD consultant with ICI (Imperial Chemicals Industries), and has been a volunteer for The Samaritans in the UK as well as a counsellor for Relate. He is a self-employed coach, counsellor, facilitator, and trainer, and helps individuals, teams, and organisations in the charity, private and public sectors to develop. Nick has been using Appreciative Inquiry since 2004.
Over the past decade, I have enjoyed curating Voices from the Field in the Nourish to Flourish section of the AI Practitioner, featuring submissions from practitioners worldwide. Each article tells a story of practice, grounded in the realities of local contexts and lived experience. What stands out most to me is not only the variety of approaches practitioners draw on, but also how much of themselves they bring to their work with others.
Appreciative Inquiry invites us to orient towards life, possibility, and movement, even when contexts are complex or strained. That orientation is carried by those who are present to what is unfolding. When a practitioner is settled enough to listen, stay with uncertainty, and respond rather than react, something different happens in the room. People speak more freely, think more carefully, and begin to notice possibilities that were previously inaccessible.
Nourish to Flourish was created as a dedicated space within AI Practitioner to explore this area of practice. It also offers practitioners a chance to reflect on how they support themselves in demanding roles.
This raises a question I often consider: what helps us sustain the inner conditions that make good collaboration possible – presence, steadiness, and openness – especially over time and under pressure? The answers vary and evolve. What matters is the willingness to remain in relationship with the question itself, to understand how we nourish ourselves to help others flourish.
In this spirit, I am pleased to introduce a new addition to Nourish to Flourish which Nick Heap will lead: a column titled “Practices That Deepen Appreciative Inquiry: Tuning the Human Instrument”. Nick writes about a practice that has strengthened his ability to stay present and responsive in his work. His reflection offers a broader invitation to practitioners to consider the tools, disciplines, and approaches they draw on alongside Appreciative Inquiry, and how these support readiness, presence, and care in practice.
Practices That Deepen Appreciative Inquiry: Tuning the Human Instrument
The best work I’ve ever done has been when I’ve been, as Otto Scharmer would say, in a good interior condition. Then I’ve been aware and present, able to adjust to the situation, respond to what’s in the room, and make things up as I go along.
I’m thinking about some team-building work I did in Rwanda in 2009. I had people from six African countries in the group, along with an American, two Dutch participants, and another Brit. I went into it with a few scrappy notes and a simple idea. I sat people in a circle and asked them why they cared about the organisation’s work.
Creating the conditions
That initial setting created the conditions for conversations that led to a growth-full, high-energy event using Appreciative Inquiry and other tools, including “laughter yoga”. It was great fun for everyone involved, so much so that I use a smiling photograph from the end of that workshop as my LinkedIn banner.
The question is, how did I reach that state of being able to be present, of not being stirred up by the complexities of different cultures, but simply responding to people as human beings?
It didn’t happen by accident. For many years, I’ve used a peer counselling process, known by various names, such as re-evaluation counselling or co-counselling. You take turns listening deeply to each other. One person listens with full attention, offering encouragement, warmth, and love, in complete confidentiality. Nothing is repeated to the other person, let alone shared outside the pair.
The person being listened to can explore anything. They can fully express the feelings they have about whatever they’re talking about.
Every time you talk with someone who is truly present and listening, you think and feel better. Perhaps more importantly, you increase your ability to give attention to others in the moment because you’ve dealt with your own stuff. You reach a point where, if someone says or does something that stirs an old memory, you don’t need to deal with it in the moment. You note it mentally and return to it later, knowing you have trusted relationships where you can explore it safely.
Appreciative Inquiry brings life, light, and hope into a world that can appear dark and hopeless
I am looking for stories and ideas for this new column about practices that deepen the way engage with Appreciative Inquiry, stories about how we have, or can, strengthen our appreciative practice by:
Being in the right state to be present, loving, flexible, challenging, and creative to deliver our best work, and
Using other practices, disciplines, activities, processes, and ways of thinking to help clients accept and use Appreciative Inquiry.
I don’t think we can help people flourish unless we flourish ourselves.
So, I’m wondering how readers help themselves do their best work. What methods do you use to look after yourself and continue developing?
To contribute your story to my new column, ‘Practices That Deepen Appreciative Inquiry: Tuning the Human Instrument’, get in touch. I’d love to hear from you. Perhaps you’re using other tools, practices, or disciplines alongside Appreciative Inquiry – whether to support your own readiness or to strengthen your work with others.
A short reflection, a story from practice, or even a few paragraphs is enough to get started.
When we work with people, we are human instruments, and all we have is all of us. How do you make sure your instrument is in tune? We love hearing how people have enriched their practice. What else might be possible?
Keith Storace is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) and an associate fellow with the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). He manages a private practice at Kiku Imagination where he applies the Appreciative Dialogue (ApDi) therapy program to assist individuals move toward, strengthen and enjoy what is meaningful while dealing with the challenges they encounter along the way. Keith has been the editor of the Voices from the Field column for AI Practitioner since 2016.
Following the publication of my article Appreciative Inquiry and the Young Philosophers: Cultivating Hope and Agency in a Complex World (AI Practitioner, September 2025), many readers reached out asking for more practical guidance on how to apply the ten principles in conversations with young people. In that initial article, I described young people — who are our thought leaders of tomorrow — as “young philosophers,” because their questions, reflections, and evolving perspectives can shape the future as powerfully as their actions. This follow-up piece is a direct response to those requests. It explores how parents, mentors, coaches, educators, and counsellors can translate these principles into reflective practices that help young people deepen their self-understanding, strengthen their sense of agency, and actively participate in shaping their own unfolding stories.
The Young Philosophers, Part II: Applying the Ten Principles of Appreciative Inquiry as a Pathway to Growth
Adolescence is a time of deep transformation. It’s when questions of identity, belonging, purpose, and agency surface. Many young people, however, are expected to have answers before they have had the time or space to explore these questions for themselves. In a world that values speed, reaction, and surface engagement, taking time to reflect can feel countercultural – but it is exactly this slowing down that enables deeper insight and growth.
Reflection is more than just introspection; it is an active, constructive process. It creates coherence in the stories young people tell about themselves. It uncovers strengths that might otherwise go unnoticed. It sheds light on choices in situations that seem limited. Most importantly, it shifts the sense of meaning from something to be found “out there” to something that can be created from within.
The ten principles below have been adapted from the original framework of Appreciative Inquiry, first developed by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva (1987) and further elaborated by Jeanie Cockell and Joan McArthur-Blair (2012), and Lea Waters and Mathew White (2015) to support reflective practice in therapeutic, educational, and developmental contexts.
1. Constructionist principle: Language shapes experience
The stories we tell ourselves become the reality we live in. Language doesn’t just describe our experience – it actively shapes it. For young philosophers, learning to listen to their internal dialogue and reshape it is a key act of agency. Changing the words they use can alter how they interpret challenges, how they see themselves, and how they approach growth.
Reflective process:
Notice the phrases you use when talking about yourself, especially during tough times.
Try using language that views your situation as evolving rather than fixed.
Reflect on how one change in words can shift how you feel and what you believe is possible.
Example: If a young philosopher notices they often say, “I’m failing”, they can reframe this to “I’m learning”. This isn’t about sugarcoating reality – it’s about recognising that language influences belief. As words move from self-blame to a growth mindset, internal stories become more positive, creating space for persistence and creativity.
2. Simultaneity principle: Curiosity itself is an action
Change does not wait for the future – it starts the moment a new question is asked. In Appreciative Inquiry, inquiry itself is a generative force. For young philosophers, learning to ask different questions is a way to redirect focus, shift perspective, and unlock movement where there once was stagnation.
Reflective process:
Become aware of the types of questions you ask when things feel tough.
Replace questions that shut down thinking (“Why can’t I…?”) with ones that open it up (“What might help here?”).
Notice how your mood, behaviour, and outlook change as soon as curiosity enters the situation.
Example: In a moment of frustration, a young philosopher might ask, “Why is this going wrong?”. If they instead ask, “What matters most in this situation?” the question itself begins to reorient their focus towards priorities and strengths. The very act of inquiry becomes the first step towards meaningful change.
3. Anticipatory principle: The future takes shape in the images we hold of it
The future doesn’t just happen – it is rehearsed in the present through imagination. The stories young philosophers tell about what lies ahead directly shape their choices today. When they become conscious of these imagined futures, they gain the power to choose and cultivate the ones they want to grow into.
Reflective process:
Bring awareness to the future scenarios running silently in your mind.
Notice how any negative rehearsals (like anticipating failure) shape current behaviour.
Practise rehearsing qualities like courage or kindness and observe how they influence the choices being made right now.
Example: If a young philosopher repeatedly imagines themselves failing at a new task, their body may respond with anxiety and avoidance. But if they imagine themselves navigating challenges with determination and calm, they start to behave in ways that make that outcome more likely. The future they visualise becomes a self-fulfilling map for the present.
4. Poetic principle: What we choose to notice becomes the story we live
Our experiences are vast, yet we only live within the parts we choose to notice. This principle teaches young philosophers that where they place their attention determines the narrative they build around themselves. Expanding their field of attention helps them construct richer, more balanced stories of who they are and how they are growing.
Reflective process:
Notice what moments you highlight when reflecting on your day.
Explore how including different details – not just the hard ones – changes the story.
Reflect on how your chosen focus shapes your thinking and understanding.
Example: A young philosopher might initially describe their day as “a disaster” because they stumbled during a presentation. But when they also notice the encouragement they received and the progress they made, the narrative becomes more nuanced. They see not just a mistake but also resilience, support, and growth – all of which are equally true and more empowering.
5. Positive principle: Recognise what strengthens rather than what drains
Human beings, like plants, tend to grow towards what gives them life. Paying attention to sources of strength and vitality is not about ignoring problems – it’s about building the energy needed to address them. For young philosophers, cultivating an awareness of what sustains them lays the groundwork for resilience and agency.
Reflective process:
Identify the moments in your day when you felt most engaged, alive, or connected.
Explore what conditions made those moments possible.
Consider how to create more of those conditions in your daily life.
Example: A young philosopher might recall that they felt most energised while mentoring a peer. Recognising this as a strength – the ability to connect and support – helps them see new ways to contribute meaningfully. These strengths-based insights become stepping stones for purposeful action.
6. Wholeness principle: How we value every part of ourselves and see how it belongs to the whole
Wholeness is the practice of welcoming all aspects of the self – including the parts we would rather ignore or hide. Growth occurs when young philosophers learn that vulnerability, uncertainty, and doubt are not weaknesses to suppress but parts of a complete, authentic identity.
Reflective process:
Identify parts of yourself you often silence or ignore.
Reflect on how these parts might have wisdom or value.
Practise integrating them into your self-understanding rather than pushing them away.
Example: A young philosopher might resent their cautious side, believing it holds them back. But when they recognise that caution also helps them make thoughtful decisions, they begin to see it as a strength. This integration reduces internal conflict and builds a more coherent, compassionate sense of self.
7. Enactment principle: How we live our values now is already a step towards the future we want
“Becoming” is not a distant event – it is something we practise now. Every action taken today that reflects the values of the future self helps bring that version of the self into being. For young philosophers, this means they don’t have to wait to “become” – they can begin right now.
Reflective process:
Identify a quality or role you aspire to embody in the future.
Choose a small action today that reflects that aspiration.
Reflect on how these actions influence how you see yourself.
Example: A young philosopher who wants to lead with kindness might make a conscious effort to listen deeply to a friend today. This act is not a rehearsal – it is leadership in action. By living a small part of the future now, they begin to embody the person they wish to become.
8. Narrative principle: See that the stories we tell can open or close possibilities
The stories we tell about ourselves shape what we believe we’re capable of. They can quietly set boundaries or open up new directions, influencing the choices we make and the risks we’re willing to take. When young philosophers learn to question and rewrite those stories, they realise that identity isn’t fixed – it’s something they can shape and reshape as they grow.
Reflective process:
Identify the recurring stories you tell about who you are.
Ask yourself if those stories are complete or if new perspectives could be added.
Experiment with telling a story that emphasises growth, effort, and change.
Example: A young philosopher who often says, “I’m not the type to speak up”, can challenge this story by recognising times they did express their views. By rewriting their narrative as, “I’m learning to share my voice more often”, they expand their identity and the range of choices available to them.
9. Free Choice principle: Notice where choice is still possible, even in small ways
When life feels beyond our control, there are still decisions we can make – about how we respond and where we direct our energy. Recognising these small but meaningful choices reminds young philosophers that, while they may not shape the situation itself, they can shape their experience within it.
Reflective process:
Identify areas, however small, where there is still a choice.
Make intentional decisions in those areas.
Reflect on how those decisions change the experience of the situation.
Example: A young philosopher might not be able to change a difficult assignment, but they can choose how they approach it – with resentment or with curiosity. That choice alone can shift their energy, engagement, and the meaning they attach to the experience.
10. Awareness principle: Acknowledge the full range of what we feel without turning away
Awareness invites young philosophers to approach their inner world with openness and curiosity. Instead of avoiding uncomfortable feelings, they learn to see them as signals – messages about what matters most. Emotional literacy deepens their capacity for empathy and resilience.
Reflective process:
Pause and notice emotional responses without judgement.
Ask what each feeling might be trying to communicate.
Practise holding multiple emotions together without rushing to resolve them.
Example: A young philosopher might feel both sadness and excitement before moving to a new school. Instead of trying to push one feeling away, they can acknowledge that sadness honours what they’re leaving behind, while excitement celebrates what’s ahead. Holding both allows for a richer, more integrated experience.
Living the principles
These ten principles form more than a reflective framework: they are a way of being. They teach young people that language shapes identity, that questions create change, that the future is already unfolding, and that their stories are theirs to rewrite. They remind them that every part of themselves belongs, that choice is always possible, and that emotions carry wisdom rather than weakness.
When we guide young philosophers through these pathways, we help them move beyond passive reflection into active authorship of their lives. In doing so, we give them more than tools for coping – we nurture their capacity for meaning, agency, and connection in a complex and changing world.
Review by Tojo Thatchenkery 
Federico Varona | USA
Betsy Martínez Montero 
Jorge Sciupac | RIPAPA Author
Nick Heap was a scientist and then an OD consultant with ICI. He has been a Samaritan and a Relate Counsellor. He is a self-employed coach, counsellor, facilitator and trainer. He works with individuals, teams and organisations in the charity, private and public sectors. He has used Appreciative Inquiry since 2004.
Appreciative Paradigm by Federico Varona is a meticulously researched and conceptually rich exploration of a truly transformative way of seeing the world. It is a pioneering synthesis of theory, scholarship and lived passion that invites readers to reconsider not only how they work with Appreciative Inquiry, but how they live.
Principal audiences
Karen Pérez Molina | RIPAPA 
Keith Storace | Australia
The ten principles below have been adapted from the original framework of Appreciative Inquiry, first developed by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva (1987) and further elaborated by Jeanie Cockell and Joan McArthur-Blair (2012), and Lea Waters and Mathew White (2015) to support reflective practice in therapeutic, educational, and developmental contexts.