Course curriculum

  1. Important Course Information and Links

  2. Chapter 1: Welcome to the Ghost Light Theater!

  3. Chapter 2: Setting the Stage: The Fluidity of Development

  4. Chapter 3: Coming to Know the Theater of Self

  5. Chapter 4: Origin Story

  6. Chapter 5: Recognizing Triggers

About this course

  • Free
  • 55 lessons
  • 3.5 hours of video content

Using a combination of videos, readings, podcasts, songs, reflective prompts and practices, you will

  • Engage in an iterative practice of leaving the Ghost Light Burning to illuminate the fullness of you, acquiring a deeper understanding and appreciation of your own complexity

  • Identify and come to know the characters that make up the multiplicity of self, gaining insights into your own cast of characters

  • Broaden self-awareness by noticing what parts of you shows up to which scenes of your life and why

  • Offer characters a voice and identify alternatives to the way they have historically shown up

  • Cultivate more grace and compassion for self and others

What's Included

  • Set Design

    Curated, multimodal resources for accessing your inner knowing and understanding it in the context of broader theory

  • Solo | Dialogue

    Illumination through self-reflection and opportunity to engage with other learners through discussion boards & self-formed learning pods

  • Direction

    Live office hours w/Valerie Livesay every 4-6 weeks

The Audience

All humans with a strong awareness of self who feel at the limits of their capacities for coming to the scenes of their lives in a way that aligns with their intentions and are ready to deepen their exploration and capacity for transformation

  • Professionals who have an interest in adult development and suspect that the journey of transformation entails an integration of those places we’ve been with those that lie ahead

  • Coaches seeking to learn more about how to support their clients in expanding into their fullness, who also recognize the need to undertake the journey themselves, first

  • Leadership and organizational development facilitators and consultants who want to understand the meaning-making complexity at play within and between the individuals they support

The Practice

Throughout this multi-modal, curated, asynchronous offering, you will be introduced to tools and guided through exercises by leading adult development and fallback thinker, Valerie Livesay, accompanied by other leading practitioners in the adult development and leadership development space.

  • Gain a theoretical understanding of fallback and its implications for adult development

  • Integrate experiential knowing and self-awareness, putting theory into action

  • Master the steps of coming into relationship with your fallback: Noticing, Reflecting, Identifying Triggers, Recovering, and Growing

  • Identify the scenes in which some of the most complex and most compressed characters in one’s ensemble of self take the stage in leadership and in life

  • Understand the motivations, behaviors, fears, and values of self

  • Discover the necessity and gifts of all of the characters in one’s ensemble

  • Cultivate new characters and welcome back those that have been banished

  • Expand one’s repertoire of behaviors, responses, and options

The Gifts

  • Safe and playful container for self-reflection and exploration to identify the various characters that exist within you.

  • Cultivation of the ability to notice and pay attention to your inner cast of characters, sharpening your awareness of your thoughts, emotions, and reactions, leading to a broader understanding of yourself and your patterns of behavior

  • Capacity to listen to your characters, their fears, and the values that feel threatened, providing each character with a voice

  • Ability to consciously choose how you wish to show up in the scenes of your life to better meet your intentions, thus fostering personal transformation and growth while also enhancing your quality of presence in relationships and in life

  • A mindset of self-and other-compassion and -acceptance, recognizing the inherent messiness of human development and the human experience and its inevitable forays both forward and back

  • International Coaching Federation Continuing Coach Education credits (5 Core Competency & 18 Resource Development credits)

  • Upon completion, invitations to join the community of Ghost Light Alumni at quarterly, live, virtual events as we continue the practice together

Step Into the Ghost Light