Profiles

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Paul Blythe, PhD
Founder and Confidential Sounding-Board

In 1965, Paul Blythe began a 12 years stint to acquire his BA, MA in Educational Psychology and his Ph.D. was in Counselling Psychology with a major in Organizational Analysis. This blend gave him insights on what prevents people from finding fulfillment and success in their lives. Also, he was hungry for ideas to overcome thinking styles, which often bring discouragement and despair.

Paul was most impacted by the way organizations cause their people undue stress. Also, he saw how families and schools teach pessimism. He saw how environmental factors at work and at home could knock someone off course in their quest for potent self-expression in their chosen field. Thus, many seeking counselling are sane people dealing with "crazy-making" circumstances.

Paul began counsellor training, and had a case load, long before he earned his BA! Hired as research assistant in the counselling center, he was also mentored by Canada's leading Career Counselling trainer. He was a "mature student" and not contented with "knowledge for its own sake." Feeding a family while studying, often urged his often tired body and mind to keep learning. Daily he asked, under his breath:"So what?...How is this lecture, idea, technique, etc., going to help my future clients?"

So, these questions became his private quest to find "what works." He taught Educational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, always urging students to adopt a more active learning style, which included their personal agendas. Insights began to form beyond the material he was studying. Later he was to find out that asking "so what?" was the first stage of a creative search for answers.

Those, who don't have such an agenda, are stuck with learning what others want them too.
Science professors often lamented that graduate students learn "the content" but lose their ability to ask creative questions. In career counselling he realized that our work is vehicle for our philosophy of life! Having a sense of purpose in work and life was crucial to success in school and work. Also, contrary to the United States Constitution. "the pursuit of happiness" is impossible. Paul's mentor at a distance, Viktor Frankl would say that we pursue a reason to be happy and happiness is the what happens on the way.

Putting It Into Practice

The Ph.D. finished, Paul and family were on the plane to Australia, where he taught leading edge counselling and group-work skills at the University of South Australia. He was surrounded by Adult Educators, who knew his courses were "on the money." Yet, the next 10 years, as Senior Lecturer, would hone his abilities to deliver. This was also the springboard for international tours blending these ideas with spiritual insights to unite the body/mind/spirit into a welcome inspiration in many lives.

Blending this experience with years of spiritual training, Paul came to learn that psychology had ideas of what to do, but Ancient Spiritual Wisdom (Eastern and Western) could tell us Why!
Actually, high performers in Counselling and Group-work were, sometimes unwittingly, conforming to these Ancient teachings. Sages knew taking personal responsibility for expressing a true and noble attitude was the only way to experience peace and contentment in life.
The Ancient Sages also warn that placing faith in "Lady Luck" and chance was the best way to learn to be helpless in adverse conditions.

As years went by, Paul was increasingly convinced that people's problems almost always involved some conflict stemming from adversarial attitudes, even if it was only the overuse of critical analysis. He could see that society, preoccupied by faultfinding would become less and less respectful.

Seeking Balance

By the mid 1980s, Paul and his wife Libby attended conferences in North America, twice yearly.
This allowed for many stopover working visits to Asia: These eventually numbered 20 to Japan, 18 to Singapore, 5 to Korea, 2 to Hong Kong, 2 to Malaysia. Eager to learn, Paul began blending Eastern insights into counselling and workshop presentations. Also, working with various cultures highlighted a need for greater sensitivity to ways we communicate. What emerged was a group of ideas which were common ground and revealed helpful insights on effective living.

Ancient sages urge us to find balance between: Rest and Action, Work and Play, Firmness and Tenderness etc. Yet, our modern cultures push for endless progress: "More is better!" "Bigger is better!" Many have apparently "no choice" but to carry on for longer and longer working hours, to even keep up with "the competition." But, we must ask: "What do we need?" Many years ago, Professor Marshall McLuhan warned us about allowing the media to teach us to be a passive audience, taking is what scriptwriters dish out. Then we ask if we enjoyed the program and if we didn't we blame the scriptwriter.

Although the Japanese are unaware of this, Paul learned they have a more active, even intentional style. At the entrance to a museum, one friend said: "Paul-san, we are going to enjoy this!"
Also, the Japanese culture teaches that respectability is valuable. It is a way of appreciating friends. It is almost as if the Japanese enter problem-solving groups at work, with the intention to respect. No wonder the Quality Circles of Japanese Kaizen (Total Quality Management) work so well in Japan. Yet, they fail in North America because the intention in groups is to "challenge" and criticize one another's ideas. It seems to risky to entertain ideas with a tentative acceptance, while they develop. Asians can teach us that a search for constant comfort is risky unless you learn from another's discomfort or misfortune. More on that next!

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