In this episode of Tent Talks, Sunni Brown and Liya James share their insights on the creation of a virtual community centered around contemplative practices at the Center for Deep Self Design. They emphasize the impact these practices have had on their lives, enabling them to live more authentically and utilize their full potential. The conversation delves into the method behind Deep Self Design, highlighting its focus on exploring the inner world with benevolence and compassion rather than avoidance. They share personal and professional experiences to illustrate the transformative power of engaging with one's inner world, underscoring the method's effectiveness in fostering personal growth, overcoming internal obstacles, and enhancing relational dynamics.

Deep Self Design Virtual Community:

• Creating a community for people interested in contemplative practices.
• Focus on personal growth, leadership, and becoming better at life and work.
• Transitioning to a virtual community to reach more people.

Deep Self Design Method:

• Emphasizes engaging with the inner world for personal insight and growth.
• Different from other methods by encouraging exploration and benevolence.
• Particularly beneficial for designers and creative professionals facing obstacles.

Challenges Addressed by Deep Self Design:

• Suitable for personal risk-taking, career changes, and overcoming internal obstacles.
• Helps with achieving personal and professional goals through inner exploration.

Personal Benefits from Applying Deep Self Design:

• Provides a pathway to peace, inner stability, and resilience in the face of challenges.
• Has been a transformative and healing process for both Sunni and Liya.

Notable Quotes:

• "Engage with the inner world because there's data in there to help you get to where you need to go."
• "Real courage comes from working with self-talk in a compassionate way."
• "Deep Self Design is well suited for taking the meaning out of it's not just about you."
• "Exploring thoughts and being curious about them can open up a whole world that helps you understand why you behave a certain way."
• "Peace and inner stability... that's the thing we both return to again and again in the face of chaos and adversity."

About Tent Talks

Chicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway--If it's a cool idea, we'd love to hear about it and share it!

What is a Tent Talk? That's a great question, we'd love to tell you.

Tent Talks are short-form in nature, generally lasting from 10-20 minutes (ish) in a recorded format--we like to think of them as "S'mores-sized content" because that's pretty on-brand. Tent Talks can be a presentation on a topic, a live Q&A session about the work we do, or the work around the work we do, or really just about anything--we don't want to limit ourselves, or you.

You should send along an idea or topic of your own so we can learn from you, as well! You don't have to be a published author or a professional speaker on a circuit to be good at your job, so please, put yourself forward, and let's have some fun, talk, and share your experience with others!