Anna Sircova

Recently the topic of choice has been very present in my practice as a psychologist and psychotherapist. Therefore currently I am thinking about making a self-reflection workshop on this topic.

An interesting quote to ponder about: "Life is a sum of all your choices" Pythagoras.

In this workshop I would like us to explore the issue of "choice" itself, what do we associate it with. How does it manifest itself in our daily lives, in our professional and personal lives, in our emotional lives, where is it most present with us?

What are the choices we make or have already made and what happened to us that we did not choose? How do we live those experiences?

Are our attitudes, values, beliefs, a matter of choice?

We might touch upon the topics of existential choice, conscious choice, values, time, comparisons we make, inner consent, sorrow, regret or joy, forgiveness and gratitude, freedom and responsibility.

What does the topic of "choice" represent for you? What do you associate it with? Which adjacent topics you would like to explore in such a workshop?

Let me know if you would like to attend such a workshop and would you prefer to participate online or in person in Copenhagen (April through mid June). If you prefer to have one-on-one conversation about it, do reach out - I have some openings in my schedule.

How do feel the time? When do we feel it is fast? When does it slow down? How do we see time of our own lives? What becomes past, what is present, when does the future begin? How do we navigate it? How not to get stuck in the pastness? How not to get overwhelmed by future? How to stay in the present? Is it healthy? How does the overall circumstances, times of political and / or financial instability impact what becomes the optimal temporal focus? How does our temporal orientation influences our well-being and how to find the balance. These and many other interesting questions I had the opportunity to discuss today at DIS while presenting some of my research results and lived through experiences.
"Life takes place in time and life will appear where I have time. .. "
"What I take time for is where my life happens. " What do you take time for? Where does your life happen?

Authentic Living - workshop 1: Exploring the Basics of Existential Analysis, Sept 4, 2023

Our Authentic Living workshop series are about to start on September 4, 2023. The first workshop will concentrate on introducing the basics of Existential Analysis. We will look into the following:
- The Roots and Development of Existential Analysis
- Viktor Frankl, Psychological Practices at the Time and his significant contributions
- Existential Analysis Today
- Four Fundamental Motivations
- Relationship: Our inner and outer worlds
- Existential concept of motivation
- The First Fundamental Motivation & “I can”

At its core, Existential Analysis revolves around the exploration of four fundamental motivations that drive our existence:

1. Existence in the World: The innate desire to exist as a complete and whole individual within the world, seeking the necessary space, protection, and support.

2. Experience of Life: The pursuit of fulfillment, affection, and appreciation of values in life, raising the question of whether one truly likes their life.

3. Being Oneself: The yearning for personal freedom and authenticity, where one can truly be themselves without inhibition, seeking attention, justice, and appreciation.

4. Existential Meaning: The quest for purpose and meaning in life, pondering one's reason for being and the contribution they make to the world.

If these concepts resonate with you, the "Authentic Living" workshop series offers a unique opportunity to delve into the heart of Existential Analysis. This series of 10 workshops, each lasting 2 hours, provides a comprehensive journey through various themes within EA. The workshops are expertly designed to encourage introspection and self-discovery.

Whether you're eager to embark on a personal journey of growth or seek to enrich your professional development, these workshops offer a transformative experience.

Take a step towards understanding your existence on a deeper level. The Authentic Living workshop series promises to be an illuminating experience that could reshape your perspective on life.

Course Details:

Workshop Series: Authentic Living
Duration: 10 sessions
Meeting Time: Mondays, 18:30 - 20:30 CET, starting September 4, 2023
Location: Online (on zoom)

Cost:
Per Workshop: DKK 500
Full Series (10 Workshops): DKK 4500

Certificate:
Participate in all 10 workshops to receive a certificate from the Canadian Association of Existential Analysis.

Join Now:

If you would like to join the full series, you can secure your spot and embark on this transformative journey here: https://system.easypractice.net/event/authentic-living-workshop-series-558da

Rediscover the essence of your existence and explore the depths of human motivation through the lens of Existential Analysis.

Hope to see you in the workshop or the full course!

Authentic Living workshop series - Basics of Existential Analysis - Terapeut Booking Basics Of Existential Analysis “The essential task of existence is to find this correspondence between our potential for participation (for creativity,...

https://open.substack.com/pub/creativetimestudio/p/invitation-authentic-living-workshop?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Invitation: Authentic Living workshop series - September through November, 2023 Helllooo wonderful people! I hope you all had a great summer! We had a lovely course in Greece this June: Twists and Turns in Personal and Family Life Stories. I will make a summary of it a bit later and will share it with you. In case you're feeling that you would like to join the course next year....

It has been such a pleasure to collaborate with - introducing art-therapy and existential analysis to students these few days! We talked about the four fundamental motivations, Ikes and dislikes and their role in our lives, and today we dived into the creative world and symbolic change that we can invite into our lives through art and creative process

The start of the course is approaching - some final preparations … we do have a spot available - drop a message if you would like to join - course runs between June 27 and July 2

This has been the first time for me to participate in an existential therapy congress and it was a great experience! Amazing keynote addresses, really inspiring symposia and thought provoking workshops! I have enjoyed immensely meeting and connecting with EA colleagues in person! Had a pleasure to present my futurization project together with Zoe Ilic. Leaving Athens with lots of inspiration and new ideas! Looking forward to the next time!

Rewrite your life story today!

Every day we make choices that affect our day and life that is part of our story. But we always have the chance to rewrite our story because every day can be the beginning of a whole new story.

Twists and Turns in Personal and Family Life Stories - is a week-long project dedicated to the exploration of our lifelines and those of our family members. It will take place at the end of June in a small village on the Peloponnese.

This is a unique place to experience on its own, but the course will allow the participants to encounter it in a very special way. (In this course we’ll experience the authentic Greek atmosphere both as a group and on our own.)

We will explore:
- What life twists and turns our families experienced in previous generations, how they made decisions, what values ​​and ideas they relied on, where they led their children.

- Connections with our own personal life story, our own choices and decisions about profession(s), career(s), partner(s), perhaps changing countries, etc. through the various metaphors: “road”, “stops”, “landscape”, “turns”, “perspectives” for reflection applicable to significant life events and choices.

Date: June 27 – July 2, 2023
Location: Zachloritika, Greece

Participation Fee: 9500 DKK
Deadline for registration: May 15.

Join us this summer for an experiential six-day workshop in Greece, where together, we will explore Twists and Turns in your personal and family life stories!

Date: June 27 – July 2, 2023
Location: Zachloritika, Greece

Recent years are associated with events that are unlike what we or the previous generations have experienced. We have to make decisions that affect our own life perspective, and perhaps the future of the next generations.

We believe it is important to explore:
How events and choices that we and our relatives made in the course of family history impact our own values and life perspective.
What life twists and turns our families experienced in previous generations, how they made decisions, what values ​​and ideas they relied on, where they led their children.
Connections with our own personal life story, our own choices and decisions about profession(s), career(s), partner(s), perhaps changing countries, etc.
How this can help to better listen to ourselves, see the social context – and make decisions in our present.
We will have this course in the beautiful and heartwarming place, on the coast of the Corinthian Gulf, surrounded by beautiful scenery, where we will:
🇬🇷indulge our senses
🤗share our stories
👩‍🎨find our inner creative
🤲gain unique experience
📚learn about methods of transgenerational family therapy, existential analysis and art-therapy
👀be on the lookout for metaphors for reflection
🚞travel on a mountain train
🌳hike
🥗explore Greek cuisine
and much more!
Register before May 15! Few places are left!
Participation Fee: 9500 DKK

One of those lovely afternoons with students: workshop on introduction to art-therapy - getting a different perspective on ourselves and our relationships and talking about how what is already evident to us and what is not , but emerges in the artwork . How do we create the dialogue between what we know and what we don’t know yet, and how do we create conditions for change .

Join this lively hands-on workshop on the topic of:
GLOBAL FUTURE - WHAT’S MY PERSONAL RESPONSE?
Do I have a safe place in this world?
Monday 24 April 2023, Copenhagen, Denmark
This workshop is about how to live a fulfilling life under the potential of a global threat.
This hands-on workshop and discussion aims to:
- explore images of our personal and global future
- explore common cognitive and emotional challenges around futurisation
- help participants develop tools and language to talk about and engage with future in a productive way
- develop personal strengths to navigate the uncertainties of global future
- support participants in developing strategies for a better future.

With great pleasure I’d like to invite those who are in Istanbul - March 23, 13-14, I’m leading a seminar on images of the future of sustainable travel and tourism at Bogazici University- join us if you’re in the area!

It was an amazing visit to Department of Psychology at Savitribai Phule Pune University organized by Dr. Juhi Deshmukh where I delivered a guest lecture "Introduction to Psychology of Time and Time Perspective".

It was such an enriching experience - amazingly engaged students, very present and attentive, having lots of questions and valuable angles and contributions to the topic.

I am really looking forward to develop a more deep connection and collaboration in the area of sustainable development and the role time plays in it.

It was so inspiring to lead the futurization session at RV University , Center for Human Insights this Friday. Young inquisitive and curious minds from various undergraduate programs joined the session such as: business administration and management and computational sciences.

We talked about the images of their personal future and how they view the global future and what are the main challenges. It was very insightful for me to see that although global future is viewed quite negatively, but not to the same degree as in Denmark and the US.

There was more optimism regarding future of education, future of healthcare, green energy , economic growth and various technology solutions. There is a big value of relationships (friendships and with family) and some fear that due to the trend of individualization those connections and relationships might be lost.

We also worked on the various scenarios of possible futures - many turned out to be quite dystopian, so we talked about what are those small actions that we can take today in order not to end up in that dystopian world that we don't wish neither for ourselves, nor for our children and grand-children to live in. What is it that we can do today in order to create an alternative future, more livable, peaceful, less polluted and less alienated?

It also became evident that some technological advances can lead to a care-free life or seemingly so, but on the other hand it comes at a price of emotional disconnect, loneliness, loosing our personal agency and freedom of choice, possible shorter life expectancy due to lack of movement. The impact of future of food on future of our bodies.

We also talked about how norms and communication would change. How can we know that in, say, 1000 years from now we will still have the same language? Naturally the question arises: will future generations have the memory of how things were before?

Overall, concept of future turned out to be important - if there is no future, there is fear and anxiety, so future, although uncertain, gives some hope and direction.

This spring is quite eventful!

EVENTS

April 22 workshop Reducing anxiety and depression symptoms: self-care strategies together with Zuzanna Gruszczyńska

April 24 workshop: Saying ‘Yes’ to Life Despite the Dark Future.

May– visit to the Solbjerg Park Cemetery together with the guide, Peter Hyldekjaer

June 27 to July 2 – Twists & Turns event in Greece – registration is open and there is an early bird price till mid April.

There might be more events – keep an eye on the schedule!

ACADEMIC VISITS IN INDIA AND TURKEY

Most of March I am travelling in India and delivering talks and workshops at universities. I am very much looking forward to it! in case you are in India at the time, do let me know! It would be wonderful to connect there! If you know some people I should connect while there – please let me know as well!

I will be in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi.

March 23 – workshop Future of Tourism and Travel: Sustainability Aspects at Boğaziçi Üniversitesi.

PARTICIPATING IN DANISH RESEARCH FESTIVAL, 21-28 APRIL

my workshops and talks are available through “Book the Scientist” program – open till March 27: Where Is My Time? and Creating Safe Spaces and Engaging with the Scary Future

PRESENTING AT THE 3RD WORLD CONGRESS OF EXISTENTIAL THERAPY, 3-7 MAY, ATHENS

“Finding a personal response to global challenges” – together with Zoe Ilic

TEACHING

This Spring semester I am teaching on:

Varieties of Temporal Experiences
Likes and Dislikes Workshop: An Existential Analysis Approach. Uncovering our Values Existentially.
Introduction to Art-Therapy
Psychological Time & Well-Being
How we and the environment benefit from reflecting on time perspectives?
Finding ways to engage with the dark future
Do any of the topics sound interesting and you would like to run it in your organization – please reach out!

LEARNING

I continue learning more about Existential Analysis & Logotherapy.

RUNNING MY PRIVATE PSYCHOTHERAPY PRACTICE IN COPENHAGEN

I specialize in transitions, endings, psychology of time, Balanced Time Perspective coaching and existential questions. I work in English and Russian, both in-person and online.

It was a great pleasure today to deliver a workshop to the wonderfully engaged audience at Department of Philosophy at Delhi University. There has been some delay with my departure to India , but we have collaboratively managed to set up a hybrid seminar on varieties of temporal experiences and it was very interesting to hear the philosophical approach to existential-noetic analysis of being by Dr. Navneet Chopra. Hopefully I can soon meet everyone in-person :)

I cordially invite you to join me and my colleague, Ekaterina Zhuykova (Nafplio, Greece), at our online event: The genogram method: History of family relationships and their impact on our lives.


Date: Monday, Feb 20, 18.00-20.00 (CET)

Cost: 300 Dkk

Ekaterina is a Clinical Psychologist, Family and Child Psychotherapist with 20 years of counseling experience, focusing on studying the influence of family history on actual life patterns and the intercultural context in human life.

Together with Ekaterina, you will investigate the methods of exploring your family’s history to understand the need that arises in moments of life when we are trying to comprehend our identity and expand our sense of ourselves.

With the genogram method, we will display the family history holistically, compare the dates of key family events, explore the losses and difficult events experienced by the family, and build a sociogram of the relationship between your family members.

Together with Ekaterina, we will go more in-depth into studying your family history using the genogram method. That visually will support us not only in learning about our ancestors but also about relationships, experiences, significant events in their lives, and how they influenced the family’s life, our ancestors’ decisions, and intra-family relations.

You will be able to learn from practicing the method and look at the principles of building a genogram. Looking deep into your family’s history is a need that arises in moments of life when we are trying to comprehend our identity and expand our understanding of ourselves.

We hope that you will be able to join us and share your knowledge, experience and reflections with us! Registration - link in profile.

We can’t hide our excitement anymore…only two weeks to go!! Genogram Method with Ekaterina Zhuikova | Feb 20 or Feb 21 | Creative Time Studio

Link to tickets & registration:

Event on Feb 20 at 11:
https://system.easypractice.net/event/the-genogram-method-looking-at-the-history-of-family-relationships-and-their-impact-on-our-lives-7e48c

Event on Feb 21 at 6:
https://system.easypractice.net/event/the-genogram-method-looking-at-the-history-of-family-relationships-and-their-impact-on-our-lives-32dbc

                

Join our workshop at Creative Time Studio!

If you want to learn the genogram method to look at the history of family relationships and their impact on our lives, then you must join us!

During the workshop:
-> You will get familiarized with the methods of studying family history in psychotherapy, the mechanisms of transferring family patterns between generations, and symbols, as well as principles of building a genogram and how we move from analyzing "objective" data to the "social construction of reality."

-> You will be able to learn from case studies and exercise the principles of building a genogram and how we move from the analysis of "objective" data to the "social construction of reality."

-> We will explore the methods to look deep into the history of one's family to understand the need that arises in moments of life when we are trying to comprehend our identity and expand our sense of ourselves.

-> We will go more in-depth into the study of family history using the genogram method. We will learn not only about our ancestors but also about relationships, experiences, significant events in their lives, and how they influenced the family's life, our ancestors' decisions, and intra-family relations.

This workshop was designed and will be delivered by Ekaterina Zhuikova, Clinical Psychologist, Family and Child Psychotherapist with 20 years of counselling experience, focusing on studying the influence of family history on actual life patterns and the intercultural context in human life.

This workshop will take place in Copenhagen Nørrebro on:
➡️ 20 Feb 2023 at 11:00.
Register here -> https://system.easypractice.net/event/the-genogram-method-looking-at-the-history-of-family-relationships-and-their-impact-on-our-lives-7e48c

➡️ 21 Feb 2023 at 18:00.
Register here -> https://system.easypractice.net/event/the-genogram-method-looking-at-the-history-of-family-relationships-and-their-impact-on-our-lives-32dbc

➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/company/creative-time-studio/events/

Last week students from have joined the Studio for a an introduction workshop on art-therapy. During this workshop I have introduced the students to the basic principles of Art-Therapy, we talked about what mediums can be used in art therapeutic setting, some of the themes that can be explored with the help of art therapy and how a typical session would look like with kids or adults.

I have also presented various cases where I have used art therapy to illustrate the main underlying principle of the approach – that once we figure out how to make a symbolic change, we can also invite that change in real life.

This fall semester is almost at the end, and students enjoyed their time in the Studio expressing various emotions and impressions that have accumulated throughout their study abroad stay in Denmark. They really got engaged in the activity and were totally ‘hands-on’. It is always such a pleasure to work with future colleagues!

Do reach out if you would like an art-therapy session yourself or as a workshop for educational purposes. I enjoy developing workshops, so I would be happy to fine-tune it to fit your organization, class or group’s needs.

Whenever possible I get secondhand books and sometimes they come with lovely notes inside )) “Sit straight, recycle your cans and never forget to laugh about the fact, how wonderfully weird this world is ❤️” Double joy to find such a note in a book about anxiety :)

Thank you for last week's event with a change of scenery!
On Wednesday morning, with we found ourselves in a bus driving outside Copenhagen for an adventure!

The event took place at Karlstrup Kalkgrav lake, where students were able to learn about geology, the history of the lake, and the psychology of time while walking in nature and going with the flow.

We looked into:
- Balanced Time Perspective in Therapy;
- Time perspective theory;
- Balanced time perspective profile;
- Personal and global future;
- Living in the present.

The main activity was a mindful walk in silence while experiencing living in the present, contemplating, and observing the surroundings. After this, students shared their feelings, impressions, and diverse points of view.

This activity allowed students to reflect and become more conscious of their views on the human-made lake and its nature.

As a result, students discovered that while having different thoughts about it and listening to totally different experiences of others, all of them were right, depending on their past experiences.

It was wonderful to be a part of this adventure, and we look forward to hearing more about students observing their lives and reflecting on their Time Perspective Profile to become more balanced.
If you are interested in self-development and learning more about your personal time perspective profile and how to reach more balance, you can join the course “Where is my time?” or reach out for an individual consultation.

Many of the Creative Time Studio’s workshops are tailor-made, so don’t hesitate to reach out by requesting a workshop that fits your organization, class or group's needs.

➡️ https://creativetime.dk/anna-sircova-creativity-course-contact/

Recently the DIS - Study Abroad students participated in our workshop on Futurization: Creating the Space for the Future.

We looked into the images of our personal and global future. A stark difference between the two- personal future being much more positive and global future images being mostly negative. Similar to what I have presented at TEDx.

We looked into the common challenges associated with futurization:

- lack of future discourse- no future language, absence of a tool to talk about it;
- lack of our cognitive capacity to imagine long-term future;
- images of the global future can be scary, anxiety-provoking, or leave us feeling hopeless;
- our defense mechanisms protect us from such emotions but also make us shortsighted.

We looked at our difficult emotions, what we can do in the current situation, the importance of knowing our own values, and how to develop personal strengths supporting them.

Creating a safe space for expressing the emotions, imaginaries, hopes, and most importantly, fears associated with the future and 'futurization' allowed for productive ideas and solutions to emerge.

We looked into the ideal future, a combination of personal and global images. Creating and discussing collages were valuable tools that helped the students to realize their thoughts about the future and to find what can support them in developing strategies for a better one.

As a result, students shared how they can keep the positive side of looking at their personal and global future and the importance of making change individually on a small scale.

We look forward to seeing how our workshop will inspire our young participants to create more sustainable personal and global futures.

Feel free to reach out if you would like to request a similar workshop that fits your organization, class or group's needs.

Thank you, from DIS - Study Abroad, for joining us this week at the Balanced Time Perspective in Therapy and Coaching workshop.

It was a pleasure to educate the new generation about time perspective theory, balanced time perspective profile and introduce various practical interventions.

Students got to see different cases, for example, a typical profile of someone struggling with anxiety, depressive episode or work-related stress and burnout, etc.

We looked into the process of working with a client step-by-step:
- Performing initial assessment of the time perspective profile.
- Working with the profile: taking into account the individual, culture and context of the current situation.
- Learned about ‘reading between the lines’ of the profile numbers.
- Discussed and exercised various tools and interventions aimed at creating a higher level of balance in one’s time perspective.

Students were introduced to different exercises aimed at activating a positive past, or mindful present or possible future. For example, we went on a silent mindful walk, shared our observations and experiences after it.

As a result, participants shared that they felt more relaxed, that they became more aware about their own past, present and future, that working with clients is not a “one recipe that fits all” but that it is a journey and discovery of a personal approach and that they have the tools that they can apply themselves to improve the level of balance of their time perspectives.

If you are a practitioner (psychologist, therapist or coach) join our educational seminar on the Balance Time Perspective Coaching.

If you are interested in personal development - you’re welcome to join the course “Where is my time?” or reach out for an individual consultation.

Feel free to reach out if you would like to request a similar workshop that fits your organization, class or group's needs.