Course Logistics

Next start date:

Tuesday October 14, 2008 for Maximizing Joy!

Pathways to Happiness is taught over the phone and through e-mail. You can take this course from anywhere!

Pathways offers two hours per week contact with experienced and caring coaches. In addition to the facilitated calls, participants are encouraged to commit to a one-on-one call each week with a fellow classmate. The total time commitment is about 3 hours a week.

Research shows that making real changes in behavior takes time. Our habits and patterns developed over a period of years, or even decades: It is unrealistic to expect to change life-long habits and behaviors overnight.

Since Pathways is truly focused on behavior change, the course is highly experiential. The focus is on skills and practices, not on reading or intellectual exercises. And unlike some quick-fix courses, coaches Nancy Montagna and Robin Carnes support you through a growth process that lasts from fall into spring. You will be supported as you plant the seeds of change, and encouraged as new habits and behaviors emerge.

How You Will Learn

Self-help books sometimes present valid ideas. But if you don't practice what they preach the benefit is lost. The Pathways process for learning reflects the best research into how people acquire and maintain new habits. It provides frequent doses of inspiration, clear well-designed tasks, a supportive community of fellow learners, and accountability over time.

Inspiration hour   Each week, coach Nancy Montagna presents research information as well as specific suggestions for new practices and behaviors. Topics include how to change negative habits and beliefs to positive ones, and how to build psychological resilience so that crisis and loss don't leave you fearful or bitter. This class is given in a lecture format, with some time for questions and answers. Nancy also includes guided meditations, quotes and poems that relate to the week's theme. The course will begin with an hour of such Inspiration and the launching of your first homework assigment.  The second hour of the next 6 classes will be for new Inspiration and new homework

Discussion hour  Beginning with the second class, there will be an hour of lively discussion that precedes the Inpiration hour.  This is an opportunity to celebrate successes, ask questions, and to learn from the experience of your classmates.  The discussions create a warm community that supports and encourages behavior changes.  The final class will be discussion of the final homework assignment (not followed by new Inspiration and homework.)

If you can't call in to the live class, there will be opportunities to listen to a recording of the class.

Weekly Assignment

Participants are expected to spend about half an hour a week practicing the skill or behavior introduced in the Inspiration Call.

Partner Calls

Participants who choose this activity will share their insights and experiences one on one with a partner from the class. Partners change each week, so participants get to know several  people in the class.  Participants in the past have found these exchanges to be very rewarding.  To get the most out of the class, we urge you to commit to making these calls, a total of 7 in the 8 weeks.  While in the past it was an assumed part of the process, we are making it optional in recognition that not everyone is able or willing to do this and it is better to opt out than to let your partner down each week!

Listserve

Your tuition includes participation in a listserve that encourages you to ask questions and discuss events in your life as they relate to the Pathways curriculum.

Advantages of This Format

Phone classes make it possible for you to have an intensive experience and supportive community while spending your limited time on quality instruction and coaching rather than commuting. Since all the instruction is done by phone, you can participate in a class even when you are traveling or on vacation.

Another interesting consequence of the format is that people get to know each other by voice, without being prejudiced by a person's appearance, ethnicity or mannerisms. Without visual cues -- facial expressions, body language, style of clothing – we quickly learn to listen more closely to what people are actually saying.

While the teleconference format may feel a little awkward at first, Nancy is experienced in helping people adapt quickly and soon the calls feel very natural. People find, to their surprise, that voices communicate much more than actual words.

Through the small group discussions and the partner calls, Pathways participants very quickly develop intimate and supportive relationships.

The next Pathways to Happiness begins October 14, 2008. Prepare to embark on a wondrous journey toward happiness! See our Registration page for more information, call (301) 587-5735 or email.