Dr Nelisha Wickremasinghe is a psychologist, entrepreneur, educator and international leadership/organisational change consultant who has worked in the field of human development for 25 years. She has postgraduate degrees in psychology and family therapy, a Master’s in public sector management and a Master’s and Doctorate in organisational change.Her work at the boundary of psychotherapeutic practice and management development has taken her across the globe to support organisations like Fujitsu, Thomas Cook, Amec Foster Wheeler, Nielsen, Lloyds Banking Group, Aviva and BT to develop their leaders and implement complex change.She also developed and ran a successful organic food business and restaurant and, for ten years, was clinical and management lead in mental health and social care services.Dr Wickremasinghe works internationally with large corporates teaching and consulting on healthy growth. As part of her corporate practice, Nelisha is currently an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School where she facilitates sessions for business leaders on the neurobiology of personal and team resilience. She is Founding Director of The Dialogue Space, which provides unconventional, whole-person facilitation and coaching for individuals, groups and organisations. Her professional practice combines brain science and developmental psychology to develop individual, team and system resilience. The concepts and applications in this book have grown out of her personal experience, professional practice and doctoral research and draw on many conversations with groups and individuals working in diverse organisational contexts.

• Part One: CursesIntroductionCursesBlessings The spell of the Big O Submission DoubtStaying curious Reading 1. Curses, emotions and threat brain The consequences of an over-active threat brain Behaviour starts in the body 2. The curse of consciousness Self-reflection Worry and rumination Distraction and obliteration Beyond consciousness 3. The curse of memoryOur vigilant brain Memory and the unconscious Memory and consciousnessMemory and learning4. The curse of characterNature, nurture and calling Dependency and shame 5. The curse of the family Relational dances DisconfirmationDouble bindsCollusionParental projection Affect, power and meaning From the family to the cultural dance6. The curse of cultureCulture as collective habits Gendered beliefs Rationalism and Descartes’ errorIndividualism and the demise of context Reflections on Part One Venturing forth Part Two: Spells Introduction The neurobiology of spells The Big OsTo submit or to dominate?The ingredients of a spellCompassionate awareness 1. LoversThe parental imago The misinterpretation of emotion Projection - meeting our unconscious in romantic love 2. ChildrenReproduction – a creative, transcendental act?Thy mother’s glass – parental projection revisitedChildren as symbols of lost innocenceThe construction of childhoodChildren and the cultural curse Big O love and overparenting Disinterested love 3. Charismatics What is charisma? Charismatics as transference objectsCharismatics and alienation Charismatics and the cultural curse Charismatics and toxic drive 4. GroupsThe impulse to sociability Destructive affiliationCollective narcissism Herds Hordes Brilliant following 5. ImaginalsBelief as subjective realityFantasies Introjection The Inner CriticReflections on Part Two Part Three: Scintillations1. FreedomUtopia – freedom fromRe-orientating – freedom with Scintillations and the growth of consciousness2. Perception Practices Practice One: Returning to centrePractice Two: Receptivity – noticing our scintillationsPractice Three: Hermeneutic inquiryPractice Four: The inward turn3. Being with others Self-creating IndifferenceBeyond thou Epilogue Coda Bibliography GlossaryIndex

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Dr Nelisha Wickremasinghe is a psychologist, entrepreneur, educator and international leadership/organisational change consultant who has worked in the field of human development for 25 years. She has postgraduate degrees in psychology and family therapy, a Master’s in public sector management and a Master’s and Doctorate in organisational change.Her work at the boundary of psychotherapeutic practice and management development has taken her across the globe to support organisations like Fujitsu, Thomas Cook, Amec Foster Wheeler, Nielsen, Lloyds Banking Group, Aviva and BT to develop their leaders and implement complex change.She also developed and ran a successful organic food business and restaurant and, for ten years, was clinical and management lead in mental health and social care services.Dr Wickremasinghe works internationally with large corporates teaching and consulting on healthy growth. As part of her corporate practice, Nelisha is currently an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School where she facilitates sessions for business leaders on the neurobiology of personal and team resilience. She is Founding Director of The Dialogue Space, which provides unconventional, whole-person facilitation and coaching for individuals, groups and organisations. Her professional practice combines brain science and developmental psychology to develop individual, team and system resilience. The concepts and applications in this book have grown out of her personal experience, professional practice and doctoral research and draw on many conversations with groups and individuals working in diverse organisational contexts.

• Part One: CursesIntroductionCursesBlessings The spell of the Big O Submission DoubtStaying curious Reading 1. Curses, emotions and threat brain The consequences of an over-active threat brain Behaviour starts in the body 2. The curse of consciousness Self-reflection Worry and rumination Distraction and obliteration Beyond consciousness 3. The curse of memoryOur vigilant brain Memory and the unconscious Memory and consciousnessMemory and learning4. The curse of characterNature, nurture and calling Dependency and shame 5. The curse of the family Relational dances DisconfirmationDouble bindsCollusionParental projection Affect, power and meaning From the family to the cultural dance6. The curse of cultureCulture as collective habits Gendered beliefs Rationalism and Descartes’ errorIndividualism and the demise of context Reflections on Part One Venturing forth Part Two: Spells Introduction The neurobiology of spells The Big OsTo submit or to dominate?The ingredients of a spellCompassionate awareness 1. LoversThe parental imago The misinterpretation of emotion Projection - meeting our unconscious in romantic love 2. ChildrenReproduction – a creative, transcendental act?Thy mother’s glass – parental projection revisitedChildren as symbols of lost innocenceThe construction of childhoodChildren and the cultural curse Big O love and overparenting Disinterested love 3. Charismatics What is charisma? Charismatics as transference objectsCharismatics and alienation Charismatics and the cultural curse Charismatics and toxic drive 4. GroupsThe impulse to sociability Destructive affiliationCollective narcissism Herds Hordes Brilliant following 5. ImaginalsBelief as subjective realityFantasies Introjection The Inner CriticReflections on Part Two Part Three: Scintillations1. FreedomUtopia – freedom fromRe-orientating – freedom with Scintillations and the growth of consciousness2. Perception Practices Practice One: Returning to centrePractice Two: Receptivity – noticing our scintillationsPractice Three: Hermeneutic inquiryPractice Four: The inward turn3. Being with others Self-creating IndifferenceBeyond thou Epilogue Coda Bibliography GlossaryIndex

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Dr Nelisha Wickremasinghe is a psychologist, entrepreneur, educator and international leadership/organisational change consultant who has worked in the field of human development for 25 years. She has postgraduate degrees in psychology and family therapy, a Master’s in public sector management and a Master’s and Doctorate in organisational change.Her work at the boundary of psychotherapeutic practice and management development has taken her across the globe to support organisations like Fujitsu, Thomas Cook, Amec Foster Wheeler, Nielsen, Lloyds Banking Group, Aviva and BT to develop their leaders and implement complex change.She also developed and ran a successful organic food business and restaurant and, for ten years, was clinical and management lead in mental health and social care services.Dr Wickremasinghe works internationally with large corporates teaching and consulting on healthy growth. As part of her corporate practice, Nelisha is currently an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School where she facilitates sessions for business leaders on the neurobiology of personal and team resilience. She is Founding Director of The Dialogue Space, which provides unconventional, whole-person facilitation and coaching for individuals, groups and organisations. Her professional practice combines brain science and developmental psychology to develop individual, team and system resilience. The concepts and applications in this book have grown out of her personal experience, professional practice and doctoral research and draw on many conversations with groups and individuals working in diverse organisational contexts.

• Part One: CursesIntroductionCursesBlessings The spell of the Big O Submission DoubtStaying curious Reading 1. Curses, emotions and threat brain The consequences of an over-active threat brain Behaviour starts in the body 2. The curse of consciousness Self-reflection Worry and rumination Distraction and obliteration Beyond consciousness 3. The curse of memoryOur vigilant brain Memory and the unconscious Memory and consciousnessMemory and learning4. The curse of characterNature, nurture and calling Dependency and shame 5. The curse of the family Relational dances DisconfirmationDouble bindsCollusionParental projection Affect, power and meaning From the family to the cultural dance6. The curse of cultureCulture as collective habits Gendered beliefs Rationalism and Descartes’ errorIndividualism and the demise of context Reflections on Part One Venturing forth Part Two: Spells Introduction The neurobiology of spells The Big OsTo submit or to dominate?The ingredients of a spellCompassionate awareness 1. LoversThe parental imago The misinterpretation of emotion Projection - meeting our unconscious in romantic love 2. ChildrenReproduction – a creative, transcendental act?Thy mother’s glass – parental projection revisitedChildren as symbols of lost innocenceThe construction of childhoodChildren and the cultural curse Big O love and overparenting Disinterested love 3. Charismatics What is charisma? Charismatics as transference objectsCharismatics and alienation Charismatics and the cultural curse Charismatics and toxic drive 4. GroupsThe impulse to sociability Destructive affiliationCollective narcissism Herds Hordes Brilliant following 5. ImaginalsBelief as subjective realityFantasies Introjection The Inner CriticReflections on Part Two Part Three: Scintillations1. FreedomUtopia – freedom fromRe-orientating – freedom with Scintillations and the growth of consciousness2. Perception Practices Practice One: Returning to centrePractice Two: Receptivity – noticing our scintillationsPractice Three: Hermeneutic inquiryPractice Four: The inward turn3. Being with others Self-creating IndifferenceBeyond thou Epilogue Coda Bibliography GlossaryIndex

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