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WHAT IS CONTEGRITY?
Contegrity is both a community of people and the exploration we have undertaken that
effectively explores what it takes to live a fulfilling life.
WHAT DOES "CONTEGRITY" MEAN?
We offer an alternative to the everyday cultural approach to success and happiness that seems both out of step with how life works and to fall short of a deep resonance and enjoyment of life. In contrast to the often too busy and disconnected nature of contemporary life (very connected to computers, phones, news, entertainment/not very connected to each other and what is most important in our lives), Contegrity aims at and supports the right amount of activity, focus, and development in each of our lives and provides an environment in which to discern what's of real importance as well as what is enough (to have, to give, to get) between us. We foster the rich relations of community through development programs, conference calls, and local events, all based on a whole-hearted commitment to fulfillment in each other's lives. The name Contegrity™ is a term coined from the Latin roots for "integrity with"
and points to the approach underlying Contegrity - that orienting toward a resonant fit that
honors yourself, others, and life itself, and being inspired by that, affords a deep pleasure
and satisfaction in living. It also leads to remarkable communication, effectiveness and
contribution while mitigating a great deal of needless suffering.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY FULFILLMENT?
This deeply-connected-integrity approach offers a practical and consistently clear focus based in your own strengths where they meet what is of real importance in your life and the lives of those around you. By diminishing the call of over-generalized wants, and by offering instead a perfectly timely and fitting focus for one's strengths and talents, the Contegrity approach often leaves one with the sense of being the right person, at the right place, and the right time to provide what can fulfill the circumstance. The result of this approach is a deep enjoyment of life while providing a base for meaningful accomplishment. By fulfillment, we mean those times in life when we have a sense of deep resonance and
connection to what life is all about - where we are "filled with life".
WHY A FOCUS ON COMMUNITY?
Fulfillment points toward a better fit with life, a greater access to power, and a higher level of freedom than what we usually think of as happiness, satisfaction or success. Working directly on fulfillment also lets us recognize the harmony between what is fulfilling for us, for others, and for life, in a way that begins to dissolve the notion of a personally separate happiness. Community is what can hold an approach or a discipline. Individual will power goes
only so far. Also, others of similar intent can provide real insight and competence based
in their strengths and can multiply the effectiveness of individual development.
WHAT WOULD I LIKELY GET FROM ENGAGING WITH CONTEGRITY?
People participating in the Contegrity Community often speak of having a deep sense
of peace - knowing that they are relying on their real strengths and living in a way that
fits their relationship with life. They find themselves free to address what is important
to them with a clear focus.
WHERE DID IT COME FROM -- WHY THIS PARTICULAR APPROACH?
In a general sense, people move from being busy and reactive, to being at ease, focused and responsive to what is important. They go from responding to one circumstance after another to a sense of slowly and steadily developing more power, more freedom and greater fit of their life with their strengths, talents, and gifts. People engaging with Contegrity often say they experience:
Our particular approach is the culmination of more than 30 years of work with hundreds
of thousands of people. Over the last 15 years, we have had the freedom to build the kind of
developmental approach to living that can hold its own in the face of the pressures of today -
the job uncertainties, the avalanche of advertising aimed at creating new wants and the
relative weakness of trust in the psychologies, philosophies and religions of our times to
effectively and soundly address the question: "How then shall we live?"
WHO IS CONTEGRITY INTENDED FOR?
The key to our approach is to have the practical issues of everyday living provide the basis for ongoing development of your capacity to live whole-heartedly and with integrity. We start with basic questions (Who are you uniquely? What is yours to provide? How does that provide a basis for a fulfilling life?) and then bring those perspectives to addressing the practical issues at play in the time and circumstances of one's life (to one's age and stage in life, to one's family relations, to one's career and finances, to one's health, to one's relation to the big picture in life). Another key to our approach is to build to a steady pace of development and a sense of oneself where development is related to as natural and satisfying rather than as a threat to an old and fixed view of oneself. This ability to correct and evolve in life puts the daily challenges of life to work in behalf of building an ever-stronger foundation and structure for living well. One of the central shapers of a life well-lived is one's relations. The design of Contegrity is organized to elevate the level of honesty, communication, and support for fulfillment in one's relationships. In many ways, it is easier to alter one's life by altering the relations in which it is lived than by working on one's life directly and separately. Contegrity is for people who are deeply interested in fulfillment and living a fulfilled
life. We work with people of all ages and backgrounds.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET THE BENEFITS OF CONTEGRITY?
The key seems to be making deep satisfaction enough of a priority to organize around it. It takes the willingness to be honest, to provide something to others, and to be open to
view oneself and life another way.
WHAT DOES CONTEGRITY COST?
In addition, the opportunity to engage with Contegrity, its people and its programs will take making the time to specifically be in development regarding fulfillment. Almost invariably, that will require elevating it to something more important than simply considering it as yet another want in your life. Over time, cultivating the ability to stay focused and prevent being swept away by busyness by keeping your eye on what is important will likely be another factor for success in taking on fulfillment. While the cost of our programs varies (see the individual program links for specifics),
financial cost is seldom a barrier to people's participation. We will work with people who
intend to participate to review their financial situation and establish a fitting way to
make our programs available to them.
WHAT IS IT LIKE?
Beyond the financial cost of participating, the biggest cost of having fulfillment in your life turns out to be:
The key cost is making fulfillment a priority, organizing around it, and minimizing the distractions and busyness that can often appear to get in the way. In our programs, there is a sense of belonging to a powerful group of people who are
seeing into life and how it works and contributing their strengths at doing so to the benefit
of everyone.
WHAT ISN'T IT LIKE?
There is material presented, open discussions, and enjoyable, insightful exercises done in pairs and groups. Overall, the sense is one of revealing a deep mystery and making new room available for living in ways that had been previously unseen. The quality of the conversations, listening and perceptiveness in the programs is exceptional. Contegrity is designed so that it fosters a fitting, real and deep individuality. It
supports actually living from your deepest strengths and connection to life (not just thinking
about that, or having a theory about that).
WHAT MAKES CONTEGRITY DIFFERENT?
As such, it is not:
We focus on people's real and individual lives in a way that contributes to all. We find
that this approach is unusual; most others either offer a group perspective and ask you to fit
with it, or offer an individual solution that doesn't scale to the wider group.
WHO FOUNDED CONTEGRITY AND WHAT ARE THEIR CREDENTIALS?
The rigor of our approach, and our broad competence, allows us to offer individually customized outcomes that also build group insight and awareness. Having revealed basic insights into the fundamental issues underlying a human life, there is room to see both general principles and specific applications. Ken Anbender and Gail Cantor, the two founders of Contegrity, have spent the vast majority
of their lives in the "development of people" field - concentrating on the high end of
being human - What lights life up? What fulfills a human life? What makes living deeply
satisfying and contributory?
WHY DOES CONTEGRITY USE SPECIAL LANGUAGE?
Ken Anbender has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and has designed hundreds of programs that support people in living well, knowing what is theirs to provide, how to communicate and work, and how to function as a community. He has led programs with well over 100,000 people over the last 30 years. His deep interest is in seeing and communicating the design of what fulfills life in a way that benefits people in their lives. Gail Cantor has spent the last 30 years fostering people's fitting participation and engagement with each other and with life in a way that integrates deep enjoyment and greater levels of accomplishment. She is known for generously contributing her deep insights into people and where they meet the kind of communication that creates powerful and fulfilling relationships seamlessly across all areas of life and work. Her deep interest is in helping people see their unique gifts and contribute them powerfully to life. Both Ken and Gail have offered Contegrity's work to people of all ages in public, corporate, and not-for-profit settings including large multi-national corporations as well as medium and small companies, governments and spiritual institutions. While we attempt to say things in plain English whenever possible, there are times
where we are out to say something new or to provide a new perspective. In these cases, the
usual way of saying things can often be misleading and the old connotations can obscure
the perspective we are out to offer.
HOW DO I TELL IF IT'S FOR ME?
When that happens, we will often coin a phrase, make up a new word, or use an old or relatively unused word that we can clarify to help people understand what we intend to say. As far as we can tell, any in-depth field of inquiry has to make use of special language to point to insights and distinctions that aren't part of the mainstream conversations. Here's a simple test:
WHO CAN I TALK WITH ABOUT PARTICIPATING?
Three "yes" answers and we look forward to seeing you soon. Two "yes" answers and we invite you to call the Contegrity office or speak with someone you know who is involved with Contegrity and come to a resolution. Talking with someone, getting a feel for the relationship being offered and being able
to get specific interests and concerns addressed is the best way to determine whether to
participate with Contegrity.
Please call the Contegrity office at (877) 387-9090 to arrange to speak with someone who has experience and a background with Contegrity. Or if you prefer, you can contact us by e-mail through info@contegrity.com or send us a message from our contact page and we will be happy to respond by connecting you with the appropriate person.
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