Hakodate is a beautiful port town in south Hokkaido. There is an active study group of Adlerian Psychology. I visited there for three days this time. The first day was for a special lecture on encouragement, the second day for a lecture for beginners, and the third day for sightseeing. Twenty-seven people came on the first day, and more than one hundred on the second day.
The audiences came from all over Hokkaido Island, because the group in Hakodate is the only place for learning Adlerian Psychology in the island. It is a difficult job to distribute Adlerian Psychology. There are different kinds of difficulty in urban areas and country areas. In urban areas like Osaka or Tokyo, the greatest difficulty is to disseminate the information. Just like singing toward a waterfall, our voice is disappearing into the noise of the city. In country areas like Hakodate or Akita, the information is easy to reach the people. However, it is sometimes difficult to maintain the source of the information. If the leader of the local group looses interest in Adlerian Psychology, then the movement may easily disappear. Actually, though there were other some groups in Hokkaido, all of them but Hakodate have stopped working. Fortunately, in Hakodate, as the leader of the group is enthusiastically devotional, the group will endure through any troubles.
The lecture of the first day was newly designed for “raccoon hunting”. It consists of the following nine chapters:
- Encouragement in communication.
- Encouragement and human value and ability.
- Encouragement and helping people.
- Encouragement and emotions.
- Encouragement vs. reward and punishment.
- Encouragement and logic.
- Encouragement and goal striving.
- Self-encouragement.
- Why is encouragement necessary?
The basic idea was borrowed from a lecture of Harold McAbee, which was held in Hiroshima when he came to Japan. The reaction of audiences was very good. I will have the same lecture in Yokohama in September and again in Osaka in December.