Linda O’Toole

At an early age I recognized, and was fascinated by, individual differences in people: specifically, their pacing, how they pay attention, the relative importance of story-telling, the amount of background information needed, and so forth. This fascination has been reflected in my life-long interest in noticing and describing the patterns through which people engage and process their inner and outer experiences, including how they select and express information. I refer to these patterns as “inner diversity” and I have come to believe that an understanding and capacity to work with our individual patterns of processing is foundational for a sense of wholeness and well-being, as well as our interactions with others. My professional work for more than thirty years has involved writing, training, and personal coaching in education, health care, and global corporations, with a focus on helping people integrate the cognitive, relational and sensory functions within a living system perspective. For the last eight years, I have helped develop the Learning for Well-being framework, finding a home within UEF for my approach to inner diversity, while I actively continue to explore new ideas and practices that can shift the awareness of those who implement them.