Creative Mind Designs Consulting

Hello, my name is Ray Sullivan and I have a vast and varied background. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering at DeVry and spent 20 years in technology management in Silicon Valley. I completed core courses towards a MBA from the University of Santa Clara. I earned a Masters in psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and I am currently a doctoral candidate working on my PhD. The focus of my studies is on transformational transitions.

Additionally, I am a master hypnotist skilled in the formation of constructive positive suggestions and various Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques. I have found through my study of linguistics that language frames our reality and as such, the words we use to communicate with others and ourselves create our experiences. Therefore, we need to be conscious of our language and the impact and power it has to shape our lives.

Hello, my name is Ray Sullivan and I have a vast and varied background. I was raised the middle child in a large mid-western family and as such I learned to closely observe human behavior. It was in my childhood that I learned to act as liaison and honed my diplomatic skills. I made my way through engineering school by working at the Ohio State University Hospital. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in engineering at DeVry and spent 20 years in the technology sector in Silicon Valley. I worked my way through numerous positions starting by working on a manufacturing floor, and then in customer training. I spent many years working with software quality and I finished my career in technology by managing software development and quality teams. During this time, I completed core courses for an MBA, but did not complete my degree because I was a single parent during this time.

In 2001, my new wife accepted a position in Mexico and in 2003, after all my children had left the house, I decided to leave the world of high technology and join her. I spent much of this time in reflection and assessment, as I decided what I wanted to do with the second half of my career. Two things stuck with me from my experience in Silicon Valley. First, most of the problems that our development projects faced were not technical in nature. They were in fact problems of politics, interrelationship, and ultimately of a psychological nature. Second, I realized my team burned-out while participating in quality improvement teams. When I inquired into the cause of this, my team members replied, “we are always looking at our failures, we never look at our successes, and it is demoralizing.”

With these two insights in mind, I decided to pursue graduate degrees in psychology. I earned my Masters from Pacifica Graduate Institute and I am currently a doctoral candidate working on my PhD. The focus of my studies has been on transformational transitions. In my fieldwork, I have found that the stories we tell ourselves about the future is vitally important. I found that utopian stories of the future move us constructively towards future goals, while dystopian stories move us away from what we fear in an act of avoidance. For this reason, I focus my work on positive and appreciative inquiry and look for the strengths inherent in all of us. I use a form of utopian visioning to clarify future goals to modify current behavior, because the stories that we tell ourselves about the future influences our current behavior.

In addition, I have become extremely interested in the nature of consciousness. There are many functions of consciousness but the four main ones are sensate, thinking, feeling, and intuitive. The strength of my work is found in my strong foundation in both the thinking and intuitive functions. In fact, I strongly believe that in order to achieve the future we dream of, we require both the practical rational functions of consciousness conjoined with the intuitive imaginal functions. I refer to the coupling of the rational and imaginal as imaginal intelligence.

Finally, I am a master hypnotist skilled in the formation of constructive positive suggestions and various Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques. I have found through my study of linguistics that language frames our reality and as such, the words we use to communicate with others and ourselves create our experiences. Therefore, we need to be conscious of our language and the impact and power it has to shape our lives.

If you are interested in learning more about me or coaching and consulting services, send me an  email, or call  (805) 637-4263 and I will be happily answer all your questions.