Paul Lamb (author)
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| Paul Lamb | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul Robert Lamb 4 May 1951 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Author, Motivational Speaker, Workshop Leader |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | Guelph University |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Subject | Human Behaviour |
| Notable works | Exploring the Iceberg |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Paul Lamb (born 4 May 1951) is a Canadian author and motivational speaker specializing in personality analysis and development.
Lamb’s struggle to recover required him call on every ounce of knowledge gained in 25 years as a trainer and consultant regarding personality assessment and personal growth. His very long and difficult physical and mental healing led him to develop new survival and day-to-day life strategies that are contained in his book.
“When I came out of my coma at mid-life like a six-year-old, I had no self-esteem, no confidence, nor worth or value. I was lower than a snake’s belly.”[1] Using his Iceberg Strategies, his self-esteem began to rise again in the months he spent rehabilitating in the Acquired Brain Injury Clinic, then at Chedoke Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario.
Lamb’s successful recovery motivated him to write his book to help others reach their full potential and to explore the iceberg — which Lamb explains means to go deep within oneself to find your true nature, your true strengths, courage and wisdom.[2] It requires one to bare their soul to themselves in complete honesty, so that one can live to their full potential. By understanding our challenges and strengths, natural abilities and inclinations of behaviour, it helps us to live in harmony and grow to our fullest potential, Lamb feels. "Knowing yourself deeply is the bedrock of self-esteem."[3] A specialist in Myers-Briggs personality assessment, his book tells his journey through injury and heart break while acting as an instructional and motivational guide for readers.[4]
Contents
Background and education
Lamb was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of a physician. He was one of four children. He earned an honours degree in human geography from the University of Guelph and began work as an urban planner. He did extensive training in Solution Focused work, is certified in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, designed programs and taught at Mohawk College in Hamilton.
Working life
Lamb married a physician, and in the early 1980s, after their second child, he became a stay-at-home dad. Content at home, but not entirely fulfilled, he accepted his father’s advice to inquire about a job at Hamilton General Hospital as an assistant in the forensic pathology department. With no training or preparation, he was told he to observe that very day with an autopsy. It did not faze him to see the body opened, the organs removed. “It was more fascinating and wondrous,” than horrifying or morbid, he recalls. “I focussed on the learning." Within a short time he was himself removing organs and sometimes extracting and weighing the brains of the deceased.[5] It was enlightening to Lamb that such a complicated body could work so synergistically. Later, Lamb worked as a parole officer and co-ordinator of volunteers in the community and at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre. It was while there he accepted an offer to become a trainer for correctional services staff. He began training to become a consultant, facilitator, teacher and workshop designer for correctional services. It was during that time in 1989 he was certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.[6]
Myers-Briggs
Myers-Briggs was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. Their work was based on the theories of Dr. Carl Jung, who believed there are four principal psychological functions at work in a person. They are: sensing, intuition, feeling, and thinking. Jung felt that one of these is dominant. The two women developed the MBTI assessment for determining personality type.
Lamb is an INFJ – introverted, intuitive, feeling and judging.[7] He describes INFJs as gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Their strong intuition can be interpreted as stubbornness. They tend to ignore advice as they feel they are correct. On the other hand, Lamb says, INFJ is a perfectionist who doubts they are living up to their full potential and are rarely at peace with themselves.
Using Myers-Briggs as a basis for his work, Lamb travelled much of Ontario training government staff, consulting and teaching through the late 1980s and into the 2010s. He is now a motivational speaker, author and continues learning sessions.
Car crash
In 1996 Lamb was in Peterborough, Ontario, doing training with the Ontario Provincial Police. He was doing a “ride along” to experience what police officers do during their shift when there was a call to an emergency. The police cruiser crashed and Lamb ended up in hospital with a severe brain injury and in a coma. At one point he had almost no brain activity, scans showed and a 3 per cent chance of survival.[8][9] He remained in a coma for several weeks.[10] When he awoke, his head was about twice its normal size and he had the ability of a six-year-old mentally and less than that physically.[1]
What followed were many months of recovery, in which he had to be trained how to do many basic functions, such as brushing his teeth, walking and using the bathroom. It was during this time that he realized his marriage was over. Utterly devastated, he thought of suicide. It was either that or get better and Lamb says he made the decision to recover emotionally, cognitively and physically.[11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lamb, Paul, "The Car Crash That Changed My Life Forever" Everyday Health, October 25, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2014./
- ↑ Lamb, Paul (2013). Exploring the Iceberg, pg. 78 ISBN 978-1-4525-6314-5
- ↑ Lamb, Paul (2013). Exploring the Iceberg, pg. 183 ISBN 978-1-4525-6314-5
- ↑ Lamb, Paul (2013). Exploring the Iceberg, Ch 5, pg 117 ISBN 978-1-4525-6314-5
- ↑ Lamb, Paul (2013). Exploring the Iceberg, pg. 14 ISBN 978-1-4525-6314-5
- ↑ Lamb, Paul (2013). Exploring the Iceberg, pg. 15 ISBN 978-1-4525-6314-5
- ↑ Lamb, Paul (2013). Exploring the Iceberg, pg. 142 ISBN 978-1-4525-6314-5
- ↑ Russell, Rhiannon "Back from the brink" "The Hamilton Spectator" Oct 7, 2013. Retrieved on February 15, 2014.
- ↑ Lamb, Paul (2013). Exploring the Iceberg, pg. 3 ISBN 978-1-4525-6314-5
- ↑ "An awakening from a coma" Inside Halton.
- ↑ Lamb, Paul (2013). Exploring the Iceberg, pg. 56 ISBN 978-1-4525-6314-5
