Empathic Listening - Empathy: Mindful Compassionate Dialogue Relationship Competency 2 (Video Conferencing or Self-Paced)

Thursday, February 25, 2021
11:30 AM 1:00 PM

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Empathic Listening

Empathy: Mindful Compassionate Dialogue Relationship Competency 2

This is the second workshop in the series “How to Create a Thriving Relationship With Yourself and Others: Introduction to the 12 Relationship Competencies.” This yearlong series features a new workshop each month, with options to register for individual workshops or the entire series.

Is this you?

You value meeting others with empathy and compassion, but find it challenging. Perhaps you find yourself getting caught in arguments, trying to problem-solve, or maybe you just feel uncomfortable and shut down.

Or, you already listen well and would like to refine your skills and understand how empathy is distinct from other kinds of listening.

This workshop is designed for anyone wanting to meet others with compassion and empathy while maintaining life-serving boundaries.

What's It All About?

Empathy is the second relationship competency in Mindful Compassionate Dialogue (MCD). Empathy means listening to someone’s experience with warm curiosity. It might be offered in silence or with guesses about thoughts, feelings, and needs. Empathy is a form of attunement. It is a heart-based response to a heart-based expression. Empathy requires you to stay centered and self-connected. When you offer empathy, you are not taking responsibility for the other person’s feelings and needs.

As you learn and integrate the relationship competency of empathy, you will find that you are less likely to take things personally and more able to hear someone’s message regardless of the words they use.

In our workshop, you will be introduced to the definition of empathy in the framework of Mindful Compassionate Dialogue. You will learn 12 essential aspects of empathy and how it differs from other forms of listening. Here are a few topics we will address:

Building a vocabulary for empathy
Part of learning to give and receive empathy is learning a vocabulary. You will learn some common "faux feelings" that can lead empathy astray into blame and shame. You will engage in an exercise to help you learn the list of universal needs as a living language rather than a concept.

The experience of giving and receiving empathy

When you engage in empathy mindfully, you will find that there many layers of experience to notice. Empathy is a state of consciousness and a generosity of the heart to be practiced and received with grace. You will have the opportunity to to give and receive empathy in a short structured exercise.

Misconceptions of Empathy

Part of understanding empathy is learning what it is not. We will discuss how empathy can go astray when limiting personal and relational dynamics are at play.

Setting boundaries with empathy

Empathy isn't always the best response to another’s pain or difficulty. And, sometimes, you don't have the resources needed to offer or receive empathy. You can't truly offer empathy unless you can also set a boundary. We will briefly address the concept of boundaries as related to empathy.

About Mindful Compassionate Dialogue

Mindful Compassionate Dialogue (MCD) naturally supports you in creating the relationships you want by integrating the wisdom and skills of three powerful modalities: Hakomi, Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and mindfulness.

Each modality contributes something unique to the process. Hakomi offers clarity about reactivity and healing. NVC provides a method for achieving self-responsibility, skillful communication, and agency. And mindfulness adds the stable attention and clear focus needed to continuously refine your understanding and skills.

MCD is a system meant to provide access to agency, compassion, mindfulness, and wisdom. Personal transformation is achieved through practice with the 12 Relationship Competencies and Nine Foundations, which arise from a central, life-serving intention.

What to expect?

In this two-hour workshop, you will engage in conceptual learning, group discussion, experiential learning, and skills practice. Practice exercises will be done individually, in pairs, and in small groups. You can apply examples from your own life that you choose in the exercises.

Understanding the online format

Students will be signing in to the workshop simultaneously in real time from their own locations, using Zoom. We will be able to see and hear each other. For visibility, it’s important to have a light in front of you, not behind you. The technology allows for breaking up into pairs or small groups, which the trainers can check in with just as would happen in an in-person course.

You will be able to review a recording of the workshop for a full week after it ends. Students won't be shown on the recording, but can be heard. You can participate in discussions via chat if you don’t want your voice recorded. This course may be sold later as a pre-recorded course.

You can also opt to take the series only through the recording.

Having someone in your life available to do the exercises with you is recommended for this option.

You will receive a detailed handout as a part of the workshop that you can download and keep for future reference.

Details:

Live attendance means:

Arriving on time to the workshop.
Attending and participating for the duration of the class. It is very disruptive to come in and out of the workshop; please plan to attend by recording if you cannot stay for the full 90 minutes of the workshop.

Access to the video recording for a full week following the workshop.
Receiving a detailed handout that you can download and keep for later reference.
The opportunity to be assigned a study buddy
Ensuring you have consistent access to internet speeds and connectivity that support video conferencing (600kbps/1.2Mbps (up/down) for HQ video; 1.5Mbps/1.5Mbps (up/down) for gallery view).