Posts Tagged ‘EST’
FROM DEVAN
“My experience of the Advanced Seminar was, to say the least, life changing. I am extremely grateful to David for putting the seminar experience together, because it impacted my life in such a remarkable way. I believe the best way for me to share my experience is to share how my life has changed. One huge thing that I’ve noticed is my relationships with my family, particularly my parents, getting exponentially better. Our conversations and interactions are happier, smoother, and our relationship is growing deeper every day. I no long do things because I think I ‘should’, and now put my effort toward things I actually want, and not what I think I want, or think I should want. I feel much more in integrity with myself, and everyone around me, and it’s a great feeling. I am still very engaged in Satvatove and hope to continue my involvement with Satvatove for years to come.”
Devan Borsboom
YESTERDAY…
“Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.”
Kahlil Gibran
Real Life Personal Transformation: A Satvatove Before and After Experience
Hear and see Stephanie before and after participating in the Satvatove Institute 34-hour Transformative Communication and Self-Empowerment Seminar.
FROM NARO
“I came to the Advanced Seminar knowing something was missing in my life – and left knowing what it was: ME! Satvatove allowed me to clear space for mySELF, and experience the wonder, power and peace of my own being. I am glad to say that I underestimated Satvatove – being who I am now is thanks to my courage and the facilitators expertise.
Thank you.”
Narottama Tester
Advanced seminar – Florida November 2010
MORE ON EMPATHY
Excerpt From Relationships That Work: The Power Of Conscious Living
- By David B. Wolf
Note that showing understanding is not just a matter of finding words to mechanically describe the person’s emotion and content. It also includes matching the person’s energy. When a friend is feeling sad and down, a reflective statement from my side in an excited voice won’t yield understanding, although what I said was accurate. Empathy is more likely to be conveyed if our words are accompanied by an energy that matches the feeling of the situation. A discordant mentality, even if accompanied by correct reflective statements, can be a roadblock to effective communication. In this regard it is important to recognize that reflective listening is a tool that conveys the essence of empathy. Just because I make an accurate reflective statement does not necessarily mean that I am being empathetic. Conversely, it is possible to convey empathy while using a mode of communication that is on the “potential roadblock” list, although here we are focusing on techniques such as mirroring and effective attending to communicate empathy.
To experience the benefit of empathic dialogue, engage in it with some of the people in your life. Fully enter the world of the other person for at least fifteen minutes, using empathic listening to display understanding. Maintain comfortable eye contact and open-body position during the dialogue. Avoid roadblocks to communication. Simply be a mirror for the other person and notice your experience in attentively reflecting emotion and content. You can also switch roles, having the other person enter your world and mirror for you. To gain a real feel for the effect of empathic dialogue, the speaker should preferably talk about some issue that has an emotional charge for him or her. If you would like to increase the challenge, speak about an issue with emotional substance that is a source of tension between you and the other person. This process requires an ability to listen, and a commitment to understand.
By practicing dialogue in this format our communication becomes dialogical in spirit, even if we don’t adhere to a framework of structured dialogue. In genuine dialogue I allow others to complete their communication, accepting their experience as real and valid for them. In listening I am not focusing on my next point. A dialogue is not a debate. We are actually listening to each other, not merely taking turns in not listening. Especially when discussing highly charged subjects, or when it is apparent that communication has broken down, utilizing structure for empathic conversation may be particularly valuable. Apply this in your life and notice a decrease in reactivity, increased emotional safety and deeper connection.
Creating sacred space between us entails commitment to genuine dialogue. Dialogue means that I listen with a view to understand, rather than to counter or defeat. In a consciousness of dialogue, my intention in expression and hearing is not to manipulate, invalidate or prove that I am right. With true dialogue we create a sanctified environment, unadulterated by barriers to healthy communication. It is an enlightening experience. Educator Robert Hutchins comments, “Education is a kind of continuing dialogue, and a dialogue assumes different points of view.”Approaching relationships with an attitude of discovery and deep listening, means that diverse viewpoints enrich relations, rather than divide them.
To effectively live the principles and communication strategies described here requires that our consciousness rests in the mode of sattva—being able to observe while suspending judgment, and being compassionate toward another being. Such compassion is the essence of empathy, and a fundamental quality of a spiritual life. There is a Vedic aphorism, atmavat sarva-bhutesu, which describes the essence of spiritual compassion as “feeling the happiness and distress of others as one’s own.”
Empathy connects us with others, emerges from and is cultivated through self-realization. Renowned management consultants Jagdish Sheth and Andrew Sobel write: “It is widely accepted that self-awareness and the ability to regulate your own emotions are fundamental prerequisites to the practice of empathy…If you can’t tune into your own emotions, it’s going to be a stretch trying to discern those of others. And if you are overcome by your own feelings, you’ll never have the mental bandwidth to listen properly.” Empathy requires a genuine interest in others, and a sincere desire to expand our perspectives and learning.
FROM LINDSAY
“The key realization, which was a theme to the rest of my realizations and experience, was my understanding of self-worth. In the seminar I was able to get all I wanted just by being myself. I was able to find a new-found confidence and trust that allowed me to be more accepting of situations and of how I handle those situations. This new feeling of acceptance allows me to feel more at peace and that is something I’ve been struggling to find for a while – until NOW!”
Lindsay Morris
Advanced Seminar – Florida November 2010
TO BE YOURSELF…
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
WHAT SEEDS DO YOU PLANT?
“We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt…”
Dorothy Day
OPEN & HONEST
Excerpt From A Coaching Letter - By David B. Wolf
I hear that it is important for you to be open and honest with your mother. My suggestion, then, is to be open and honest with her. Be that way. And, respect and honor her for however she chooses to respond. She might be so appreciative, touched, and inspired. She might become angry, or hurt. I suggest that you take full responsibility for being open and honest. Your openness and honesty is 0% dependent on your mother, and 100% dependent on you. Go into this without expectations. Let however she responds be okay, while you are committed to continually being open and honest. Of course, you want to express your openness and honesty in a way that is as sensitive and empathic as possible, and I’ll be glad to consider with you how best to accomplish this. Being open and honest, express yourself as best as you are able, and give her space to respond as she chooses, and then you continue to be open and honest in relationship with your mother.
TO DO YOUR BEST…
“Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.”
Don Miguel Ruiz
