THE DAILY SPARK

ELEVATE DISCOURSE

Mindful dialogue invites true listening and true listening expands our ways of knowing and understanding.  Ultimately, it elevates discourse and makes it more likely that we will gradually learn and grow from understanding one another’s perspectives rather than just fortifying our positions and stereotyping all those who disagree with us. 

FROM:  ARRIVING AT YOUR OWN DOOR  108 Lessons in Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn

REFLECTION:

  • Think about a recent dialogue with a person where you had a different perspective. How did that conversation go?
  • Were you open to another perspective?
  • What if you could be receptive – resist the urge to press your viewpoint.  What might happen?
  • in a conversation today, be curious… ask questions… listen… truly listen. 

RISK BEING CHANGED

To really listen is to risk being changed forever.

Sa’K’es Henderson – Native American Elder

REFLECTION:

  • Think of a time when you really listened to someone and it changed your view (of them or a belief or a way of seeing the world).
  • How well do you listen?
  • Are you willing to listen to another… risk being changed?
  • Change can look like compassion for another… forgiveness, an open heart…

LOWEST EBB

The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – a line from the poem Loss and Gain.

 

REFLECTION:

  • Have you reached a low point?  Maybe your lowest point?
  • What if the tide is about to change… circumstances are shifting for a favorable change?
  • Embrace the change… the shift in the tide.