Introduction

Building Community & Embracing Diversity

The Art of Compassionate Communication

Facilitation Skills: Decision Making & Conflict Resolution

Personal Empowerment & Leadership Skills

Celebrating Life:
Art & Creativity

Some Elements of Deep Listening

Honour People’s Boundaries

Deep listening begins with respect. To respect means, among other things, to honour people’s boundaries, to be sensitive to them without trying to force them, without wanting them to adapt to our own ideas. To respect is also not to take distance from people when they say or do something we don’t like. To respect is to understand that everybody can teach us something.

See your Teacher in Every Person, in Every Situation

From every person, from every situation you can learn something. Your listening will be deep when you ask yourself what is there beyond your feelings, your pain, and your anger; what can you learn from what happened, who and what is teaching us.

Accept Difference

Everything that happens to us is part of a whole that we may not be aware of, or that we don’t fully understand. We listen deeply when we are humble and accept that we don’t have the whole truth, and need to open up to other people’s truth.

• Elements of Active Listening
• Elements of Deep Listening
• Suspending

Two flowers with open petals as a visual metaphor of deep communication.

Click on image to enlarge