Compassionate Listening…Healing the World from the Inside Out
Taught by Andrea Cohen
The Sh’ma calls us to a deeper listening; a listening that reaches beyond our words to the One Silence that is at the source of Being. The V’ahavta invites us to love; to love with our whole self the One Who manifests as all that is. Our tradition teaches us that the two are intimately connected. Listening is an act of intimacy; a place where we are able to open ourselves to the other’s truth non-judgmentally, and stand in the other’s presence with greater compassion and understanding. Listening is, indeed, the key that unlocks the gates of love.
Compassionate Listening is a practice that seeks to fling these gates wide open for us. Its powerful tools help transform the energy of conflict into opportunities for understanding, intimacy, and healthy relationships in families, the workplace and in our community. It is a practice that provides a road-map to cultivating the wisdom of the heart as the key to real peace “from the inside out.”
Explore the some of the Core Practices of Compassionate Listening, of deep Sh’ma-ing, and learn the skills necessary to bring them into your daily life:
- Holding Compassion for Oneself and Others
- Suspending Judgment
- Maintaining Balance in the Heat of Conflict
- Listening with the Heart
- Speaking from the Heart
Andrea Cohen, M.A., M.S.W., is a Certified Compassionate Listening Facilitator and Senior Trainer. She is author of Practicing the Art of Compassionate Listening and a former Bet Alef member.
Please contact Shellie if you are interested in the Tuesday series beginning in April–or the possibility of a one or two day workshop. Location will be determined based upon participants.
The subject of compassionate listening came up at a J Street meeting taking place in my home. Margie Coles was present. She pointed out that people need to be trained in listening from the heart to be able to engage in conversation about Israel, a devisive subject even within the Jewish community! Coincidentally (or perhaps syncronistically) the very next day J Street held a meeting with Congressman Adam Smith, the representative for the newly drawn 9th District which includes many Seattle and Bellevue Jews. At the meeting, Congressman Smith challenged J Street members to speak with AIPAC, essentially laying on us the responsibility for beginning to unite American Jewry on the issue of Israel and the two-state solution, quite a daunting task!
So: I got a vision of a B.A.L.I. all day seminar in which the morning could be spent learning compassionate listening skills and the afternoon would provide ample opportunity to practice those skills—on the subject of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Perhaps it could be a joint venture between Bet Alef, J Street and Temple de Hirsch Sinai. (Rabbi Aaron Meyer was present at the meeting with the congressman and is very keen on the J Street cause.) The seminar might attract folks from AIPAC who become apoplectic when anyone suggests that Netenyahu’s approach is less than effective. Here is an opportunity for true learning all around.
What do others think?