As an Individual – Self Connection
- Better access to your own feelings as a window to what is going on for you.
- Developing clarity about what is important to you and what you need, both in general terms and in specific situations.
- Enabling greater choice by finding space between what is happening in the moment, so you have freedom of choice, rather than reacting from habit or to emotional triggers.
- Disarming self-critical inner dialogs by having a constructive way to mourn results that fall short of your aspirations.
- Greater creativity in finding strategies to address your needs and goals through being willing and able to attempt solutions without insisting on success, total or even partial.
- Inner peace by addressing inner conflicts and self criticism and reaching clarity about what is important to you.
Talking with Another Person – Connection
- Understanding what is important to the other person and what they are actually hoping for, in the current situation and perhaps in more general terms.
- Expressing yourself honestly and authentically in a way that the other person is more likely to hear and interpret as you intended.
- Requesting what you need in non-confrontational ways.
- Finding creative strategies beyond the initial strategies that you each brought to the situation by developing a shared understanding of the outcomes you each are hoping for. This does not mean that both people have the same hopes for outcomes, just a shared understanding. Hence an increased likelihood of finding a strategy that works for both of you.
- Preparing for, and having, a difficult conversation with someone with whom you are experiencing conflict.
- Expressing gratitude authentically in a way that the other person clearly understands the positive impact they had on your life.
- Supporting someone else who is in emotional pain without taking that pain on yourself.
- Getting emotional support by deepening your self-connection rather than making the other person responsible.
Participating in Groups – Sharing Responsibility
- Understanding the importance of having a clear, shared purpose and how to identify it.
- Understanding how to lead a group.
- Understanding how to support a group leader.
- Balancing the shared purpose of the group with individual goals and needs.
- Engage the full creativity of the group in developing strategies/solutions and framing necessary decisions.
- Use conflicts within the group in a constructive way to improve the group results. This involves looking at options beyond just compromise.
- Enabling honest and authentic self-expression by all members of the group leading to a collective understanding of the shared purpose, as well as individual goals and needs.
- A group that is content with its outcomes.