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.