This Class will combine the following topics:
No matter how close or distant we feel to another,
inevitably there are times we run into conflict. Most of us struggle with
finding ways to use these opportunities for growth and renewal in our
relationships. This is usually because we have inflexibly responded to others in
a habitual way, which might work for us some of the time, but certainly not all
of the time. Learn the three psychological approaches to interacting with
others: Pleasing, Asserting and Avoiding and discuss ways to increase your
flexibility in approaching others in the ways you don’t ordinarily choose. Tips
on how to speak plainly with respect, honesty and humor will assist you in
managing conflicts as well. Finally, a discussion on the Buddhist concept of
equanimity of self to all other sentient beings will be followed by instruction
in a meditation practice of equal loving kindness to friends, enemies and
strangers. Participants will be given the opportunity to share their favorite
style of resolving conflicts in order to assist one another in ways to use each
of the styles effectively. The effect of the meditation on the way participants
think of others with whom they have conflict will also be explored.
What do you do when you are feeling angry, depressed or attached to an outcome? This workshop will explain negative emotion and offer both psychological and meditation remedies to each of these conditions. Psychologists that study emotion have learned that often households say it is all right to be either angry or sad, but not both. The opposite emotion is often hidden behind the one that was permitted and needs more honest exploration. Society endorses sadness as ok for women, and anger as ok for men, but often looks down on the reverse. These complex messages leave us ill prepared to cope and make us attached to a specific outcome that keeps us fixed on an often unattainable goal. Ways of changing our negative thinking and automatic responses as a way to free us from our negative feelings will be taught. Buddhist meditations on the opposite positive emotions of love, compassion and dispassionate observation will be discussed as options for applied meditation “prescriptions.” The idea of pairs of opposites as inseparable continuums of experience will also be explored. Be prepared to practice these meditative remedies in class as preparation for those moments when you feel overcome by negative emotion!