February 23, 2024

Welcome to CODIFICATION!

Instructions:

^ If you need to review the Codification Samples again, click HERE.

1. Set aside about 2 hours to sit with and reflect upon the Codification questions.

2. Click on the button below to access the document.

3. Answer the questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. (Refer to your weekly emails.)

4. Send your completed document to Beth Seelinger and your Guide 48 hours prior to your Codification Discussion.

February 14, 2024

ADDITIONAL CONTENT #3

For this week’s Additional Content we have two readings for you: the last installment in our listening article series and a blog excerpt.

FINDING AND FIGHTING LISTENING’S GREATEST ENEMY

MY MISGIVINGS ABOUT ADVICE

The following excerpt is from a blog post by Parker Palmer, an American author and educator. Palmer is a prolific writer and speaker whose vulnerability and honesty have opened doors of revelation and healing for many. The excerpt we share comes from Palmer’s own story of struggle and being on the receiving end of what seemed to be good intentions. When you look at the author’s ideas through the prism of leadership, his words become especially interesting and valuable.

“Here’s the deal. The human soul doesn’t want to be advised or fixed or saved. It simply wants to be witnessed—to be seen, heard and companioned exactly as it is. When we make that kind of deep bow to the soul of a suffering person, our respect reinforces the soul’s healing resources, the only resources that can help the sufferer make it through.

Aye, there’s the rub. Many of us “helper” types are as much or more concerned with being seen as good helpers as we are with serving the soul-deep needs of the person who needs help. Witnessing and companioning take time and patience, which we often lack — especially when we’re in the presence of suffering so painful we can barely stand to be there, as if we were in danger of catching a contagious disease. We want to apply our “fix,” then cut and run, figuring we’ve done the best we can to “save” the other person.

And yet, we have something better: our gift of self in the form of personal presence and attention, the kind that invites the other’s soul to show up. As Mary Oliver has written, ‘This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.’”

Full Blog Post.

SMALL GROUP #3 QUESTIONS

Please incorporate the questions below into your Small Group Discussion:

1. Imagine you are Pogo, looking in the mirror. What do you see as the greatest obstacle to your ability to be Attentive? What can you do about this?

2. Palmer uses the word “suffering person.” What are the various forms of human suffering? Subsequently, in the places where you lead, who are the “suffering" people around you?

3. What do think about Palmer's idea that “the human soul doesn’t want to be advised or fixed or saved. It simply wants to be witnessed—to be seen, heard and companioned exactly as it is.”?

January 10, 2024

Attentive Kickoff session

Session documents