Five finds of the fortnight: Edition 37

Living Bridges is back! New workshops begin in September

Dear reader,

For the past few weeks, we at Living Bridges have been working on integrating the feedback we’ve received from Quarter1 to curate our offering for the coming quarter. We’ve now opened registrations for Quarter 2: a whole new set of learning topics and opportunities.

Here’s what’s changed: Our workshops are now held once a fortnight to allow for more space to integrate the learnings. We’re also holding our first panel discussion that will offer inspiration for anyone who wants to action what they’re learning with us.

And what stays the same: We continue to bring you trainers from around the world, with a depth and diversity of learning and topics. Our program continues to focus on NVC and social change while also ensuring that there’s learning and inspiration for anyone who wishes to apply this work in other areas as well.

We welcome everyone—beginners and experienced practitioners, those working in social change and those who wish to apply NVC in their own lives and personal relationships…everyone is welcome!

Join us to learn Nonviolent Communication and to explore social change with warm, supportive community.

Have questions? Write to us at [email protected] and we’ll answer them for you!With warmth,

Ranjitha

1. Quote of the fortnight

2. Image of the fortnight

3. Article of the fortnight

Rebecca Solnit writes about how labels can keep us from looking deeper into our lived realities, and can entrap us. Here’s an excerpt:People love categories so much they stuff everything into them whether or not they fit, ignore the contradictions and complexities, and once they've slotted something into its proper category assume they know it. The main thing about categories is that they are leaky and contain contradictions. They are useful and necessary descriptions of reality up to a point--after all words are categories, though even drink or horse or fair can mean many things. Taken too far they obscure what's out there.

And we are given so many people and things to respond to--including the climate bill signed into law a day or two ago--that are a complicated tangle of the good and the bad; the ability to cope with complexity is a survival skill and maybe a creative talent. Its lack helps people become manipulable, become cult followers who having once made the decision that the leader is right keep following into all sorts of dank places, become unable to perceive what's going on around them ...

4. Video of the fortnight

This fortnight’s video is Oren Jay Sofer’s guided meditation on relaxing tension in the body and mind. Follow along on Youtube here:

5. Upcoming events

Here are our offerings this quarter at Living Bridges:

  • On Saturday, 3rd September, Irmtraud Kauschat offers a workshop on self-empathy. This is for you if you’d like to understand what to do when you’re overwhelmed, and how to manage intense feelings like sadness or anger to move into a place of more connectedness and clarity. Click here for more information about the workshop on Self Empathy.

  • On Saturday, September 17, we have Myra Walden’s workshop on empathy: how empathy can support us with our collaboration, how it can help us manage conflict and build more trust. Click here to know more about the workshop “Empathy the Great Catalyzer”.

  • On Saturday, October 1, we host a panel discussion on Empathy in social change work, featuring Manasi Saxena, Catherine Cadden, Ashish Srivastava and Manuel Raymond. We’ll be looking at how we can better understand the needs of the community we work with, and what is likely to be most supportive. Join us for this if you’ve ever wondered what applied empathy can look like! Click here to know more.

  • On Saturday, October 15, I’ll be offering a workshop with Pranjal Tiwari on self-expression. Join us for this if you’ve struggled to hold both truth and care in your expression, if you’ve ever wondered if both can exist at the same time, and if so…how can we express ourselves without compromising on our honesty, and with care for the other. Click here to know more about this workshop.

  • On Saturday, October 29, Dr Madhukar Shukla’s workshop on storytelling foe change will share with us how we can understand, transform and share our own stories as we work towards change. Click here to know more!