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| One Journey Consulting | June 2010
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Greetings!
Happy Summer! The days are longer, the nights are warmer...as you go through your journey, we hope you are feeling the energy and positive effects.
At One Journey Consulting, we are expanding our services and broadening our reach to support people through the many changes that come with mid-life. Check out our new offerings below: a teleclass for improving communication, and a three-part workshop for designing the next phase of your life. Please feel free to share these opportunities with those you think would be interested!
Your partners on the journey, Renée and Di |
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Upcoming Services from One Journey Consulting
Passport to Better Communication: a new four-week teleclass that combines a bookclub with community conversation, support and coaching. The first book will be Difficult Conversations: How To Discuss What Matters Mostby Douglas Stone. Begins June 25 and runs for four consecutive Fridays 12-1pm.
Journey of Divorce Summer Support Series:an informal summer program for ongoing support and coaching through the divorce experience. Wednesdays: July 7, 21, August 4 and 18 from 5:30-7pm.
What's Next: Designing the Second Half of Your Life: begins September 25! Are you facing a mid-life transition- children going off to college, career change or re-entry, divorce or new relationship? Or just those midlife blues and blahs? If so, this unique series will help guide you to (re)discover your passions and reinvent the next phase of your life.
This fall, the Journey of Divorce programs return. Base Camp and Trailblazers will run for six consecutive Thursdays, September 23 through October 28. And the Women's Fall Retreat will be held in Hampton, NH on November 5-7.
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 Difficult Conversations
Sweat beads form on the forehead. Butterflies, or maybe even pterodactyls, fly about the stomach. Words are rehearsed in the head until the original meaning is jumbled and forgotten. This is the body's reaction to a difficult conversation.
Everyone has faced them. Asking the boss for a raise in a declining economy. Confronting a colleague on a misunderstanding. Discussing a sensitive issue with a loved one. A difficult conversation can be a confession, request, clarification or anything that creates a nervous or fearful reaction in the body.
Why are these dialogues so stressful? Because we think we're "right". And by extension, the other person is "wrong"... so our objective is not to have a dialogue, but to convince them of our point of view. In other words, to "win".
From this win-lose perspective, there is no room for real dialogue. Fearful of failing, we don't listen to the other person. We only defend our stance, and they defend theirs. Often deeply held beliefs are at stake, and emotions run high. No wonder these conversations are tough.
But what if instead of starting from a right/wrong position, we entered into a conversation with curiosity for what we don't yet see that the other person sees? What if we got curious for their perspective? What if we could shift the objective from "winning" to finding a solution that works for everyone?
We all struggle with communicating our thoughts and feelings, making requests, expressing differences of opinion when the stakes are high or if we have a lot invested in the situation. Whether it's at work, home or with friends, most of us avoid or dread having those difficult conversations. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are skills, approaches and mindsets that anyone can learn, that can help make these conversations easier and less intimidating, and ultimately get us what we really want - an outcome that works for everyone. This month, One Journey Consulting's new one-hour teleclass, the Passport Series will focus on difficult conversations. The format will be part book group, part discussion group and part personal coaching. Each week, members will have reading assignments (from Douglas Stone's Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most), and Renée and Di will facilitate a group discussion. Opportunities will be provided for attendees to receive coaching or engage in problem solving on their own difficult conversation. Open to all. |
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Recently one of our community members introduced us to the powerful poetry of John O'Donoghue. We thought we'd pass along the gift and share a poem from his collection, Anam Cara. This is one that spoke to our hearts and what we wish for you...
Blessings by John O'Donoghue
May you be blessed with good friends.
May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.
May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling and forgiveness.
May this change you.
May it transfigure that which is negative, distant or cold in you.
May you be brought into the real passion, kinship and affinity of belonging.
May you treasure your friends.
May you be good to them and may you be there for them; may they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth and light that you need for your journey.
May you never be isolated; but may you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam cara ("soul friend").
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About One Journey Consulting
One Journey Consulting is a coaching and
consulting practice dedicated to personal renewal and rediscovery, particularly
through the experience of divorce and other significant life transitions.
Services include weekly workshops, one-day seminars, individual coaching and
weekend retreats. For more information, visit www.onejourneyconsulting.com.
One Journey Consulting 75 Claypit Hill Road Wayland, Massachusetts 01778
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