Posts tagged: LISTENING

PASSIVE LISTENING: STOP ARGUMENTS and SAVE THE WORLD?

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By , November 8, 2007 4:27 pm

Please download the exercise from the sidebar at Creative Edge Focusing right now so you can read through. Consider whether, if everyone learned this simple structure for stopping arguments from birth, could we change the world? Here is how it begins:

“Passive Listening: Just Being Quiet, Not Interrupting!

 

     This is going to be extremely basic. And, maybe, extremely difficult!! All you are going to do is exchange equal, timed, passive listening turns with the other person, instead of arguing. Passive listening means you don’t say a thing, just let the other person speak without interruption.

 

 

     You are just going to practice Passive Listening – being quiet, listening, not interrupting. Try to imagine what the whole world could be like if everyone knew just this one, simple self-help skill!”

 

Stop for a moment to read the rest of the exercise from the download at http://www.cefocusing.com/freeresources/2a1c.php

The Basic Procedure

Here are the subheadings from the exercise which lay out the basic steps of this very simple procedure:

Agree on a signal during a peaceful time

Set a timer and take a seat

Use the timer to keep turns exactly even

Yell at a blank wall, if needed

Just keep going

Caution: Professional help needed?

Online support for conflict resolution

 

And those are the basics of this very simple procedure, which can be taught to anyone in five minutes.

 

Is It Really That Easy?

 

Probably not. No, it will not be 100% effective. However, to be a “statistically significant” help, it would only have to work 60% of the time. And, after thirty years experience with it, that seems extremely likely.

 

And, I have not found anything else, short of professional counseling or mediation (and often, even then, I think this more powerful), which has a chance to become such a widespread “cure” for conflict.

 

Why does it work?

 

When people can speak without being interrupted, and without fear of interruption, they automatically become able to speak from their “intuitive feel” of the issue or situation, The Creative Edge, not the already-known logical arguments that cycle around and around without changing. It is from The Creative Edge, this “intuitive knowing” of the whole situation, that new ideas and action steps can arise.

 

And, when people share from The Creative Edge, and listen to each other, they become vulnerable, authentic, honest. They say what they really want and need. They become “lovable” and move the other person to compassion and a wish to find a solution. So, even “passive listening” creates the capacity for love and understanding.

 

Example: Two People Arguing In A Store

 

Two people are arguing loudly in a store, screaming back and forth at each other. Their child is standing nearby, forgotten in their fury. Let’s imagine, in our new world where everyone, and I mean everyone, knows about taking passive listening turns for conflict resolution – just like everyone knows about reading and writing, or standing in line, or how to use an implement for eating.

 

So, a sales person or other staff of the store, or simply a bystander, another citizen, can simply say, “Oh, let me help you use Passive Listening Turns.” Mind you, this has become a cultural norm, just like driving on the right or left side of the street. Maybe there are even special rooms in public places where people can retreat for Passive Listening Turns. Maybe there are even specially trained mediators around, like there might be police or traffic cops.

 

So, because it is a norm they have been brought up with since childhood, the arguing people stop in their tracks and say, “Oh. Thanks. We had forgotten ourselves. And take their seats in the “safe place” set aside for such conflict processing (like everywhere there are bathrooms, baby changing tables, benches to rest, bus kiosks, first aid stations). And set the timer kept available.

 

So, they flip a coin to see who goes first, five minute or ten minute equal turns.

 

She starts. She is furious, not looking at him, sighing, turning from side to side, would really like to be still engaged in that furious tangle of yelling back and forth. She decides she needs to “yell at the wall” for a while, let some steam off before she can get any deeper into what is going on (but, remember, this kind of conflict processing is a “habit” in the culture, practiced since childhood, so she knows how to do it, what to expect, what to look for inside, eventually, the “hook” between them)

 

So, she yells at the wall for about three minutes, using swear words, saying all the worst she thinks about him and his behavior: “You selfish b______. I work so hard and you do nothing. I’m not letting you spend my money on that s____. I am furious. I am so tired of this and of you”, etc.

 

But, without response, pretty soon this energy runs out, runs down, and she begins to cry: “I’m just so tired. I’m so tired of our never getting ahead. I’m worried that your work is slowing down. I just can’t do it any more, carry all these burdens.” Her five minutes (or ten, whatever they negotiated) is up.

 

His turn begins (he is not so mad any more, having heard her words, seen her tears, seen her tiredness instead of just her anger): “I can’t go without something special. I just need to spend $10 once and a while on something that is just for fun. I can’t stand the drudgery, everything always the same. I wanted these sports cards because, for a few minutes, I could be happy looking at them—-I’m scared about my job, about the work slowing down — I don’t like it that you are making more money than me. I don’t like it that you treat me like a little boy getting an allowance— it makes me furious and ashamed.”

 

Not a total solution yet, but a “softening” on each side. It may take more turns. It may take more sessions. It may take professional help at some point. But, in this moment, the “horns locked” energy between them has been broken. Hopefully, they now have some “free emotional space” to care for their child, to not let the rage wash over there as well.

 

As long as they are not allowed (and have been trained from childhood how not to allow themselves) to get physically violent, or to shout back and forth, the angry assault will lose its fuel, and something new, a more Creative Edge, will arise in each of them, a more compassionate “touching,” more sympathy for each other. More willingness to look for solutions.

 

Please try out the protocol with your significant others this week. When there is not an argument happening,  come to mutually understand the rules, find a safe spot, get a timer, and establish a “signal,” like “popcorn” that anyone (including your children) to remind you that a bad pattern of “assault” or “argument” is starting, and it is time to try Passive Listening Turns. Then, you can begin to be prepared when an actual argument arises.

Please add your comments below. Do you think this would work? Have you tried it with your partner, child, friend, co-worker? Do you think “passive listening turns” could save the world?

See also Active Listening: Short-circuit Confrontations at http://www.cefocusing.com/freeresources/2a1b.php

Focused Listening Instructions at http://www.cefocusing.com/coreconcepts/1a2.php

Positive Parenting: Listening To Yourself, Listening To Your Partner, Listening To Your Child at http://www.cefocusing.com/isthisyou/3a1d3.php

Further training through the Self-Help Package at http://www.cefocusing.com/services/5b1.php

or Classes/Workshops Internationally at http://www.cefocusing.com/services/5b2.php

Dr. Kathy McGuire, Director

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)

www.cefocusing.com

categories conflict resolution, core skills, LISTENING, parenting, self-help skills | tags , , , ,

Five-Minute Grieving: What to do if a patient, friend, coworker starts crying

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By , October 29, 2007 4:30 pm

Finding The Meaning Of Tears

“Being Touched” and “Being Moved” : The Spiritual Value of Tears

Download the above articles to learn more about the use of Intuitive Focusing to unravel the meanings signalled by tears.

“Opening Up”, Not “Breaking Down”

Most of the time, we walk around “being” our symptoms instead of “relating” to them. The physician’s office is a place where accidental openings into the “felt senses” underlying symptoms have an increased likelihood of happening. It thus becomes important for physicians, and other health professionals, to capitalize on these moments where the defenses fall, and the preverbal felt experiencing underlying symptoms, becomes available for transformation.

Inter-office conflict or stress at home can also cause a co-worker or employee to “break down” and start crying. Or a friend may become teary while sharing. Instead of being afraid of a “break down,” see it as an “opening up,” an opportunity to unblock and build anew. See Culture of Creativity to understand the Creative Edge Core Principles underlying growth and creativity.

People Are Skilled At “Not Crying”

Five minute grieving is based upon the following premises, drawn from my 25-year experience as a psychotherapist and peer counseling teacher:

  • In general, people do not fall apart and cry and cry without stopping. In general, people do not cry for more than a few minutes at a time.
  • If tears are present, it is healthier for body and mind to allow their expression than to repress them. Tears also are the doorways into The Creative Edge, the possibility for change.
  • In general, people have a life-time of experience in being able to call up their defenses again, and go on as needed after a few moments of crying.
  • In the few cases where crying is uncontrollable, it is better to discover this vulnerability and get help, by referring to a counselor for psychotherapy and/or a psychiatrist for exploration of the appropriateness of anti-depressant medication.
  • In general, spending a few minutes making words for the “intuitive sense” underlying the tears will bring relief to the person, energy to the Listener, and a deep feeling of bonding and care between the two.
  • Allowing the tears also actually releases energy, letting the person go on to next steps of problem solving and action to be taken.

Here follows a first step into the Creative Edge Focusing ™ Core Skills of Intuitive Focusing and Focused Listening which I call “Five Minute Grieving,” especially for health professionals, but also for co-workers and friends in a pinch, if someone tears up or starts crying.  

FIVE MINUTE GRIEVING

Example from a physician’s office:

You have just told a patient that tests have shown her to be infertile. Tears well up in her eyes.

  1. Invite her to cry. Say something like the following:
    • “In a minute we can discuss options, but let’s make room for your tears.”
    • “It’s okay with me to let your tears come.”
    • “It’s okay to cry.”
    • “You don’t have to hold back your tears.”
    • “It’s important to let yourself cry.”
    • “Just be gentle with yourself. Put your arms around yourself.”
  2. Empathize with the feeling without trying to “fix” it or take it away:
    • “I know it seems bleak right now.”
    • “I know it’s hard.”
    • “I see your sadness.”
    • “I’m sorry for your sadness.”
  3. Help her to find words or images for the tears. After she has cried for a while or at a natural pause in her tears, say something like:
    • “What are the words for your sadness?”
    • “Are there any words or images with your tears? It helps to get a handle on the feeling.”
    • “Can you say what’s the worst of it?”
    • “Can you say what you’re thinking?”
  4. Just be quiet and give the person some time to grope for words.
    • Empathize again, often by paraphrasing:
    • “So it’s (her words: “the fear that you’ll never be a mother;” “feeling like a dried up stick,” etc.) that’s hard.”
  5. Continue Steps 1-4 as long as makes sense.
    • Establish closure:
    • “We have to stop now.”
    • “We only have a minute before we have to stop.”
    • “I have to go, but you’re welcome to sit here for a minute until you’re ready to go.”
    • Or, if you are now going to continue with other aspects of the visit, “Let’s see if we can put aside the tears for now so that I can give you some more information and we can look for solutions to your situation.”
    • Orient the person, if necessary, by doing a “present time” exercise:
    • “I want to make sure you’re back out in the world before I send you off to drive home (or before we continue talking) . How about if you name all the circular (or orange, or striped, etc.) things in the room?”
    • At the end of the appointment, make a referral to a counselor or support group as appropriate and/or make arrangements for the person to check back with you for a future appointment.

Of course, Five Minute Grieving  is just a first step toward fully incorporating Core Skills of Intuitive Focusing and Focused Listening into your personal and professional life. I hope it will whet your appetite to pursue further training in PRISMS/S and the Creative Edge Pyramid for application of Listening and Focusing at all levels and at home as well as work  at www.cefocusing.com .

You can begin with Free and Purchased resources by clicking on the Icons in the right sidebar on the main page. Helping professionals can order Dr. McGuire’s manual, The Experiential Dimension in Therapy and, in a Free Phone Consult with Dr. McGuire, can explore our Experiential Focusing Professional Training Program.

categories experiential focusing therapy, health, LISTENING, self-help skills | tags , , , ,

ESCUCHA ACTIVA

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By , October 28, 2007 2:42 pm

ESCUCHA ACTIVA

Corte por lo Sano Confrontaciones Molestas

REFLEJE, NO REACCIONE

Alguien viene a Ud. furioso, completamente fuera de sus casillas, aparentemente sin haber sido provocado.  Ud. está sorprendido y desea devolver la agresión.

En lugar de ello, Ud. puede neutralizar la furia de la otra persona simplemente respondiéndole de esta manera: (Escucha Activa)

  • – ¡Caray!! Algo te está perturbando realmente…”
  • – “¡Dices que estás completamente furiosa porque me olvidé aparecerme para el almuerzo!”
  • – “Ud. está molesto porque no está recibiendo el servicio que esperaba”
  • – “Ud. está muy molesto porque tuvo que pasar por otras oficinas antes de llegar a encontrarme”
  • – “Le molesta sobremanera el tener que pasar por todas esas respuestas telefónicas mecánicas, antes de poder hablar con un ser humano”

Sí; este es el comportamiento que yo desearía que todos los representantes del servicio al cliente tuvieran para que cuando yo les llame furiosa, me respondan simplemente: “Siento mucho que esté tan perturbada” , “Dígame un poco más acerca de lo que le está molestando para poder ayudarla”, en lugar de adoptar el rígido: “Sólo estoy siguiendo las reglas de la compañía!”, o “Nunca cometemos errores!” ó, “Realmente no hay nada que pueda hacer por Ud.!”; actitud que me pone cada vez más furiosa!

DESVIE Y NEUTRALICE la ira respondiendo simplemente con empatía:

“Mire, me doy cuenta lo difícil que es esto para Ud”, “Realmente,  estoy escuchando lo frustrante que esto debe haber sido para Ud.”

REFLEJE LAS PALABRAS….Y EL TONO EMOCIONAL…

En oposición a la Escucha Pasiva donde Ud. simplemente ofrece su atención silenciosa al otro, diciendo mayormente: “Hmm”, ó, “Oh!”, ó “Já!”, etc., en la Escucha Activa, Ud. pone de lado todas sus típicas respuestas  (consejo, argumento, opiniones, solución de problemas, juicios) y simplemente intenta decir de vuelta lo que la otra persona está diciendo con un énfasis en el tono emocional si puede captar alguno.

Ejemplo Uno: Cliente

Cliente:  Me han colgado varias veces y después de sortear 16 mensajes telefónicos, tuve que comenzar de nuevo.  ¡Ya estoy en ese plan 10 minutos!

Representante del Servicio al Cliente: “¡Oh. Lo siento mucho!”  ¡Ud. ha pasado 10 minutos frustrado y yo soy la primera persona con quien logra hablar!”

Cliente: ¡¿Por qué no hay una manera sencilla de hablar con un ser humano?!!  ¡Odio esos mensajes telefónicos!!

Servicio al Cliente: “¡Es muy frustrante para Ud.  tener que esperar y sobre todo la confusión por todos lados!”

Cliente: “¡Ud. tiene razón!”

¡Bueno, vamos al asunto!: Este es el problema: Cambié mi dirección postal para los cobros y las facturas todavía están llegando a la dirección equivocada.  Sigo recibiendo un recargo por los pagos atrasados.

Servicio al Cliente: “Bueno, ¡déjeme echarle un vistazo a su cuenta ahora mismo para ver qué podemos hacer!”

 Ejemplo Dos: Esposa

Esposa: ¿Cómo pudiste olvidarte que teníamos un compromiso para comer con los Gonzáles a las 6 p.m.?

Esposo: ¡Caray!  ¡Estás bien enfadada!  Debo haberme confundido en algún momento.  ¿Dices que olvidé el compromiso con los Gonzáles?

Esposa: ¡Sí, tonto! Eran pasadas las seis y ¡estuve tratando de ubicarte con el celular! ¡Qué humillante!, ¿Dónde estabas?

Esposo: “Así que estuviste tratando de ubicarme desde las seis y tuviste vergüenza de tener que pedir disculpas a los Gonzáles!”  Te preguntabas ¡dónde me habría metido!

Esposa: “¡¿Por qué no contestabas tu celular?!!!”  “¡Para eso son!…para Emergencias como esta!”

Esposo: “¡Entonces para ti fue una Emergencia y no había como ubicarme!  “Te preguntabas porqué no contestaba y dónde me había metido”.

Esposa: “¡Sí!; ¡exactamente es eso lo que pasó!”  “¿Dónde estabas?”

Esposo: “Bueno, ¡lo siento mucho!”  Vamos a ver qué fue lo que pasó.  Me quedé retenido por una reunión de Emergencia con mi jefe y no pude contestar el celular, ¡se hubiera puesto aún más molesto conmigo!  Creo que estaba tan contrariado con este enfrentamiento que se me olvidó completamente lo de los Gonzáles…Debí haber  tenido anotada la cena en mi Palm, pero creo que ni siquiera escuché el mensaje.  Estuve manejando, pensando qué hacer acerca de mi trabajo. ¿Qué puedo hacer para resolver el problema con los Gonzáles?  ¿Quieres que los llame para que nos reunamos otro día?

Esposa: “¡Oh!, ¡no importa!”, “¡Ya pasó!”

  ¿Por qué no me dices qué fue lo que pasó en el trabajo mientras busco algo que podamos comer…?”

Ejemplo Tres: Hijo

Hijo: “¡Odio la escuela!  ¡No voy a regresar nunca más!  ¡Las maestras son todas unas tontas!!!

Madre: ¡Caray! ¡Parece que algo te está perturbando mucho hoy día!” Tu maestra dijo algo tonto que te molestó…”

Hijo: “¡No!,” “¡No me molestó a mí!”!  ¡”No me voy a molestar con tontas como esa!”.  ” ¡No me importe lo que piense!” “¡Simplemente no voy más!”

Madre: “¡Así que no te molestó!”  No te van a molestar tontas como esa.  Ni siquiera te importa lo que piense.  Y ahora, tu dices que no vas a volver nunca más.”

Hijo: (Lágrimas de dolor) “Ella dijo que nunca seré escritor…que ni siquiera sé puntuación (llorando)”

Madre:”Así que tu maestra te dijo: “Nunca vas a ser escritor…”, “ni siquiera sabes puntuación…” y eso te está doliendo realmente!” “¡El escribir es muy importante para ti!”

Hijo: (más lágrimas) “¡Para escribir se necesita algo más que puntuación!”  “Lo que estoy diciendo es mucho más importante… ¡estoy poniendo mi corazón en ello!”

Madre: “Así que para ti, el escribir no es acerca de puntuación, sino acerca de lo que estás diciendo, que tú realmente puedes poner tu corazón en ello.  ¡Eso es lo que es importante!”

Hijo: ¡Sí! (menos lágrimas), ¡eso es lo que me importa a mí!  La próxima vez, ¿me puedes ayudar con la puntuación para que ella no se burle de mí?

Créalo o no, esta dispersión de la ira, hacia el dolor,  sucederá generalmente.  Y ¿qué puede perder Ud. si lo intenta?  En estas situaciones, no hay realmente ninguna otra forma milagrosa para enfrentarlas.

La Escucha Focalizada, Destreza Básica de PRISMAS/S ES MUCHO MáS QUE solamente REFLEJAR.  En el Instituto de Focusing, o a través del manual, CD y DVD o su Paquete de Auto-Ayuda, Ud. aprenderá muchos matices:

Cómo “pedir más” acerca de palabras que resaltan como si tuvieran luces de neón.

Cómo usar Invitaciones al Focusing para ayudar al que habla a sentarse en silencio y “sentir adentro” del “sentimiento total” facilitando el Cambio del Paradigma, y

Cómo, a veces, Ud. puede ofrecer su propio Compartir Personal (consejo, información, experiencias similares propias) siempre que regrese a la Escucha Activa, reflejando el impacto de sus palabras en la otra persona.

Sin embargo, la simple Escucha Activa, el decir de vuelta las palabras del otro,  parece ser siempre lo más importante -lo único, simple y poderoso que Ud. puede hacer para aumentar la comunicación con la otra persona, mientras que, al mismo tiempo, le ayuda a encontrar sus propias soluciones a los problemas.

Translation by Agnes Rodriguez, Certified Focusing Professional and Creative Edge Focusing Associate. Agnes offers inexpensive phone sessions of Active (empathic listening) so you can try it out and learn how to do it. Go to http://www.cefocusing.com/contact.php  and look at bottom for email address to contact Agnes.

Dr. Kathy McGuire

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)

http://www.cefocusing.com/

categories conflict resolution, core skills, LISTENING, self-help skills, spanish translations | tags , , , ,

COLLABORATIVE EDGE SEXUALITY: HEALING SEXUAL ABUSE

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By , October 27, 2007 5:24 pm

Kathy’s Inner ChildrenKathy’s Favorite Childhood Photo: Undaunted!

FOCUSING INNER CHILD WORK

Focusing Inner Child Work With Abused Clients 

(download this PDF file to see Dr. McGuire’s approach)

    Yes, if we are to work on healthy sexuality, we will have to look at the wide prevalence of sexual abuse, the wounds of which will crop up all around sexuality.

    What is the statistic? Is it 1 out of 2 women  and 1 out of 3 men report some kind of unwanted touching by age 21? Whatever the factual statistics, the number is huge, huge, enough that everyone needs an awareness of past abuse creeping into present relationships.

   Alice Miller, in her books including For Your Own: Hidden Cruelty In Childhood and the Roots of Violence, http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-5665581-7820613?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Alice+Miller+For+Your+Own+Good&Go.x=12&Go.y=12, was one of the first to “tear the covers off” the culturally-accepted practices and mythology surrounding the physical and sexual abuse of children.

    I have had women tell me laughingly over lunch, “Oh, I even take my showers with my clothes on!” or “I’ve never had an orgasm. It’s fine with me and fine with my husband.”

    Equally likely, flashbacks to sexual abuse begin when  someone finally finds a loving relationship, enough safety to begin to let down defenses and begin to re-feel — and, bam, memories from the past arise because of this new-found safety.

   In this self-help context, I can only issue a warning to be on the lookout for signs and to seek appropriate help. The official “diagnosis” is often Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the same kind of intense “flashbacks” and other anxiety-related symptoms that Vietnam vets called to our attention.

   One finding about  PTSD from warfare was that soldiers who had already experienced trauma in childhood had an intensified likelihood of PTSD in wartime.

   Much research also substantiates that a huge percentage of those in prison, men and women, were victims of childhood physical and sexual abuse.

   Intellectual understanding is not sufficient for healing. Nor is it necessary or productive to be “re-traumatized” through the unsafe recall of memories. Therapies are body-centered, helping the client to pay attention to  “present bodily experience,” Gendlin”s “felt sensing,” the crux of Focusing. They also use “anchoring” and other techniques to produce a therapeutic setting where memories can be “re-experienced” within a safety that allows for “carrying forward.”

   There are also approaches to treatment which emphasize supporting couples working through sexual abuse issues. One such is Laura Davis, Allies In Healing: When the Person You Love Was Sexually Abused as a Child. Read inspiring reviews of this book and the comfort it brings at http://www.amazon.com/Allies-Healing-Person-Sexually-Abused/dp/customer-reviews/0060968834/ref=cm_cr_acr_dp_top/105-0394208-4450814?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&customer-reviews.start=1&qid=1193519753&sr=1-1#customerReviews

You’ll find more books here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-0394208-4450814?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Sexual+Abuse+Couples+Therapy&Go.x=8&Go.y=13

   Some therapies that are especially useful in helping people to work through flashbacks and other symptoms, with empathy and support are:

Focusing-Oriented Therapy (FOT): read about Focusing and Trauma at http://www.focusing.org/trauma.html and find additional Certified Professionals who do FOT  at http://www.focusing.org/trainers_search.asp

Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing at http://www.traumahealing.com/

Mary Armstrong’s work on Focusing and EMDR at http://www3.sympatico.ca/m.armstrong

Hakomi Body-Centered Therapy: description at http://www.prajna-flowingriver.org/hakomi.htm. Hakomi Institute at www.hakomiinstitute.com and  Hakomi Resources at http://www.gregjohanson.net/page.asp?ID=4

Find links to free articles, personality tests, multi-media Self-Help training, Classes and workshops

Dr. Kathy McGuire, Director

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)

www.cefocusing.com

The site of new insights and creative solutions is at the edge of what is already known. This edge, The Creative Edge, holds implicit within it all past and future knowing about the problem, more than could ever be put into words in a linear way 

categories experiential focusing therapy, health, sex | tags , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ACTIVE LISTENING: Short-Circuit Angry Confrontations

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By , October 25, 2007 2:47 pm

Reflect, Don’t React

Someone comes at you, seemingly out of the blue, absolutely furious. You are stunned and want to fight back. Instead, you can diffuse the other person’s anger by simply responding in an Active Listening way:

  • “Wow, something is really upsetting you…”
  •  “You’re saying you are absolutely furious that I forgot to show up for lunch”
  •  “You are really upset because you are not getting the service you expected”
  •  “You are really mad that you’ve had to go through four other departments just to reach me”
  •  “It really bothers you when you have to go through all those mechanical phone responses just to get to a human being” 

Yes, this is the behavior which I wish customer service representatives had all been taught so that, when I call them, furious, they would just respond,” I’m sorry that you are so upset. Tell me more about what is bothering you so we can fix it,” instead of adopting that rigid, “I’m just following the rules,” “We never make mistakes,” “There’s really not anything I can do for you”  attitude that just makes me more and more angry!

Bottom Line: deflect and diffuse anger by simply responding with empathy: “Boy, I can see how this is hard for you,” “I’m really hearing how frustrating this has been for you.”

Reflect the Words…and the Feeling Tone…

As opposed to Passive Listening, where you simply give your silent attention to the other, at the most saying “Ummmhmmm” or “Ah, hah!” or “Wow!”, in Active Listening, you set aside all your typical responses (advice, argument, opinions, problem-solving, judgments) and simply try to say back what the other person is saying, with an emphasis on the feeling tone, if you pick up any:

Example One: Customer

Customer: “I’ve just had to wade through 16 phone messages to get to you, and I was cut off and had to start all over. It’s taken me ten minutes already.”
Customer Service: “ Wow! I’m so sorry! You’ve already been through ten minutes of frustration, and I’m the first person you’ve gotten to talk to.”
Customer: “Why can’t there just be a simple way to talk to a human being?!! I hate these phone messages!!”
Customer Service: “It is so frustrating to you to have to go through this waiting and confusion everywhere you go.”
Customer: “Damn right! Okay, let’s get on with it. This is the problem. I changed my mailing address for my bills, and they are still going to the wrong address, and then I end up getting late fees.”
Customer Service: “Okay, let me take a look at your account right now and see what we can do.”

Example Two: Spouse

Wife: “How could you have forgotten that we had a dinner engagement at 6PM with the Smiths???!!!!!!!!
Husband: “Wow! You are really angry. I must have slipped up somewhere. You’re saying I forgot a dinner engagement with the Smiths?”
Wife: “Yes, you idiot! It was at 6PM, and I’ve been trying to reach you on your cell phone. How humiliating!!!!! Where were you?!!!!!”
Husband: “So you’ve been trying to reach me ever since 6PM, and it’s been embarrassing for you, having to make excuses to the Smiths. And you’re wondering where I was.”
Wife: “How could you not answer your cell phone!!!! That is what they are for, emergencies like this one!!!!!
Husband: “So, to you, this really was an emergency, and no way to get through to me. You’re wondering why I didn’t answer my cell phone and where was I anyway!!!!!!”
Wife: “Yes, that is exactly right! So, where were you?”
Husband: “Okay, I am so sorry. Let’s try to figure out how this happened. I got held up at an emergency meeting with my boss, and I couldn’t answer my cell phone. He would have gotten even madder at me….I guess I was so upset by this confrontation with him that I just absolutely forgot about the Smiths…..I should have had the dinner in my Palm Pilot, but I guess I didn’t hear that either…I was just driving and thinking about what to do with the work situation. What can I do to make this better now? Do you want me to call the Smiths and make another plan?”
Wife: “Oh, that’s okay. It’s over now. Why don’t you tell me what happened at work while I find you something to eat….”

Example Three: Child

Child: “I hate school, and I’m never going again. Teachers are all idiots!!!!”
Parent: “Wow, something is really upsetting you today. Sounds like a teacher did something stupid that bothered you…”
Child: “No, it didn’t bother me!!!! I’m not going to get bothered by fools like that. I don’t care what they think!!!!! I’m just not going anymore!!!!!!”
Parent: “So, it didn’t bother you. You’re not going to be bothered by fools like that. You don’t even care what they think. And, right now, you’re saying you are never going again.”
Child: (tears of hurt coming) “She said I’ll never be a writer…that I don’t even know punctuation (crying).”
Parent: “So your teacher said, ‘You’ll never be a writer…you can’t even do punctuation,” and that is really hurting you. Writing is very important to you.’
Child: (more tears) “There is more to writing than punctuation….what I’m saying is way more important….I’m pouring my heart out.”
Parent: “So, for you, writing is not about punctuation but about what you are saying, that you can really pour your heart out. That’s what’s important.”
Child: “Yes (fewer tears)…that’s what matters to me. Next time, will you help me with the punctuation so that she can’t make fun of me?”

Believe it or not, this diffusion of anger, usually to hurt, will happen. And what have you got to lose by trying? There really isn’t any other miracle way in these situations!

Perhaps the idea of just “reflecting” the other person seems silly to you, like a parrot. However, when you are on the receiving end, just hearing your own words back without judgment or “fixing,” you will be amazed at what a rare blessing and relief it is just to be heard.

Learn The Focused Listening Skill

The Focused Listening Core Skill of PRISMS/S at Creative Edge Focusing (TM) is more than just reflecting.  You will learn many nuances:

  • how to “ask for more” about words with “neon lights” around them,
  • how to use Focusing Invitations to help the speaker sit quietly and “sense into” the “feel of it all,” facilitating a Paradigm Shift, and
  • how, sometimes, you can offer your own Personal Sharings (advice, information, own similar experiences), as long as you go back to Active Listening, reflecting the impact of your words on the other person.

However, always, simple Active Listening, saying back, reflecting the words of the other, remains the core – the one, simple, most powerful thing you can do to increase communication with another person, while, at the same time, helping them to find their own solutions to their problems.

Learn more about Focused Listening at http://www.cefocusing.com/coreconcepts/1a2.php

Apply Active Listening as “Five-Minute Grieving,” when patient, friend or colleague starts crying: http://www.cefocusing.com/freeresources/2a1d.php

Try “Passive Listening Turns,” a simple turn-taking protocol to turn arguments with significant others into creative problem solving: http://www.cefocusing.com/freeresources/2a1c.php

See examples of  Interpersonal Focusing for conflict resolution: http://www.cefocusing.com/casestudies/6a3.php

Purchase the Self-Help package of Creative Edge Focusing (TM) to learn how to apply all of these skills in friendship, love relationships, support groups, and work teams: http://www.cefocusing.com/services/5b1.php

Find Certified Focusing Professionals offering Classes or Workshops in core Listening/Focusing skills World-Wide, in many languages at http://www.focusing.org/trainers_search.asp

Find Coaching, Classes and Workshops with Dr. McGuire and Creative Edge Associates at http://www.cefocusing.com/store/categories.php

Dr. Kathy McGuire

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)

www.cefocusing.com

categories conflict resolution, core skills, LISTENING, self-help skills | tags , , ,

PRISMS/S PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS

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By , October 24, 2007 6:42 pm

PDF : PROCESO DE SOLUCION DE PROBLEMAS  PRISMAS/S at http://www.cefocusing.com/pdf/PROCESO%20DE_SOLUCION_DE_PROBLEMAS_PRISMA.pdf

Reflecting Before Acting or Reacting

The radical contribution of Gendlin’s Focusing (Bantam, 1981) and McGuire’s Creative Edge Focusing ™ is that the problem solver makes the explicit choice to pause and take some moments for silent reflecting before acting or reacting.

Instead of simply repeating past reactions, the Focuser can create new, completely innovative solutions and behaviors from the “intuitive feel” of the whole situation.

A quiet pause is needed in order to sense into the “intuitive feel,” The Creative Edge, of problems. Whether in private or in group decision making settings, these opportunities for pauses to contact and articulate the Creative Edge are what allow the creation of totally new ideas and solutions. No pauses, no creation of the new!!!!!

Using the PRISMS/S Problem Solving Process is like passing light through a prism. A few moments of pondering, and The Creative Edge opens into a whole spectrum of new possibilities and action steps.

Pausing To Ponder: From Problems To Possibilities

The PRISMS/S Problem Solving Process includes seven ingredients of predictable “Ahah!” experiences using Creative Edge Focusing ™. With its Core Skills of Intuitive Focusing and Focused Listening , PRISMS/S is based upon Eugene Gendlin’s “A Theory of Personality Change” (  http://www.focusing.org/gendlin/docs/gol_2145.html ) and his Focusing self-help book (Bantam, 1981, 1984), as well as Dr. McGuire’s thirty years of  experience integrating Listening/Focusing skills into task-oriented groups and supportive communities.

PRISMS/S can be used on one’s own or with the help of Focused Listening in a Creative Edge Focusing Partnership, Focusing Group or Team, or Focusing Community. In any case, problem solving goes through the following steps:

Pausing :  Clearing A Space for Problem Identification
Reflecting: Listening To Oneself or Focused Listening from Another 
Intuitive Focusing:  Back-and-Forth Between Symbols and Intuition
Shifting:  The Kaleidoscope Turns And A New Paradigm Arises
Movement:  Innovative Solutions and Action Steps Arise Spontaneously
Satisfaction:  Tension Releases in the Sureness of “Ahah! That’s It!”
Support: Listening/Focusing Partnerships Build Empathy and Community

Pausing:  Clearing A Space For Problem Identification  

As the first step of PRISMS/S, the Focuser sits down and takes a quiet moment to pay attention to the “intuitive feel,” the Creative Edge of consciousness.

Right-brain Problem Solving Is Non-Linear

Right-brain problem solving is non-linear. Wherever you start, you may find totally new directions, ideas, possibilities arising. This is exactly what you want!!!! But it means a relaxation around having to know exactly what the problem is and how it is going to come out before you begin!…….read more about PRISMS/S at http://www.cefocusing.com/coreconcepts/1a3.php

Dr. Kathy McGuire

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)

www.cefocusing.com

categories core skills, Creativity, Intuitive Focusing, LISTENING, self-help skills | tags , , , , ,

CORE SKILL: FOCUSED LISTENING

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By , October 17, 2007 3:41 pm

PDF: DESTREZA BASICA: ESCUCHA FOCALIZADA

Human Literacy = Listening To Oneself And Listening To Another

When an individual is using the Intuitive Focusing Skill to problem solve at The Creative Edge, Focused Listening by another person can help carry the whole process of articulation forward.

Based on Carl Rogers’ Reflective or Empathic Listening, Focused Listening, the second Core Skill of Creative Edge Focusing ™, is the most simple yet most powerful communication skill you will ever learn.

When people are trying to communicate, struggling with  overwhelming emotion, or trying to solve  problems, nothing is more helpful than hearing their own words back. Then, they can use Intuitive Focusing to check inside and ask themselves, “Is that what I am trying to say?”, “Is that really what I am feeling?” “Is that the right image for this creative problem I am solving?”

The understanding of Gendlin’s Intuitive Focusing has greatly enriched Empathic Listening, so that it is no mere “parroting” of what the other has said.   Reflection includes more than the person’s words. It can also include reflection of aspects of The Creative Edge which the person hasn’t yet been able to put completely into words. The person may be communicating these felt edges through gestures or emotional tone. Also, as the person speaks, metaphors or images may arise in the Focused Listener which seem to capture or point to the Creative Edge.

The Focused Listener can also offer Focusing Invitations which can deepen the Focuser’s ability to contact the Creative Edge.

Focused Listening means not trying to solve the problem for the other person but trusting that the solution is already implicit in the person’s own Creative Edge. No outside solution could be as relevant or as likely to be able to be carried out in action than that arising from The Creative Edge.

The Focused Listening Skill involves learning to set aside all your usual reactions, your opinions, judgments, advice, suggestions and just say back, or “reflect,” what the other person is trying to say.  The Listener can also help by giving Focusing Invitations to the Focuser.

Yes, everyone thinks they know how to do listen, but, really, when was the last time you really listened to another person, or that someone really listened to you?   

Four Basic Kinds of Response

The Focused Listening skill as Dr. McGuire teaches it, which combines Gendlin’s Focusing with Rogers’ Reflective Listening, includes four different possible kinds of responses by the Listener: (read more and learn the actual skill involved in the responses at http://www.cefocusing.com/coreconcepts/1a2.php on Creative Edge Focusing’s Ultimate Self Help website.

categories core skills, LISTENING | tags ,

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