Monday, June 19, 2006

About the Nonviolent Communication Training Course

I am hoping that sometime later on this year HAT and TPF can present this course at the Tulsa Peace House. The course is recorded on nine audio CDs. Here is a little about each disc:

Disc 1. ORIGINS OF NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION
The purpose of NVC
Compassionate giving
A radical transformation of language
Refraining from criticism making demands

Disc 2. APPLYING NVC WITHIN OURSELVES
Four friends: anger, depression, guilt, and shame
Becoming literate in a “language of life”
From self-judgment to self-forgivness

Disc 3. A RADICALLY DIFFERENT KIND OF HONESTY
Evaluation without blame
How to make clear requests
How to choose the right strategies for getting your needs met

Disc 4. EMPATHICALLY CONNECTING WITH OTHERS
The dynamics of empathy
Connecting in the now
How to respond with NVC when you are judged

Dics 5. MEETING OUR NEEDS IN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS
The difficulties of expressing the need for love
How to use NVC to declare your intimate needs
Communicating about sexuality
Vulnerable self-expression

Disc 6. EXPERIENCING AND EXERCISING AUTHORITY
Authority, fear, and respect
Influence vs. control
The person behind the title
How labels affect behavior
Standing up to authority

Disc 7. HEALING, MEDIATION, AND RECONCILIATION
How empathy supports healing
Mediating “impossible” conflicts
Reconciliation and harmony through NVC

Disc 8. HOW NVC SUPPORTS SOCIAL CHANGE
How to make powerful requests
The protective use of force
Restorative justice in action
Beyond punishment and reward

Disc 9. LIVING COMPASSIONATELY WITH CELEBRATION AND GRATITUDE
Creating the conditions for compassionate giving
Gratitude you can trust
Recognizing opportunities to give and receive sincere gratitude

Sunday, June 18, 2006

HAT Minutes 6.18.06

The June HAT meeting was held at Randy and Dawn Bradley’s house. Charcoal hamburgers were served to the ten people in attendance: Brian, Harold, Bea, Phil, Gail, Marilyn, Polly, Dawn, Randy, and myself. Phil was a first-time guest at our meeting. Phil mentioned, among other things, the excellent freethought programming available at www.pointofinquiry.org.

We ate in the backyard underneath the shade trees. The Bradleys’ son, Patrick, assisted in serving the food. Following the hamburgers, we ate watermelon and brownies.

A lot of the conversation dealt with this question: Are we too focused upon our atheism? Are we turning people off because we talk about atheism? Most present expressed this idea: the role HAT serves is to bring together like-minded people, which gives us the opportunity to give and receive love from each other. No one objected to this idea. I read newsletters and web sites from other freethought groups. You can pick up from these sources what other groups find important to them. For some it is combating the Religious Right; others focus upon philosophy. The focus of our group seems to be on loving and supporting one another.

Gail mentioned that she likes the oral reading of freethought writings. I concur; the oral reading of freethought writings is probably the best way of keeping them alive.

Harold mentioned that he would be moving to Baton Rouge, although I don’t recall if he said when this would happen.

I informed the group that Susan Singh of the Tulsa Peace Fellowship has offered to loan us the Nonviolent Communication Training Course. I am hoping we can work in conjunction with the Tulsa Peace Fellowship and offer the course (one day per week for nine weeks) to HAT and TPF members. I will cooperate with Susan to see if we can set up the course at the new Tulsa Peace House.

I forgot to mention at the meeting, although I may have mentioned it in an e-mail, that supporter Larry Forrest (presently in Norman) has given us a DVD which we will view at an upcoming Movie Night. The DVD is “A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly.” It runs 72 minutes – about the ideal time for a Movie Night presentation. Larry intends to move back to Tulsa soon. Larry, an excellent wordsmith, was an integral part of HAT when he lived in Tulsa in the 1990s. He moved to Norman to become caregiver for HAT member Patti Reames who was stricken with MS. Patti died last December.

As always, if I failed to mention something I should have, feel free to add your own comment in the comment section.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

HAT News

Last Saturday, Bea, Randy, and I met at Randy’s house for the monthly Secular Singers get-together. Randy baked cinnamon rolls, and the three of us selected twelve songs for a “standard” presentation. The songs chosen will be worked up and serve as a core repertoire. Randy will send a list of these songs to all members of Secular Singers by e-mail. Meanwhile, I will make a list of all songs the group has performed in the past. This also will be distributed by e-mail to those on the Secular Singers e-mail list. If you are not already on the Secular Singers e-mail list and would like to be added, please let me know.

Then last Sunday, six HAT members took part in the monthly Humanist Study Group which met at Border’s Bookstore on Yale. Attending were Richard, Randy, Larry Hi, Marilyn, Mary, and myself. The focus of the discussion was chapter four of American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips. We were a small, but intimate, group. The camaraderie was palpable. Perhaps that explains why we stayed so long – a full two and a half hours. The group wishes to continue with this book at the next HSG in July. We will talk about chapters five, six, and seven. The group also called upon me to again lead the discussion.

I will try once again to prepare a list of discussion questions. I will send out the questions by e-mail. (Due to a lack of time, last Sunday’s questions were distributed on paper at the time of the discussion.) Two of us at the meeting had recently read Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg. We recommend this book for a future HSG.

In other news, the HAT Board decided to purchase “The Nonviolent Communication Training Course” by Marshall Rosenberg. The course comes on nine one-hour audio CDs. We hope to offer this course to all interested persons at the new Tulsa Peace House in partnership with Tulsa Peace Fellowship.

We also talked about some movies we would like to view at our monthly Movie Night. Three that were recommended were An Inconvenient Truth, A Prairie Home Companion, and Neil Young: Heart of Gold.