Sounds True
Sounds True, the publisher of spiritually-based spoken word audio CDs and audio books, is producing a 5-CD set of recordings with Parker Palmer, called “An Undivided Life: Seeking Wholeness in Ourselves, Our Work and Our World." It's scheduled for an early April release date. We're really looking forward to hearing it. In the meantime, check out what Sounds True Founder Tami Simon has written in her blog after her recording session with Parker: "He named this ideal form of relating as being 'neither invasive nor
evasive' and he compared it to how a dying person might want to receive
a visitor—the visitor would not try to 'fix' the dying person (for who
can fix the fact that we are going to die and this is actuality the
situation we are all in?) but would instead be at the bedside with
total presence and a full heart, neither invasive nor evasive."
This is one of the touchstones of our work. If you've been to one of our retreats or through a retreat series, has this been part of your experience?
-
Feb 26 2009 | Sharon FabrizOn the second day of my first Washington State C&R retreat over four years ago, I expressed interest in being a focus person for one of the several Clearness Committees that would convene later that day. Each of the focus persons would bring a question to their committee of four others, and the committee would then ask open, honest questions for a full 90 minutes, allowing the focus person to reflect and speak to her issue. Several scribes in each small group would volunteer take extensive, dictation. Still today I treasure the notes, taken by several hands, which resulted from my first committee where I offered the question of having difficulty speaking my truth in my workplace. After my experience and subsequent experiences being part of other Clearness Committees as both member and focus person, I can say with no doubt that this kind of “being with others” is profound and rich. Not only that, but the clarity gained spoke volumes about the process. In that first experience, I felt like a fragile egg in the hands of gentle and generous souls who had my safety and my well-being as their utmost purpose. My subsequent experiences have been equally compassionate and powerful. The human potential to learn how to listen well, to ask open, honest questions with attentive care, and to stay quiet long enough to make the other matter, suggests that families can heal, communities can strengthen, and our world can change.



