Expectations of Presence
I have the honor of being part of a 15-month Narrative Change Project with the H.E.B. Foundation here in San Antonio. We are a cohort of 15 people who will be working together for the next 15 months. Together, we hold the question, “Who is my neighbor?”
In response to that question, we will host a series of varied learning experiences, including workshops, city tours, and cohort gatherings, to encounter the unique stories of our neighbors in all their cultural, ethnic, racial, and socio-economic diversity.
We launched the project at a weekend retreat at Laity Lodge in the Texas Hill Country. We started the first morning with a review and discussion of the Cohort Expectations of Presence, nine guiding principles that, to me, are as relevant for life as they are for our cohort experience.
I’ll share this one as a possible focus of meditation for you, and share more in future posts:
Listen Generously
Listen intently to what is said; listen to the feelings beneath the words. As Quaker, Douglas Steere writes, “To listen another’s soul into life, into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest gift we can offer to another.”
To listen another’s soul into life. What a beautiful thought.
What does that mean to you? Have you ever experienced that kind of listening?
How can we do a better job of giving the gift of listening?