Epiphanies

  • What, from previous sessions, has come back around to speak to you?
  • Which of the homework exercises have had an unexpected impact on your outlook?
  • Where is this path leading you?

Video Presentation

https://www.ted.com/talks/raymond_tang_be_humble_and_other_lessons_from_the_philosophy_of_water

https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection

Questions for Discernment

  • Is being humble a comfortable or uncomfortable experience? Can one have humility without being humiliated?
  • Why are we afraid of rejection? Why do we take rejection personally?
  • What can we learn from rejection? Is the lesson worth the pain? Can we get the lesson without the pain?
  • Have you ever been rejected for something, but everything turned out OK in the end? What can you share from your personal experience?

Homework Exercises

  • Create your own “rejection challenge”. Pick one outlandish request per day that you are almost certain to get rejected upon when asking. Keep a diary of how you felt before and after, and anything you learned.
  • Recall a time when you were painfully rejected. Is there a way to take that event and turn it, or your memory of it, around for goodness?
  • Recall a time when you made a mistake in rejecting someone else. Write them a note explaining why you rejected them then and what has changed since then. Send the note or keep it in a special place for the future.

Side Trails

https://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_brencher_love_letters_to_strangers