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?
Permissions
- You are invited to engage at whatever distance feels right today
- You are not required to speak, share, or explain anything
- Noticing is enough — meaning can come later
- Silence, confusion, and resistance are valid participation
- Take what is useful and leave the rest
- The Questions for Discernment and Homework are optional and meant to serve you, not pressure you. Do as much or as little as feels right.
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?
- When have you felt rejected, and what did that experience teach you about how you relate to others? What beliefs about yourself were strengthened, and which were challenged?
- 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/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_and_the_drive_to_keep_creating