Relationships
Empathy blends the heart’s compassion with intelligent discernment of underlying issues and forces. In other words, the head and heart work in consonance . . .
Random moments are precisely when we are teaching our children how to treat one another. The compassionate responses of adult models in dozens
of daily social dilemmas reveal to the child the royal road to inclusiveness.
Heart Wings
Children act like us. What honest elders don’t see our own irritable, impatient reactions or patient, compassionate responses reflected in our children’s behavior. In some cases, children enact our worst fears, simply because of our lack of understanding of heart-centered guidance.
It’s helpful to recognize that in our own personal relationships, we often want understanding more than we want our way–not just understanding of the intellect, which stands removed, but the heart’s comprehension based on empathy, which embraces our feelings and needs. This insight, which applies to our children, is a powerful segue into harmonious relationships with them.
For those of us seeking more heart in our relationships with children, we live in a fortuitous time. The science of Interpersonal Relationships and the Science of the Heart are revealing the untapped powers of heart-guided interchanges between people.
For many years our favored voices in the science of empathic communication have been Haim Ginott (Between Parent and Child and Between Teacher and Child); his students, Faber and Mazlich, who wrote How to Talk so Kids Will Listen; and Thomas Gordon (Parent Effectiveness Training and Teacher Effectiveness Training). More recently, a powerful voice in empathic relationships is the work of Marshall B. Rosenberg (Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life by Rosenberg and Arun Gandhi).
For 30 years we have experienced the power of empathy and clear, communication, without blame or judgement, to dissolve conflict and heal relationships.
More recently, the scientific research at the Institute of HeartMath has confirmed the importance of the centrality of the heart in all our relationships. Centering our relationships in this organ which is in communication with every organ of the body and other heart/body/brain systems, brings vital organs and relationships with others into coherence, This calm, resonant pulse within the heart’s field brings both organs and relationships to a state of peace, health and creative vitality.
The work of the Center for Non-Violent communication and the Institute of HeartMath have inspired PePeace–the heart/brain child of Rita Maria Johnson, founding director of the Rasur Foundation. In an empowering, yet simple approach Rita Marie has synthesized the paradigm-changing discoveries of NVC and the IHM. The Center For Living Ethics has embraced BePeace, because heart coherence is the starting point for achieving harmony in relationships. In the definition of BePeace as defined in the BePeace Foundations Course:
BePeace is a practice that combines a scientifically proven method for “feeling peace” with a clear path for “speaking peace” that creates an authentic, compassionate connection. As we learn this practice, we are empowered to pass it on, to “teach peace”.
The secret of the impact of BePeace is coherence through appreciation, and connection to universal needs through empathy and honesty.
