There is always a space between us and another person.
And into that space we bring our thoughts, our words, our emotions, our energy, our assumptions, our reactions - and our presence.
In this episode of Pearls of Wisdom, Julia explores what happens when we stop focusing primarily on what other people are putting into the space between us, and instead become fully responsible for what we are bringing.
Other people may bring anger, judgement, fear or difficult behaviour into the space. We cannot control that. But we can become deeply aware of our own contribution.
What am I bringing to my partner?
To my family?
To my colleagues?
To my friends?
To the stranger in the street?
To the person serving me in a restaurant?
The space still exists - even with people we don't know.
Julia explores communication, listening, reactivity and the powerful pause between stimulus and response. She considers how the response someone has to our communication can help us understand what they actually received, even when it wasn't what we intended.
This isn't about taking responsibility for another person's behaviour, or abandoning boundaries. It's about taking responsibility for our side of the space.
Drawing on the wisdom of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and “Love others as yourself,” Julia explores what it means to bring love into the space, including learning to breathe love into ourselves when we are triggered and reactive.
