A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT IN COMPASSIONATE LISTENING:

The ideal way is to select a street in your town to listen to. Take a few blocks. Ask another classmate to go with you. each of you should take one side of the street. Check with one another from time to time.

Then you ring doorbells. You explain to the resident that you are doing a survey for your class in Compassionate Listening and you would like to ask them a few questions about suffering in your area.

Here are the questions:

1. What kinds of suffering do you see in our town today?

2. What do you think our city should do about it?

3. What personal action do you think citizens should take to help?

4. (If it seems appropriate ask) How do you handle your suffering?

5 Report back to your class.

CLASS EXERCISES

Here are some exercises that will help you start expanding your capacity to hold conflicts more compassionately, beginning with material from your own life.

• Can you write a letter of appreciation to a politician with whom you disagree strongly?

In the course of life we can come to see that even the most painful experiences can have deep lessons to teach use, or deep strengths to evoke from us.

• Can you write a love letter to a person you hate? Describe to them what they did that felt hurtful. Then, how would you tell the person what you have learned and/or how you have grown? Can you thank them? How does it feel, stretching yourself this far?