Honouring Our Shared Belonging
Dates: September 18 to October 30, 2024
Duration: 6 zoom sessions over 7 weeks
This program is a six-week, instructor guided online and Zoom course.
Zoom Dates (Zoom Times coming soon)
September 18 and 25
October 2, 16, 23 and 30 (No session on October 9)
Cost: $60.00
Registration opening Summer, 2024
Course Description
One of the most important lessons of our time is that there is no longer any doubt; we are connected with others around the world and, indeed, with all creation. A second important lesson is that when our differences dominate our attempts to work together, our communities and the entire planet are at risk. As Mother Teresa reminded us: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.’
Honouring Our Shared Belonging will introduce compassionate listening as a way to be ‘alive to’ to belonging to all of creation: yourself, your family, your communities and the planet as a whole. You will be invited to think of community in its most expansive form and offered opportunities to listen deeply to what our ancestors, people in other parts of the globe, the natural world, and future generations are asking of us. This will nurture curiosity about what shared belonging can mean for the future of our planet and how we can engage our collective wisdom to respond to what future generations ask of us.
Course Outcomes
Upon completion of this highly experiential course, participants will:
- have a deeper understanding of compassion and skills to support deep listening at multiple levels,
- be better able to hold, in real time, compassion for the historic narratives that shape our world,
- be open to compassionate listening in the natural world - listening to our brothers and sisters of the forests, animal life, water and sky, and,
- begin opening their hearts to listen with compassion to future generations.
More information on this course is coming soon!
About the Instructor: Kathleen Coyne
Kathleen’s passion for community based transformative processes began at a grassroots level working as a volunteer in a rural British Columbia community. Since that time, she has worked for government in Northern Canada, managed a non-profit in Vancouver’s inner city and worked extensively as a consultant in the non profit sector, focusing primarily on creative planning and dialogue for diverse communities. Her full-time work life culminated with an opportunity to design and teach Community Leadership and Social Change programs with and for First Nation, newcomer and low- income communities in Vancouver, British Columbia. Kathleen holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Design and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy.
Throughout her life, Kathleen has been inspired by the incredible potential of community when people get to know their neighbours in a deep and openhearted way and commit to learning from and with each other. Turning now to part-time work, Kathleen’s focus has shifted to supporting individuals, families and communities to connect and grow in ways that are respectful of each other, our shared resources and the land we share.
To strengthen her capacity to do that, she trained with the Compassionate Listening Project (Compassionatelistening.org) and is now a Certified Compassionate Listening Facilitator. Here is what participants have said about taking courses with her:
Her commitment to the material and authentic desire to share it is very apparent. I have immense gratitude for the thoughtful time and energy that she put into this, and for her loving commitment to all of us.
Kathleen provides a powerful example of compassionate listening by using her skills in combination with the deep wisdom of the group members in our conversations.
To deepen her ability to understand the role of compassion in areas of conflict, Kathleen participated in the Journey to the Heart, a 10 day listening journey to Israel and Palestine. She continues to expand her knowledge of compassion centred models through training with the Compassionate Integrity program facilitator training, Boundless Compassion Facilitator Training, and other online offerings.
And to ensure her work remains rooted in social justice practice, Kathleen is also now the coordinator for the syiyaya Reconciliation Movement, supporting dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. She is also working to embed a compassionate community approach to health and social services at a local level.
