Facing Global & Local Challenges Together...

Through Pandemic & Climate Emergency.

The Monthly Empathy Café is about Building a Culture of Empathy. It's a place to express, listen, be heard, regenerate, transform challenges into opportunities & grow your community of support.

This facilitated in-person gathering, is a place to learn & practice potent & accessible deep listening skills. These skills can transform the way you relate to your family, your coworkers, your friends & transform your life. The Monthly Empathy Café also gives your whole being space to process whatever the heck is actually going on in your personal life, to cultivate your life to thrive with the planet, from the inside out.

There is so much whirling in the world right now, it’s hard to make sense of it at times, especially alone.

From adjusting into & out of social isolation, all the local & global changes that have occurred over the pandemic; businesses closing down, political division, social unrest, economic uncertainty, fake news. To being with the uncertainties of the future through the Climate Emergency, at times not actually being able to feel the real sense of this global crises, or just being with all the opposing voices at the same time. Being with the confusion, grief, anxiety, frustrations, overwhelm of living within the Anthropocene; facing rising global temperatures, environmental degradation, lack of political leadership on climate, social injustices, cyber insecurity, mega corporations, police brutality, consumerism, tech overloading. All on top of our everyday challenges of struggling with making a living, family relationships & dealing with our own mental & emotional wellbeing.

Phew! Life's a lot sometimes...

Not to mention that our often fast paced world does not value or give enough space to the vital importance of creating spaces to pause, reflect & regenerate our mental-emotional energy stores. Or sometimes it doesn't even feel like there's time to pause! But we must, engage in an action/ reflection/ learning cycle, because rushing ahead in the wrong direction, with a disconnected mind & heart-set can be a waste of precious time & energy.

The time of the lone wolf is over,

We need each other now,

To transform challenges into opportunities.

The Monthly Empathy Cafe is a space to regenerate together.

Why a Cafe?

You're invited into a casual conversation, in small groups with 3-5 other futuremakers, just as if you were sitting at a cafe with a group of friends! At the café table you will be invited to share & deeply listen to each others experiences around meaningful & relevant, personal, local & global topics that you tell us impact your life. You are not required to know anything specific or prepare anything at all. You are simply invited to be yourself as you are & share from your own personal experiences.

Expect to leave with deeper connections, a growing community of support, a ready to use practice you can apply to your daily life for authentic relating, more self-empowerment with your needs, triggers & sticky situations, more ecoresilience & another step ahead on the path toward your thriving life, that’s also good for the Planet!

The Research

Deep listening is a rare & valuable commitment. Most discussions involve competition for space to speak. Deep listening requires the listener to empty themselves of personal concerns, distractions & preconceptions. We listen with our ears, eyes, mind, heart & imagination too.

If our subconscious concerns & worries are not addressed they are likely to compound over time. These concerns can instead be prevented with small timely interventions when issues first arise.

Deep listening is a way to settle your body, or the body of the "other" who is triggered or activated around you. It's a powerful tool that transforms triggers, disconnection & conflict into connective collaborations.

Deep listening is a subtle, yet transformative skill that can unleash creative solutions that were before unseen or left in the unexpressed & sometimes silenced parts of ourselves.

(see references 1,2,3 below)

The Benefits…

Deep adaptation: adapt deeply to your current challenges

Open to unseen possibilities in your life

Transform challenges into opportunities

Be deeply heard

Grow community

Receive care & develop deeper connections

Support each other with ease & greater self-empowerment

Become Response-Able: develop a greater ability to respond to a shifting world

Practice pausing, to find loopholes, that fast track your progress.

Who is this for?

Futuremakers, changemakers, professionals, parents, young people & activists who want to grow deeper relationships, process personal uncertainty, overwhelm, frustration, sadness about, personal, local or global challenges whilst surrounded by a nurturing community, so that you can thrive at life!

Program

Each week there will be a short guiding talk on an Deep Adaptation topic & an explanation of the Empathy Circle process. Then for 90min we will go into break out groups, to explore the topics & reflect for each other, to empower each other to understand how the topics express in our own lives & where we actually want them to be with them. Each Empathy Circle will have a facilitator guide the practice where needed. Before the end there will be a chance to regroup, share your discoveries & cultivate action steps.

These topics are based on a series of questions guided by Ecoresilience & Deep Adaptation practices. The intention of this series is to guide us into a deep inquiry, with tangible outcomes & actions that support the flourishing of regenerative cultures from the inside out, toward an ecologically sustainable, socially just, economically circular & spiritually fulfilling human presence on this planet.

Topics & Dates

1. 24th March: My Regenerative Culture

Culture begins within - A deep look into our personal regenerative practices.

2. 28th April: How Do We Overcome Barriers to Regenerative Culture Relationships?

Steps to Mastering Authentic Relating IRL (in-real-life)

3. 19th May: Moving from Pain to Power in Climate Resilience

Self Empowerment through Ecoanxiety & other Earth Emotions

4. 23rd June: Part 1: Deep Adaptation: Ecoresilience

How to thrive in a pandemic world?

5. 28th July: Part2: Deep Adaptation: Relinquishment

What do we want to let go of on all levels to set the foundations for human & nature ecosystems to flourish together?

6. 18th August: Part 3: Deep Adaptation: Restoration

What do we want to cultivate back into existence, for human & nature ecosystems to coexist & thrive?

7. 15th Sept: Part 4: Deep Adaptation: Reconciliation

What relationships on all levels do we need to heal, to cultivate the foundations for regenerative human & nature ecosystems?

8. 27th October: How to Have Impactful Positive Change in a Complex World

Where to start & where to deepen.

9. 24th November: Harvesting Deep Adaptation Lessons

Looking back & visioning forward.

You can come to one, or book in for several Empathy Cafes or the whole series if you like.

Note: These cafes may be therapeutic, but are not therapy. This means that they are not meant to replace therapy, counseling or psychologist sessions. You are responsible for your own mental & emotional wellbeing & support networks. If you require further support after & beyond these cafes, please ensure you organize your support networks as you require. If you need help with this, Be Regen also offers Thrive Sessions; one-on-one psychotherapy/personal development time where you can be supported to formulate your own regenerative culture practices & plan.

Contribution: Our intention is to make Be Regen events accessible to everyone. If you are keen to attend, but have challenges with affording the ticket price, please email me with an answer to the following questions:

1. Describe your current circumstances or view point which means you are unable/ prefer not to purchase a ticket?

2. Write about why you would like to attend this event.

References

1. McWhinney IR. A textbook of family medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

2. Stuart MR, Lieberman JA. The fifteen minute hour. Applied psychotherapy for the primary care physician. New York: Praeger, 1986.

3. Barnard D. Active Listening Skills, Examples and Exercises, 2017, [online; https://virtualspeech.com/blog... Sept2020]

Any Questions, just write to us at BeRegenPro@gmail.com.