Al: Self Evaluation

I felt pretty good about what our team did. We had the benefit of going last and also one more day to let our intuition work its way. I can't speak for Ji-Yun and we didn't have a chance to connect until just before the class last night, this is pretty much my own view.
There were several things that I was happy about with myself:

I wanted to be authentic and I felt that regardless of age groups when given the encouragement and role-modeling can get into a reflective mode. So often, prejudices (which we all have one form or another) came from we as human beings not taking time to get a feel for people other than ourselves. We let our ego's, our identities our thinking mind define our thoughts and our behavior. Yet, given the right role model and the right teachable moment, all of us can get a feel for what some other people feel, what are their struggles, their sufferings and their longing. So, I decided that the game we would play to get the group in the mood is not to increase mind and body motions. I decided to use Avatar's Compassion Exercise as the introduction game. I have seen it happen again and again the power of that exercise in all age groups. It lets us have empathy for our fellow sentient beings -- including those who typically give us a hard time.

Once I decided that. I knew I had to talk to Ji-Yun about my idea, because the previous night, we had sort of agreed that she would be the one to do the Intro.

I found the best way to communicate that to a friend or a partner is to be honest with them and ask them directly and also with great respect for their help to try out my idea. If I express a need and request politely from my partner for their help to let me try, they will want to help.

Ji-Yun, especially, was delightful in that. She was kind and generous to my request and completely supported me.

Lessons: Be authentic. Ask for help. Be open to suggestions.

I thought the Compassion Exercise put the students in the open and empathetic mode quite well. Rapport was established and good will was established. From there, there was a sense that we all want to elevate our consciousness to a higher level.

We are open to all view points without judgment. We try to see things the other people might see them. It's from that higher plane, tolerance flourishes and fixed viewpoints (biases) are being brought forward to the light to be examined. That is the beginning of creation of an Enlightened Planetary Civilization.