Consider how much time you spend each week talking on the phone, sending emails, attending meetings or appointments and interacting with friends, colleagues, family members or the person who rings up your groceries — in other words, communicating with others.
Do you find yourself involved in frequent disagreements? Do interactions with others often feel one-sided or incomplete? Do you wish people understood you better?
Turns out, it’s all about choice. Having a variety of communication styles at our fingertips can enhance our relationships, help us feel understood and get us what we want or need. If we could pick and choose when to collaborate, when to compete, and when to avoid, we would be better equipped to navigate the various situations of life. The key is to actively choose how we want to respond, instead of letting any one approach rule our lives.
In this lively, interactive workshop, you’ll:
Learn about different communication styles
Identify your preferred style and the styles of others
Practice applying different styles in common situations
Best of all, you’ll expand your communication choices so you can get through each interaction, activity and project in a more satisfying and effective way.
Anne Bers is the Director of Mediation and Facilitation Services at the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, in San Mateo. She has worked as a professional communicator and consultant to government agencies, corporations and small businesses, and holds a Bachelor’s in English from the State University of New York and a Master’s in Technical Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Report on AHA Annual Conference by those who were there!
July 7, 2013
HCSV members who attended the 72nd Annual Conference of the American Humanist Association in San Diego, CA, 30 May – 2 June 2013 will report their experiences and feelings. Come learn about the dynamic and expanding activities of our national Humanist organization.
Attendees: Bill Rausch, Min Chang, Ed Yates, Alex Havasy; Martin Squibbs, Hilton Brown, Arthur Jackson, Sena Havasy
Our members were most impressed with the Conference.
Obama and the War on Terror: Did the President’s National Security Speech Really Change Anything?
PAUL GEORGE Director, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
June 30, 2013
Paul George
President Barack Obama’s May 23 policy speech on the so-called war on terror was a call for change. It was clear that Obama was responding to tremendous public pressure to end the policies of his predecessor. How far does his new policy go toward ending the perpetual war, and what might the new national security program look like? Pau George will dig into the President’s address to find out whether our endless war might actually be ending.
Paul George has been a grassroots human rights activist and organizer for over 40 years. He is the director of Peninsula Peace and Justice Center and a frequent public speaker on a range of topics. He is renowned for his sharp analyses and clear explanations of complex national policies.
Humanist Celebrants, visiting patients in hospital
Bill Rausch
June 23, 2013
My volunteer work at Washington Hospital doesn’t directly involve my humanist celebrancy. I had two angina attacks during the spring of 2011 which drove me to consult with a cardiologist. He performed an angioplasty, in which a catheter was inserted in an artery in my right arm and was threaded to the blockage and inflated to break up the fatty deposits. I stayed in the hospital overnight and was discharged the next afternoon. Subsequently I enrolled in the Hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation program using exercise machines under the supervision of a team of nurses and an exercise specialist.
My rate of recovery so impressed the head nurse that she invited me to become a Mended Hearts Visitor. As such, I visit patients who have had angioplasties shortly after they have had the procedure. I tell them that there IS life after the procedure. As an 81 year old man who patrols the trails of the East Bay Regional Parks District, I’m an example. Hospital rules for volunteers prohibit proselytizing for creeds or religions. I perform this duty to fulfill my service of humane ideals.
I’ve included public service in most of my adult life. Examples could be my 40 pint aphaeresis donations at the Stanford blood Bank and my passing messages via ham radio during the Loma Prieta earthquake. I only discovered humanism 4 years ago but I do regard my celebrancy as a continuing part of my overall service to my fellow humans.
Thousands of years ago people wanted to understand the universe, how humanity was created, and the meaning of our lives. But back then they didn’t have a lot to work with so people created stories and eventually those stories became religion.
Many people criticize religion for believing in “crazy stuff” but the way I see it religion was science back before there was science. Their ability to understand the universe back then is like us trying to understand what, if anything, exists outside of our universe. Nonetheless the attempt was necessary in the course of human evolution to unite people into societies. As a society we could survive better and it led to the creation of the foundations of the scientific methods we use today.
Now that we have advanced to where we are today we find ourselves still wanting to understand the universe, how humanity was created, and the meaning of our lives. We are now doing that through science which is the way we determine what reality really is. Science is now the new Bible. Or more accurately, the Bible is an older version of science.
Science however is still under development as we explore the “meaning of life” questions. Why are we here? What is our purpose in the universe? Or do we simply just exist for no reason at all? Where does right and wrong come from and what should I be doing when I wake up in the morning to further the greater purpose of human existence?
As it turns out humanity does have a greater purpose in the universe. We are not merely an evolved version of pond scum. We are part of the process for which reality itself becomes self-aware.
We are the universe. The universe evolves and evolution is randomness that selects on survival. This process creates complexity and eventually leads to intelligence. And here we are 13.8 billion years later looking back at how we were created. Since we are a creation of the universe, we are the universe understanding itself.
Our role in understanding the universe isn’t optional. We have to do it to survive, to continue to exist. If we don’t then the next big asteroid will take us out. Eventually we are going to have to get off this planet because it is far too fragile to rely on for our continued existence. It is like living on the surface of a soap bubble that could pop at any second. We are going to have to move out into space and in order to do that we are going to have to understand a lot more about the universe than we do today.
Humanity has two paths. We either evolve forward or we become extinct. If we become extinct then we are out of the game. We cease to exist other than being part of the mass of the universe. Therefore our purpose is to continue on the path that evolution has set out for us to be the universe contemplating itself, and for that understanding to continue to increase over time. The purpose of humanity is to continue to be the process for which reality becomes self-aware.
You might ask yourself, what about life on other planets? My answer is – same thing. If intelligent life exists on other planets then they too have the same purpose as us. Evolve or die.
So what does this tell us about right and wrong? How is morality derived? What is my personal role in existence?
If our purpose is to evolve forward where our understanding of reality increases over time then, those things that lead to positive evolution are good and those things that lead to extinction are bad. That is the basis of our moral compass that creates a basis for right and wrong, morality, laws, and the basic tenants of society. And it becomes the basis for a new religious paradigm, reality based religion that becomes an upgrade to previous version of religious philosophy.
Everyone seeks the “Truth”. But what is capital T Truth? Truth by definition is the understanding of the way things really are. All religions seek the Truth, but how do you get to the Truth? You get there through science. Thus science is the new Bible. But don’t think of the Bible as being wrong. Think of science as an upgrade. Think of science as the 2.0 version. It’s the same purpose, we’re just better at it now.
