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COURSE

Understanding Power, Self-Mastery & The Key To Wise Action

With Nolitha Tsengiwe

This self-mastery course focuses on building the capacity for eldership and in doing so, paving the way towards a better world. Eldership has nothing to do with age. It is about compassion, conscious use of power, wisdom, and wise action. We are in a times of crisis like never before. And in these times, eldership is a key competence that can support us to contribute to what seems to be a new imagined world - a world that is defined by equity and sustainability. Eldership is compassion for all voices, all parts of a system. And compassion is first about recognising we all suffer: I suffer, you suffer. It focuses on the desire and need to alleviate suffering. Over the next 10 days, we will explore concepts, such as power, rank and privilege and how you can use your power for good, how to build resilience and courage in the face of change, "Insight Dialogue;" a relational mindfulness practice, and how to minimise our all too common tendency for reactivity. You and I have this opportunity to think and reflect on how we can contribute in creating a world of equity and sustainability. A greener world.

Learn how to use power consciously to create a greener world of compassion, equity, and sustainability.

10 Days

4.1k students

4.6 stars

9 min / day

English

About this course

Insight Dialogue

Mindful Self-Discipline Practice

Self-Coaching Practice

Meet your Teacher

Nolitha Tsengiwe

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City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa

Nolitha Tsengiwe is currently living and working in Johannesburg. Catholic by upbringing, she has always been, even as a child, curious about "what truth is". Her search for answers led her to become a practicing Buddhist. She is a psychologist in private practice and an executive coach. In both roles her primary task is to create a holding space for people who are also in search of truth as a doorway to freedom. Nolitha is a mother to a 19-year old son, Singatha, who is her teacher on how to be in the "here and now". She is a facilitator in Biodanza (Dance) which is food for both heart and body and graduate of the Community Dharma Leader Program, under the auspices of Jack Kornfield, at Spirit Rock Meditation Centre CA, USA. Nolitha is currently doing a four-year Buddhist teacher training program under the guidance of Joseph Goldstein and Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. Nolitha teaches meditation and mindfulness and works as a leadership trainer in business.

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10 Days

4.1k students

4.6 stars

9 min / day

English

Lesson 1

What Is Eldership?

In this first module, the focus is going to be on eldership. We will discuss its four primary components. Eldership is about the ability to have compassion for all voices, for all parts of a system. It is about compassion. Compassion is first about recognizing that we all suffer. And more importantly, about the desire and need to alleviate the suffering. The second component of eldership is about conscious use of power. Power is something that all of us have. The third component is wisdom. Wisdom arises when we reflect. From that wisdom, it becomes to take wise action, which is the fourth component.

Lesson 2

Power & Rank

In this second module, we will explore other sources of power that everybody has. We will focus on power and rank. Our objective is to understand our own sources of rank. It is about realizing that all of us do have some form of rank and power and therefore, privilege. It is an understanding that we can build eldership and be a contribution to the welfare of the whole world.

Lesson 3

Getting Smart In Different Roles Of Power

A quote by Arnold Mindell says,"If all the oppressed where to move forward, and all the oppressors were to step down, chances are, the world will not change in a sustainable way. Why? Because one power was blindly replaced by another. It is only when all members of the community grow in awareness of power in themselves and others can true change occur." This lesson focuses on getting smart on what to do when you're in a role of rank and power, and what to do when you're in a role of lesser rank and power.

Lesson 4

Power, Rank & Privilege

In this lesson, we will explore power dynamics in the workplace. This is also applicable in situations and environments outside work, such as home. We will continue to clarify our sources of rank and how to use rank and power consciously to uplift and make a contribution.

Lesson 5

Change & Edge

This lesson we are going to explore change. It is about understanding yourself in moments of change. Who are you? What do you do to manage change for the results that you want? We will talk about the concept of edge, which is defined as something you cannot bring yourself to say, do, feel, and look at. We will look at examples here, as well as barriers that can stop you from making necessary changes. We will also learn about building courage and resilience to create the change you want in your life.

Lesson 6

Conflict

This lesson focuses on resolving conflict. For self-mastery and efficacy, we need to be competent in conflict resolution. For that, we need to learn a tool that is effective in conflict resolution. But first, we need to accept conflict, whether internal or external, as normal in human beings.

Lesson 7

Responsiveness & Reactivity

In this lesson, we will focus on managing our reactivity. All of us in situations where we are happy or in flow are responsive and have high EQ functioning. However, when situations demand challenges, we go into reactiviity. Reactivity will stop us from self-mastery. The objective of this lesson is to help you identify your habits of reactivity. What do you do? What defense mechanism do you engage in under demands, pressure, and challenges? We will learn ways to go beyond your defenses, so you will be responsive instead of reactive.

Lesson 8

Insight Dialogue

In this lesson, you will be introduced to a relational practice of mindfulness called "insight dialogue", which was founded by Gregory Kramer. This practice creates safety, allowing people to talk about anything that is hard to talk about like race, power and privilege. Our objective is to use insight dialogue to create conditions for our healing, in relation to how we use power and how we relate across different races.

Lesson 9

Using Insight Dialogue To Create Safety

In this lesson we will continue on using insight dialogue to create safety in race-related conversations. Today there are two key questions we will work with. One: What are the beliefs and truths you are aware of in your own family or community about other races? Second: What did you notice and learn about your own race when growing up in your family and community? These will be followed by open dialogue and reflections. Note: This is a shorter lesson as the teachings are designed to be put into practice in a real life setting.

Lesson 10

Capping It All Off

This lesson is meant to be a review of the work that was covered working with the theme of building capacity for eldership to be able to contribute in the new, emerging world - hopefully a world about equity, sustainability, and looking after this planet. We will also tackle a relevant quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.