I finished the first training with a sensation that mediation was a difficult task, but being aware that with practice I could overcome the difficult aspects of it. Some of them being: presenting the framework in mediation and connecting with people that do not believe or are hesitant of mediation.
At the start of the second training I shared that I felt like I was about to swim in a lake with really cold water, and that I was going to slowly test the waters and prepare myself for the dip. And I knew that after a cold dip I would feel great.
But still, I was going to look for the place where it’s warmest and start from there. The warmest place being where I feel comfortable in the NVC process, and I kinda feel good in self-empathy and empathy.
We worked, practiced and played a lot around conflict and our relationship with it, or in it. We talked about our fears of mediating, we did some role-plays, etc.
And I realized that I was focusing on mediation as a hole and when I separated the steps I could travel step-by-step in a more relaxed way and in a more present way.
I also learned the importance of centering and aligning myself thru self-empathy, and that I could ask for a time out if I needed to take a moment to do so, and the persons being mediated also have that chance to take a pause.
At the end of the first day I searched myself for a word that would encapsulate it. It was the first time that I sensed this word, I never even heard it from others, and it was “responsibility”. But it wasn’t heavy, it was just there, I did not want it to become heavy or to make me think I was better than others. It was just there, and I know that I want to play and work with it to figure it out and to incorporate it in a peaceful way.
The mediation program I am attending was originally structured by Jacqueline Menth, Anne Bourrit and Fabienne Poscia, and I have to say that the way they laid out each exercise helped me dive into mediation in layers, making the voyage easier and effortless (but not always, hehe).
The course I am attending is divided into 4 parts and each one is a 2-day training from 9:30am to 5:30pm. Jacqueline Menth facilitates it, with help from Soraïa Groppi and it takes place in Yverdon, Switzerland.
At the end of it all I had a sense of achievement and progress. Not a lot, not too little, but enough.