Barrie Barton and David LaMotte announce 3-session workshop to help participants expand their capacity for listening and build relationship skills.

ASHEVILLE, NC, UNITED STATES, March 15, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Art of Listening to Each Other, co-led by David LaMotte and Barrie Barton, is an interactive workshop series designed to help Asheville and western North Carolina individuals develop listening skills and build better relationships. The workshop will be held three consecutive Monday nights, beginning April 17, at 7:00 PM, at Land of the Sky United Church of Christ on Tunnel Road in East Asheville.

People spend 70 to 80% of their day engaged in some form of communication, and 55% of their time is devoted to listening.

“As communication increases in variety and volume, the need for listening and presence-based attention skills is also growing. The gap between the two can lead to a sense that everyone is talking, but no one feels heard. Careful, intentional, and effective listening can be taught and learned, but it is more than a formulaic skill,” David LaMotte explains. “It is a way of being. It is a muscle that we can work out — both for strength and agility.”

LaMotte is a Rotary World Peace Fellow, a former Clerk of the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Task Group, and the author of Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness. He is also a performing songwriter, with over 3000 concerts on five continents to his credit.

Barton, a life-long facilitator, teacher, and director of presence-based training program Stand and Deliver Asheville, says, “Listening is a bold and subtly elevated, sensitive undertaking and an outrageous gift to offer our friends, loved ones, communities and strangers.”

During their three sessions with Barton and LaMotte, participants will engage in group activities and discussions, explore and clarify personal barriers to listening and being heard, and develop applicable practices to use in the real world.

Skills to be covered include: body language cues and ‘body listening,’ understanding power dynamics, differentiating between judgement and curiosity, uncovering triggers, self-reflection, and embracing silence while listening.

“To be more comfortable in silence is difficult,” Barton adds. “That struggle to not feel obligated to fill the space…we want to help people overcome that.”

Barton and LaMotte hope to see the participants expand their capacity for effectively hearing each other, develop tools to respond instead of react, and explore methods to stay engaged even in contentious situations

“Many of us carry the strange illusion that we should not have to study or practice listening in order do it well,” says LaMotte. “Of course, that’s not true. Like any other skill, listening can be learned, and we get better at it with time and attention.”

Land of the Sky Church is at 15 Overbrook Place, in East Asheville. The cost is $145 for all three sessions. Light snacks will be provided.

Registration, directions, and more information can be found online at
http://www.listeningtoeachother.org.

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Registration, directions, and more information at
http://www.ListeningToEachOther.org

Media inquiries and interviews welcome. For media and press, contact Catherine Campbell at 828-335-0787 or email at info@brightplanning.com. Pictures and event flyer are available at: http://www.bitly.com/AOLAVL.

For event information and questions, contact Barrie Barton at 828-712-9654 or email at barrie@standanddeliverasheville.com.

Catherine Campbell
Bright Planning
828-335-0787
email us here

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