February - TOLERANCE
Tolerance is the capacity and/or practice of recognizing and respecting other people’s beliefs, practices, or behaviors. The purpose of this discussion is to look at situations where our capacity for tolerance is challenged. This can reveal a lot about ourselves and our own values.
Anyone who has disagreed with a loved one at a holiday dinner understands the impact of having to ‘endure’ someone else’s viewpoints or behaviors can be incredibly taxing. Whether it’s politics, cultural norms, or societal influences, opposing views can create a chasm of division, stress, and anxiety, and can even harm relationships.
This discussion is an invitation to practice “kenosis” which means “emptying yourself” of anything that would create disapproval of another’s beliefs or behaviors. Avoid the temptation to compare the best in you with the worst in someone else. Again, the best and worst are opinions, not facts.
In what type of situations do you find your tolerance is most challenged and why?
When you get triggered towards intolerance, what’s happening inside you? What’s getting triggered?
Are you ever the one that others have to tolerate? What insight can you have about this?
Do you listen to or read sources of information that offer opposing views (conservative or liberal) from your own?
Take a personal example of an issue that troubles you and defend the opposing view. How does that feel?
Is there a point where tolerance does not serve you? For example, was there a time when you tolerated a certain behavior, situation, or relationship and it cost you?
In your wForum group, which conversations tend to push others away or push their buttons? In what ways can we veer our conversations toward connection?
What are your takeaways from this conversation?