Guidance For Awakin Talk Questions

Email between Jignasha and Pavi.

While prepping up for Awakin Talks, we were wondering what kind of questions we can ask our speakers so that they can prepare themselves for the Awakin talks - especially people who have had a long life and many experiences. And how do we work with those who might have had great life journeys but they are not very articulate - how can we really bring their story out. In that context wrote an email to Pavi and here is her response.

Jignasha!

It's a joy to see your name in my inbox. The glowing time we spent together with you and Arun Dada is still fresh in our hearts.
This email from you made me smile because I feel so ill-equipped to offer guidance -- the Moved By Love community is the real expert in drawing out people's stories and the transformational aspects of their journeys! So really it is me who should be asking all of you for guidance :)

With that disclaimer in place, here are a few thoughts that come up:

In terms of your question about how to bring out the stories of people who are not used to articulating their journey or insights, I think it comes down to really creating a context for them to speak from a heart space. (And all of you are masters at holding space in this way!) When people are speaking from their hearts the words and articulation fade into insignificance because what they are communicating is energetic, it is at a far subtler level than the sum of their words.

John Malloy -- whom you met while you were in the Bay Area-- has compiled a series of deep questions that he uses with the vulnerable youth that he works with. The children spend five to ten minutes each week journaling their responses to these questions, and John writes responses to each child in their journals (over 100 journals a week :) It is a profound correspondence that takes my breath away!) Here are some of the questions he uses:

• What is a situation in your life that has demanded courage?
• What helps you do the right thing?
• Where does your strength come from?
• How has your work in the world shaped you?
• How are you being invited to grow in this time?
• What do you believe to be true even though you can't prove it?
• What makes you cry? And what makes you try? (Another framing for this question is What breaks your heart? And how has it inspired you to action?)
• What is your relationship to suffering?

I don't know what the overall theme of the Baroda Awakin Talks is, so I am not sure if any of these questions are relevant. But the main intention behind the questions is to trigger a fresh, reflective space within the person, and to have them enter into new territory within themselves. Also inviting people to share stories or examples from their lives for each of the questions can be a way of making it less abstract and theoretical.

Am sure the talks will go beautifully and will be such an inspiration for everyone involved!

With much love and a big hug,
Pavi