Workshop Details

What does the word "love" really mean? Love is defined as 1) a noun: a feeling of tenderness, passion, and warmth; and 2) as a verb: to love — actions including expressions of physical affection, tenderness, and acts of kindness. The problem is that people often neglect the second and mistake an internal feeing or fantasy of love for the real thing.
In this workshop we explore the actions that go into making love last. Learning to love means becoming more aware of the barriers against love that are part of the way we defended ourselves against pain in childhood. It involves becoming familiar with the misleading advice coming from our critical inner voice — destructive thoughts that warn us not to trust another person. It entails identifying and challenging negative traits in ourselves similar to those we observed in a parent.
Activities will include one-to-one interactions to identify critical inner voices, and journaling exercises, e.g. composing an imaginary conversation with a parent or parents regarding their critical views of one's relationship and answering back from one's own point of view. Participants will have an opportunity to volunteer for a middle-of-the-room interaction with Lisa Firestone; to learn “unilateral disarmament”; to plan goals and generous acts based on an enhanced understanding of their partner's wants and needs.