About to lead a workshop this afternoon, the first of a two-consecutive-Sundays introduction to Compassionate Nonviolent Communication. These three hour sessions lift and drain me. Someone often comes up and says "You changed my life"; I demur: the work is Marshall Rosenberg's.

Been teaching this for a decade or so, and one thing I can count on is a raving blowout with somebody a day or so before. As if the Universe is shaking me by the collar, allowing the 'expert' persona to fall away, so I can be "at home in the muddy waters, accepting life as it is".

Let go of having answers, let go of being perfect, let go of performing... and at the same time introduce these ideas, with clarity and ease- so the group can experience the effect of the process. One woman decided to come after I agreed that she would not have to utter one word.

This Rumi poem reminds of my intention.

The Guest House

Monika's post referring to gurus interests me. My colleague Jack follows a guru, and said to me, "Once you grab hold of the hem of his robe, you don't let go." Other friends have been so affected by a guru it's taken them years after they left to speak of it.

What are your feelings toward gurus? What's your experience? To whom do you turn for teaching, and how do you choose?

This poem by Francisco Albanez, "The One Who is At Home" speaks to me.

Each day I long so much to see

The true teacher, And each time

At dusk when I open the cabin

Door and empty the teapot,

I think I know where he is:

West of us, in the forest.

Or perhaps I am the one

Who is out in the night,

The forest sand wet under

My feet, moonlight shining

On the sides of the birch trees,

The sea far off gleaming.

And he is the one who is