Talking Notes – A Commitment to Suffering

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to teach a workshop entitled Tap Dance and Empathy Building at the National Museum of Asian Art, a part of the Smithsonian Institution. The participants were an eclectic gathering of museum directors, curators, and programmers who had convened for the Designing for Empathy Summit. In the workshop I used tap dance as a kinesthetic learning tool through which we could physically experience some of the ideas that come up around change. After all, empathy building has to do with change, and change can bring pain, sorrows, and suffering. But what if we could walk through change in a way that's so excited about the possibilities of what is to come that any necessary suffering is considered a joy?

Related Links

• Training: Tap Dance and Empathy Building

• The Designing for Empathy Summit

• Coach Michael Bungay Stanier

• Book: Mortification of Sin by John Owen

• Jesus said we should take up our own cross and follow him

• The Sacrifice of Communication

• Asking the Questions