2026-07-14-5page-version-Cover and toc

 
front cover communcation skills workbook

Dedicated to Marshall Rosenberg, Barnett Pearce and Ramon Panikkar, three of my teachers, and to the creative team-builders and peacemakers in every culture and faith. Where there is a clash of wills, may we bring the light of new understanding and a meeting of hearts.

THE OVERVIEW: This book carries a Creative Commons copyright licenses (anyone may make as many copies of it as they wish, in any format).

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The pages and documents appearing in this book are copyright 1997 through 2026 by Dennis Rivers, except where otherwise noted or where excerpts from already copyrighted scholarly works have been cited in accordance the “Fair Use” doctrine of U.S. copyright law. The parts of this workbook written by Dennis Rivers may be copied, adapted, translated, distributed and/or sold in book, PDF or sheet format, under the terms of the “Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License,” http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ This License provides that any such copies, editions, translations, and/or adaptations include this permissions declaration, allowing others to reproduce and further develop the work adapted. The parts of this workbook written by authors other than Dennis Rivers, or images created by artists other than Dennis Rivers, retain their original copyright status and cannot be sold or distributed to the general public as items separate from this book, or incorporated into new works as separate items, without the permission of their respective authors/creators.

Please include the following notice at the end of any multiple-page copies of material written by Dennis Rivers: In all countries allowing Creative Commons licenses, please use the following: “Copyright 1997-2026 by Dennis Rivers. Reproduced with author’s permission from the original at Communication-Skills.NET under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5” In all other countries, please use the following: “Copyright 1997-2026 by Dennis Rivers. Permission granted by author for copying and reproduction for educational, community and organizational use.” Please note individually reproduced pages that are written by Dennis Rivers as “Copyright 1997-2025 by Dennis Rivers. Reproduced with author’s permission under Creative Commons license SA2.5.”

Table of Contents
  

Making a Shared Life: The Seven Challenges Communication Skills Workbook

Section Focus Page
INTRODUCTION SEEING NEW POSSIBILITIES, WAKING UP TO CONSCIOUS CONVERSATIONS INTRO-1
CHALLENGE ONE: LISTENING WITH THE HEART AND FIVE EARS LISTENING MORE CAREFULLY & RESPONSIVELY, UNDERSTANDING MORE DEEPLY 1-1
CHALLENGE TWO: ADDING INTENT & CONSENT TO YOUR CONVERSATIONS EXPLAINING OUR CONVERSATIONAL INTENT AND INVITING CONSENT 2-1
CHALLENGE THREE: INCREASING CLARITY OF SELF-EXPRESSION EXPRESSING OURSELVES MORE CLEARLY, CREATIVELY, & COMPLETELY WITH THE FIVE “I-MESSAGES” 3-1
CHALLENGE FOUR: TRANSFORMING COMPLAINTS INTO POSITIVE REQUESTS TRANSLATING COMPLAINTS AND/OR CRITICISMS INTO REQUESTS LINKED TO VISIONS OF SUCCESS 4-1
CHALLENGE FIVE: CREATIVE QUESTIONING ASKING QUESTIONS MORE CONSCIOUSLY, “OPEN-ENDED-LY” AND CREATIVELY 5-1
CHALLENGE SIX: EXPLORING THE TREE OF GRATITUDE STRENGTHEN ALL OUR RELATIONSHIPS BY EXPRESSING MORE GRATITUDE, APPRECIATION, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND DELIGHT 6-1
CHALLENGE SEVEN: EMBRACING CONTINUOUS LEARNING LIVING IN “CONTINUOUS-LEARNING” MODE: MAKING MORE CONSCIOUS / MORE CREATIVE COMMUNICATION A CENTRAL PART OF OUR LIVES 7-1
CHAPTER EIGHT: WIDENING CIRCLES OF MUTUAL MENTORING & DEDICATED FRIENDSHIPS DEVELOPING YOUR LEARNING SUPPORT NETWORK WITH TEAMS OF TWO AND CIRCLES OF SIX 8-1





The Loom of Connectedness
The Loom of Emergence

We weave together words to make sentences.

We weave together sentences and turns to make conversations.

We weave together conversations and actions to make relationships.

We weave together relationships to make families and communities.

We weave together communities to make a shared world.