ACCEPTING LIFE AND FINDING INNER PEACE
Martin FRANKEN
Our nature has ensured that we want to eliminate everything that causes suffering as well as unpleasant and disturbing feelings as quickly as possible. But there are limits to what we can do. If we cannot succeed in changing something that is suffering, then the pressure to change remains nevertheless. This leads to inner dissatisfaction, to brokenness and inner discord. We can try to avoid such unpleasant feelings, we can distract ourselves and simply try something else. But the discord within us still remains. The royal way to reducing suffering is to accept what is unchangeable. This can bring us closer to inner peace, it promotes our confidence that we can achieve what is possible, and it can allow fresh energy to rise within us again. How this is possible, which difficulties can arise and how we can overcome them will be the subject of the lecture. Finally, I will look at what this can mean for our work as telephone counsellors. Keywords: suffering, pressure to change, on the biology and neurophysiology of feelings, acceptance, inner peace, mindfulness practice of accepting.
THE CHILDREN OF CRISIS HOTLINES
Francesca SACCO
The phenomenon of "regulars callers" is well known: people who call, call and call again, usually to complain, and years later it seems that nothing has changed. These people represent a real challenge for listeners, who are confronted with a feeling of helplessness.
Testimony of a child of a "regular caller" who has become a journalist, and author of a book of testimonies from the volunteers of two helplines, SOS Amitié in France and La Main Tendue in Switzerland.
Doctorate in philosophy, education and sociology; training as a Focusing therapist in Würzburg (DAF), further training in numerous therapy methods, especially in trauma therapy, among others with Peter Levine and Luise Reddemann. Publications: Monograph on Kant and Fichte "Transzendentale Theorie der Einheit und systematische Universalontologie", Amsterdam and Antlanta 1993, as well as numerous articles on Focusing therapy and mindfulness practice. Activities: Practice for life-coaching and Focusing therapy in Dorweiler, dying companion, lectures, seminars and moderation.
Francesca Sacco is a Swiss-Italian writer and professional journalist, specializing in scientific investigation and popularization. As a freelance journalist, she has worked for some twenty newspapers in Switzerland, France and Belgium, including Le Temps, La Tribune de Genève, La Revue Médicale Suisse, Le Monde and Libération.