The pandemic has subsided but I still find myself taking courses and attending workshops via Zoom. The month of February is a busy one.

This past week I began attending programs sponsored by the North Central Washington Libraries. The first topic was Learn to Listen-Listen to Learn. It was a good review of listening techniques that I studied decades ago when I was going for my counseling certification. And it reinforced the idea of acknowledging and validating the feelings of others.

The second topic was Conflict. Definitions as well as characteristics of conflict were discussed. Five different styles of responding to conflict were explored focusing on relationship and our own agenda. A link was provided to assess our own individual style as well.

On both evenings we were able to go into smaller breakout rooms and ponder the above topics. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to the remaining four evenings coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Another Zoom experience this week was for writers. The topic was The Art of Writing Immersive Worlds. The speaker was Cat Rambo, a Nebula award winning author of science fiction and fantasy. Material covered here included techniques and tools for making a reader feel totally immersed in the world of our characters.

Another Zoom group I do regularly is a Bible Study with my life group back in Wenatchee. We are currently studying John, one of my favorite books.

Do you Zoom?