Informally, I found the empathetic listening exercises really valuable. Like the mindful listening tasks it helped to show that most of the time I have been listening without my complete focus being on the person speaking and the issue being discussed. Looping was again a very beneficial activity in this sense. I enjoyed the conversations more while considering empathy and will look to do so more in future with the recognition that perhaps I should listen more carefully, more often.
Personally I havent felt the benefit of the Loving kindness meditation yet, but perhaps this is due to the lack of conflict I have had since I read the chapter. Outside of conflict the meditation felt a bit flat, I will however, try it again when the opportunity inevitably arises.
I work in a cafe at the moment and I have recently been in disagreement with some of the higher ups at work due to a lack of environmental awareness in the workplace. I feel that no matter how hard it is to implement an environmentally responsible composting plan and introduce environmentally responsible straws etc, it should still be considered of highest priority. Straws are not of huge expense and beyond adding an extra bin to the kitchen and teaching the staff about responsibly recycling and composting, there is little reason against making a change. The higher ups feel that the implementation of compostable straws would cost too much and require too much resources in terms of sourcing and time researching that it does not take priority over other matters. Eqaully the affect that it might have on the efficiency in the kitchen would be far too costly to the business as the staff spend more time deciding which bins to put their rubbish into as well as time spent learning about composting and recycling procedures.