Hi, it's Andy here and welcome to Radio Headspace and a Friday morning.

So I don't know how it's been in your household over the last seven or eight months.

I know a lot of you will have been at home, perhaps spending a lot more time with family

members, with friends, with housemates, whatever it might be.

Then you usually might.

And often when that happens, there might be some arguments once in a while, some difficult

conversations, and a lot of people have kind of written in and said how challenging

it's been.

And it's interesting when we think about sort of the art of conversation and the way

in which conflict, verbal conflict, can sometimes arise, whether it's with people we

love or perhaps complete strangers sometimes.

So there is a definite sort of pattern to explore and something that we can start to

explore even in our own minds outside of those situations, but then something we can

carry back into those situations.

I remember in one particular monastery, a lot of training, there was a practice where

the younger monks, especially the monks that were learning academic information, they

would gather together in the courtyard and they would essentially have a debate.

The one person would propose something, and then as the other one would sort of countering

that or exploring it in one way, the other one would be trying to distract them in some

way.

They distract them by sort of stamping on the floor, by clapping their hands.

It's quite a sight actually to watch.

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