How to Explore Meaningful Communication

The Seminar

The quality of our communication is directly tied with the quality of our living. Communication is the means through which you interact with the world around you. Connecting yourself with the different people you meet in your experience of living. Through meaningful communication we form valuable relationships, expand our understanding of concepts and ideas, empathize and emotionally evolve, connect with our environment, and create meaningful experiences.

For 1 day in Athens, explore the way you communicate and interpret meaning. Wander through the hills of the city’s historical center, only to discover the path your thoughts take to become the words of conversation. How do your words reflect your reasoning? What do you think of whilst you’re listening? How do you navigate two people’s clashing thinking patterns? Can you recognize the true meaning of your conversations?

THE TOPIC
THE EXPERIENCE
INCLUSION / EXLCUSIONS
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There is nothing more isolating than the disconnection from miscommunication. Everyday we share a piece of our story to the people around us. We exchange information about our feelings, our opinions, our experiences and understandings of life. When there’s a disruption in that exchange, it can leave us feeling misunderstood, frustrated, confused, and disconnected. And if we feel like our story has never truly been received, it can even feel lonely.

Can we form genuine connections? Can we really come to understand one another? Will our thoughts truly be heard? Will we find the words to accurately convey our ideas? How do we build a common language of exchange? Between lovers, friends, relatives or coworkers, how do we bridge two different ways of thinking and understanding? How do you explore the meaning behind the conversations shared?

This is the Topic examined in our experiential seminar! Hit the “Experience” tab above to read all about the dialectic games and activities that unravel in your day.

Want to read more about this Topic? Here’s our insight on the matter.

Throughout the day, you are accompanied by a Sophia’s Best Mentor who facilitates your endeavor into the Ef Zin way of thinking. The Dialectic Games in this program are inspired by theatrical exercises which prompt humorous and spontaneous explorations of communication. These activities aim to:

Evaluate how well you listen; peering into the way you interpret meaning and understand others’ expressions of thought.
Examine how you verbalize thoughts; how you draw from your personal bank of understandings to verbally define your opinions, feelings, etc. as words.
Explore the way your communication reveals your way of thinking and reasoning; how your development of thought is shaped by your definition/understanding of words and the meaning they carry.

Thiseio, Filopappou and Pnyka are your home for fruitful conversation and meaningful communication. As you stroll cobbled streets winding around the Parthenon or rest on slopes shaded by olive trees, you will unravel in open dialogue. A Sophia’s Best Mentor will prompt you with topics that address both personal issues but also general themes for discussion. You will veer away from formalities and express yourselves freely in simple, everyday speech. We want to encourage your innate ability to communicate; regardless of unrefined phrasing, unstructured sentences or unique forms of expression. We won’t be looking at the dressing of your words, but rather the meaning behind them.

Through different types of dialogue, you will start to consider the way you speak and the way you listen. What are your intentions in the conversation? Are you argumentative or communicative? Do you defend your opinions or define your ideas? How do you try to understand? What type of questions do you ask? How do you peel back the first level of interpretation? Sophia’s Best Dialectic Games allow you to observe the nature of your communication but also actively understand how to better it. Through comical and theatrical activities, you have the freedom and opportunity to practice qualitative listening and speaking. You’ll find value and purpose in one another’s words as you receive and return personal understandings and truth. You will get to play and experiment with the very process of creating meaning through communication.

You will dive into the dynamic of words and explore the way they bounce off one another to form ideas and perspectives.

The best conversations happen across tables dotted with plentiful plates and glasses of wine. It is only befitting, then, that you explore meaningful communication in a similar way. Hearty snacks and a filling early dinner accompany your theatrical games and conversational activities. You’ll eat and drink as you question your thinking patterns. Evaluating how the way you articulate thought influences the way you construct thought – and vice versa. Peering into the route of your words to discover your path of reasoning. As you improvise monologues with full stomachs or try stitch together scattered dialogue, you’ll find yourself looking past “what” was said to truly understand “why” it was said.

And as the sunset ribbons around the Parthenon’s pillars, your day in Athens’ hills will come to a close. You’ll leave having gained insight on how to begin recognizing the systems of thought behind a person’s words. Peeling back the conversation and seeing, what is ultimately, the crux of meaningful communication; each person’s way of thinking.

What is Included

The Core

This experiential seminar has been specifically structured and designed in a way that embodies the thinking processes characteristic of the Path “Explore”, whilst the Topic “Communication” is the heart of your experience.
A Sophia’s Best Mentor accompanies you throughout the day to reveal an insight on this Topic as it exists in the environment around you and within you.
Dialectic Games and Activities that work hand-in-hand with the illustrative activities to stimulate your mind and animate the insight as an experience.

Illustrative Activities

This experience unravels in one day; beginning in the morning and extending into the early evening.
The day is filled with illustrative activities inspired by the people, culture and environment of this program’s location. Each activity serves as an opportunity to gain insight on the Topic and challenge your way of thinking authentically and naturally.
We spend the entire day together. As such, every moment is organized in detail and provided for in full; from activities to food and beverages. We’ve made sure your appetite (intellectually, emotionally and gastronomically) is well taken care of.
Local practices and activities, include but are not limited to;
- walking through the city’s historical center; we handle every location as a local would, using the space authentically and respectfully as the setting for our open dialogues and on-going conversations
- exploration of Thiseio neighborhood
- easy-going “hike” into Filopappou Hill
- stroll to archeological site Pnyka; here you will sit and converse amongst the rocks where once thousands of ancient greek citizens gathered to hear the words of Aristides, Themistocles, Pericles, Demosthenes and many more.
- With the Parthenon always peering over you, every location creates an atmosphere that inspires meaningful communication

Food & Beverages

Introductory coffee in Thiseio
Hearty snacks from local bakeries and stores to fuel your conversations
A special early dinner in the city’s historical center
All meals are authentically Greek made with local, organic produce
Local beverages; including wine

What is not Included

Our original price does not include transportation and accommodation. Excluding these factors from our original price leaves room for flexibility around your personal needs and budget. Perhaps you already have a car or prefer a van? Maybe you enjoy luxury hotels or prefer local homes? It is up to you.

Although we do not provide these services, we collaborate with authentic accommodation and local transportation providers in each region. There are multiple options at hand, so we can decide together upon a choice that respects your personal needs and budget.

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