Edwin Rutsch 03

Midnight Rat Crisis and Emergency Empathy.

2015-09-10

We have had roof rat(s) in the attic and it's been a battle to get rid of them. I've been plugging up holes where they could get into the crawl space underneath house and others under the eves.. I've put out traps, etc.

The other night while in bed, Joan and I heard the loudest gnawing of a rat in the attic while we were in bed. They like to come into the attic and gnaw on the word. The noise just echos through the room below, which happens to be our bedroom. I had to pound on the ceiling with a broom handle to scare away the rat.

We were both stressed and couldn't sleep after that. Joan actually got totally freaked out. I felt like just detaching and trying to get to sleep, but decided to do empathic listening for her. I did about 15 minutes of active listening with Joan. She talked about her anxiety of hearing the rat, etc etc. I reflected back what I head. After a while she actually started laughing about the humor of the situation. I thought the listening helped, I could feel a shift in the energy where is became less stresses and more relaxed. Afterwards I asked what her experience of being heard was and she says it didn't help.

BTW, I did catch one of the rats that you can see in the photo.

Research Outline

( x ) Length of time: 20 min

( x ) # of Participants: 2

(x ) Outline of empathy circle:

• ( ) Intention setting

• ( ) Candle

• ( x ) Empathic listening

• ( ) Mirrored

• ( ) Blow out intention and candle

• ( ) Others?

( x) Photo's taken: ( ) yes ( x ) no