This episode was prerecorded as part of a live continuing education webinar. On-demand CEUs are still available for this presentation through all CEUs. Register at allceus.com slash counselor toolbox. Hi and welcome to today's presentation, Relationships and Recovery, Understanding the Temperament Dimension, Sensing and Intuitive. For those of you who haven't been here for the prior courses on this, we're first going to define temperament and examine how knowing your temperament and the temperament of those around you can help you improve your communication, enhance relationships and reduce stress. We'll explore in depth the sensing and intuitive dimension, which is one of four dimensions that we're going to talk about. And we'll identify potential conflicts. If you've got one person who's more sensing and one person who's more intuitive, or if you tend to be one way and your clients or children tend to be another way, we'll talk about how to blend those temperament styles. So temperament is a relatively stable set of traits referring to your preferred environments. And we talked about that in the section on extroverts and introverts. It also talks about whether you prefer learning and problem-solving styles that are detail-oriented or broad strokes. And that's really what we're going to be talking about today, is the way of conceptualizing and approaching the world. Another dimension of temperament is the philosophical approach to the world. And that is your thinking versus feeling dimension or your laws versus ethics sort of approach to what motivates you to make the decisions you do. And then finally, time management is the fourth dimension of temperament, which is judging versus perceiving or structured versus spontaneous. And these aren't better or worse, they're just different. Most people are somewhere in between each point. They will have some very definite preferences for certain characteristics or certain environmental settings and things. But a lot of times they can kind of go either way unless they're really, really stressed. Most of the time we find when people are really, really stressed, they tend to become more polar, if you will, in their temperament and what they need in order to feel in control and relaxed. Additional stress and vulnerabilities can be prevented through awareness of your personal preferences. So if you know you need some quiet time every day, as opposed to being around a lot of people to get energized, that needs to be involved in your recovery plan, in your daily routine for wellness and happiness and all that kind of stuff.  So I'm kind of somewhere in the middle there. One of my children really needs some downtime every day and people, while she likes people and she really enjoys being around people, being around a lot of people is extremely stressful for her. So when we're thinking about planning birthday parties, you know, my idea of a great birthday party is having 15 of her closest friends over for a slumber party. Her idea is having her best friend over. And 15 girls for 48 hours is just way too much stress for her. So understanding her personal preferences, so I'm not imparting what I want onto her, but I'm understanding what makes her happy and what causes her stress. And knowing this stuff can also help you create an environment supportive of individual preferences. So again, like I said, I need to have time around people and I get energized being around people. So I know that I may need to go out and be around people a few times a week instead of just coming to the office and going home. Whereas people who are more introverted tend to not need that same level of stimulation or same type of stimulation. They actually need time where they can be by themselves and get grounded and decompress. So it's all in the way you approach problem solving and making decisions and all that kind of stuff. And it's not better or worse. It's just different. So understanding that can help you respond more effectively, not only to your own needs, but to the needs of those around you. We're going to talk a lot about learning today and learning is made up of three parts acquisition conceptualization and caring. So acquisition talks about how do you get the information in?  I tend to need the broad idea. So when we go to the movies, I always go to IMDB first and I read, you know, what is this movie about before I go in? I just can't go into a movie cold and watch it and go, hmm, I wonder what this is about. I need the global picture. Other people prefer not to have that global picture or they don't care. So how do you get information in big picture first or just details that build up to something really awesome? And how do you conceptualize things? Do you conceptualize things in terms of details and parts and building details up to get something big or do you conceptualize everything as small parts of a whole? So you need to know what the whole is before you can figure out where the parts go. And then the third part is caring. And that means why should I make room in my mind for this information? So if information is being presented in a way that's meaningful to you, so if you tend to be more of a sensing person is presented in smaller details, then it's going to pique your interest and you're going to care more about it because it's got the little details and you're seeing what's going together. For someone who's intuitive to really understand it and be motivated to make information, make room for it, they need to know what the big picture is. Another way to look at it would be think about a computer.  Or do you need to have the folders and then you start putting everything into files? I tend to be a folder person. I like having my folders so I can have things lumped in just big broad strokes. These are bills. These are pictures. These are something else. A person who's more sensing will have pictures, but within that pictures folder, there will be family pictures, animal pictures, vacation pictures, and it will be broken down very meticulously. So when we're talking about conceptualization of things, sensors tend to be very practical and realistic. They use inductive reasoning, which means small to big, and prefer facts and live in the real world. So a sensing person is going to say, you know, when it comes to money, for example, we earn this much money. This is what our bills are. This is when bills are due. So this is how we have to pay them.  The intuitive person tends to be a little bit more broad stroke. And they go, okay, well, we see that we make this much money. And we can figure out how to use that money because there are also options like credit cards and loans and things like that. They use deductive reasoning and they'll say, we want to live this happy, enjoyable life. So what do we need to do to live a happy, enjoyable life? And then they'll work down from that big idea into, okay, we need to put money here, here, and here. So the sensor starts out with the small details and says, we have all these bills and then whatever's left over, we can worry about spending on recreation and vacation. Intuitors prefer abstraction, inspiration, and insights. So they like to have that aha moment. They are not, they find facts and just day-to-day stuff kind of mundane. They like to look at the possibilities. When it comes to relationships and couples, I gave the example of money earlier, you know, the intuitive person is going to say, what's going to make us happy? The sensing person is going to go, what's the practical thing to do? When it comes to family planning, you know, the sensing person may say, you know, a kid costs, you know, this much money to raise them from infancy through high school. And so in order to be able to afford a child, we need to wait until we have this much money in the bank and we're making this much money and yada, yada, yada. The intuitive might say, we want to have kids. So let's have kids and we'll figure out how to pay for them after we have them. It's a different approach because the broad picture for the intuitive is we're going to have a family and we're going to have children. And we'll figure out how to pay the bills because, you know, basically we can do it right now. The dreamer may feel stifled in a relationship with a sensor because the sensor is very, very practical. Where the sensor may feel overwhelmed by the dreamer, the computer may feel overwhelmed by the dreamer, the computer may feel overwhelmed by the dreamer. And we'll figure out the details later. And they're just like, no, I need details. We need a plan. We need to figure out if it works. Encouraging these two people to talk and find a happy middle ground where everything is not planned out to the nth degree. So there's a little bit of wiggle room for this broad picture. We also want to encourage them when they're making decisions the sensor needs to keep in mind, keep in the forefront of their mind. What is this big picture? Yes, we've got all these details. And how are these details feeding into this big picture instead of just being stuck with their nose in the details? Sensors, the facts kind of people sometimes get stuck in the box because this is what we're doing. This is the practical way to do it. This is the way we've always done it. It works great. Let's not make any changes because then we risk upsetting the apple cart. Intuitors, they don't even think the box is necessary.  So why get plans? Let's just go get some wood and see what we can do with it. You can see how these two temperaments might not get along so well. When we're talking about recovery, the sensors are very practical. They know what they need to do. They follow their treatment plan. They know, you know, basically what's wrong or what's causing them to feel depressed or anxious or want to use drugs. And they start to address it. And they've got a plan. They've got a relapse prevention plan. They've got a treatment plan. They've got a recovery plan. They've got all kinds of plans. The intuitive person sees recovery as a time to be happy and to enjoy life and to be free from, you know, all the chains that bind you and all that kind of stuff. So they may get frustrated if they have all this stuff that they have to do, all these facts and all these practical things like getting enough sleep and, you know, making sure you get to bed at about the same time every night. So when you're working on treatment plans with a sensor versus an intuitor, you want to know how practical versus how conceptual you want things to be. Now, even if you're working with conceptual, if you have an intuitor and you're trying to write a treatment plan on depression and they say, I want to be happy, then we've still got to drill down a little bit and go, okay, what does happy look like to you? And have them give some examples that we can see. And they're practical examples, if you will. They're tangible. There's something that anybody can come and say, yes, you're not crying every single day. So we've achieved that goal. So we do need to get them to define what some of these details are, but they're going to start from happy. The sensor is going to start from, I've got all these problems right now and I need to start making them go away. So the first step is to do this. And their eventual goal is happiness. But a lot of times they're coming from the perspective of putting the pieces together to work, to move away from discomfort. Whereas the intuitor sees this dream out there and they're trying to put the pieces together to work towards it and kind of work backwards towards where they are right now. Interventions, when you have these two people, whether you're an intuitor and your client is a sensor or two people in a relationship or however it works, sensors need to hear out the intuitors to avoid shutting them down or invalidating their creative process. They may have a lot of ideas about, okay, how can I get sober social support? How can I enjoy recovery? What kind of things can I do for relaxation? We want to hear it out, make a list of these things and then start whittling it down for what's practical and doable. We want to encourage both people to create reasonable structured goals and pace themselves. The person who is more detail-oriented may start getting overwhelmed by all the details and all the things that need to be done. We don't need to do them all today. What do you need to do today? What do you need to do this week? The person who's more of the dreamer might get overwhelmed by all of the details and going, but I want to be here and I don't want to have to go through all that mundane stuff. So we need to figure out what's going to work for that person. We want to encourage them to weigh the costs and benefits of any choices that they make based on their ultimate goals. Keeping that goal in mind, what is it that you are working toward? If the intuitor needs an outlet for their creativity, for their desire to be broad stroke instead of being so stuck in the details, encourage them to identify one project and start on it. Maybe they can learn how to crochet or start painting or landscaping or whatever it is that gives them a creative outlet. Intuitors tend to be very creative. Regularly communicate about the good things in the current situation. So the intuitor can relate how the current situation fulfills that happiness goal. And the sensor can communicate about how the good things in the current situation are building toward that happiness goal. We're still talking about happiness goal, but we're seeing it from both perspectives. Identify what doesn't need to be improved. So often we get stuck on focusing on all the things that need to change. It can get overwhelming, no matter whether you're looking at it from the top down or the bottom up, it's overwhelming. There's a lot of stuff in there. Let's focus on the things that are good. What's awesome right now? Remember that the box is there for a reason. So the sensor, who we like our boxes, can help the intuitor use it to their advantage in order to get to that big dream faster, because the box is all the details. So the sensor can say, okay, we need to do these six things if you want to achieve this goal over here. Sensors on the other hand, your detailed people, say that every package needs a unique box. So it's not always going to be a big box or a little box or a square box or a rectangular box. So remembering that just because there's a box doesn't mean it's necessarily going to fit whatever goals you're working towards. So bearing that in mind, you might have to change the box a little bit or get outside of the box in order to achieve your mutual goals. Let's focus on practical, concrete problems. In recovery, I want to be less depressed as evidenced by having the energy to get out of bed every day, having the desire to interact with family, and reducing my crying episodes to less than three per week. Those are very practical, concrete problems. We can work on those. They see the details. When I'm depressed, these are all the details. They see what it looks like, but they may miss the big picture. What is happiness? What are you working toward? Intuitive people like to focus on complicated abstract problems. Like what is it that's going to make me the happiest? And we can brainstorm a lot of things that would make us happy, but they may miss the details about what practical things right now can you do to start feeling better? You know, yes, we would like to help you change your outlook on life and all those things. But right now, what are some practical, concrete things that you can do to start feeling better today? Encouraging them or relating any interventions to that broad goal of where are you going with this, or for the sensor, relating it to these are the issues you've identified right now. This is how this intervention will help those particular issues so you can feel happier. When these two people get together, or when you're dealing with these two temperaments, the person who's the sensor can get stuck in a rut, focusing on practical, concrete problems they get up. They take a shower. They go to work. They go to group therapy or a meeting. They come home. They read a book. They go to bed. They get up and they do it again. Are they getting enough sleep? Yes. Are they eating a healthy diet? Yes. Are they doing their recovery activities? Yes. But are they happy? They may not be. They may be stuck in this sort of rut of I've got to do what I've got to do that they're not taking time out to experience anything. The Intuitor on the other hand may fail to achieve certain things because they're so focused on these abstract concepts about what does happiness look like? Why are people happy? They fail to do the basic things that will help them start moving toward being happy, like taking their medication as they're supposed to, avoiding drugs and alcohol or other practical things. So as a clinician, we want to look at what motivates this person. Are they trying to look at the details of their problem and mitigate those? Or are they looking at their ultimate goal and trying to climb towards whatever that goal is? That helps you understand kind of where we're going.  When they have alleviated their depressive symptoms, they will be happy. That's just a byproduct of it. For the Intuitor, their whole goal is to be happy. And in order to get happy, they need to alleviate some of the symptoms of depression. But you want to relate it to what they're doing. Are they escaping from misery or are they working towards panacea? The Intuitor can make anything overly complicated. They want to look at meta concepts and about the impact of this on that. And, you know, even if you're just talking about neurotransmitters and physical health, there are so many meta concepts and so many different ways that our neurotransmitters and our thoughts and our behaviors are all interrelated. The Intuitor can get lost in all of that. Yes, it's fascinating, or at least I think it is, but we need to take practical steps at a certain point. Sensors can oversimplify and say, well, this is what we have. This is what we need to do in order to achieve our goal. ABC, done. When we're talking about parenting, the sensor may say, well, you know, John got an F. So the consequences for John getting an F is being grounded. He brought an F home, so he's grounded. The Intuitor might want to look at, let's talk about all the reasons John got an F and see if the punishment fits the crime. And so they can end up in this long drawn out discussion or either party can end up feeling invalidated. Encouraging people to understand how the other one approaches things and it's not that they're trying to invalidate one another. Again, it's how they're wired. The practical person, if the Intuitor appeals to their practicality, the conversation will go a lot better. For the Intuitor, if the sensing person uses facts, the practical stuff, to address all of these issues about, well, does the punishment fit the crime? Then they'll have more of a discussion. One of the things you can do to try to figure out where people are is the first one is the puzzle activity. Ask people when they do a puzzle, do they put all the pieces out and just start, you know, putting things together to see what they get. Or do they put all the pieces out, set up the box so they can see the picture, make the frame, and then work from one corner to the other.  They want to see what they're working toward. The person who doesn't use the box is worried about, okay, all of these are little green pieces and they're probably going to make this tree. Okay, we got the tree. Now, all these are little brown pieces, so they're probably going to make the deer. Now, we got the deer. Now, I wonder how the tree and the deer go together. And eventually they'll come up with that big picture. But they're not working toward the big picture. They're looking at how the different pieces fit together to eventually make something. The other thing you can do is ask the electricity question. When you turn on a light, how does it get there? What happens with electricity? The person who's more broad strokes is going to say, well, when you flip the switch, it completes the circuit and body being, you've got electricity. The person who's more detail oriented is going to go through this entire discussion of transistors and wires and completed circuits. And I'm not very detail oriented. So the electricity question goes over my head. Sensors can avoid the rut by reframing terms always in terms of the bigger picture. Look up once in a while. You know, again, back to the puzzle. You've got a tree and you've got a deer. Let's look up and see what is it that we're working toward? You know, is it this whole landscape with a whole family of deer and how beautiful it is? Or, you know, what? So look up and enjoy the moment instead of just focusing on how the little pieces go together. Try not to get stuck in day to day must do frames the day in terms of bigger picture. So if you're talking about your, you get up in the morning, what's the reason for getting up to go to work? Well, yeah, what's the reason for going to work to make money? Okay, what's the reason for making money so I can buy the things I want? And why do you want to buy those things so I can be happy? Oh, thank you. We finally got there. Sometimes you got to kind of drag them along to get to the big picture. So you can stop that instead of having to go through that and you can say, what is the reason you got up today? What is the overarching reason that you got out of bed? And, you know, so I can do the things I need to do so I can have the things that I want to be happy. Okay, that's your big picture there. So encourage people to look up and every time they make a decision to do something, reflect and go, is this getting me closer to where I want to be? The big picture. Instead of going, is this a solution for an immediate problem? Because sometimes the immediate solutions move you away from your ultimate goal. You know, they're great in the short term, but in the long term, they bite you in the butt. Ensure others understand the details, the whys and the hows. Sensors need to have other people understand the details. That's how they communicate. So they need to have people that can articulate that they've heard those sorts of things. When we're talking about recovery, again, it's important that the sensor enjoys recovery and doesn't just do things because that's what's on the treatment plan. Or because that will address the insomnia. We want to address the insomnia so you can have the energy to have fun and interact with your kids. Intuitors can avoid failure to achieve by keeping a list of things that have to be done. And remembering that, you know, there's broad strokes. We want to be happy. We want to seize on those things that make us happy.  Encourage them to seek consult about any overlooked details. And I'll give you an example. At our house, we recently remodeled the laundry room and, you know, I tend to be much more of a broad stroke person. So I walked out and I saw how the laundry room could be set up and I'm like, this is how I want it. And I sketched it out and we got into building it and building it and the way I envisioned it were not quite the same. There were some little details like where the door was that I forgot to include, you know, details. So we needed to modify the plan in order to make it work. But working with someone who is a sensor, someone who's detail oriented, he was able to stop and go, I think you got to come out here and look at this because I'm not thinking it's turning out the way you envisioned. I envision things. I don't plan. I envision. And that's just the way we work. So then I had to stop and go, okay, yeah, you're right. That kind of doesn't work. How do we fix it? And we could brainstorm from there. So both parties bring their strengths to every problem, to every activity. And it's important to compromise and to collaborate on what needs to happen because each person has their own strengths and problem solving. One thing you can do is identify one person to take the lead, top down the Intuitor or bottom up. So if it's top down, we're saying, okay, we want to be happy. So what are all the things we need to do to be happy? Well, what would that look like? And then how do we get there? Bottom up would be, we want to be happy. Why are we unhappy now and how do we move away from that? So what are the steps? One person takes the lead. Ultimately, the goal is to be happy and they can make out their plan for these are the things we need to consider. And then the detail person or the broad strokes person will come in. The detail person may come in and go, yeah, you missed some really important details like going to meetings, taking time out for doing things that have to be done. You're not always going to have time for recreation every evening. The broad stroke person may look at the detail-oriented person's plan and go, wow, that is really complete and really thorough. But it doesn't sound like much fun. How can we have fun when we're doing this? When I was teaching my son, he was golly, about two and a half, he had started Montessori.  And I couldn't really understand why. So his teacher at that point in time was just amazing. So I invited her to come over and, you know, consult, take a look at what am I doing wrong? And she came over and she's like, okay, show me what you guys do to play. And I sat down and I laid out the blocks and I started talking about squares and shapes and because everything had to be learning.  And we got about three minutes into it and she's like, stop right there. And I was like, oh, okay, you figured it out. And she's like, yeah, you're boring. But what? She's like, he doesn't care about that. He wants to race the little cars and he wants to take the blocks and try to figure out, you know, jam them into holes. It's not like he's trying to figure out, let's look at this one and figure out if it's going to fit in this hole. That's just too detailed. Let him experiment. Let him explore. And I was just like, oh, okay, well, that's different. Because it wasn't how I was thinking of it. I was thinking of it from more of a sensing perspective. These are all the things that my child needs to learn before he goes to kindergarten. And she was looking at it more from the perspective of these are all the things he wants to do to have fun. And he can learn in the process that just happens to be a happy byproduct. Know your strengths. The professor's detail oriented pictures can miss the big picture. Recovery, life relationships are supposed to be enjoyable.  Don't get so caught up in living in the future that you forget to reflect on what is good and what is fulfilling the big picture in the present. Intuitors can disrupt the big picture by failing to attend to details. They're so busy doing enjoyable things that they fail to pay enough attention to the required things. Another perfect example. Because I am more intuitive than I am sensor, my daughter just had her birthday. And I had it planned out and we went, got up and we went to the mall and we went out to dinner and we came home. I baked your cake and everything was grand and I was getting ready to ice the cake and I had forgot icing. It's a detail. You know, I baked the cake and we were going to have birthday cake and everything, but I forgot the icing. So, you know, dropped back in punt went out to the store got icing. It was all good. But you can see how an if I would have consulted her father who is much more sensing. He might have pointed out that mission critical items as he puts it. One of them would have been icing for the cake. Oh, and candles. I forgot candles to sensors are content in general. Believe if it isn't broken, don't fix it and may think those preferring intuition are impractical. So they're happy with the way things are. They like they focus on facts day to day experience going through life plug and chug. This is good. It's stable. It's controllable. We know where we're going. Intuitors like to live in the world of possibilities. So we've got this right now, but wouldn't it be better if or how could we make this more efficient or in recovery. A lot of times people start in a 12 step program and not that you have to be in a 12 step program for recovery. But for this example, they started a 12 step program and then they start trying to want wanting to try it to do it their own way. You know, well, we could do it this way, but what if instead of going to meetings every single day, I went to meetings once a week and went to meetings online the other six days, or this that are the other. And the feedback they will most likely get from the group is we've always done it this way because it works. Follow the footsteps of people who have succeeded and you too will succeed. Which as a clinician, you know, we can argue some of that because no two people are alike yada yada yada, but the Intuitor is always looking for ways to individualize it to personalize it to make it better. They believe anything can be improved on whether it's their relationships, their own recovery, the process of recovery, or even themselves. Intuitors are always doing some sort of self improvement activity. And they may think that those preferring the practical lack vision.  The Intuitor goes, Yeah, that's great. But what could we do to make it better? Intuitors can focus so much on the future that the present crumbles around them. They use phrases like when we make a million dollars, everything will be better. When we finally get a house that's big enough, everything will be better. When we, you can see where I'm going with this. Instead of focusing on what's going right in the present and nurturing that, if a person is focusing on things will be better when we get a bigger house. So they spend 80 hours a week at work, and they don't spend any time with their family. What impact is that going to have on the family relationships? You know, in the short term, maybe not a lot. In the long term, you can see where that could be a problem. The Intuitors living in the future, the family is living in the present and they never end up catching up with one another. Intuitors can get frustrated with sensors for not wanting to improve things. Sometimes sensors go, You know what? Things are really good right now and you've only got so much energy and we need you to focus it here. I tend to be very guilty of wanting to take on three and four and five projects at work and then, you know, it's just, I start feeling overwhelmed. Where as my partner is very practical and says, You know what? You've got these things that you've identified as your main priorities. How is taking on one more project going to impact that? Something's going to have to give. And he's always right when it comes to that.  I need to choose. But that's where Intuitors and sensors can work well together. But Intuitors need to make sure that they don't take on so many other things trying to improve the future that they sabotage themselves in the present. Sensors may focus so much on doing things how they've always been done that they miss opportunities for enhancement. Sometimes there are things that we do that, you know, it's the way it's always been that worked 20 years ago. But now that there's computers, there's a different way to do it.   If you were going to go to a meeting at all in, you know, 2016, you can go to online meetings. Are they exactly the same? No. I mean, online is different than brick and mortar. But there is, you know, people can access meetings, even if they're living in the middle of rural nowhere. And it's 40 miles to the closest meeting. So a lot more things have become accessible. So sometimes we need to stop and go. Is requiring people to go to a face-to-face meeting mandatory? Or are there other alternatives so people who live 40 miles away can afford to do it not only time-wise but financially? Acceptance and commitment therapy helps people define values and goals for the individual, for themselves, as well as for their relationships, for their work organization, for their family. And recovery. I mean, generally, each one of those things has slightly different goals. I mean, ultimately, peace, harmony, and happiness, yada-yada. But the individual may have some different goals and values than maybe the organization for which they work. Or as a part of their family, I've worked with couples. I've known couples who've had very different religious, philosophical, or political approaches to life. But they've made it work. It's important that you define what your values are. And, you know, if you are two different philosophically-based people, come together and decide what are our common shared values that we're working toward as a couple or as a family. And that's when you start making decisions based on that. Explore what you're currently doing that's meeting your personal goals, as well as your couple, family, and employment goals. And embodying those values. What are you doing now that doesn't need to be changed? You're already probably doing some of the stuff. And then, like I said, review any new projects, tasks, or improvements in terms of helping you achieve your identified goals. And I tell people to keep it to three. Three personal goals. What three values do you want to be known for? As a couple, what three things at most are important to you? What do you need to have to feel happy and okay as a couple? As a family, what is important to you? You know, three things. So even just with three things, that's nine. Individual couple and family. Nine values that you're trying to kind of juggle and work toward. So there's a lot of stuff and we need to pare it down and prioritize. Sensors tend to want specifics and tend to be very literal. If you say to a sensor, you need to write in your journal twice a day every single day.  Give me some structure here. And how much should I write? Am I just writing a sentence or what am I supposed to write about? They want details. The Intuitor, not so much. If you say you need to write in your journal twice a day, they'll say, okay. And they'll write in it twice a day. It may be at 7pm and 8.30pm, but they'll write in it twice a day. Sensors have difficulty extrapolating interpretations from data. They get the data. It says 69% this and 31% this. And so obviously 69 is the stronger argument. Okay, by the way, the Intuitor will go, all right. Well, I wonder why that one came out as 69. What different things might be influencing the results of that study? Intuitors are always looking for the confounding variables. I can't read a story about a study in the news. I can't read a journal article without trying to figure out. I wonder if there are any other possible ways to interpret this or what are the confounding variables that might have created this. But that's just the way my mind works. The Intuitor can be manipulative with word games. For example, recovery. The Intuitor might say, I'm in recovery. I'm going to meetings and I'm an alcoholic and I haven't had any alcohol in six months. Now I'm still using cocaine and smoking marijuana, but I am not drinking alcohol, so I'm in recovery. Whereas the sensor is very literal and may say recovery means clean and sober from all mind and mood altering substances. So I'm not in recovery because I drank coffee this morning and that's a mood altering substance. So we need to, you know, you can see where you might need to work with people to help them define their goals in a way that's meaningful. Sensors may have difficulty trusting people because they are so literal. If somebody says, I've never lied to you and the sensor goes, yes, you have. What about the time you told me that you were going to your friend Sally's house and you went to your friend Susie's house instead? What about the time you did this? And they highlight inconsistencies because they're very literal. If you say you never did it, then there should be no inconsistencies, which may lead them to have difficulty trusting. We need to help sensors be a little bit more loosey-goosey with, you know, when somebody says they never or they always. Let's look at most of the time in general, as opposed to holding them accountable for every single move and every single breath, because we all make mistakes. None of us is perfect. Sensors may feel attacked if the Intuitor proposes alternate interpretations. So going back to, you know, maybe John is in recovery and he relaxes. And so John being sensor looks back at all the details and all the facts that led to the relapse and is very literal and practical and methodical about figuring out what led to the relapse. But the Intuitor comes up and goes, yeah, I hear all those things. But I'm wondering if this happened or maybe maybe you're not taking into account this, that and the other. And John may feel very invalidated because he's come up with an understanding of how things happened. And the Intuitor is not happy with just that one answer. The Intuitor wants to look for all the possibilities, helping people understand that some people like to look for possibilities. They like to ponder and it's not meant to be invalidating. It's because they're curious. And, you know, sometimes they have great ideas. Sometimes they are way off the mark. Take what you need, leave the rest. In relationships, sensors may have difficulty exploring multiple motivations for things.  He comes up with, I'm home and I'm sitting on the couch and dinner is not ready. And these are all the facts and you're in a God awful mood.  The Intuitor might have a totally different interpretation. So we might need to encourage John to look at three possibilities. When something happens, look at three possibilities for why it might have happened in order to give John a little bit more psychological flexibility. The Intuitor on the other hand can run rampant with speculation. You know, maybe flip tides or flip sides and say, Jane is home and John comes home and he's in a God awful mood. And Jane starts running rampant with all these speculations about what happened. Was there a problem with the car? Did your boss give you a really hard time today? Was it that guy that is two cubicles down from you? Was he being snotty like he's always being and just constantly running kind of rampant with speculation about what might be causing John's bad mood instead of maybe looking at what's just the very obvious practical reason or letting John tell her. Interventions, encourage active listening and open communication. We don't want either party to feel squelched or talked over. So if the party that happens to be the Intuitor, the speculator, is listening, listen for what the other person says, and you don't necessarily need to postulate all of these possibilities unless the person asks for it. If you are a sensor and you're listening, listen and be open-minded to the possibilities that, okay, this person's looking at different interpretations and different possibilities. The sensor may get a little frustrated with this, but learning to have patience and know that that's how the Intuitor works through problems. They look at all the possibilities and then they come down to what's the most probable. Intuitors need to be self-aware of the motivations guiding their interpretations because they can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Jane assumes that John is in a bad mood because of something she did, and this is her interpretation of it, then maybe she gets irritated and she's like, where do you get off having an attitude with me? Let me tell you about my day today. Then all of a sudden John is in a bad mood because of Jane's behavior. So you want to make sure you understand how your interpretations are guided by motivations and not create something that wasn't necessarily there. Sensors need to be aware that although it may appear one way, there are potential other explanations, which goes back to the identify three possible reasons that cashier might have been in a really bad mood. Was it you? Was her boss grumpy or maybe her kid was sick? Those are three possibilities that could put anybody in a bad mood. Help both types clearly define goals and objectives for their relationship, for recovery or wellness. They may not be in recovery from depression or addiction or something, but they want to be happy and healthy. So what does that look like for them? And for communication, in order to feel heard, what do you need? Sensors would rather do than think. Sensors are the people who get an idea and they jot it out, they make a plan and they get started. And that's just the way it is. Intuitors would rather think than do. Which when I plan my garden, I start planning my garden in January, sometimes November, because I got to order the seeds and everything. But I will plan it and then I will replan it, then I will redesign it one more time, trying to figure out the most efficient effective way. Sound like a theme here. The sensor says, okay, it's spring. I want these 15 crops. I need this much square footage. Let's get the tiller out and get started with this. So when it comes to home improvement projects, finances, parenting, or relationships, sensors may start doing things before fully exploring all the possibilities. And intuitors may be so busy looking at the possibilities that they never get started. For example, can you plant two different types of squash next to one another without them cross pollinating and creating some sort of mutant melon. There's always more to learn. At a certain point, you need to get started. Intuitors may feel left out as the sensor takes the lead. So if the sensor says, you know what, we're going to have a garden, we really need to get it plowed up and get started. So I'm going to go out and I'm going to start tilling and whenever you're ready to plant, I'll be out there. So the intuitor may feel like, well, but what if that's not what I want? They need to communicate about, okay, what's the deadline? At what point do we have to make a decision and start action? Sensors may get frustrated with the intuitors continual pondering of how could I do this better? What could I do this way? Make a plan, make a decision and get going. Once they understand how they approach life, it's a whole lot easier to communicate because it doesn't feel as personal. If the intuitor is still pondering and the sensors like, are you not hearing me? We need to get going. They understand that that's how they're wired and they can kind of call each other out on it and the sensor can say, you brainstorm 16 different ways, you've come up with a bunch of really good ones. Now, which one are we going to do because we need to get the garden planted or we need to start the recovery process? Encourage active communication and agreement on end result before commencing work. So if you're talking about taxes or vacation planning or home improvement, relationship improvement or recovery, what do you want it to look like when you're finished? Are you going to, for taxes, are you going to itemize or are you just going to do the standard deductions? Are you going to do this or are you going to do that? When it comes to vacation planning, exactly what is it that you hope to get out of this vacation? You want to suntan? Okay, that means we need to probably go somewhere in the Caribbean. You want to explore the world? Maybe we can go on a cruise to Alaska or something. But what are your ultimate goals for this? The sensor needs to clearly assign goals and start and end dates. This is our big goal. This is what we've talked about that we're working toward. What date do we start and what date do we need to be finished? And then there's wiggle room in there for the intuitive, there's going to be some time to get ahead to ponder and to maybe change things a little bit. But at least you're starting out with some structured goals. Periodically stop and evaluate. You may need to adjust the goals a little bit, but at least you're making progress. Each person is a combination of some sensing and some intuitive characteristics. Knowing your own preferences can help you reduce your vulnerabilities and stress. Now remember, vulnerabilities are those things that tend to make you more likely to get anxious, depressed or angry. So, you know, anything that makes you edgy. Knowing the preferences of your friends, family, coworkers can help you understand more about how to interact in harmony with them so you don't increase their stress. If they want broad strokes, then, you know, you can give them broad strokes. If they're the type of person who wants the specific details, you go to them.   This is how I'm going to afford it. This is where I'm going to work. This is how much I'm going to make per week and on and on and on details. If the child is more of an intuitive, they'll probably come to you and go, I really want this car. It costs this much money. So I need to find a job that's going to pay me somewhere around this much per week. Where do you think I can find that? Just a different way of approaching things. Like two people with depression may have different symptoms. Two, intuitors or sensors may have different intuitive or sensing traits. So always give them a sheet with the characteristics. Have them check off the characteristics that most represent them. And then figure out how to tailor the treatment plan or the work environment or whatever it is to meet that person's particular needs.  Because we all have to have a little bit of give. What is it? How much wiggle room can you have before you start feeling stressed? So quick assessment. If you're talking to somebody and you're trying to figure out if they're a sensor or an intuitor, do they focus on the details, which would be a sensor or the big picture, which would be an intuitor? A lot of professors tend to be intuitors because we like to talk about meta concepts. Are they action oriented or great planners? Sensors tend to be very action oriented. They make a plan and they move on it. Intuitors tend to make plans and then make more plans and then make more plans after that. Are they typically content or are they always looking to improve something? And then think to yourself, what is it of these characteristics? What describes you? So what do you bring to the table that complements this other person or this environment? Or that may not be the same, but it may bring a different strength. So in what ways are you similar and what ways are you different than the current environment or than that person? And how does that work together? How can it be perceived as a strength instead of a hurdle? Are there any questions? One thing I find in recovery and treatment planning is this sensing an intuitive dimension is really important in helping people figure out sort of how to approach recovery and how to approach life because they're learning new skills. If they've been depressed for five years or if they're dealing with anxiety, they're learning new skills. Yes, they have all this stuff that they need to address, stuff they need to learn. But they need to remember what they're working toward and have that image there clearly to work with. If you're doing groups with obviously there's a variety of people in groups, always provide an overarching topic. So your intuitors have an idea about what groups about and then provide sort of a step-by-step outline. I'm not super detailed, but highlight the bullet points of what you're going to go through in group. So the sensors know what the details are and they can see what they're working to put together. Remember, if you have any questions that you can think of, you can email me at support at allceuse.com. Otherwise, I will see you in our next lecture. Thank you for being here today. I very much appreciate it. Before this podcast, please like and subscribe either in your podcast player or on YouTube. You can attend and participate in our live webinars with Dr. Snipes by subscribing at allceuse.com. This episode has been brought to you in part by allceuse.com, providing 24-7 multimedia continuing education and pre-certification training to counselors, therapists and nurses since 2006.


There are two styles of communication, violent and nonviolent, and a whole spectrum in between. Violent communication is coercive, manipulative, and it hurts. It includes making generalizations and a use of language that induces fear, shame, or guilt. It is often ineffective since it diverts our attention away from clarifying our actual needs and distracts us from solving the actual conflict. Nonviolent communication is based on the idea that we all share universal human desires such as the need for trust, safety, and appreciation. It allows us to empathize and think clearly, and as a result reach a better and more honest understanding of each other. Nonviolent communication follows four steps, observation, feeling, needs, and requests. To understand how it works, let's imagine a college student being late for class. Old Jay, her former teacher, would usually have just said, and here she comes again, lay down. In class, he would then give her a hard time, and after, as his form of punishment, a bunch of senseless assignments. Then, both would feel bad for the rest of the day. New Jay, who's her current teacher, learned about nonviolent communication and knows that it begins with a clear observation. During observation, he tries noticing concrete facts, things that happen at that very moment. New Jay jots down that Ann arrived 20 minutes late and that his pulse is up, possibly a sign of stress. When focusing on his feelings, New Jay connects with his heart and can learn to understand various underlying emotions. This is important because what seems to be anger might in fact be sadness. During this step, it is essential to distinguish feelings from thoughts. After class, New Jay shares his observation and explains to Ann that he feels disrespected when someone is late for his class. Knowing his needs is important because it allows him to enrich his life and feel at peace. If we disregard our needs or don't live up to our values, we experience stress and frustration. Understanding that we all have universal human needs is perhaps the most important step in the process. New Jay tells Ann that they should find a way to respect each other's values and desires. Lastly, there is the request, which clarifies what future New Jay wants for himself and this relationship. Clear requests are hence crucial to a transformative communication. When we ask for concrete actions, we often find creative ways to ensure that everyone's needs are met. New Jay asks Ann not to come to class at all if she happens to run later than one minute. Marshall Rosenberg, who developed the model, liked to show the differences between the communication styles with two animals. The jackal was a symbol of aggression, dominance and violent communication. The giraffe with his long neck and big heart represents a clear-sided and compassionate speaker and non-violent communication style. All of violence, Rosenberg wrote, is the result of people tricking themselves into believing that their pain derives from other people and that consequently those people deserve to be punished. What are your thoughts on this model? Share your thoughts in the comments below and check the description for more details and interesting links about the topic. Teachers from all around the world can use them in classrooms, online courses or to start projects and today, thousands already do. To learn how it works and download this video without ads or background music, check out our website or read the description below. If you want to support our mission and help change education, visit our Patreon, that's patreon.com slash Sprouts.


YouTube what's up, man? It is mini scheme time and we were Arizona last time that is what I have my e-book out on you You can check out man turf for that for the more in detailed in-depth breakdowns This is just quick. You're you one out of Atlanta playbook I'm gonna go alphabetical order through the whole entire playbook the whole entire man Give you a mini scheme for each playbook So if you're waiting on your playbook, make sure you follow make sure you subscribe and put that notifications on every time I put a video up it could be your book right now We're in Atlanta Atlanta probably has one of the best gun bunches It has dudes close it has a lot of under center stuff to run the ball But I want to talk about the Falcons trips and this is a formation that I ran Maybe I want to say man 12 man 30 a long time ago It's something I really like and one of the reasons I like it is four wide receivers You know, we don't have that clumber some fat tight end on the field in the NFL in rags There's only a few good tight ends and I feel on mutt. There's no good tight ends So if you want to utilize for good wide receivers, this is a formation you should check out Another reason why I like this it has post routes and corner routes pretty much to multiple players So if your opponent's playing a lot of zone and they start manning people up, you can really switch up your plays And I don't do any formation subs. The one thing I do like is this wide receiver right here This is where I have Julio Jones. I didn't even put that on the depth chart That's pretty much where your number one wide receiver goes I don't know if Julio is the number one slot receiver why he's there, but I like Julio there I like my fastest receiver there now Julio in rags is not that fast. I believe he's 92 speed There's a couple reasons why I like my fastest best wide receiver there If it's mutt Marvin Harrison Tory Holt, whoever you may have on this really fast I'm gonna go over a couple plays that I like ways to protect out of this the first play I want to talk about a slot drive Pretty much the slot drive and curls on this play We're gonna talk about the slot drive is a play that I ran a long time ago when I really wasn't even that good it meant But that pulse route to the solo wide receiver is just something that's really effective We'll go to dollar here.  So The one thing about this formation we have Julio Jones. He's on in route I like to streak him always like that Julio right down the middle of the field And then we can go ahead and have a slant and we can have a drag The one thing in this formation I like doing is motioning in this slot guy pretty much every time One that's a lot of different plays and I'll go over those plays But he's also can pass protect if I bring in there I can motion block him if someone's bringing a lot of pressure and max protect essentially So I'll just motion him pretty close to Julio put him on a drag What I like here is just this pulse route money against zone Especially when you have Julio running down the seam it really opens things up for Calvin Ridley to catch that post So like I said, it's covered three. They're really pressing me getting physical at the line But I can hit this post to Calvin Ridley I Could also go ahead hit this dragon underneath to Sunoo who I put on the motion You might want somebody faster there to catch the dragon everything, but that's pretty much how I run that play I mean, like I said, I like it because of that Calvin Ridley post another thing You can do is utilize this running back route. Let's put Sunoo on a flat route here Keep it the same Hulu over the middle Ridley on the post Let's put Sunoo on a flat route this open up the zone. Give me a spot to do the ball to the Vante Freeman Right here on the Neve. Hopefully Sunoo can come block. I got killed by landing Collins But that's another cute route on that play that I like that's called slot drive post Julio Just a lot of ways to attack zone pretty much and let's go to another play I like that same motion keep that motion in mind keep running that same motion give your opponent the same look Don't give them a tell on what play you're running Next we'll go down to curls now. This is a similar concept man. This is similar thing We're just gonna keep rockin cover three right now. Um Except Julio is on the post now It's the same thing It's just a different players on the post really and a lot of times what I like to do with this I'll streak Ridley that way I can go to Julio and let's go Let's just go flat comeback route over here on the right, you know Or we'll do a zig to Sunoo that gets a little bit more yards than a flat. We'll do the same motion And We have some new we got take Sunoo, you know possession catch so I don't get hit get a couple yards If you have it you got to take it because like I told you guys on many plays man You have to assume that they're going to cover Julio Jones So let's go ahead whip route again come back route One of those guys is a high low read if it's hard flash you have to come back if it's cloud flash You hit the zig but I'll show you guys how good this post is against cover three Again zone I throw this low Julio Jones went for the I went for the aggressive catch there Probably could a rat caught that and maybe I didn't even have to throw it low That's one thing about covered three man. You guys know randomly. They'll just start manning up on people I wish I knew how it worked, but we'll go but that's why we put Julio there if those hook curls want to man up It is a linebacker and He will get by him. Oh, we're getting bagged right now Really confusing how cover three works. It looks like it's the linebacker doesn't man it up on Julio So, let's see what we can do about that. Let's keep the same setup First I feel like we can hit this pass. That's why we put Julio here So we can hit this pass. There it is Linebackers not gonna stay with Julio Jones Interesting to see let's see what this does with this setup just did against cover three because I feel like the center safety It's just running out of I don't know what this guy is doing You know almost wish I could put Julio on a fade right here with the same setup and throw him down In the middle of the field. Maybe I could pass this pass lead that down the middle of the field Let's try it and this is what lab in the practice mode is about. Let's try the same setup Let's see what that cover three safety does again same motion in here see if we can glitch that cover three guy again No, not that now they didn't man up on anybody and that's one thing that's frustrating about the game Aggressive catch is getting me killed right here. Let's go ahead try to hit him with a possession catch or hit him with a rat catch one thing that is frustrating about Practice mode and everything like that like now all of a sudden that will go possession catch Julio Jones water now All of a sudden they're not matching now all of a sudden they're not That's the same defense as now we have the X factor on the same defense, but now it's doing something different But as I said just cover three. This is just another post route. We can hit the Julio Jones I'm doing that low with the left trigger left trigger keeps it low as you guys know the linebackers won't make crazy plays And you could possession catch that in front of people But if they are garden Julio Jones, man, make sure you hit this whip route or you hit the comeback route One or the other because you gotta assume your opponent's gonna be all your garden Julio Jones You garden Julio Jones, let me hit it underneath this a new possession catch get my six yards If you're not willing to take those five six yards, then you're not gonna you're not gonna be successful offensively really So that was just another post right Julio Jones. Let's get to another another play out of this What is it? What's it called Falcon trips? Okay, we went over Curls went over slide drive Let's take a look at deep corner. Now. This is a play. Give you a little bit.  Let's go to Let's go to cover three cover three cloud one of my favorite defenses now This is our corner out chat or YouTube. This is our corner out Julio Jones is blinking That corner I said deep corner out, right? That's really deep now It's first in 10 and practice mode is always first in 10 to go What I'm going to do with him at first. We're going to just streak that guy That's why I take any deep blues out of the way. Give us a big hole to hit Julio Jones Now if you guys have been playing but Pass rush is pretty crazy crazy even on regs pass rush is mean So for me to throw a 30 yard corner out is pretty unrealistic What you can do and a lot of times we use smart routing to make Curls go 10 yards to make in routes go 10 yards to kind of get our routes to go further down the field But you can also use smart routing to make your route shorter and more practical to throw a 30 yard Come or a 30 yard corner route isn't that practical, but if we smart route it boom now We're at 10 15 yards. That makes it that much easier to throw We're gonna have a high low read and a backside in route same exact motion every time Give our point the same look And we're able to hit Julio Jones Possession catch on the sideline That's what it's about mixing up your looks for your opponent Now you've you've run that that's curls play you've run a slot drive where he's on a streak all with the same motion Bring this guy in boom Same thing we can hit this corner route because it's shorter smart routed so it's not 30 yards down the field That's why I like that play and that's how I use the deep corner play So let's go ahead. I'm gonna add some more plays man. This is probably gonna be five six plays. I really like this formation It's definitely one that I've used a lot in my life not recently, but I definitely know the concepts in this formation Where I want to go next why receiver smash Now we're gonna go with the same exact let's go with the same look here cover three cloud.  Yeah Well, those won't be in the mini scheme unless you want to run inside his own have fun Motioning that guy give him the same look every time And you can run a little draw base or what else they got draw sweep draw or base I would I would stick to the base Why are super smash now let's go here all right dollar we'll go back All right now this is a similar thing I honestly like a drag a drag here some people you can leave that you can leave that That smoke screen or hitch or whatever. What was it? I was actually a hitch which is kind of neat because you can't hot rod a hitch to the outside wire receiver So it'll always give you somewhere to throw if they play back cover to play play deep play the sticks or play Play what is it? Play short played it. What do you know what I mean play play cloud flash instead of heart flash But this time Julio Jones is going right down the seam now that that seam route is one to kill cover to Absolutely destroy it and what we'll do is we'll motion in Sunoo the same look instead of him going on a whip or a drag Now he's going on now. He's the corner out guy Throw it in front. Hopefully Sunoo makes that catch what he does not make them. Maybe at the door at low. Let's try and Maybe because Julio is going down the middle of the field. It's not necessarily going to hold that deep blue on the right side same motion Go for a possession catch catch it in front of Josh Norman now that's tough to live like that I will be honest with you guys. It's tough to live like that. Let's see if it changes like this a streak instead of that seam Down the middle motion him in up mess around button But Julio Jones is just that good. You see that user on that to just swerving a little bit to get a good position RB is the button I want to throw Same thing we put a streak this time try to hold those deep blues a little bit better Boom possession catch right in front of Josh Norman. So just a different look to put your players in different things If they start manning up, you can definitely change it now. Let's switch it up. Let's try it did be on a streak Maybe that'll be better That will allow us to really pop this corner out. We'll just whip around Julio Jones underneath Yeah, much better space right there much better space Similar to the deep corner play same setup, but what we did we pretty much just switch the wire receivers So if they're getting used to Julio going to corner out now, boom I can run this play now Sunoo's the one going on the corner out So they might waste their man up on on Julio Jones, but we're hitting Sunoo No, it's just a different player, you know, that's pretty much the same concept though And let's go to a couple of a plays I like is a lot of plays and errors that I can use That I can really help open up the offense with this on Falcons trips And when we went slide drive we talked about curls just different post rock slot drives and post route curls is a post route to Julio Let's try it. Let's mess with PA Y receiver in P. Y receiver in I can't even tell you how long it's been in Madden You know, we'll just go cover through right here. You can snap and run this the way it is You know, it's really effective. You have a high low with Julio Jones and Ridley You have a will route, which we know dominates man covers We have a post route coming open late for me the way I ran this last year was streak Julio drag Ridley like that So you pretty much have the drag or you have the post That's probably a two-person read who are they garden where they covering who cannot throw to now because they're obviously you can Hit this guy underneath Ridley get some yards, you know Juke spin whatever may be or get down if you don't want to fumble or you hit the post It's pretty much one of the most simplest plays in the game that you can run to really pop pretty much any coverage So we hit this post about the heart you see how far that back deep blue was because I pull Julio on a streak Now there's other ways to run this too. You can go double drags like that You know, just keep that wheel route double drags boom boom We're still gonna have this guy in the middle of the field because deep blues really play passive this year And it's great with around I'll show you guys this against man covers. Now. We know some new It's probably 80 speed. He's probably pretty bad as far as speeds concerned But we'll take a look at him any way on this wheel route We'll play against pinch buck zero probably the best blitz in the game One that I run a lot and what we're gonna do is we're gonna motion block you got a motion block somebody Let's see if some new kills this Oh, so new just got bagged by landing Collins now. This is where Can't have some new out there. We just we got exposed right there by Muhammad Sunoo Being out there with the 80 speed landing Collins you should be able to blow by him So let's do some switcheroo's we still want Julio in that that night that spot right there. So let's use Calvin Ridley We know he got some speed He can get open Pinch buck zero Block the running back. We're gonna still want to try to hit Calvin Ridley. Let's motion block this guy We got sacked. I mean, he's doing a good job on the coverage Honestly mostly because he's playing off and that's one thing I realized about The wheel route you play off like that does a lot better But eventually we're gonna burn him Eventually when you had that speed you get some time the wheel route is going to kill man to man That's why every offense pretty much you guys are going to try to run You should have one of these wheel routes In the arsenal, you know, so you can run this like that Obviously we're getting rid of our post route and we still have this guy over the middle This is the news going to kill on that because that's where the route running comes in that corner route So that's the way I would torch a man blitz pretty much just use that wheel route and use that You can even do this with Julio streak Julio up the middle motion block And just abuse the fact that I mean they're not going to cover a wheel route Even if they're 10 yards off a wheel route still going to work So that's the play I would use against man to man Use the other corner routes. Use the other post routes in this falcon trips. I hope you guys like it This was the best formation I found other than bunch You know, if you're going to run the falcons, you probably could mix between this and run into bunch You guys know how to run bunch if you don't west coast clefts ebook is up on man turf right now You want to run west coast bunch like a pro check that out If not, you can check out this Atlanta playbook and mix in this falcon trio as I like it It's a way you can utilize every receiver on the field So hit that like button comment man. What playbook are you waiting for? I'm I don't know what's the next alphabet of war We did arizona. We did a lana. Is there another a I don't think there's another a Might be on baltimore next and that's one of my favorite And still stay tuned for that hit that notification button So make sure you get notifications when I drop another mini scheme


Hello, and welcome to NewsClick's International Roundup. This week, we take a look at the latest developments around the controversy around Donald Trump's impeachment as well as the situation in West Asia after the conclusion of the UN General Assembly Summit. To talk more about this, we have with us Prabir Prakash. Hello, Prabir. Prabir, so last week saw a lot of debate and controversy over a possible impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. And the details are still very murky, but a lot of this has to do with the call between Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine, the new president. So how do you see the case and do you actually see the grounds for any sort of impeachment proceedings to credibly happen? I think we should take a step back and look at the American politics differently. American politics for the last 15, 20 years, probably even more, has been what we would call a completely broken political system, where the president is continuously impeached and threatened to be impeached by the Congress. The president seems to have taken away the war-making powers of the Congress into the president's hand, afterwards called the global war on terror, which seems to be never ending. And you have a situation where the Congress, particularly the Senate, if it is in the hands of one party, then the other party holds the presidency or the lower house, thousands of representatives, then a three-way fight begins, which begins in the budget, begins on various of the issues. So this has been a continuous problem in the US politics that they are not able, in some sense, to get a consensus, what the country should or shouldn't do, which would seem to indicate a deeper crisis of the system as a whole. In this particular case, particularly when Trump came into power, there are sections who did not like it and argued that he came somehow with the help of the Russians, therefore the whole Russia-gate issue, which has gone on for fairly long, and the Mueller investigations, various other investigations have taken place. We don't see what results can or cannot be because honestly, rest of the world does not consider significant for a very different reason. They said Americans have been involved in elections in every other country in the world. Why are they now screaming for their elections to be interfered if it is true by a foreign power? Of course, every country has an interest in other countries' elections and that's why if America can take quote-unquote interest, they came public credit for Yeltsin's victory, Yeltsin's elections against Zuganov, then why are they crying now even if it is true Russia intervened in the US elections? So for the rest of the world, it's a non-starter. For the US people, it's a very big issue. Yes, it is our God-given right to interfere in every country's elections, but nobody should be interfering in our elections. So this is the difference between the US politics and how the rest of the world sees it. In this particular case, the Trump administration has always argued that the DNC had launched a motivated campaign because they wanted to hide Hillary Clinton's problems. And because of that, they raised the bogey of essentially Russian interference and Hillary Clinton's problems not with respect to her server, but with respect to the fact that she was effectively the DNC committee in Hillary Clinton conspired to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination for the Democratic Party. And that's what WikiLeaks had brought out and they wanted to blame it on the Russians. So this is the whole start of it. Whether Russians did get access to the DNC server or not is a good question. The question is DNC server was not protected and it had very low level of shall we say cybersecurity. So given all of this, the whole argument that the Russia-gate issue had an Ukrainian involvement has been raised time and again. There have been people who have been close to the DNC, this is Chalupa sisters who are Ukrainian-Americans. It's also the crowd strike was run by a person who was an Ukrainian origin, United States American, but US origin. So all these questions have been there in the air. So Trump after the Buller committee has virtually said that there is no proof of any wrongdoing which is impeachable that Trump is asking Zelensky in this phone call to see whether there was any truth to do those kind of remarks and also whether there's also been an argument which has been raised that the steel dossier also had some Ukrainian inputs or origin. So he really wants to strike back at the DNC and the allegations of his presidential elections have been the Russia-gate angle to see if there is a Ukraine-gate angle to this. And of course the other issue is the Biden's frontrunner and of the Democratic Party's nomination and Biden has a Ukrainian connection. Hunter Biden was made a consultant in one of the companies. I think the $50,000 a month salary or something and there was a particular prosecutor who was trying to look into this company, not against Biden, but into this company's affairs. And when Biden came and wanted that prosecutor to be fired and withhold $500 million that Ukraine was supposed to get from the US, then one of the arguments is that Biden was really doing it to save his son and the company that his son was involved with. Of course it can be argued that wasn't what Biden was really performing as his duty. He had been instructed by Obama to take out this prosecutor, asked him to sign this prosecutor because of other corruption charges. But if we don't want to get into that, I don't think that in any other country people would have batted an eyebrow on this kind of issue. And I therefore think it's much more a matter of not of shall we say what Trump did or didn't do but really the broken nature of the American politics where they don't know how to accept their no longer the sole global hegemon and this is what is tearing the United States apart. In fact, Trump has serious crimes against him which should be investigated which is what is doing in Venezuela, what is done in Syria, what's doing in Iran, all of which are actually war crimes, striking of Syria for instance. All of these are war crimes and all of these would be illegal acts the United States is doing but you know the US illegal acts don't matter. Every other country it is supposed to abide by international law but not the United States and that is United States legal position. Forget about it whether it's a real something which can be taken to the court or not. International court or not US doesn't accept the international court even when its rulings have come against it and US law its claims goes and operates every part of the world. We have an epitome and president convicted by US court and taken abducted really from Panama to serve US justice. So you know this kind of things really are an indication of the failure of the crisis of the global system and also the crisis internal to the American system which they don't seem to know how to resolve the internal contradictions anymore. Right. Do you also think that this process might actually end up benefiting Trump in terms of his being able to polarize his vote base by showing himself as victim? You know his vote base is going to stay with him. The question is what happens to the people in the middle and will that depend on the impeachment? No. I think what it is really going to depend is whether the Iran crisis can be resolved will it lead to a further global crisis and will it actually have implications for the global economy if there is a war? The global economy is going to go down the tube so that's going to happen. And partly how he handles his relationship with China. Let's face it the American trade war and the technical war technology war against China has taken us across spectrum in the United States. So how that shapes up and what is the impact going to be? I think that's going to be a much bigger issue. In the short term this is not going to probably affect the US election. What's really going to affect the election is what happens to the economy. And this is you know hardly eight months, nine years away. So I think the key issue is if there is a shooting war then I think Trump's chances are going to be bleak and whether there will be a shooting war or not depends on how much maneuverability Trump has. And unfortunately impeachment threats of impeachment reduces maneuverability and therefore may make it much more difficult for him now to get out of this locked down battle words move that America the collision course more that the American and the Iranians have been moving on particularly the Americans. And Trump can he have the political maneuverability to get out of it. This may actually constrict that. I think that is the issue that we should all be worried about. So let's delve a bit more into the issue you're talking about about Trump's equation relationship the US relationship with Iran. And recently we saw that Iran did release one of the tankers it had it had been pounded. And there was a UN General Assembly summit last week this much speculated Trump Rouhani meeting did not take place at the same time. There have been certain voices demanding further negotiations. And we also have the fact that Germany UK and France did release a statement declaring that Iran was responsible for the attacks on Saudi Arabia. So keeping all this in mind do you think what do you think is likely to happen in the next couple of weeks in this part of the world so to speak. The crystal ball that I have is very crowded on that central issue that we have is is there a way for the United States to walk back to the JCPOA agreement. That's the key issue. And it also appears that while the three countries to mention Germany France and England blame by blamed Iran for the attack on Aramco but they also asked that the United States make certain gestures by and basically 15 billion dollar of oil trade should be allowed. They should be allowed to have this 15 billion dollar of oil trade with Iran. And this was also something they have been saying. So to be it reads that they were trying to be even-handed. We say this for helping the United States and Saudi Arabia but we also then want you to give the concession that we can trade it with Iran and then Iran formally can still stay within the JCPOA even if the United States has walked out of it. So this was I think the package deal and that was the expectation that the Rouhani and Trump would meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. We didn't take place. So this possibility exists. There have been reports in the newspapers that Trump was willing to go with it and they are trying to work out on that. But that's what I was talking about earlier that this requires Trump to have a stronger position in the United States which unfortunately for him the impeachment may actually weaken because let's face it. There is a loss of face if he has to walk back the JCPOA even in some sense. So it will be taken as his defeat.  And his only criticism for that would then be it was signed by Obama not be. So given that, that kind of position I think is going to be a little more difficult for him right now. But yes Iran has completed what it was supposed to do. It did not do it, did not release a tanker immediately after the grace one was released. It waited and that's also his need to show that the two incidents were not linked. So even though we think that possibly the whole world believes they are linked and they also did release the tanker. Finally, I think it was very clear after some time they would release a tanker which they have done. I think Iran's issue is a very simple one. That they are not going to follow down Iraq's route which is accept sanctions, UN sanctions and essentially delude themselves completely of all possibility of resistance before they're invaded. Iran is not going to do that. And Iran's capability lies in the fact that it is militarily certainly a capability which the United States does not seem to have foreseen. They have not spent on what would be called the conventional military weapons, air force, aircraft carriers, all of that. But they have speed boats to counter aircraft carriers, missiles, torpedoes using small submarines. And then as we know now drones and cruise missiles. Now drones and cruise missiles essentially are very similar in technology. Drones has an added ability to hover over a target. But if you consider suicide drones that they go and hit as they did in Aramco, they're really not fundamentally very different from cruise missiles. So I think given all this development and the fact that Iran seems to have parted with this technology to Hezbollah earlier and now Houthis, it's clear they were transferred technology. And now there are also detailed drawings showing that essentially their version of Quds-1, which is the cruise missile, the cruise missile that they have. And Somar, but the one which Iran have has significant differences as well.  Given all of that, we have to see it as a transfer of technology, not a transfer of weapons. And given the fact that the US has transferred weapons, including support, active war support to Saudi Arabia, it's very difficult to blame Iran for this. But the fact is they have Houthis, they have Hezbollah, they have the Syrians with them, and they also have the Iraqi forces with them. So today Iran is a much stronger position than Iraq was for instance when Bush invaded Iraq. So given all of that, and Iran is much bigger than Iraq. Given all of that, I think the military equation is not in the United States favour in terms of taking out Iran without damage to itself.  So I think the crisis that the United States has internally is being imposed all over the globe. And if the US, the biggest political power, cannot reach any stable agreement globally, then the global international regime as we would call it is actually at stake. And that's also the issue that we have here, is the United States capable of having a peace agreement with any country? And can a president reach such an agreement is as much the issue as to Donald Trump? Thank you, Prabir. That's all we have time for today. Keep watching NewsClick.