Reframe and Let Collaboration Flow, in 2013

Just around the corner from where I live is The Herbal Path, a Chinese health and medicine shop.   Yesterday, I was looking at some of the diagrams they have pasted in their store window.  Those diagrams illustrated the meridians in our bodies, the rivers of energy within our body,  the Qi (pronounced “chee”) flow.   […]

Use Participant Engagement Tools to help build consensus

A week ago, I was hanging out in Halifax, as a participant in the week-long International Association of Facilitator’s annual North America conference.  I was there to connect in-person with some colleagues I’ll be doing some work with, as well as to learn.  And learn I did. I self-refer as a mediator first, and facilitator […]

The Railway Switchman and The Mediator: Your Relationship Guides

  The railway switchman and the mediator. So different, yet so much alike. Both focus on relationships. The switchman: Knows where the trains are coming from Sees where the trains want to go Looks ahead to the crossings and transfer points Safely guides the trains forward to their new destinations Like a switchman, the mediator […]

Agricultural creativity and the mediators craft

My earliest years were spent on a farm.  My dad was a farmer.  In their own way, farmers are experts in relationships and sustainability. And so when I read a blog post last week on agriculture and creativity, penned by the renowned writer (and blogger, too!), Paulo Coelho, immediately my mind resurfaced strong feelings for […]

Are you ready for the unexpected?

How do you respond when someone throws a wrench into your day? Here’s how one classical musician responded, after a Nokia ring tone went off in the middle of his performance (thanks to my local fiddler/composer friend, Paul Gitlitz, for bringing this to my attention). (If the video not displaying, click here) I found this […]