I felt crappy even before the face-to-face mediation began, this week. Fighting some seasonal bug, I was hoping the mediation would be a short one, no matter the outcome, and I would soon be on my way home, to a hot apple cider and a bed. It was not a short one. Yet, what […]
Silence: Pattern Interruptus
November 22, 2011 by · 6 Comments
When conflict is all around, resolution seems distant, and the voices ring loud, sometimes the best way forward is to say nothing silence. As a mediator, I’ve found silence can be an effective pattern interrupt technique, a way to break impasse, especially if the parties in a dispute aren’t listening well, are locked onto negativity, […]
The Many Perspectives on Aging
November 10, 2011 by · 1 Comment
A lot happens on the edges. As we get close to the far edge of our life, it’s an opportunity to look back, and reflect on what happened, and be true to oneself. Listening and interacting with older people (older than me, anyways) or my elders, as I prefer to relate to them, can be […]
Circles: In Life and Death
November 5, 2011 by · 5 Comments
We gathered in concentric circles, like the rings on a tree that show its age, in a small community hall this week, to sing songs that celebrated our friend, who had just died. With those in the innermost circle leading the songs, we sang together, folk favourites of the deceased. Combined with other remembrances, food, […]
Just Enough: Reframing the Paradox of Social Media
October 21, 2011 by · 4 Comments
Reframing is about changing the game. It’s about how we describe a conflict. There is no shortage of buzz about a personal conflict many of us wrestle with, our struggle to maintain attention, focus, in a world of digital busyness, the world of social media. Social media is a paradox. On the one hand, it […]
