Spring Is Warming Up All Over

As the snow melts and the tulips start to sprout, it creates the ideal time to reflect about the merits of learning peacemaking skills at any stage of life. What if there was a peacemaker module taught in elementary school- Just an Hour or two each year?

I find, in practice, the tools are so much easier for young ones to pick up and assimilate than it is for the older folks.

Last week, a young boy came into my office, looked at the diagram on the whiteboard and asked "Who is that for?" I replied: "a few grown ups are learning a few things." He rolled his eyes and said "Well, we covered that a long time ago... Do you want me to talk to them for you?"

Now, that's an idea...

It's Time for Rediscovering Our Senses of Humor and Perspective

Beautiful! Joyful faces  of little foxes who are living in the moment and just rolling in the experience... Whatever comes, just keeping rolling with the experience and avoid vexatious people as much as possible... including tangling with them... It is like a giant mobile suspended over a baby's crib- when we move one of those little lambies, they all must move... It's just physics... Thank you for the photo, Paul Berman.

Searching for the Inner Calm... Transformative...

Funny Dolphin - More amazing video clips are a click away

Meeting of the Minds, Pepsi style

PEPSI COMERCIAL FOOTBALL 2010 Messi, Henry, Kaka', Lampard, Arshavin & Drogba +Akon - More amazing video clips are a click away

Confrontation Can Be Calm and Coordinated... Take a Breath...

Australia and the UK Are Mediatorious!

Truly enjoying reading about the massive overhauls "goin' on" in Australia Family Court and the new report out from the UK (that includes Wales!) about the changes which they are putting children's needs front and center!

I would challenge every one of us to read Jennifer McIntosh's article about the research about both Child Focused Mediation and Child Inclusive Mediation- Fantastic!

Lessons from my ABA Dispute Resolution membership!

Okay, so sometimes engaging in the "Difficult Dialogues" can make some of us feel "dumped on"... There are those days, for me, at least... But, I have to tell you that the "win" of watching people shift and reengage in another configuration  (think mobile suspended over baby's crib) is an amazingly satisfying moment. The glow is worth every minute...

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Working with Intractable Conflict

Reading Bernie Mayer's new book about working with intractable conflict. His premise is that we can overly focus on conflict "resolution" and miss out on how to effectively deal with these other types of conflict... slow to resolve or seemingly "never ending.

Mediation is More Than "Making Peace."

Mediation and Conflict Management are not for wimps. The people who engage in this practice are highly devoted to helping people challenge and explore the damage created from unintentional harm.

These professionals are highly trained and respectful of the importance of listening well, honoring differences and resistance of being drawn into useless escalation of conflict. That does not mean this is a passive process. It is, actually, the opposite. These roles draw on our analytic skills, our ability to listen deeply and authentically conduct ourselves in a dialogue which often make most regular people very "uncomfortable." Tolerate the tension and hang out with the knots...