Finding Insights in the Garden: Lessons from Mediation Before convening a formal mediation meeting, I always have several private conversations with each party. This approach allows me to delve deeper into their perspectives and uncover the underlying issues. I ask questions that provoke introspection: Did the other person make… Read More »MEDIATION IS LIKE MAKING COMPOST
<1344 words> My son gave me a Vitamix for Christmas. I’ve become pretty proficient at creating interesting and sometimes compelling smooth greenies as a result. I’ve developed quite a taste for them, in fact. It is a formidable machine. It is to blenders what the Lexus is to cars. Some might… Read More »The Speed of Trust – reflections upon
<1243 words> FOUR DECADES OF BEING A ‘SENIOR’ WARRANTS A CLOSER LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCES There are more and more forecasts that more and more of us will live to be one hundred. Our eligibility for Canada Pension kicks in at 60. For many of us that marks the beginning of… Read More »Four Decades of Being a ‘Senior’
Sometimes when you’re engaged in a quarrel with someone the things takes on a momentum of its own…..The person who blinked first was hurt and puzzled….it became imperative that a peace be brokered in a family that felt like it was falling apart, before it was too late.
How do we see other people? I know so many people who say ‘I don’t like conflict…I avoid conflict….’, and yet I’ve heard them talk about other people in ways that invites particular behaviours – behaviours that reinforce their (usually negative) perception of those other people.
We create our own conflicts typically without consciously intending to, and then we’re surprised when we discover that other people have seen us in ways we don’t think are true. If I see you as a lesser being; if I see you as an object; it is much easier to feel justified in how I characterise and judge you.
< 904 words> This question was sent to me by someone who read yesterday’s blog about new year’s resolutions and plans and prompted me to think about it. I have in fact been thinking about it over the years, but so here, at this point in time, is my take on… Read More »Do you ever feel that you’re running out of time?
“I don’t know” is not an acceptable answer. This blog is a simple story about a young consultant who ran out of ideas and said it. And then it is about an unexpected prod and a vote of confidence from an unexpected quarter that not only saved the day but shaped a life.
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The worlds of motivational workshops, life coaching and management consulting are peppered with the now seriously clichéd ‘embrace change’. If you’re not for change you are
against it. You’re either progressive and creative – a constant ball of energy, seeking your next change fix; or you’re stagnant or dead. The literature also tells us that it’s ok to fear change,
while then admonishing us to overcome our fears in a 5, 6, 7 or even 8 step process. That’s all it takes. Follow the steps and you too, …