November 27, 2014

Hey everyone–Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, my Dad and Step-Mom are driving up from Atlanta, and it looks like a small, family Thanksgiving for us. But, for those of you hitting the road for or hosting a large, extended-family Thanksgiving, I’ve written a few pointers to keep in conflict-free!

Here are a few tips for a drama-free meal:…

According to Mom Generations the origin of the idiom hot under the collar “comes from the fact that anger or aggression generally causes a person’s face and neck to become red, sweaty and hot.  Since the collar covers the neck, the collar becomes hot and sweaty.” This expression provides a good visual of people who literally become…

Join us on November 25th at 8 pm Eastern as Katherine Josten, artist and founder of the Global Art Project for Peace discusses how local communities from across the globe actively join together to…

http://www.bnamericas.com/news/infrastructure/brazil-mulls-ppp-dispute-arbitration-bill1

"What's Happening in Conflict Resolution" is a weekly round up of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more. Check it out each week and view past versions [HERE].…

During this Thanksgiving week, I would like to give thanks for all the mediation skills I learned that help me not only at the mediation table … but in everyday life too.

This list was derived from a video created by John Ford on the HR Mediator Channel. Thank-you, John, for your insightfulness.

1. Be Your Real Self – To me, this…

The holiday season is quickly approaching. Do you know what to get that special someone in your life? No fret. Let this Holiday Shopping List be your guide to the perfect holiday gift for the peace solver in your life. “As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who…

I’m not big on acronyms, but I’m particularly fond of this one. That’s because it’s short (so, I can remember it), and it has been extraordinarily helpful to my mediation career (which is always a good thing)!

You’re probably wondering what B.I.F.F. stands for. It stands for Brief, Informative, Friendly, and Firm.

I recently learned about it from a video featuring a Conflict Resolution expert, and I connected with the idea right away, mostly because…

I am thrilled to announce that my new book is now available through Amazon. It is called “Conflict Mastery: Questions to Guide you”.

This is a short summary of what it is about:

This book is about expanding perspectives on common aspects of conflict experiences—before, during, and after they…

The program will explore how the Dances of Universal Peace can help to open the way toward conflict resolution. Over more than 45 years, the Dances of Universal Peace have traveled to as many as 50 countries, and more than 200 circles meet regularly in North America alone. The Dances help to bring people together in the spirit of…

President Obama Orders Full Review of Hostage Negotiation Policy

President Obama has ordered a comprehensive review of policy dictating how the U.S.…

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot about the “right brain” and “left brain,” but, honestly, I can never remember which one is the “emotional” side and which one is the “logical” side.

Well, I just learned something that will make it easier to remember–and something that can be VERY helpful in the therapy room and at the mediation table.

I learned that, when we start to write, we immediately go into our “left brain” even if we had been in our “right…

It happens sometimes that we lose track of ourselves when in conflict. We may find we turn into someone who doesn’t even resemble who we usually are and how we interact. We may become an angry parent, a petulant child, a dogmatic teacher, a judge or other personas that reflect a different somebody than we want to be.

Our changing personality – if and when it appears – may emerge because we are overly stressed and upset, hurt, frightened, overwhelmed, not getting our point across, or…

Often it seems that all we see in the media are violence, conflict and competition, whether it's in the news, in entertainment or even in sports reporting. And this can have a significant impact on how we feel, how we see the world and how we deal with conflict. Marianne Perez de Fransius will share how exposure to so much violence in the media is…

In the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation's latest blog post, 5 reasons are suggested for why it's so hard for mediators to live up to the ideal of party self-determination.  You can read it here.

Would you know if you employee was being bullied, harassed or abused at work?

Millions of employees go to work daily in pain, and no one cares. Sandy the middle manager is so hurt by the way she is being treated. She is being abused by her Director and has been contemplating suicide. Carol the young supervisor, has been mistreated by her peers so she has decides to leave the company. …

You’ve heard of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ or ‘Hotel California’ … but ‘DivorceHotel’? Yup, it’s something new.

Here’s the deal.

For a base price of $5000, a separating couple can check in for the weekend at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY (a very nice place) and check out two days later with a notarized final divorce agreement. The price includes two rooms, access to lawyers and all divorce mediation.…