by The Center | Feb 8, 2012 | Blog
The sea of stories rolls on and on without end. Though we must tell and listen to our stories well, trying as much as we can to understand, we know now that there’s a peace beyond understanding, a love too boundless to be known, a tale too secret to be told. As...
by The Center | Feb 8, 2012 | Blog
One of the most important tasks for the mediator is to be able to structure sessions with the parties in a way that creates balance and allows for sufficient flow between the parties with mediator participation. To do this, we often begin sessions with an agreement...
by The Center | Feb 8, 2012 | Blog
Norman Fischer, one of our teachers, has written a long poem about conflict, some of which was actually written during sessions where he was participating as a teacher during our self reflection programs. The book is extremely evocative and we recommend it as a way to...
by The Center | Jan 9, 2012 | Blog
Our work in the Understanding-Based approach to mediation and collaborative practice gives direct attention to how people get trapped in their conflicts, recognizing the outer and inner dimensions of that trap, and how we can work effectively to support them in...
by The Center | Jan 9, 2012 | Blog
The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home by Dan Arielly This is Dan Arielly’s follow up to Predictably Irrational. Both works centered around the author’s research into why people consistently fail to act in their own...
by The Center | Jan 9, 2012 | Blog
Why not have aspirations so lofty they are impossible to fulfill? To have aspirations any less lofty would be to sell ourselves short. The trick is to keep on making effort in the direction of fulfillment of the aspiration but not to think that you will actually...
by The Center | Dec 7, 2011 | Blog
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman This book, written by a Nobel prize winner in economics (who was not even an economist) was part of a team with Amos… who did the breakthrough thinking about uncertainty in rational behavior that has led to the development...
by The Center | Dec 7, 2011 | Blog
To be human is to tell your tale and listen to someone else’s. But it would make a difference to know that stories are stories. They are real, but not in the way we think they are when we take them too earnestly and allow them to mesmerize us. Stories are true as...
by The Center | Dec 7, 2011 | Blog
People in conflict who have been in a relationship often feel as if they know a great deal about the other person – the expert on the other’s reality. They come to mediation with that set strongly in mind. They can make righteous statements based on their sense of...
by The Center | Nov 11, 2011 | Blog
One thing that is very challenging in the End Game is to hold onto interests that have been expressed by the parties in a way that keeps them foremost as we negotiate through to a solution. When the rubber hits the road and we are talking options and ultimately...
