Welcome to “Uniting Fractured Communities Through Dialogue, Part 2 – Discovering Deeper Connections With Dialogue” – Episode #94 of Co-creating Peace, a series about conscious communication and conflict transformation.
Recently, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Duncan for The Omni-Win Project podcast. The Omni-Win Project is a multimedia effort to raise awareness of the myriad existing and emergent opportunities we have to improve our democracy and heal our political culture.
We discussed a wide range of related topics having to do with dialogue, and exploring ways that we can see past our differences – in fact, embrace them – to nurture democracy, co-create peace, and co-create a world where different ways of being and different perspectives are embraced, celebrated, and utilized to co-create better tomorrows than our yesterdays have been.
The Omni-Win Project podcast is one hour long, so I am airing this conversation in two parts over two podcast episodes.
Last week, in Part 1, Duncan and I discussed facilitated dialogues between law enforcement and various community members, including activists. Today, in Part 2, we discuss other, more informal types of dialogue and the importance of learning another person’s truths, exploring what’s inside them, and the wisdom, insights and shared humanity that often can only be discovered when we look beneath the surface.
If you’d like to learn more about dialogue, participate in dialogue events, or host a dialogue in your home, there are many great resources for that:
Recognizing that people often connect with one another more easily over a shared meal, Make America Dinner Again is an organization that wants to bring the country back together, one dinner at a time. They provide a step-by-step guide to make hosting your own dialogue dinner easy as pie. View the guide here. They’ve also put together a “host kit”. Download host kit here. To host an online event, go to their Online Events page.
Karuna Center for Peacebuilding is an organization that works internationally, including in the United States. They bridge deep divides to transform violent conflict: to foster reconciliation, interrupt cycles of violence, and strengthen community resilience. Through long-term partnerships and collaborations with local partners in conflict-affected areas, they help people discover their shared capacity for building peace.
Their initiatives span four overlapping areas of focus:
Positive paradigm shifts happen when we expand our awareness, explore new understandings, and embrace the glorious diversity of humanity. All this can happen through dialogue. This, my friends, is your invitation to join in the conversation.
Contact Kathleen Oweegon at: oweegon@bridgesofpeace.com to share your ideas and feedback for this show. You can receive a free 30-minute communication coaching session by being a guest on Co-creating Peace to talk about your communication challenges and receive Kathleen's suggestions on the air. Visit BridgesofPeace.com to learn more about Kathleen and her work.