My son was two and playing on the sidewalk with the other kids. Laura, the next-door neighbor, jiggled her one-year-old. “I think for the first time in over two years,” I said, “I might not be overwhelmingly tired.” She replied, “I’m hoping to have that feeling soon, I’m just so exhausted!” As I recall early parenthood, I can still today feel the memory in my body and mind and spirit stretched so thinly, so precariously surviving, yearning for something out of reach.
Rain has been around a lot longer than humans. Sun, too. As long as our species has existed there has been weather, and people have found lots of different ways to handle it.
It’s rough out there. Wars, atrocities, mass shootings, global warming, toxic polarization, free-floating anger and anxiety. As I talk to people around me, I find many are distracted and off-center.
The misunderstandings, assumptions and judgments between generations cause some real conflicts. It is natural for people to believe the way they were raised, the time they grew up and the standards they considered as the norm are superior to other generations’ ways of being. Just like my grandmother and her hand-cranked dryer, it is hard to adopt to new ways.
On November 24th we had our first Open House in a while, to hand out Certificates of Completion to many courses and training programs we provided. We finally had the opportunity to meet some of the members of our community in person. We hope that in 2022 we will have another Open House. Our doors are ALWAYS OPEN for whoever may need our services.
Check in every Wednesday at 4 p.m. to discuss aspects of conflict resolution in our community. Contact info@mvmediation.org to join us by Zoom. Mediators and coaches, look for a survey in your email about mediator check-ins. Any mediator or coach from anywhere can participate
In the last six months and through the magic of teleconferencing, I've spent about 100 hours engaged in workshops, support networks, advanced practice seminars, and professional discussions with representatives from six continents. Here's a little travelogue; I hope you will indulge me as I present a virtual slide show.
This month we joined seven other island organizations at the Teen Health Fair organized by the Island Wide Youth Collaborative. We were grateful to have conflict resolution skills included in the greater context of what it means to be healthy. We also recruited a few teens for our next Peer Mediation training!
