Welcome to the 17th year of HEN. I can hardly believe it’s been that long since I started a small experiment to share some of my thoughts and learnings with you, dear HEN reader. This year and this moment marks a momentous turning for me. I’d like to bring you along. A few days ago, before I had written HEN, I received news from my brother, that my mother had died. My mother, definitely the strong matriarch in our family, had been Continue Reading
Want to Look After Your Community?
In many indigenous communities, the role of the elder is varied and relevant. There are designated people to turn to, to hear stories from, to sing songs, to sit in community. The idea of having people designated to tend to our community fabric is a foreign one in most communities I know of, whether that is the community on my street, in my neighbourhood, my city or country or workplaces that I know of. Yet, we do have community tenders Continue Reading
How to Get Someone to the Table
My colleague and podcast co-host, Gordon White, and I have had the privilege of interviewing many guests, asking them questions about conflict. One of our favourite questions is about how to motivate people to come to the table. Our most recent guest, Dr. Ben Hoffman, knows a lot about that. He has spent a major part of his career engaging with the “bad guys.” People he’s had to negotiate with include prisoners, hostage-takers, abusers of Continue Reading
Eye Gazing and Conflict
I had the privilege recently of attending a one-day workshop in Vancouver on the Kundalini practice called “White Tantra”. I had some idea of what I was getting into, as I had taken an 8-week Kundalini yoga class in the past. This experience, however, was going to be meditating and chanting and looking into someone’s eyes deeply and consistently for most of 12 hours. I was surprised when I got there that the event was sold out – which meant Continue Reading