“Dialogue is the cornerstone of all significant changes in society” – Inside Personal Growth Podcast

No matter who you are or in what position you might hold, it is challenging at best to understand how your biases are playing out in the way you communicate with others. The conversation has an immense power to deepen our relationships and cast light on our shared reality.
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Q&A with Kim Loh from the WIN Summit

As a coach for WIN (Women In Negotiation), I was featured in their Woman Spotlight earlier this year. Here are my answers to their questions, sharing more about myself, what inspires me, and my best negotiation tip.
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PODCAST: Finding intimacy at the heart of conflict

I joined my dear friend and fellow leadership coach Andy Cahill on his excellent podcast, The Wonderdome, to talk about the relevance of conflict work in these times. Andy delved with me into how we can attune to the dynamics of group conflict. By making these relational dynamics visible, we can help seemingly opposing parties move towards healing, wholeness, and collective evolution.
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Compassionate Conversations: Publishers Weekly Review

Zen meditation teacher Hamilton, leadership coach Wilson, and Loh, a peace specialist working with the United Nations, expound on ways to have simple and effective conversations in this instructive work. The authors describe a number of methods to improve communication skills using steps based on speech, culture, and identity.
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Publisher’s Review by Damon Orion

In today's charged sociopolitical climate, it’s easy for conversations about politics, religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation to degenerate into shouting matches.
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On Compassionate Conversations – A Foreword by Ken Wilber

One of the most gratifying and encouraging developments on the recent cultural scene is that, after literally decades of polarizing and increasingly nasty culture wars, there are individuals who do not simply join in the fray and thus only contribute to the mess, but rather have started to actually stand back and seriously reflect on the situation.
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Leading From a Place of Wholeness | Compassionate Conversations Series (3/3)

This is the final article in a series of three, sharing perspectives from the freshly published book Compassionate Conversation: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-authored by Diane Hamilton, Gabriel Wilson, and myself.
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Conversation Skills to Catalyze Growth | Compassionate Conversations Series (2/3)

This article is the second in a series of three, sharing perspectives from the forthcoming book Compassionate Conversation: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-authored by Diane Hamilton, Gabriel Wilson, and Kimberly Loh.
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What Makes a Successful Conversation? | Compassionate Conversations Series (1/3)

We take the view that successful conversations do not seek to persuade one another of our positions. They aren’t about reducing or ignoring our conflicts, nor even about getting on the ‘same page’ necessarily.
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7 Steps to Emotional Perspective and Transformation

Emotions are an essential part of the human experience, but how we relate to them varies significantly. Since the release of Daniel Goleman’s seminal book Emotional Intelligence, there is growing recognition we can develop the capacity to be aware of and express our emotions. Emotions are extremely intelligent, informative, and energetic, but working with them is an art, one that requires intention.
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How To Speak And Listen From The Heart

Have you noticed these days that it is becoming increasingly difficult to have important conversations? What does this fact say about us, about our society, and about humanity as a whole? Well, there is a way that we can all work on this.
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Mediators Beyond Borders Event: What is the Role of the Mediator in these Times?

As mediators, our function is as neutral facilitators. Yet during these turbulent times, mediators are uniquely positioned to lead by helping weave narratives that give meaning and direction.
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How to Communicate in the Midst of Strong Emotions – Free Online Class June 28, 2022

This seminar is designed specifically to increase your awareness and range of options of how to communicate in the midst of strong emotions, whether anger, sadness or the numbness of confusion or disassociation. Together we will explore the Compassionate Conversations approach that honors the intelligence of our feelings, without being consumed by them, so that we become more conscious of our own states and our responses to others.
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Gratitude meditation

This quote caught my attention lately: Your depression is connected to your insolence and refusal to praiseRumi You can shift how you experience your life by including gratitude in your everyday practice. Praise what is supporting you, praise what’s going right, praise all the ways that you are being taken care of, little and large.…
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How do we listen when we don’t agree? Interview with Shadi Mogadime from Conversations for World Change

I had a wonderful time being interviewed by Shadi Mogadime, whose fascinating story begins in South Africa, takes her through eight different countries by the time she was five, some of them living as a refugee with her family, and lands into where she is now, based in Canada. We went deep into the power of presence, spiritual…
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Compassionate Conversations topics – playlist on Youtube

In the lead up to the publication of Compassionate Conversations in summer 2020, my co-author Gabriel and I went live on Facebook to share a series of exchanges and invite our communities a little deeper into our world. Diane makes a special appearance in the fifth and final video, and I fail to not make us…
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Women In Negotiation Webinar: Compassionate Conversations in Action

All negotiations happen in the domain of relationships. When we care about the other side, and genuinely want to create positive outcomes for both people, what can we do to train ourselves to engage both effectively and compassionately? In this webinar with the group Women In Negotiation (WIN), we cover a few valuable ways that…
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Bridging the Space Between You and Me: Compassionate Conversations in Action

Join a conversation with Kimberly Loh and Gabriel Wilson, co-authors (with Diane Musho Hamilton) of “Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart”. This conversation was hosted by the WINSummit: empowering women in negotiation skills building. https://www.winsummit.com/webinar-bridging-the-space
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The Neurology of Sameness and Difference – Getting into the deep roots of division with the Association for Conflict Resolution in New York

Neuroscientists are coming to understand far more deeply the functioning of the brain and nervous system and its relationship to conflict. This understanding has tremendous relevance to the work of mediators and conflict resolution professionals. Appreciation of the commonality of our human experience, and its role in building sustainable peace.  Understanding that talking about our…
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Mediation Beyond Borders Webinar: Mediation and Evolving Worldviews

At a time where polarization is heightened, taking larger, more inclusive perspectives is not only helpful, but necessary. In this session, Diane, Gabe and I invited participants into a powerful experience to demonstrate how we can shift our options as mediators and conflict practitioners while working with groups threatened by identity differences. We guided them…
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Leaning into conflict

During these turbulent times, mediators are uniquely positioned to lead by helping weave narratives that give meaning and direction. Catch the recording of Meditators Beyond Borders’ engaging online discussion with three peacebuilders and co-authors of the forthcoming book Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart to explore: Practicing neutrality that is dynamic,…
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Shambhala Publications book release announcement

When a conversation takes a turn into the sometimes uncomfortable and often contentious topics of race, religion, gender, sexuality, and politics, it can be difficult to know what to say or how to respond to someone you disagree with. Compassionate Conversations empowers us to transform these conversations into opportunities to bridge divides and mend relationships by providing…
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PODCAST: Peacemindedly with Sara S. Jamishidi

When a conversation takes a turn into sometimes uncomfortable and often contentious topics of race, religion, gender, sexuality, and politics, it can be difficult to know what to say or how to respond to someone you disagree with.
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Including our hearts in conflict work – Womanhood & International Relations Podcast

Natalia’s Podcast: Womanhood & International Relations Natalia Bonilla is a strategic communications consultant, journalist and media producer who focuses on conflict, peace and gender issues in Latin America. Not only that, but she is an incredible mentor for women emerging as leaders in their own right. I’m so glad to have been able to connect…
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FEATURED POSTS

Women In Negotiation Webinar: Compassionate Conversations in Action

All negotiations happen in the domain of relationships. When we care about the other side, and genuinely want to create positive outcomes for both people, what can we do to ...
{ Read More }

What Makes a Successful Conversation? | Compassionate Conversations Series (1/3)

This article is the first in a series of three, sharing perspectives from the forthcoming book Compassionate Conversation: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-authored by Diane Hamilton, ...
{ Read More }

The Neurology of Sameness and Difference – Getting into the deep roots of division with the Association for Conflict Resolution in New York

Neuroscientists are coming to understand far more deeply the functioning of the brain and nervous system and its relationship to conflict. This understanding has tremendous relevance to the work of ...
{ Read More }