"A whole new world . . . a new fantastic point-of-view . . ."
Alladin's words captured my imagination and thinking during a recent "songfest" in our home. Though the setting for
A Whole New World is a romantic ride on a magic carpet, Alladin and Princess Jasmine carry us into our own dreams, wishes, and beliefs in what could be. Many of us start out a new year with some vision of a "whole new world", even if it's simply our own promises to act for our personal benefit and well-being.
During this coming year, one thing I want to do is host conversations to explore a "new fantastic point-of-view". I am looking for co-hosts and partners to embark on this exploration with me. I hope you will be interested. Briefly, here is some of my initial thinking.
To our chagrin (to put it gently), our political and religious leaders often are stymied because they cannot or will not come out from behind their ideologies and beliefs to talk with one another. That's the way it appears, anyway. Many times we ourselves are just as stuck because we fear alienating someone or getting into an argument. For example, in recent weeks, sometimes I've hesitated to bring up subjects like President Obama's establishing new relations with Cuba, Pope Francis' statement about not needing to believe in God, the killings of black citizens by white police officers. There are trade-offs when we don't talk about things that matter to us. One trade-off is we all lose out on sharing what is important to us and learning from one another. There is something lost when we are less than authentic. A second trade-off is that when we stay stuck in our fears and judgments, we aren't changing the energy around important issues that we really must engage in together if, in fact, we want change.
We can experience less fear and worry about talking to one another about sensitive and polarizing issues. We know it's no magic carpet ride, but we can lighten up and lift our spirits to go along for the ride, at least explore.
I am offering an exploration because I don't know where these conversations will go. A lot depends on your interest. Some may be one gathering of a couple of hours with a few people. Others may be with larger groups. Some may be face-to-face gatherings; others may be conference calls. There may be a series of conversations. We can talk about options and logistics. Two things I do know:
1. There will be no fee for my facilitation services for these
conversations.
2. My facilitation will serve these basic purposes:
a) to support participants in learning from what matters most
to one another;
b) to focus on new ways to see and hear, not on old problems
to solve;
c) to create a rich sharing of different points-of-view.
One more thing I know for sure: you will experience "aha! moments" of understanding others. New understanding leads to new points-of-view, even fantastic ones.
I would love to talk with you about co-hosting one or more of these conversations. Please call me at 650-218-2861 or e-mail: shyrl@fearlessconversations.org.
