Class Topic: How to Resolve Conflict and Create Peace in Your Own Family
Everyday the media inundates us with "news" about conflict and war, about people who cannot resolve their differences in a civil, productive manner. The underlying message seems aimed at convincing us that the only way to resolve differences is through violence. Even so-called peace-keeping efforts are usually backed up with an implicit threat. Although history clearly shows that negotiations based on power rarely produce lasting peace, nevertheless that's the model of conflict resolution we are most commonly exposed to from childhood on&and which we, in turn, resort to in our daily lives.
This workshop turns the world situation on its head. It brings it home - literally - by challenging you to make a difference through applying new models for creating communication and for resolving conflict within your own family and relatives. Perhaps one of the reasons the United States has had very limited global success in recent decades as a peace-keeping nation is that we do not have true peace in the homes and hearts of our own country? Is it possible to lack integrity at home and yet expect to produce positive results abroad? The grassroots wisdom of the old slogan, "Think globally, act locally," may embody a much deeper universal principle than we realized.
This workshop will heighten your awareness of the quality of communication within your family, and give you practical tools for experimenting with alternative ways of handling the challenges of living with others in a harmonious way that honors each member of the family as an individual, and strengthens the family as a whole. Start the peace process in your own home, and watch how its effects ripple out to the world!
Small to large study group (3 weeks)
