By Ben.
Our whole goal at Three Trees is to help turn harmful habits into meaningful change. One of the most effective ways of doing this is to build relationships that can handle difficult conversations. It is a very sad observation that this is an area we as a society are really struggling with. Instead of having deep caring dialogue about the differences that divide us we tend to relegate these differences to bumper stickers and flags that cannot be engaged in the sharing of ideas and the building of relationships. So the tools we have to overcome differences, our words and thoughtfulness, often get hijacked by bumper sticker communication. Which then results in a flaring up of our fight, flight, freeze and a greater divide in our communities and our personal lives.
With this in mind, we are starting a new type of repeat episode as part of the Harmful Habits podcast series. Don't worry, we will continue to have episodes that explain theories of change and interview change makers in the communities we are engaged with. But, we will also add a once a month episode called "Let's Get Ready to Rumble." During these episodes we will have two people (or maybe more, who knows?) who care for each other talk about topics where they diverge greatly. Our goal is for these episodes to demonstrate how to successfully navigate the challenges inherent in approaching life from different perspectives and having different life experiences.
To get us started on this journey, I will be doing an episode during May with someone who I care about and who feels very differently from me. As we talk, our hope is, you will see the different topics we have talked about on the podcast be put into action. Are we able to remain outside the drama cycle? Are we able to refrain from binary thinking and stay on a spectrum? Can we support each other in moving effortlessly through the stages of change? Can we effectively sit with the discomfort of not being aligned and refrain from Shame and moving up the power and control ladder? Will we be able to keep our F3 in check by continuously activating our R2? There is only one way to find out. You will just have to listen.
As you listen, think about people in your life that you would like to build bridges with. People that you have a lot of regard for, but also who you see the world very differently from. And, if interested, shoot us an email inquiring about appearing on an episode. In the meantime, go back and review the lessons in earlier podcasts about the ingredients of having successful difficult relationships that build rather than harm relationships. And.... Let's get ready to rumble!