Maria Arpa
This week
Listening as a doorway to not knowing
Plus…
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
and
The Wednesday Whisper
Curiosity as the path to change.
One of the most important and joyful aspects of digging deeper into the consciousness of the Dialogue Road Map is learning just how little I know. Understanding how little I know helps me to retain a sense of curiosity and wonder about the world around me especially when it is behaving in ways that I find hard to navigate.
Recently I have been involved in a conversation where the general opinion is that one person is ‘to blame’. A few of the people involved have met this person on more than one occasion in their public facing role and all agree that this person is impossible to talk to.
I have come across this so many times over the years, where a collective of ‘good’ people choose another person or group and shut off the possibility of a route to dialogue because they’ve tried and it failed.
What I come to learn is that usually no real dialogue has ever taken place. There have been many conversations, exchanges, debates and maybe even diplomacy but no dialogue. In situations like these the preparatory work for everyone to agree to enter a dialogue can take years. Having a conversation is not the same as having a dialogue nor is declaring that we are in a dialogue if the scene has not been set, if agreements about how to participate have not been made and a process isn’t explicit.
Preparing for a dialogue requires me to remember how little I know even if the evidence is compelling.
Maria’s Mindfulness Moment
Dialogue is not the panacea for all ills. Sometimes the use of force, nonviolent resistance and disobedience are necessary. However all of these tools will eventually lead to a conversation and my reckoning is at that moment dialogue is more powerful and more sustainable than debate or enforcement.
The Wednesday Whisper
What conversations in your life would benefit from Dialogue? What in your relationships is going unsaid?
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