Conflict Engagement Coaching Calls

Whether our species can shift the current trajectory toward global social collapse and mass extinction may in fact depend on our capacity to figure out creative ways to intervene in polarized conflicts related to crises, which prevent us from coming together at the level necessary to face extremely high-stakes global dilemmas, such as climate change. Mariam is offering her support in response to this moment, as one contribution to our collective capacity. 

Friend, mentor, and colleague, Miki Kashtan, says this about Mariam’s new offering: “I am beyond excited that Mariam is offering these coaching calls, and I hope hundreds of people come to them. Conflict avoidance, anywhere that it happens, sustains the status quo. Mariam’s approach is practical, specific, and visionary all at once. Seeding the world with more people who have capacity and willingness to engage with conflict at a time when conflicts are increasing is one key acupuncture intervention I trust can support our collective capacity to avert disasters.”

Mariam’s Orientation to Conflict

Conflict is a normal part of life, which happens when unaddressed feedback leads to events that result in loss of trust. Conflict is alerting us that something has happened somewhere within the living webs of connection we participate in, and it invites our attention to support realignment and flow. 

But we don’t respond to conflict in a vacuum. Most of us are surrounded by norms and structures that can make it easy to react to conflicts with some form of avoidance or coercion, which usually results in further loss of trust and repression of underlying feedback. Because this is the water many of us are swimming in, we often lack the support we would need to respond to conflict in integrative ways that truly attend to feedback and loss of trust. And oftentimes, even with support, our capacity is not enough to respond how we would ideally want.

Repressive conflict patterns and low capacity for integrative conflict responses mean that we are likely to experience intense, often escalating conflict at many scales; interpersonal, organizational, and systemic. Whether our species can shift the current trajectory toward global social collapse and mass extinction may in fact depend on our capacity to figure out creative ways to intervene in polarized conflicts related to crises, which prevent us from coming together at the level necessary to face extremely high-stakes global dilemmas, such as climate change. 

Mariam leans on the following principles to support people as questions that are brought to the calls are looked at together: 

• Integration: Inner and outer alignment, where we consider how our actions can align with our values within whatever constraints and opportunities exist, and also at the level of the content of the conflict, where we consider how we may weave together various perspectives, impacts, concerns, and needs to find pathways forward that care for all.
• Interdependence: Care for the webs that hold us together, whether it is with people whom we choose to be connected with or not, where we consider what conflict reveals about our connections, and whether our conflict responses can increase togetherness.
• Capacity: Taking actions that consider whatever strengths and limitations exist, and how we can respond from within our actual capacity instead of what we wish was true about our capacity
• Intention and Choice: Looking at where we are responding from habit or assumptions, and moving toward more choice and intention, so that we are more likely to experience liberation and integrity and less likely to recreate dominant cultural norms of avoidance or coercion.

These calls are for you if you resonate with Mariam’s orientation and principles and you fall into one of the categories below:

• Mediators or facilitators who are supporting others in conflict
• Anyone directly involved in or impacted by a conflict who wants support to engage intentionally
• Anyone grappling with bigger picture questions about how conflict generally unfolds in a specific community or organization
• People who want to learn about conflict by listening to Mariam and others as they think together about the questions that arise

What does it cost?

These calls are offered on a gift economy basis, in coordination with the Nonviolent Global Liberation Community (NGL). That means there is no request or expectation for you to contribute a specific amount.  Mariam’s request is that you give an amount to NGL that feels sustainable and within whole-hearted willingness for you, which includes the possibility that you will choose to give nothing at all.  Whatever money is contributed from these calls will be added to a pool of money from other programs, offerings, and gifts, which NGL members then distribute collaboratively among one another, based on need. 

For the time being, registration is handled by BayNVC, and these calls are open to anyone, whether or not they are associated with NGL. 

Registration

This coaching call is the second in a series of three:

Sunday, January 23rd; 830-10 am PT
Sunday, February 20th, 8:30-10 am PT
Sunday, March 27th, 8:30-10 am PT

Please complete this form to register for one or more of the calls and make a contribution at any time via the PayPal button below.  Thank you.

Contact

If you have any questions, please email Heather Austin, BayNVC Program Coordinator.