"How Can We Make Dialogue More Attractive And Accessible?" Thinking Together with Olga Liapis-Muzzy
“If you're not part of the problem, you can't be part of the solution”
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Episode Ten: “Thinking Together - How Can We Make Dialogue More Attractive And Accessible?” with Olga Liapis-Muzzy
Listen here:
“If you're not part of the problem, you can't be part of the solution”
Conflict is neutral, it is not bad nor good. It is an opportunity to evolve and better our connection and relationships. Because conflict is not binary, finding a solution to the problem now doesn’t mean every solution will never have another conflict. Conflict is inevitable and it is up to us to choose how we respond to it.
In this week’s episode, Olga and Duncan discuss the importance and use of mediation, dialogue and conflict transformation tools. In addition, they break down different ideas on how our system can change and approach conflicts.
The importance of change, letting go of blame, self-forgiveness, rewriting our idea of punishment and addressing change when problems arise before total unrest are key steps to help implement lasting change.
On the other side of the divisiveness, blame, fear and hate lies the path and possibility to create the world we actually want to live in.
Are you ready to use these tools and practices to help change our systems?
Watch the full episode here:
Highlights in this episode:
Conflict is neutral and an opportunity to fortify connections & relationships
It’s important to be open to taking responsibility for one’s own role, having forgiveness and letting go of blame to solve conflict.
Conflict is time intensive and mediation takes time so it is important to address conflict as problems arise and before a point of total unrest.
The earlier we try to resolve conflict the less harm that can be done
It takes both sides of the conflict to come together to make a solution
Every solution will have a consequence and may lead to more problems because conflict is inevitable
This idea that you actually can't change the past, that we can hang on to what we wish had happened to us, what we wish had been different, but that, that is energy. The question ends up being is that energy that you wanna put towards it. But when we are able to actually forgive ourselves, then the ability to forgive others opens up.
But that if we haven't done that for ourselves, it's gonna be really difficult to do that with anyone else and then I think this is where the systemic to the individual starts coming in because in my analysis I think the way that we change systems, because our systems are just as alive as we are. Systems are made up of a bunch of individuals living on this planet together, in this universe together.
Every moment that we change as individuals that means our system is also changing. It's just that we don't feel it unless there's a large enough number of people who are changing in the same way because the system has so many different parts to it and is so complex. But I've wondered. I've asked myself at times before, what would it look like if our school system, whatever thing that everybody went through so one of the things that everybody goes through is school.
So what if one of the things that everybody went through in our society is a process of figuring out how to forgive yourself. What monumental change would that be if we had individual change implemented into our actual system.
About this week’s guest:
Olga Liapis-Muzzy is a DC based mediator, coach, facilitator, and trainer working for social transformation. She comes from a lineage of teachers and organizers and spent the first 10 years of her career helping workers find a place in their union, improve their capacity to negotiate with management, and build strong collectives. As a labor trainer she facilitated workshops for thousands of workers across the U.S.A in states like New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California, and Alaska.
Olga received her training as a mediator and restorative justice practitioner from the Center of Dispute Resolution and the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP). Olga specializes in helping organizations, workplaces, families and communities stay together. She loves handling multi-party disputes; one-on-one coaching; mediation; training; facilitation; and conflict systems assessment and redesign. She maintains a trauma-informed, anti-racist, and judgement-free practice. She works and lives by the motto that correction is a gift.
Olga, along with Duncan, is an active member of the Democracy, Politics and Conflict Engagement Initiative (DPACE Initiative) which brings conflict literacy skills to social change organizations and communities.
Connect with Olga:
For more resources and content from this episode, go to the episode page.
What’s coming next?
Jordan Hall is joining Duncan on Tuesday, 13th September
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