In a recent post, I discussed having a hypothetical “difficult” conversation with two relatives who ignored my husband and me at a family gathering. I assumed that we had offended them in some way rather than they simply disliking us on general principles. One of the last points I made [Read More]
Last week, I posted a blog about an article in the New York Times discussing the lost art of active listening. (“Are You Listening?”). It seems that my blog post was very timely because NPR just published an article on the loneliness of Americans. (“Most Americans Are Lonely, And Our [Read More]
Recently, I attended a training on cross cultural communication presented by Jason Harper as part of the Los Angeles County Bar Association training for mediators. During the presentation, Mr. Harper discussed “low-context” and “high -context” communications in terms of relationships vs rights. But first, some definitions: The concepts of high [Read More]
I now know why I traded in the very uncivil world of civil litigation for mediation; it is destructive… and nothing really good comes out of it. I say this because I just mediated a post settlement dispute that was about to end in court the next morning as an [Read More]
Well- we missed it! March 20 was International Day of Happiness. Evidently, it was created by a United Nations Resolution passed at its 118th plenary meeting on June 28, 2012, declaring March 20th of each year to be the holiday. As one might guess, the resolution was promoted by the [Read More]
In 2000, I decided to move away from practicing law because I got tired of fighting with opposing counsel and being labeled and treated as the "bad guy" simply because I was representing an allegedly "bad guy". It seemed that civility and professionalism among lawyers no longer existed, and I [Read More]
Over the past few years, I have heard the term "restorative justice" but never quite understood what it encompassed. Recently, I was directed to a concise explanation; an easy to read 65 page book entitled The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr (Good Books 2002). ( The Little [Read More]
