by Lorraine Segal | Nov 15, 2020
How can we heal the deep divisions in our country? How do we talk to each other with compassion and empathy across our differences? My blog, which I have been writing for eleven years this month (!) is one small place to start. I confess I am deeply grateful and...
by Lorraine Segal | Oct 19, 2020
A fictional voyage to Mars offers valuable lessons about resolving conflicts across differences. I recently watched Away, a beautiful miniseries about a near future journey to Mars. It was a suspenseful adventure drama, and, an inspiring model of effective...
by Lorraine Segal | Sep 14, 2020
Understanding fault lines and property lines can help us resolve conflicts. Fault lines—as a Californian I’m familiar with fault lines, the locations where tectonic plates meet and can shift, creating earthquakes. I live right on one of the smaller ones, the Steven’s...
by Lorraine Segal | Aug 17, 2020
Fight, Flight, Freeze—that what neurobiologists say are our ancestral (and current) unconscious response choices in a threatening or conflict situation. I recently came across a similar expression in a spiritual recovery book: blaming, running, or freezing. In my...
by Lorraine Segal | Jul 15, 2020
Being open to difficult feedback, even about racism, can help you grow. Receiving feedback without feeling defensive or triggered is a challenge. I work with my students and clients to increase their resiliency and ability to get the best from feedback of supervisors...
by Lorraine Segal | Jun 15, 2020
“The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And that’s the only way forward.”—Ijeoma Oluo Anti-racism brings hope....
by Lorraine Segal | May 16, 2020
Amidst all the pandemic grief and fear, people step up in big ways to help each other Three years ago, I wrote a blog post called The Kindness of Strangers: Wildfires, Empathy and Conflict, about the many ways people helped each other during the devastating 2017...
by Lorraine Segal | Apr 17, 2020
Impatience can be a big contributor to conflict, and an obstacle to effective conflict resolution. I started writing a post about this impatience/conflict connection long before so many of us were stuck at home, working or not, impatiently wondering when we’ll ever be...
by Lorraine Segal | Mar 14, 2020
Don’t over-explain in difficult conversations–it tends to backfire. I’m going to make a generalization—Women and sensitive men tend to over-explain. We all want to be understood, and it is natural to want to explain our perspective to someone we...
by Lorraine Segal | Feb 17, 2020
Are you waiting until relationships are broken to deal with workplace conflict? Tip: this is not the most effective way to deal with disagreements and problems! Recently I had a conversation about this with an old friend of mine who now has a handyman business. I was...
