This year we have been chartering the waters of our theme, “Agents of Love – Weaving the Tangled Threads of Irreconcilable Differences.” We explored our theme through the lens of values and also through the lens of beliefs – including how they influence our perception of differences and how those same beliefs can make reconciliation seem impossible if left to their own devices.

 

This Wednesday, we’ll explore the nature of relationships and the tending love and care that’s needed to build a kind of conflict immune system within ourselves and our communities. If we wait until the moment of conflict without doing anything to prepare the soil, reconciliation may very well remain out of reach.

 

As change agents, we are uniquely positioned to help build the capacity for change within individuals and communities, which is an act of empathy as well as strategy to ensure that change happens in a way where people have agency and at a pace that expands relationships rather than collapsing them.

 

Join us on our Gathering for Change Agents call this Wednesday, May 5th, to explore your own relationship with conflict throughout all your relationships, both inner and outer—especially the relationship between reconciling conflict within yourself and how this plays out in your external relationships.

 

Our guest expert topic leader will be Anamaria Aristizabal, who will share her firsthand experiences building conflict immune systems in organizations, Colombia and elsewhere. We will explore these ideas together:

 

• The big lesson: Building conflict resilience
• Working with your nasty side
• Building reflective capacity
• Drafting an emergency response plan
• Declaring and embodying a new paradigm
• Signing a song together

 

Anamaria defines herself as a catalyst for personal development, social innovation, and creative expression. She is a certified coach and facilitator, as well as culture transformation consultant. She published a book in Colombia called “Life Re-Vision” and with this methodology, she guides people through a 6 step journey to clarify their vision, not only for their life but for the world they inhabit. Anamaria is the founder of Re-Vision Academy, where she trains and leads a community of purposeful and soulful change agents. To get there, Anamaria went through a major reinvention of her life to align more deeply with her passions and talents, and recover lost parts of herself. A biologist by training, her work is full of metaphors from nature to remind us of our place in the great web of life. Consultant at SweetRush, Faculty at New Ventures West, founding member of Aldeafeliz Ecovillage and the Foundation for Reconciliation, Anamaria is a member of various organizations and networks that promote personal and societal transformation.