Picture this: You're at your family's holiday gathering, and suddenly a heated argument breaks out. The festive atmosphere quickly turns tense, and you find yourself wishing you had a mediator on speed dial. For a wide variety of reasons, holiday family gatherings can sometimes feel like ground zero for conflict. 

Welcome to “Navigating Family Tensions: Lessons from Mediation”, Episode #128 of Co-creating Peace, a podcast about conscious communication and conflict transformation. 

Joining me today is my good friend and colleague, David Levin, a long-time mediator, to share some insightful tips on navigating those tricky family conflicts that can often arise during the holidays. David offers gems of Wisdom and lessons learned from mediation, advising us to tread lightly and avoid direct intervention, while stressing the impact of individual, meaningful interactions, and nurturing our Relationships to create a peaceful dynamic where we can. 

Highlights you won’t want to miss include:

• Don’t mediate your family 
• What you see & what you cannot see when you look at others
• How to navigate family tension
• Listening to connect
• What mediators have learned

David has provided us with brief synopsis of the insights he shared in our conversation, which includes a diagram of the communication tool called “looping”, that he described to us: “Navigating Family Tensions: Lessons from Mediation” Handout

Here are just a few of the past episodes of this podcast which describe other tools you may find useful when navigating family conflict:

• Episode #3 – “When the Need Arises”
• Episode #5 ­ – “Breaking the Chain of Conflict”
• Episode #18 – “Re-humanizing One Another” 
• Episode #43 – “Using Nonviolent Communication® to Speak Your Truth”, Part 1
• Episode #44 – “Using NVC® to Speak Your Truth”, Part 2 – Episode 44 of Co-creating Peace

David Levin graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law, in 1977 and has been a trained mediator since 1987. David began his legal career as a civil litigator and a general practitioner, later becoming a Board Recognized Specialist in Family Law and establishing a general private mediation practice.  He is currently practicing mediation, providing mediation training and Education, and serving as a resource for alternative dispute resolution programs.  To connect with David or learn more about his work, email him at: davidlevin@mindspring.com

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Visit BridgesofPeace.com to learn more about Kathleen and her work.

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Kathleen Oweegon Educator, Podcast Host, Communication Coach, Mediator, Facilitator

Kathleen Oweegon is the founder of Bridges of Peace with offices in Oregon and New Mexico. She also serves on the Board of Directors of International Institute for Global Leadership.

Kathleen has been a educator in communication and leadership skills for over 40 years, working with institutions and in the private sector. She has received over 250 hours of training in conflict resolution and related skills, and has created, co-designed and delivered many trainings in mindfulness, leadership, mediation, facilitation and conflict-free communication.