“Listen First at the National Week of Conversation”, Episode #114

In an era rife with judgement, bias and objectification, how do we reduce the harms of toxic polarization? How do we re-humanize one another? We set aside our beliefs about each other, we sit down together, and we connect through dialogue – one Being to another. We listen to learn & understand.

Graham Bodie, Chief Listening Officer at Listen First, one of the go-to resource organizations for people who want to develop their listening skills and participate in peaceful dialogue joins me to tell us more about that. In addition to sharing a couple of great stories about how participating in dialogue has fundamentally changed how people interrelate, he will tell us about Listen First and the National Week of Conversation, which is coming up April 17^th thru 23^rd, and how we can all participate.

Welcome to “Listen First at the National Week of Conversation”, Episode #114 of Co-creating Peace, a series about conscious communication & conflict transformation.

Highlights of our conversation include:

• How dialogue & listening helped heal a community
• Where to find a vast library of free resources you can utilize to help you bring peaceful conversation, even about sensitive topics, into your life and your community
• What you can do to bring peaceful dialogue into your life and community, and even host your own conversation event during the National Week of Conversation.

Graham Bodie, Ph.D, is a scholar, educator and consultant. In each role, he attempts to bring attention to one fundamentally important, yet undervalued skill – listening.
Dr. Bodie is an internationally recognized expert on listening and has published over 90 monographs, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, along with three edited books. Dr. Bodie’s work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and on National Public Radio.

Don’t forget to register today for the National Week of Conversation at: conversation.us. You can participate as much or as little as you wish, and in many ways, both in person and online.

Sign the Listen First Pledge at: www.listenfirstproject.org/pledge

Get additional listening resources at:

• findingthewayout.startswith.us
• listenfirstproject.org
• greatergood.berkeley.edu
• livingroomconversations.org
• www.compassionatelistening.org

Remember to also listen to these Co-creating Peace episodes for tools and insights about listening and transcending bias:

• Episode #6 – “I See You”
• Episode #8 – “Don’t Believe Everything You Think”
• Episode #9 – “Hear Them”
• Episode #30 – “We See What We Believe”
• Episode #73 – “Everyone is someone Else’s Other”
• Episode #86 – “Acknowledge, Rflect, Be Curious”
• Episode #89 – “Living Room Conversations: Connecting Across Divides”
• Episode #95 – “The Heart is our Compass: Compassionate Listening in Polarized Times”, Part 1
• Episode #96 – “The Heart is our Compass: Compassionate Listening in Polarized Times” Part 2