Joyful Practice for Conflict Transformation

blue, red and teal background. Reads: Joyful Practices for Conflict Transformation. A year-long UU gorup for practicing small shifts to meet big moments. 6:30-8 pm ET, Third Wednesday, November to May. Faciliated by CER Staff.

Join fellow Unitarian Universalists in exploring faithful and joyful - yes, joyful! - practices you can use to face and move through conflict in your settings. This is a year-long UU community of practice working on small shifts to meet big moments, facilitated by Central East Region staff with backgrounds in conflict transformation.

Starting in November, the group will meet on third Wednesdays* for 90 minutes monthly. Up to 3 people from any one congregation may participate.

Third Wednesdays, November 2024 through May 2025, 6:30PM - 8PM:

November 20, December 18, January 22 (*note this is the 4th Wednesday), February 19, March 19, April 16, & May 21.

Do you find yourself in your community tending to strained relationships, holding multiple truths, or challenging people to understand different perspectives?

Do you want to find a more agile way to move through messy or complicated congregational life?

Do you yearn to bring a more spiritual approach to your existing practices of addressing conflict and challenge in your community?

Come learn and practice some simple, playful, embodied approaches to conflict transformation with fellow UUs and your Central East Region staff members in a low-risk, playful setting! We’ll explore exercises and concepts grounded in the joyful knowledge that humans can move through conflict in ways that bring us closer to our deeper selves, to one another, and to that which is sacred.

Complete the Interest Form.

Practitioners of conflict transformation joke sometimes that conflict is one of our truly renewable resources. It certainly seems to be everywhere! Conflict can be a destructive force; it can feel painful; it can cause harm. But conflict is also a natural part of life. Conflict can point out unmet needs in our communities and spur us to action. It can introduce a little productive discomfort with the status quo. Conflict can be an invitation to try something differently. A loving and skillful approach to conflict has the power to bring people closer together across misunderstandings; to build empathy; to lead to more thriving, inclusive, and imaginative communities.

If you are seeking a place to practice moving with relationships and with conflict, this may be for you.

If you want a few more tools in your toolkit for when you’re feeling stuck in congregational life, this may be for you.

We’ll practice playful listening; sitting in discomfort; moving with mistakes and misunderstandings; and, each session, remind ourselves of the joy that comes from getting to a place of deeper understanding of self and others.

Please note: if you are going through a high level of active, extremely tender-feeling conflict in your congregation or your personal life, this group might not be the right place to meet your needs. We ask every person interested in participating to fill out an interest form, which will connect you with your Primary Contact. They may be in touch to discuss your interests and to learn more.

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