Personal Qualities of the Mediator
I am currently reading ‘Bringing Peace into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Conflict Resolution.' In the first chapter, editors Daniel Bowling and David...
View ArticleNow and Zen
Forgive the pun, but that’s exactly what the topic is today; the art of being fully cognizant of and responsive to the present moment. Mediators will remember from their training that one of the most...
View ArticleCanadian Law
A mediator I may be, but a lawyer I’m not. Now of course that’s not something I should be bragging about - I know lots of lawyers, and frankly, I think most of those lawyer jokes are based on unfair...
View ArticleMediation and Language Skills
I’ve spent a large part of my adult life teaching English, both in Canada and overseas. Having long had to make myself clearly understood by second language learners, I now have an unconscious habit of...
View ArticleChristmas in Captivity
It’s Christmas Eve as I write this, a relaxing day I’ve devoted to reading mediation blogs, thanks largely to the efforts Diane Levin, who has done an incredible job of pulling together so many ADR...
View Article2008: Making Better Use of Time
"As long as you are trying to be something other than what you actually are, your mind wears itself out."– J. KrishnamurtiWe are only just hours into 2008, and I am holding firm to my New Year’s pledge...
View ArticleThe Road Ahead
It will be obvious to anyone visiting this site for the first time that I am a novice in the field of mediation. In fact, the reason I started this blog was to share a record of my journey on this long...
View ArticleA Mediator's Calling Podcast: An Introduction
So much for blogging; here is the first installation of A Mediator's Calling Podcast.Show References:York University Certificate In Dispute ResolutionDesmond EllisConrad Grebel University College at...
View ArticleWhat Happened?
Time to own up to an onerous truth: this ain't as easy as I had imagined! I last left you with an audio introduction, in what I planned would be a weekly series of podcasts exploring my journey towards...
View ArticleBridging the Gap
I have a picture on my home office door - the cover of one of my old Dicks 'n Janes zines actually - which has my head attached to a muscular Mel Gibson in the role of Braveheart. The caption at the...
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Whither Goest Thou?
That's a question I've been asking myself a lot lately, with a touch of sadness. Just a few weeks ago I was thrilled to place my order for Tammy Lenski's new book, Making Mediation You Day Job. It was...
View ArticleWork in Progress
New Years Day, 2009. Exactly one year ago today I was sitting on this same sofa, with Corner Gas on the TV, this same MacBook on my lap, creating an entry to this blog. I was full of enthusiasm then,...
View ArticleStymied!
Today I received the latest Canadian Arbitration and Mediation Journal, and with it, what is probably my final renewal notice for membership in the ADR Institute of Ontario, Inc. The fee for 2009 comes...
View ArticleMoribundity
moribund |ˈmôrəˌbənd; ˈmär-|adjective(of a person) at the point of death.• (of a thing) in terminal decline; lacking vitality or vigor : the moribund commercial property market.DERIVATIVESmoribundity...
View ArticleResurrection?
res·ur·rect (rz-rkt) v. res·ur·rect·ed, res·ur·rect·ing, res·ur·rects v.tr. 1. To bring back to life; raise from the dead. 2. To bring back into practice, notice, or use. v.intr. To rise from the dead;...
View ArticleThe Journey Back...
Yes indeed, I'm coming back. I'm not sure what the future holds for Glanville Mediation Services, but the idea of helping individuals and families in trouble is still with me. I've just completed the...
View ArticleHeading Off In a New Direction?
Or perhaps 'Yet Another Beginning', or 'Changing Horses' or 'Here I Am Again', or... The thing is, I'm having fun writing short pieces for a Creative Writing course I'm taking, and decided I'd share...
View ArticleAssignment #1: Coping With Covid
For this first assignment, from April 4, 2022, we were required to simply describe a typical day of our own during covid.Coping With CovidWaking up to the mechanical scream of a cheap grinder isn’t the...
View ArticleAssignment #2: Lucky
For our second writing assignment, April 11, we were supposed to observe a stranger from a distance, and describe them. I saw this person on the way home from class, parked by the cemetery.LuckyFrom a...
View ArticleAssignment #3: Lost Gosling Learns to Listen
For our third writing task, we had to come up with a plot, and were given the characters a goose and a gosling. I found this challenging.Lost Gosling Learns to Listen“Mummy, why do I have to move? I...
View ArticleAssignment #4: Still Home
Assignment #4 was about setting; we were asked to describe what a person would see, hear, smell, on entering our home. I chose to write it from the poing of view of my elder son returning home after a...
View ArticleAssignment #5: A Plan
For assignment #5 we were required to write a story with lots of dialogue, starting with two female characters, Eve and Jane, having an argument in their apartment.A Plan“Where were you last night?”...
View ArticleAssignment #7: A Fleeting Moment
This week we were asked to use our imaginations and come up with our own ideas.A Fleeting MomentHe seldom visited Charlie’s place before evening, when he’d stop by hoping Rose had prepared goat pepper...
View ArticleAssignment #8: The Recorder
Another open assignment. This is a first draft, and will need revision.The RecorderHe observed the motion of his left arm as it reached out for the recorder, feeling momentarily detached from the...
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