Doing the heavy lifting of living into the promise of America is going to take all we’ve got.
We’re roiling through weeks of massive protests, the beginnings of policy changes, resignations, and raised awareness.
Is this inflection point a moment that will usher in lasting change and more equitable power structures? Or is this just a blip? Are we moving toward the promise? Or will the status quo remain firmly locked in place?
One thing is for sure: our actions, or lack of thereof, will help determine if the future gets tipped towards liberty and justice for all.
As our friend and colleague Pedro Silva suggests in a powerful post, “If you want to do something, educate yourself. Have awkward embarrassing conversations. Make mistakes in your efforts to learn. Forgive yourself and others. Repeat.”
Bravely leaning into discomfort takes practice. A good starting place is to have long overdue conversations with the people right in front of us—neighbors , colleagues, and extended family.
Before we can lovingly invite our staunchest opponent to be the best version of themselves, we need to develop the muscles to listen to the perspectives of someone with whom our disagreements are less explosive.
Living Room Conversations are designed to draw out our experiences. If there’s one area we’re all experts on, it’s ourselves.
These conversations build our endurance to hold space necessary for bigger transformation. To better support you, we’ve created a new Living Room Conversation Host Toolkit.
This landing page will help you:
- Plan and host your own conversation, in person or online
- Chose the right topic
- Invite guests
- Schedule your conversation
Please check out the toolkit, and be sure to report back and tell us what you think.
Contrary to what we learned in school, minds aren’t changed by tighter arguments.
Together, we can hone the urgent skills of listening generously, disagreeing respectfully, challenging perspectives, not people, and ultimately calling each other into widening circles of care.
We hope this new toolkit will help you do just that.
Yours,
Shannon Mannon
Newsletter Editor