Conversations — Across The Aisle

Healing Social-Political Divides in Our Relationships, Families, Communities, and Society, One Conversation at a Time

Wednesdays, 5-6:30pm Pacific Time/8-9:30pm Eastern on Zoom.

Facilitated by John Kinyon

FREE weekly drop in event. See registration link below.

The Across The Aisle group experience is about hearing and understanding each other across our social-political differences and divides; and it is about connecting with each other in our underlying commonalities and larger wholeness together as human beings and living beings of the planet.

Across The Aisle is also about shared mourning and grieving of the pain, losses, and difficulties we each are experiencing in relation to this larger level of our lives, celebration of the good things happening in the world, and an opportunity to focus on healing collective and generational trauma at the core of the social-ecological conflicts, polarization, and suffering.

The simple essence of the process (see below) of the conversation is an empathic structure of taking turns mindfully speaking and listening, focusing on understanding rather than agreement, and connecting with what we share in common — our human feelings and needs/values/desires.

These meetings are a great place to build empathic community and connections, and practice skills together for navigating and transforming conflict to connection, cooperation, and new possibilities. The weekly makeup of the group is usually a combination of people who come regularly, those who come periodically but less often, and new people to the group.

People who attend regularly report having powerful, moving, deeply connecting, and even transformational experiences.

One of the main goals of Across The Aisle is to demonstrate and spread the idea of empathic structure in conversation leading to understanding, connection, healing, wellbeing, cooperation and the emergence of new creative possibilities and solutions.

All are invited to participate in the group conversation, and you are also welcome to just listen and witness without speaking if you choose.

Please invite anyone who you think might be interested, particularly those who hold political beliefs and perspectives different from you.

ABOUT THE EVENT

The Opportunity
Polarization has had a devastating impact on our families, friendships, community and our nation at large. These are the times that can define us. Will we give into patterns of reacting to our differences with disconnection or will we courageously choose understanding, connection, and cooperation in our shared humanity?

The Purpose
I believe in the promise of democracy and want to create a safe, respectful space for open, honest communication about issues impacting the future of our country and the world: So that we can understand each other and respect and learn from our differences, and work together to create a future of greater possibility and wellbeing for all.

The Process
The process is for individuals who hold beliefs and perspectives across the political spectrum to speak, one at a time. When a person has finished speaking, we ask the next person who wishes to speak to first say back what they heard the previous person say, even when there is strong disagreement, until that person feels heard and understood.

There is a structure of 4 questions to support clarity of self-expression of one's perspective, as well as understanding and connection:

1. What is the issue or topic you want to speak about?
2. What meaning do you give to it?
3. What emotions are you feeling in your body?
4. What do you want – personally and universally?