Path of Contemplative Dialogue

Bread of Life partners with the Centre for Contemplative Dialogue

• to offer the 4-day Contemplative Dialogue intensive (ask to be on our notification list)
• to support a regional Dialogue Community of Practice with regular refreshers
• to provide faculty for the 2-year competency based Certification Practicum for Contemplative Dialogue Facilitators & Trainers,
• to mentor practitioners in their on-going development, and
• to consult with communities and organizations cultivating dialogue skills to improve the quality of their work and life together. (We can come to you!)

Mindful Leadership February 2010 brochure

The Problem

Organizations and communities have tremendous power and potential to affect our world, yet far too often our experience of them is less than positive. Bright, competent, caring individuals frequently feel stymied by "politics" and conflict in business, education, healthcare, and church communities alike. When things go unstated (except in water cooler conversations) or periodically blow up, barriers grow that limit our ability to vision, produce, set and achieve goals. One of the most important tools for creative collaboration is dialogue. But true dialogue between people of different gifts, talents, perspectives and values is rare in most organizations.

The Approach

The Path of Contemplative Dialogue is a training program designed to give organizational leaders an experience of authentic dialogue and the training to facilitate dialogue in their own organizations. Good intentions are not enough; both attitude and skill are needed. The three stances of contemplative awareness, non-defended engagement and non-violence develop through the applied practice of powerful tools and frameworks.

Authentic dialogue as learned and practiced in The Path of Contemplative Dialogue retreats:

• Helps people to work together for the common good beyond simple advocacy for their own position.
• Helps facilitate a level of communication that allows for each individual to be fully present, engaged and to interact with integrity.
• Allows for diverse opinions to be articulated without dividing or devastating people.
• Facilitates efficient, productive meetings as less time is wasted on politicizing, strategizing and dealing with unspoken barriers.
• Helps work through issues of personal and organizational mistrust.
• Allows the spirit of the organization or group to reveal itself as a building block for collaborative and cooperative interrelationships.

Want more information?

Contact Jean Holsten at Bread of Life:
     (916) 648-1803 Extention #112
     jean@breadoflife.org

Or visit www.contemplativedialogue.org to download the basic Resource Manual (2009 version). This open-source manual contains support and introductory background material used in 'The Path of Contemplative Dialogue' training work.

Reflections on the power of the practice:

Bob Justman reflects on how his work with the Path of Contemplative Dialogue (PCD) affected KVIE, the 'corporate body' where he worked.

Whether serving as an incident commander in a forest fire or in a government board room, Jules Lebouef finds that Contemplative Dialogue practice makes all the difference.

As chief counsel for the government office of Sustainable Resource Development in Alberta, Canada, Grant Sprague finds the practice of contemplative dialogue a liberating method of moving what could be contentious deliberations forward.

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