High Hopes

" If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't spent a night with a mosquito." - African Proverb.

This appeared on the Facebook page of "Grok Nation"** on Wednesday of this past week. Seeing it - combined with the current events that prompted it - has prompted me to finally do something I've been thinking about for awhile.

I'm expanding the scope of my blog to include to include talk about mediation and conflict resolution. It's an area of study that I've become passionate about. Mediation is about resolving conflict by finding common ground and creating space for honest communication.

Sometimes people need a neutral third party - the mediator- to help find the common ground and create the space. However, the strategies a mediator uses can be used by anyone every day. It takes practice and varying degrees of conscious effort and I think it's worth it.

Talking about mediation and conflict resolution won't make everything better. We, the people, have to take action to do that. But maybe I can move people to create the space needed to communicate better. Whether it's about politics, guns, race relations, transgender rights or whose turn it is to take out the trash - we could all practice better communication.

And maybe I can't. I'm only one small person. I'm not sure I can say anything that anyone will care about. But I've decided to be a mosquito .........or maybe an ant. Moving rubber tree plants seems less painful.

Stay tuned. (To see related posts click here)

And for those that prefer reading about hikes and road trips, I'm still gonna do that too.

Keep Smiling and Keep Moving
- Paula

**Grok Nation is an online community founded by actress-neuroscientist-mom Mayim Bialik. For more about this site, read this letter from site founder.