How can you speak in a way that allows others to hear you? And listen in a way that allows others to speak?
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Deb Nathan is a licensed art therapist and psychotherapist with extensive experience as an educator, artist, therapist and supervisor. In 2008, Deb founded Artsbridge, Inc. – an organization that utilizes a unique methodology to bring together teens from communities in conflict. Artsbridge has primarily focused on Israelis and Palestinians, while lately expanding its work to the United States and other regions of the world. 

In addition to Artsbridge, Deb has a private practice outside of Boston, MA where she works with families, couples and individuals. Additionally, Deb teaches in the Counseling and Expressive Therapies Graduate Program at Lesley University. 

Deb holds a PhD in Behavioral, Management and Social Sciences from the University of Twente in the Netherlands, and a Master’s Degree in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University. She has presented and conducted workshops internationally on topics such as the use of arts in areas of conflict, how trauma impacts relationships, developing relational resilience, and how to engage constructively in the midst of conflict.

Today, Abbie and Deb discuss the ArtsBridge program and what it takes to create Relational Resilience using Reflecting Dialogue to appreciate complexity, entertain uncertainty, navigate tensionality, cultivate creativity and imagination, and generate reasonable hope.

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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
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Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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What are responsible ways of engaging with ambitions around change? 

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Karina Solsø is a self-employed organizational psychologist, who works part-time at the Doctor of Management Programme at University of Hertfordshire, where she supervises Ph.D. students researching complexity in organizations. She also works as an external lecturer at Aalborg University supervising students doing a masters degree. Except from the work at universities, most of her clients work in senior roles in public and private sector companies in Denmark.

Karina works with organizational change and leadership development, based on an approach of joint reflective inquiry into the social complexity of the situation at hand. She draws on her background as a psychologist to understand the relational situation in organizations, which she sees as key when working with change, but her work is also informed by philosophy, sociology and practice theories.

Today, Abbie and Karina discuss emergent sensemaking; designing conversational arenas for exploring change; the conditions for and possibilities of upstream and downstream thinking; navigating the tensions of plurality by embracing “not knowing;” not erasing the otherness of the other; developing a practice of noticing; and creating social coherence through the responsibility of ethics.

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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.

How are we generating possibilities in every moment?

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Rana Kökçinar is a Systemic Psychotherapist and Family Therapist working on unceded Kaurna Land, South Australia.

Anokh Goodman is a Systemic Psychotherapist, Clinical Lead and Training Consultant with Sikh heritage and a working-class background, living in Leeds, North England. Passionate about relationships, narratives, social justice, poetry, and spoken word, he brings an intersectional lens to his work, exploring ideas of radical love to foster inclusive, culturally responsive change. Through deep listening and dialogue, he believes untold stories can transform how we heal, connect, and reimagine our world.

Today, Abbie, Rana, and Anokh explore the ideas of super-coherence and incoherence; the beautiful emergence of transient interactions; changes in moving from a loop of ’doing’ and ‘having’ to a state of ‘being;’ and ongoing de/re-construction of the scenery  of our social worlds.
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.

Is your communication relationship-enhancing or relationship-destroying?
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Dr. Whitney is a global social entrepreneur. She is the founder of Corporation for Positive Change, a global consulting cooperative; co-founder of the Taos Institute, an international think tank dedicated to relational processes in business, education, families and communities; and a founding advisor to the United Religions Initiative, a global network of interfaith cooperation circles working for peace and social justice.

Diana is a prolific, provocative, and practical author. Her award-winning books on Appreciative Leadership and Appreciative Inquiry, the revolutionary process she helped to develop, have been translated into over a dozen languages and are used as textbooks in business schools, universities, and corporate learning centers around the world.

As a master consultant, Dr. Whitney’s work spans the globe. Diana consults with executives and their teams in support of strategic planning and organization development, organization culture creation and transformation, and leadership capacity building.

Diana serves as Distinguished Consulting Faculty with Saybrook University, and a Ph.D. advisor with the Taos Institute. She is Expert Faculty for the NCR Picker Patient Centered Care Institute and a Fellow of the World Business Academy.

Today, Abbie and Diana explore Appreciative Inquiry as focusing on what we do when we are at our best; Positive Change as a process for shifting narratives, not people; and Appreciative Leadership as an implicitly relational process.
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.

How do we create conversations in the world that make us feel inspired?

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Pedro Martins, Ph.D., is a Brazilian psychologist. He obtained his Doctoral and Master’s degree at the University of São Paulo. He is interested in the practice of therapy as social construction in different contexts, and his main goal is to create generative conversational resources that bridge academic and practical knowledge. He works as a clinical psychologist in his private practice. His research focuses on the workings of therapeutic conversation, particularly aiming to expand traditional, individual practices toward more socially and relationally sensitive ones. He is the author of Practicing Therapy as Social Construction (with Sheila McNamee and Emerson Rasera) and “Dialogic Communication in the Practice of Family Consultations in Mental Health" (with Carla Guanaes Lorenzi). 

Today, Abbie and Pedro explore the power of telling the untold stories, recognizing the co-creative nature of meaning, and moving from a focus on outcome to process in Pedro’s field of psychology and beyond.

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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.

What agency can you identify in the systems you are in? And how can you use it to invite others to design with intention together? 

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Josina Vink is a designer and researcher with expertise in health system transformation. They have extensive experience leading and facilitating participatory system and service design processes in health care, government, non-profit and community settings. Josina has worked as a service and systemic designer in healthcare internationally including at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada, and Experio Lab in Sweden. In their practice, they have developed new services, supported policy change, facilitated shifts in practices across sectors, and led social lab processes. Josina is currently Associate Professor of Service Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design in Norway. Their research explores how design can create profound and significant change in health and care by reshaping social structures. 

Today, Abbie and Josina explore Josina’s emerging approach to design- specifically in health care systems, but also beyond that in our everyday lives, relationships, and social worlds- which empowers every member of the system to participate through dialogue, supports designing driven by adaptation, and sustains collective reflexivity that nurtures plurality and our ability to coordinate through discomfort.

...
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.

How can we design in ways that are "conducive to life"?

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Edona Arnesen is highly passionate about food, farming, food systems, relationships and regeneration in unison, and how we can co-create better communities and systems for the common health of everything on Earth; the human and the non-human, and Nature whom we're all a tiny, connected part of. She finds systems thinking and systemic design fantastically interesting as philosophies and practices to act through. 

Edona went on to explore the world of resilient and regenerative food systems through participatory action learning at NMBU with her MSc in Agroecology, after a BSc in civil engineering. Her Master's thesis focused on social sustainability and leadership in the restaurant industry, and how that affects especially environmental sustainability in the industry. She has spent half her life closely connected to hospitality through work, both in service, in kitchens and bakeries, and in managerial positions. Practical experience on several organic and biodynamic farms has broadened her perspective and taught her to understand the reality of food producers with the joys, challenges, hinders and opportunities they find in their everyday lives as part of larger systems. Combining these competences lead Edona to Dagens, where she has been part of building a transparent, fair and resilient food system for the future, through data-driven direct trade between sustainable producers and professional buyers, locally.

Today, Abbie and Edona explore the social and relational elements involved in creating resilient, regenerative food systems through stories; systems thinking; and localized, context-driven participation.

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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.

Please be aware that this conversation contains references to sexual abuse and suicide.

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Where in your life can you create the conditions for tenderness?

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In 1989, Richard Propes left downtown Indianapolis in his wheelchair with $20 in his pocket, a backpack on his wheelchair, and a handful of press releases announcing his "Tenderness Tour." A paraplegic/double amputee born with spina bifida, Propes traveled for 41 days and over 1,000 miles alone around Indiana in an effort to look for good in the world after a life that had been defined by disability, sexual abuse, and the recent suicide of his wife and death of his newborn daughter. 

He returned from that successful journey determined to break his own cycles of abuse and to do what he could do to make the world a better and safer place for everyone. 35 years later, Propes has traveled over 6,000 miles by wheelchair, raised over $1 million for charitable organizations worldwide, and is living what he calls his "good life." Propes is the founder of the Race Away From Domestic Violence, a 5k event in Indianapolis raising funds for the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and is the author of The Hallelujah Life. Propes graduated summa cum laude from Martin University and is a graduate of Bethany Theological Seminary. He's the founder of TheIndependentCritic.com and is a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association with his reviews carried by Rotten Tomatoes. 

Richard currently serves as the director of provider services for the Bureau of Disabilities Services (state of Indiana) and has produced a wide variety of fundraising events including poetry readings, concerts, the benefit CD "Give a Girl a Chance," the IndyFringe show "Laughing Sober," and served as executive producer of comic Rick Garrett's comedy DVD "Straight Outta Cowan." Richard has received numerous honors for his violence prevention work and disability advocacy including Indiana Minority Business Magazine's "Champions of Diversity" Award, Indiana's Sagamore of the Wabash, Prevent Child Abuse America's highest honor the Donna J. Stone Award, and the Jefferson Award. Academy Award-qualifying Heartland International Film Festival and Indy Shorts both present the Richard D. Propes Social Impact Award annually to filmmakers whose works exemplify a dedication to social impact. 

Having beaten cancer twice in the past year, Richard just completed a 160-mile wheelchair ride in September 2024 that raised $115,000 and eliminated nearly $17 million in medical debt for hoosiers.

Today, Abbie and Richard discuss the creation and evolution of the Tenderness Tour, un-defining and redefining love, and learning to embrace the beautiful complexity that is interdependence. 

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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.

Where can you create care and connection in unexpected places?
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Chistiaan Rhodius is a Dutch doctor specialized in palliative medicine. Together with his wife and four children he currently lives and works in Oslo (Norway). He is convinced that 'if we ignore death we miss out on life'. He is passionate for stories and the shaping of new stories (through the process of improvisation). At this moment he explores ways of how the artwork of Edvard Munch can stimulate our storytelling. 

Today, Abbie and Christiaan explore Christiaan’s work in palliative care and the perspective that has emerged out of his experience. Christiaan introduces the Patient Dignity Question- What do I need to know about you as a person in order for me to give you the best possible care? Abbie and Christiaan discuss improvisation as “plan A,” navigating “tender conversations,” and the “palliative paradox."

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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.

Introducing CosmoParenting! This new podcast from the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution is a continuation of CosmoActivities- our free resources for kids of all ages. In this year-long podcast, host Abbie VanMeter is joined by people who are parenting, educators, therapists, and communicators to explore what it means to parent. CosmoParenting is designed to support all who are parenting in the journey of figuring out what it means to parent by enriching their parenting toolbox, offering one short episode each week that provides opportunities to reflect, listen, connect, practice, and engage in meaningful conversations.

Subscribe to the CosmoParenting Substack to get every weekly episode sent straight to your inbox!