Jan’s Blog Posts

Broaden-and-build Purls and Pearls

I cannot give away my grandmother’s crochet hook…yes, this is a scarcity mindset at work (see Pearls of Peace, 1-13-25). I am hooked on warm memories of my childhood hours in my grandparents’ home. I recall many hours that Grandma sat in her rocker, wearing her hand-sewn apron and dress, making one doily after another to gift the many females in her family and friend network. I never learned knit-and-purl stitches, but I watched with fascination as Grandma created with her crochet hook, building one stitch upon the next to broaden her handiwork. Handmade gift-giving was on her unofficial resume.  

Psychologist Barbara Frederickson created her broaden-and-build theory when she realized that there was a greater amount of research on negative emotions than positive emotions. For every positive emotion, there appear to be 3 negative ones! The reason for this disparity is that negative emotions are linked to our survival in big and small ways.

The broaden-and-build theory emphasizes that the expression of positive emotions can expand one’s repertoire of psychological, social, cognitive, and physical resources. Positiveness improves one’s resilience. It may help one’s coping skills. This approach is not meant to erase negative emotions but instead allows for the co-existence of both kinds of emotions.

A negative emotion is a protective signal that something does not “feel right.” When such emotions are brushed off, sometimes there could be dire consequences. The bodymind is a listening machine, always on lookout to protect one from physical and/or psychological harm. The idea with broaden-and-build theory is to make space for ALL emotions.

Expressing frustration in a trusted relationship is often necessary before gaining access to a more centered space where one can choose a positive action. The key is having an awareness of your positive emotions so that you can repair touchy situations. Building upon a growth mindset reminds one that others roll with negative emotions also.    

Here is a list of positive emotions that you can broaden-and-build for more resiliency. You probably do not need a list of negative emotions, as they seem ever-ready for action. However, you may miss out on positivity time if you do not have these positives tucked in your pocket for ready use:  

  • Admiration  
  • Affection
  • Altruism
  • Amusement
  • Anticipation
  • Awe
  • Cheerfulness
  • Confidence
  • Enjoyment
  • Enthusiasm
  • Euphoria
  • Gratitude
  • Happiness
  • Hope
  • Inspiration
  • Interest
  • Joy
  • Love
  • Optimism
  • Pride
  • Relief
  • Serenity
  • Surprise

Best of all, positive emotions are keep-on-giving gifts. I took interest in “crewel” (Welsh word for wool) embroidery when I was in graduate school dealing with a dissertation committee at odds with one another. I needed to broaden my outlook to create something that was positive, one stitch after another, for my own well-being. I realized that one situation is not destiny. Looking back on Grandma’s knit-and-purl self-therapy, I wonder what she was working through in her mind.  

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

361. When have you used an art form to increase your positive coping skills?  

362. How often do you catch yourself with an initial negative emotion in situations?

Do You Have a Scarcity Mindset?

Quasi, 2016, Ronnie van Hout, New Zealand

The phrase “less is more” was coined by German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. His modern buildings are characterized by minimalism with “few architectural elements to avoid clutter.” Everyone has their own definition of minimalism.

Capturing the bare minimum of a person (perhaps one’s hand) is the Quasi sculpture produced by New Zealand multimedia artist Ronnie van Hout. He used his own face for his minimal man, naming his controversial art for Quasimodo, a tragic hero who was the bellringer in Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The prefix quasi- comes from the Latin quasi, meaning “as if, as though.”

When I saw Quasi, I was intrigued. Most people like it or hate it with few in-between opinions. Some find the looming 16-foot sculpture (standing on two fingers on a rooftop) downright disturbing. After five years of controversy among New Zealanders, Quasi was taken down for a second time! Quasi’s first “home” was atop an art gallery in Christchurch and his second airy launch was the roof of City Gallery in Wellington. After receiving flak, Ronnie van Hout responded, “Perhaps the monster just wants to be loved?”

How might wanting-to-be-loved relate to minimalism?

Devin VonderHarr, interior designer and founder of The Modern Minimalist, a weekly newsletter, might respond that one needs to make a list of loved items you want to keep, then review your list, gift new homes the rest, and savor the abundance in your life. She offers “therapy” for your relationship to your home!

VonderHarr believes that a minimal home interior leaves an opening for “an intentional life… aligning soul + space healing.” She defines a scarcity mindset: “…a fear-based mentality that typically is passed down generationally, is learned from parents, or [from] traumatic events that make us see the world as an unsafe place. It can manifest in a variety of ways, but in the home, we see it as the fear of letting go.”

An abundance mindset is freeing according to VonderHarr: “…believing there is always enough. This can apply to food, money, clothes, friends…in the home, it looks like being able to let go of things without emotional resistance.” 

Here are her possible precursors of scarcity mindsets:

  • You experienced poverty or the loss of your home or belongings due to natural disaster traumas or theft.
  • You worry about having enough food, clothing, people in your life, or time.
  • You fear that you may “run out” of money, no matter how much you make or save.
  • You frequently feel like you are “running behind” on your to-do list or in your finances.
  • You have trouble saying no to things because you wonder if another similar opportunity could happen for you.

Minimalist art forms leave one with multiple possibilities for their own interpretations. Whether minimalism in your home leads to more abundance is open for discussion.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

359. Do you identify with a scarcity mindset or an abundance mindset?

360. What do you think leads to an intentional life?                           

                   

Hope for Your Hills

“The question is not so much ‘What do I learn from stories?’ as “What stories do I want to live?” suggests Zen teacher David Loy. What story meanings that you have heard throughout your lifetime do you want to live?

In Greek mythology stories, Sisyphus was punished by the gods with a sentencing to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only to have it roll back down every time he came close to the hilltop. Sisyphus was the Greek king of Ephyra (later named Corinth). According to one version of the story, Sisyphus was a tyrant who angered Greek gods by killing his visitors as a show of his power. He disobeyed xenia, a law of hospitality, considered vital to Greek culture both morally and politically.

One meaning of this myth is that life is an endless struggle, with no opportunity to ever achieve a goal. This is a hopeless version. According to some research, only 8% achieve their New Year’s goals by the end of the year. Is this true about you? All of us experience some stiff uphill climbs to reach certain goals, only to backslide, sometimes repeatedly, when “things” do not work out. Yet, there could be lessons, such as asking, “What is my part in this?” A second meaning of the Sisyphus myth is the importance of perseverance when one is faced with adversity. No story has only two sides. There are other meanings. Take your pick.

For now, let’s go with the second meaning. I’m a big believer in resilience and hope. One of my graduate school professors was keen on reminding newbie psychologists of the most important thing to accomplish by the end of each therapy session: “leave the client with hope.” I often reminded myself of this early lesson when in the middle of contentious family therapy sessions. If one’s therapist gives up, how can the client walk out the door with a silver-lining sliver of hope for themselves?

Recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, conservationist Jane Goodall is another proponent of hope: “I do have reasons for hope: our clever brains, the resilience of nature, the indomitable human spirit, and above all, the commitment of young people when they’re empowered to take action.” Each generation holds out hope that the next generation will be more talented in fixing what ails families, communities, and countries. We will leave the younger set many hills to climb, but we can engender hope in them by continuing to be steady climbers ourselves.

Do not see your goals as Sisyphean or goals that are futile; see progress in taking baby steps. Babies do not give up when they learn to stand and take their first fledgling steps. They get up, repeatedly, and take their next best step.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

357. What stories do you live by?

358. If you have lost hope, what is one baby step you can take in reviving a sense of hope for our collective future?

New Year’s Pledges

Abdias do Nascimento, 1973, African Symbiosis No. 3

The symbol of ouroboros, a serpent eating its tail, is presumed to come from ancient Egypt. A 14th century BCE Egyptian religious text found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb held the earliest known ouroboros (from Greek words oura, meaning tail, and boros, meaning eating). The symbol was associated with the Egyptian goddess Wadjet, representing the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth. Wadjet often was depicted as a cobra, but she also might have the form of a lioness or a woman. The ouroboros serpent offers us a reminder of ancient wisdom and present healing. The shedding of a snake’s skin suggests symbolic regeneration where humans might release old habits and renew or heal themselves.

Also, the ouroboros captures the notion of unity. In Norse traditions, the ouroboros serpent Jörmungandr was believed to wrap itself around the entire world. The ouroboros in Hindu cosmology represents a foundational holding up of Earth. Gnostic philosophers (2nd century BCE) considered the ouroboros symbol as representing dual natures – life and death, male and female, light and dark, mortality and divinity. The ouroboros in African spirituality considers the cycles of life as constant looping — every ending leads to a new beginning. This looping is a useful metaphor for ending one year and welcoming the new year.

The first-recorded custom of celebrating the new year and setting resolutions (initially called pledges) comes to us from 4000 years ago in ancient Babylonia (modern-day Iraq) when the new year began in mid-March at planting time. We in the Western world celebrate the coming year in January ever since Roman king Numa Pompilius (who ruled from 715-673 BCE) decided to replace March as the “first” month. Some scholars credit Numa as originator of January, named for Roman god Janus, a god of all beginnings. March celebrated a different deity, Mars, the god of war.

It seems unbelievable that so many centuries later, wisdom is at a premium and war is a constant preoccupation. What might our planet accomplish if we pledged to shed our warring ways? How long will it take for healing traumas in a way that does not destroy one’s so-called “enemies?” A pledge for world peace seems like a distant reality, but each one of us can see what we might do in our own families and communities to plant peace.    

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung adopted the ouroboros as a psychological archetype to signify the human desire to continually regenerate or be “reborn.” Whenever you decide that it is a new year for you, you can plant seeds for a good crop of attitudes and actions, a fresh field of possibilities for tomorrow. As songwriter Martin Charnin’s lyrics from the musical Annie remind us, “…tomorrow, tomorrow / I love ya tomorrow / You’re always, a day away.”    

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

355. What needs regeneration in your life for a meaningful tomorrow?

356. How many pledges will you make, and more importantly, keep, in this new year? 

Winter Solstice Pearls

The Winter Solstice is an ancient holiday to recognize the importance of Sun’s energy. The pre-Christian Yule (jól) festival had its origins in Scandinavia but was later entwined (with other pagan celebrations) with the Christian holiday of Christmas. In the first century BC Roman calendar, Marcus Terentius Varro wrote that December 25 was the date for the Winter Solstice.

Yule (symbolizing renewal) in more “modern” times has a focus on reflection as well as celebration. To participate in solstice rituals today, one might consider the early symbolism of seasonal plants such as evergreen pine branches (healing), holly (God), and mistletoe (Goddess).  Rituals also include singing and sharing food.

Having a bonfire or lighting a Yule log in the fireplace symbolizes the elongation of daily sunlight as days become “longer” in terms of noticeable sunshine. Those who honor this ritual annually hold small pieces of last year’s log as reminders of aspects they had desired for the coming year. Spiritually, the Winter Solstice honors the renewal of more light while acknowledging the darkness that we harbor within ourselves. Each individual releases their remnants of dark thoughts/deeds into this year’s fire before setting intentions for the coming year. Might this begin your New-Year-resolution setting?

The Yule spirit includes an appreciation of nature, a good daily practice whether in sunlight or not. This unappreciated holiday (literally, holy day) is one of unity. Those who hold differing spiritual traditions might come together on the Winter Solstice, as celebrating our precious Sun belongs to no one spiritual tradition. There are no Sun territorial boundaries to war over.

Helen Berger, visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School, suggests that paganism may be supplanting some Americans’ search for a less organized religion. “There’s this outward joyousness about the light.”  Pagan rituals for the Winter Solstice include a sacred circle with a cleansing of the inner space with smoke: “…in that circle, part of what we say is that we are in a place that is no place, and time is no time, and we are between the worlds.”

Child-literature writer Susan Cooper writes in her picture book, The Shortest Day:

“…this Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now…
Welcome, Yule!“

Let’s take a higher road and be gratitude-ready. Let’s awaken a peace presence as sunshine increases each day by seconds until mid-January when there is a 2-minute-per-day increase. Remember, we share one planet (at least until immigration can begin on Mars) and ONE SUN.

Are our actions “modern?” Singer/songwriter Jennifer Cutting leads a way forward: “We pray for peace…so let us sing to welcome in the turning year…we hold the pen that writes the tale…to know what to keep and what to let go….”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

353. What thoughts from 2024 might you release to a symbolic fire?

354. How might you prepare for peaceful relationships for the coming year?

Women Missing Equality’s Pearl

1st Place: in Web & Social Media Blog, Nonprofit (Government or Educational) -Illinois Woman’s Press Association, 2025

Georgia O’Keeffe, Slightly Open Clam Shell, 1926)

Actress America Ferrera’s “Barbie” movie monologue could apply to Mileva Marić Einstein: “It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow, we’re always doing it wrong.”

Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Marić, was extraordinary. Let’s celebrate her 149th birthday this week on December 19th. Mileva did not make it into U.S. history books. Born in 1875 to an affluent Serbian family, Mileva attended an all-boys’ school as an adolescent where she was a mathematics and physics whiz. She began studying medicine at the University of Zurich before switching to Zurich Polytechnic. It was there she met German-born Albert Einstein. Mileva was the only female in her group of 6 students. Her grade in physics was 5.5 (equal to Albert’s), although she scored 5 in applied physics while Albert scored 1. Classmates described her as brilliant, not talkative.

Mileva’s academic career closed when she became pregnant with Einstein’s child. She returned to Serbia where their daughter was born. Baby Liserl contracted scarlet fever which left her with medical issues. It is unclear if the love child died or was placed for adoption in Serbia. Her name became a closed issue.

Letters betweenthe two physicistsexchanged between 1899-1903convey a collaboration on the theory of relativity. Mileva was methodical and organized, helping her man “channel his energy.” Albert wrote, “How happy and proud I shall be when the two of us together will have brought our work on relative motion to a victorious conclusion!” and “I need my wife. She solves for me all my mathematical problems.” He called Mileva his Doxerl (“doll” in a German dialect). Einstein’s parents opposed the relationship, citing Mileva was too intellectual, had a limp, and there were different religious and cultural backgrounds, but a marriage occurred in 1903. Over 100 years later, little has changed.

Son Hans Albert (born 1904) recalled both parents working together at the same table in the evenings. Despite Mileva’s career closing for parenting responsibilities, some scholars argue that she must be credited for helping Einstein formulate the theories presented in his papers. The marriage lasted until 1914 when Einstein separated from Mileva; he had begun a relationship with his cousin, Elsa Lowenthal, in 1912. Mileva moved out with the couple’s two sons (Eduard was born in 1910). In the divorce settlement Einstein was to give Mileva any award money he might receive from a future Nobel Prize.

Mileva once confided to her father, with cousin Sofija in the room: “… we finished an important scientific work which will make my husband known around the world.”  Mileva confided in friend Helene Savić: “With all this fame, he has little time for his wife…What is there to say, with notoriety, one gets the pearl, the other the shell.”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

351. How have you experienced gender inequality?

352.  When will we create gender equality?      

Music as Change Agent

Translated Vase, Yeesookyung, 2015, Art Institute of Chicago

“We are going to change the world with music,” states one of Venezuelan Ron Davis Alvarez’s music students. Alvarez is a 2024 Top Five CNN Hero; he pieced together his free Dream Orchestra to give refugees, immigrants, and native Swedes an opportunity to learn an instrument. Beginning with 13 students, he characterizes his Dream Orchestra as music “family” with 405 current participants who speak 25 different languages in Gothenburg, Sweden. The 3-56 age-range participants rely on music as their common language. Alvarez’ dream is for Dream Orchestra to help people translate traumas through finding joy and compassionate connections in life.   

Native author Louise Erdrich captures the essence of both day/nighttime dreams: “What are dreams but an internal wilderness and what is desire but a wildness of the soul?” Alvarez could agree; he compares playing his violin to electricity. Music and art are energetic change agents; they can electrify both artists and their audiences.

Dreamer Alvarez grew up in a Caracas slum where drugs and violence were commonplace. His family moved frequently. His grandmother’s house was across the street from El Sistema, a free classical music training program for low-income communities. The young Alvarez heard wafting music from musicians practicing. He loved the sounds and learned to play violin at age 10; his zest for music led him to become a teacher at 14 and a conductor by age 16. He started Greenland’s first youth orchestra before settling in Sweden. Part of his Dream Orchestra is composed of refugee teenagers from Syria and Afghanistan who came to Sweden alone.  

Every Saturday his fledgling musicians gather in a church to make electricity. Alvarez defines music education: “It’s about giving you new opportunities [for] learning about life, about challenges, about dreaming, about…connecting you to your soul.”  

Conductor Alvarez bridges different cultures by having students learn a wide range of works from around the world, including many from their diverse homelands. He also teaches Swedish compositions, so students learn about their newfound home. Alvarez and some members of his orchestra help with housing, food, and connection to outside resources and support. This outgrowth from the music comes from the friendships formed. The Alvarez connection with his musicians runs deep: “When someone comes and says, ‘I have this problem,’ then we all have the problem.”

Hansson-Khorsand says he could not have adjusted to life in Sweden without the financial and emotional support he received from Dream Orchestra. Now married and a father to a young son, he has a job helping refugees find work. Alvarez is mentoring him in preparation for studying music at college.

Alvarez’ new dream is finding others to replicate his work. He has supported programs at refugee camps in the West Bank and Greece. Korean artist Yeesookyung also celebrates the beauty of imperfection and “second chances.” Connecting broken shards of pottery delivers a changed vessel.

      Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

349. When has music helped you cope?

350. In what way has music changed you? 

Creativity and Well-being

Michelangelo, Crouching Boy, 1530, The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Michelangelo created 42 sculptures. His Crouching Boy initially belonged to Italian banking and political dynasty Medici’s of Florence. In preliminary drawings for a double wall tomb for Lorenzo de’ Medici and his assassinated brother, Giuliano, Michaelangelo drew two crouching figures; only one was sketched in a final design. About 250 years later Crouching Boy was purchased by Russia’s Catherine the Great through a banker who did not know it was sculpted by Michelangelo. Its current home is the Hermitage Museum. If only sculptures could speak!

One interpretation is that ambiguous Crouching Boy is removing a thorn from his foot. There was a tumultuous political climate in Florence and Michelangelo was taking shelter in the monastery of San Lorenzo. Is Crouching Boy making a political statement? According to some scholars, Crouching Boy is considered an allegory of mourning – a grieving soul depicted in an unfinished marble statue in an oddly-seated position. A second opinion is that Crouching Boy is a representation of eternal youth. Take your pick.

Michelangelo led a solitary life and worked until dying at age 89. Aside from his renown as a sculptor, he was a poet. His poetry suggests that a younger man was his love interest. Whether or not he was a gay man who had to hide this fact, people in the 1500’s noticed that mostly nude men were his art form. As artist and activist Richard Kamler suggests, “Art is our one true global language…it speaks to our need to reveal, heal, and transform. It transcends our ordinary lives and lets us imagine what is possible.”

What meaning does “removing a thorn” have in today’s world? Wars are notorious for demonizing the other and for name-calling others who are not known personally. One might ask what constitutes a “thorn” today. We live in ambiguous times. Different interpretations for our global future abound.

Perhaps all of us would do well to turn to the arts. As authors Susan Magsamen (Founder/Director of the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) and Ivy Ross (VP of Design for hardware products at Google) eloquently write in their 2023 book, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, “…[the] alchemy of art and science is transforming our biology in ways that are both measurable and effective…artistic endeavors…effect beneficial outcomes for our physical and mental health…begin to create personalized arts practices. Like exercise and good nutrition, the arts on a routine basis will support your health.”    

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as a state of well-being whereby an individual realizes their own abilities, copes with normal life stresses, works productively, and is capable of making contributions to their community.

It took 35+ years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Perhaps you select a slightly smaller project? 

 Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

 347. When have you turned to the arts for transformational time?

348. What do you notice when you are in creative mode?                              

Giving-Thanks

Let’s put Giving before Thanks in Thanksgiving.

 To set the record straight, Native Wampanoag people gave a successful corn crop to the immigrants who then declared a successful harvest in their first settler year. The two groups had a harvest gathering of the wary; at least 90 Native men and 50 Englishmen attended according to Plimouth Plantation colonial food expert, Kathleen Wall. Where were the women? Reportedly, Native givers dined on the ground according to their custom; the English sat at a table according to their custom. Why didn’t the thankful English join their benefactors by sitting with them?

Wampanoag leader Massasoit negotiated a treaty between his tribe and Plymouth settlers in 1620. They agreed that no individual of their respective groups would harm anyone from the other group. But tragedy was not averted; there was bloodshed. Complicating the fragile relationship between Native land dwellers and their nemesis neighbors, about 25,000 European colonizers crossed borders between 1630-1642. Including violent conflicts with settlers, the Native population lost more than half of their tribes as smallpox, measles, typhus and cholera decimated the indigenous people who had no immunity to newcomer diseases.

The holiday “Thanksgiving” became a U.S. national celebration after writer and magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale petitioned four prior Presidents before President Lincoln agreed, issuing a gratitude proclamation in 1863. Nearly a hundred years later (in 1970) Native people gathered in Plymouth for a National Day of Mourning, not gratitude. Who tells the true story to school children?

Massachusetts celebrated the 350th Anniversary of the first landing of the Mayflower in 1970. Wampanopag leader Wamsutta Frank James was invited to speak at the banquet. Organizers requested a copy of his prepared remarks and then rescinded the invitation when James refused to read a redacted speech prepared by the PR team. The National Day of Mourning was initiated; 500 indigenous people (from 25 tribes) attended in Plymouth. As a commemoration of the suffering of Native people and a protest against racism, this gathering continues each year on the fourth Thursday of November. Listening to the granddaughter, Kisha James, of Wamsutta Frank James at a recent National Day of Mourning is a sobering experience: https://www.umassp.edu/deia/resources/supporting-indigenous-people/national-day-mourning

November was dubbed Native American Heritage Month by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. It also is called American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. The Department of Defense reports that American Indians and Alaska Natives have one of the highest representations in the U.S. Armed Forces. When does America give thanks to indigenous people?  

Perhaps our country can introduce a nonprofit program meant for school children to all individuals. GiveThx defines the school behaviors expected for belonging and mental health in a given schools’ culture. At Lanai High and Elementary School in Hawaii these TORCH values were locally defined: Tenacious, Observant, Respectful, Compassionate, and Honorable. I am grateful that my children exercise these values.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

345. What are your beliefs about Thanksgiving? 

346. Who might benefit from your gifting on this holiday?    

Compassion: The Peace Within

Inuit, Unknown carver, Art Institute of Chicago

Tania Israel, Professor of Counseling Psychology at University of California (Santa Barbara) is  author of the 2024 book, Facing the Fracture: How to Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation. Rather than focusing on differences between voters, Israel takes a compassionate (and researched) approach: “We have more in common than we realize.”

  • There is a tendency to overestimate the distance between our viewpoints; two-thirds of Americans do not belong to either extreme of the political continuum. While voters may disagree on whether there is environmental climate change, many who voted for different candidates are exhausted by the divisiveness of today’s political climate.
  • Most Americans share core values, such as service, patriotism, and bipartisanship.
  • There are over 500 organizations that are working in earnest in the bridging movement to bring people together in the Listen First Project, a global nonpartisan nonprofit that was founded in 2013. The goal is to strengthen social cohesion and democratic principles.
  • Listen First conversations happen by following these 3 tips: 1) Listen with curiosity. 2) Speak from your own experience. 3) Connect with respect.
  • Our actions can change our beliefs. Look for unifying causes. Check out these brief You Tube clips: https://www.youtube.com/@ListenfirstprojectOrg/videos
  • Despite social media outlets that foster conflict, 53% of Americans across political lines report changing their social media diet in favor of more constructive choices.

Researchers are working on ways to reduce division. In a large study of online interventions, 23 of 25 reduced partisan animosity. Reducing support for undemocratic practices and partisan violence were intervention goals. Correcting misperceptions about “the other side” was one useful approach. Most individuals were found to value resilient and safe communities where healthy families can thrive.

Social psychologist Peter T. Coleman, Professor of Psychology and Education, Teachers College at Columbia University, initiated the Polarization Detox Challenge – a 20-day skill-building online experience designed to shape new habits for political tolerance and compassion. His ongoing research is one that you can join: https://startswith.us/pdc/exercises/

The Polarization Detox Challenge takes as little as 5 minutes a day. This is not an assignment! No one grades you. Dropping out is an option. Day One of The Detox Challenge is finding out (via a quick survey with results immediately) how much you believe in change. No surprise, I believe in people’s capacity for change!

“Research on more intractable conflicts has found that… when people believe that groups and situations are mutable and sometimes can change, they are much more likely to work to do so. Making this simple shift in mindset helps make it conceivable to see and realize possible solutions to problems where others see inevitable dead ends. The consequences of this simple difference have been shown by decades of research to be profound.”

Hanging on to a fixed mindset halts evolving problem-solving. Let’s correct any misperceptions with facts while embracing values that we hold in common. 

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

343. What are your thoughts about people who voted opposite from you?

344. How might you dialogue together?