14 Comments
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Cheryl Thomas's avatar

This was really interesting!!! I so appreciate you doing this and keeping up your great work!

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

Great work, Kate. Keep up your kind of reporting, your viewpoint is essential.

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Kate Woodsome's avatar

We’re doing it, Liza. Step by step, planting seeds for a better future, no matter how far away.

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amber young's avatar

Thank you for modeling the bravery of engaging in healthy conversation & discourse, for mindfully merging our awareness of distress we may feel while trying to connect, and thereby bringing us back, closer toward that end, or beginning. 🙏💗

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Kate Woodsome's avatar

What should be so simple is so immensely complicated. I think - hope - by naming the invisible forces that affect our exchanges, we can better understand how to navigate them. I’m so glad you found this helpful. Thanks for spending time.

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Sodak's avatar

Thanks for your hard work, Kate.

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Kate Woodsome's avatar

Appreciate that you’re a regular here, @Sodak.

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Cheryl Thomas's avatar

You did a fantastic job interviewing folks especially the couple from Maryland! At one point I would have felt like throttling the husband!!! ☺️☺️😌😌😕. So great to show how we can have respectful conversations with people we disagree with!!❤️❤️❤️

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Kate Woodsome's avatar

Very understandable. I’m still figuring out best approach to try to understand and exchange, rather than try to “right” or correct someone. It’s so lovely we can practice. I find most people want to find common ground, we just have to develop the skills to regulate stress to be able to discern what is a real threat and what is just uncomfortable. Thanks for watching, Cheryl.

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Cheryl Thomas's avatar

I shared your post with my good friend and former college roommate who is quite active here locally. She lives near LA and I am in the SF Bay Area in California. I would like you to be more widely followed so will do my best to thank you!

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Kate Woodsome's avatar

Wonderful, thank you, Cheryl. Word of mouth endorsements are the best! If your communities are looking for speakers to help reframe how we think about these complex problems, I'd be thrilled to engage.

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Susan Jane McCulley's avatar

Thank you for this, Kate. I so appreciate your courage and your invitation for all of us to check in on how it all feels/felt to hear the responses and see the raw assertions of force in the form of the fences and tanks. My nervous system got ramped pretty quickly and I appreciate you naming that their opinions feel like they impact my safety.

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Kate Woodsome's avatar

I appreciate you sharing your experience, Susan. It’s a victory to notice what your nervous system is doing. That awareness welcomes curiosity, a vital companion on this journey to healing. So glad you were able to get something from this stream.

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Maureen Lennon's avatar

Thank you for being a witness to this madness. Thank you, thank you!

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