A more powerful force: A conversation with ex-CIA analyst Janessa Gans Wilder. Artwork

Difficult Conversations, with Kern Beare

Talking to people we disagree with can be fraught with fear and anxiety — triggering our fight or flight survival drive. We fight by arguing to win, or we flee by avoiding the conflict altogether. But to resolve our differences, we need to move beyond this ancient instinct and access our capacity for connection, creativity and compassion. Join Kern Beare, founder of the Difficult Conversations Project, as he explore how we can have conversations that can actually heal divides and change hearts and minds. For more about Kern, check out his website: www.difficultconversationsproject.org

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Difficult Conversations, with Kern Beare

A more powerful force: A conversation with ex-CIA analyst Janessa Gans Wilder.

November 02, 2021 • Kern Beare • Season 1 • Episode 4

"It was so clear to me in that moment that the river was the more powerful force. It flowed on uninterrupted, no matter how many bombs went off. The bombs couldn’t affect the flow and trajectory and stillness of that river. It was more powerful than anything going on around it.
~Former CIA Analyst, Janessa Gans Wilder

Janessa Gans Wilder spent 21 months in Iraq during the war's most intensive fighting as a CIA Intelligence Analyst. Eight months in, "the futility, the violence and the confusion of war" left her feeling drained "emotionally, physically, spiritually." Then came the experience that changed her life direction forever: one that opened her up to a different possibility, a different way of seeing and being.

After listening to the podcast, check out the global peace-building non-profit Janessa founded after returning from Iraq: The Euphrates Institute.
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Kern Beare is the founder of the Difficult Conversations Project and the author of Difficult Conversations: The Art and Science of Working Together. He also facilitates a workshop based on his book, which is free for non-profit organizations and community groups.