Conflict and Collaboration

Every time we enter into conflict, there is an opportunity for us to learn and grow. It takes awareness, internal motivation and a conscious decision to move from the mindset and “stuck-ness” of conflict to whole-heartedly grasping a focus on learning and growth. By doing this, you are creating a transformation of mental and physical “life-force” from conflict to growth. This is “magic” of a divine kind. I encourage you to ponder on this.

Growth includes change, learning, expansion, development, insight, awareness, discovery and a growth like the budding leaf on a tree telling us that Spring is about to arrive. Now let’s attach these words to conflict and identify aspects of growth.

• Conflict can inspire change of mind, heart, position, perception, understanding and what we know or believe.
• Conflict can result in learning something new about ourselves or someone else.
• Conflict increases our blood pressure and stress level yet also expands our knowledge about our ownership and passion of what is important to us.
• Conflict can help us identify and learn about our own values.
• Conflict can help us develop discrimination between what is healthy or unhealthy for our body, mind and spirit.
• Conflict can give us insights about our emotions and what triggers others’ emotions. We can gain insights about what hinders or helps us grow.
• Conflict can make us aware of differences we have with each other, as friends, enemies, family or a spouse.
• Conflict can help us discover different things about who we are and how we live and work.
• Conflict can help us use vulnerability to realize and manifest potential new buds and blooms of our humanity.

Here are some ways to move from conflict to collaboration:

• Choose to grow and learn from each other versus doing battle.
• See differences as good, necessary and connections of oneness.
• Focus on the blending and merging of uniqueness.
• Pay attention to strengths, skills and wisdom that you have in common with others.
• Consider the harmonics of a barbershop quartet and visualize harmony that you and others can produce together.
• Check out the many new available resources of all kinds that result in working together.
• Combine information, knowledge and visions of what can be.
• Share questions and desires.
• Explore what you know and don’t know.
• Take two great teams and create an even better team of unbelievable synergy.
• Look for connections where we usually see differences.
• Create new relationships out of old estrangement and indifference.

Moving from conflict to collaboration enables and creates a new life and world for everyone. The journey from conflict to collaboration is about a path purpose here on earth. EnJoy collaboration!

Remember: Check out “The Big Book of HR” by Barbara Mitchell and Cornelia Gamlem, it has great additional information about the topics of this entire series.

Thanks to Bernie Linnartz of Empowerment Experts This article was originally published in Taos News on May 19, 2016.