I recently had a tough commercial mediation.   It took eight long hours of negotiation until, finally, we reached agreement.

By the time I got home I was exhausted.  My head was buzzing from a powerful range of emotions, both negative and positive.   I was hungry and tired but also satisfied with my performance.

As I opened my front door my two exuberant Labradors bounded over.  They were overjoyed to see me and proceeded to jump all over me giving me big licks and kisses and insisting that I play with them.  Their love was unconditional and they were happy to exist in the moment.  They were unconcerned about anything else except having fun with me.   Consequently I forgot about everything and had a lovely time with them.

It made me paws (pardon the pun) and think.  Being a mediator is akin to being the pack leader.  You need to be calm but assertive.  Members of the pack may growl and bite and fight over the spoils but in the end what they really want is to live in harmony.  Mediation provides an opportunity for conflicting parties to resolve their issues.  As a mediator it is not my role to be concerned with who is right or wrong.  My task is to bring relief and satisfaction by giving my clients the opportunity to resolve their issues.

I may not be Caesar Milan but I try to bring harmony to my world.