MLTnews readers were able to attend our series of events last year around The 3 Practices — a methodology that individuals, schools, businesses and religious leaders are using to help people cross the difference divide. This year we are featuring a new set of topics, with the first session set for Thursday, Feb. 27 in Edmonds.

While attendees will learn general principles to facilitate a respectful conversation on any topic, each of the three events will focus on the following intriguing topics:

The facilitators are Jim Henderson and Jim Hancock, co-creators of The 3 Practice Group Method, who have been working locally and nationally to help people address the difference divide. During each session, they will explain what makes the 3 Practices work, and then quickly dive into modeling a group so that those attending can witness the process firsthand. Following this opening round, attendees will have the opportunity to respond, ask questions, and then try their hand at the first of the 3 Practices: “I’ll be unusually interested in others.” The event will wrap up with audience observations about the issues discussed.

“I had the opportunity to participate in two of the 3 Practices events,” said Edmonds resident Mindy Woods. “It was very enlightening to hear opposing viewpoints and actually listen to each other, without the goal of trying to be right or make our point!”

“After 3 Practices, I found myself seeking more information from people and listening more carefully to their answers,” added Neil Tibbot, a former member of the Edmonds City Council. “I also learned to ask better questions.”

3 Practices co-founder Jim Henderson says his mission is to address the civility crisis facing our community and our nation:

• Friends and families are finding it hard to stay in the room with each other.
• Business owners are at a loss as to how to handle political disagreement between employees
• Schools are struggling to find models to offer their students on how to share common ground.

“That gap between ideological opponents is what we call the difference divide,” Henderson said. “Our mission is to help people acquire the tools to cross that divide without abandoning their views.”

Since those local 3 Practices events last year– held at both Edmonds Community College and Edmonds United Methodist Church — Henderson and Hancock have written a book: 3 Practices for Crossing the Difference Divide, available in paperback and digital download through Amazon.