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Conscious Communications Tools and Strategies Lead Communities, Organizations, Teams, and Individuals to Superior, Win-Win Solutions

Somseva facilitates authentic, compassionate relationships at work and home through spiritual education, tools, and practices that promote peacemaking and conscious action.

Somseva teaches a deep understanding of communication and healthy ways to work that better serve individuals and organizations. Our programs offer tools and practices in deep listening and connecting that allow participants to explore differences in a safe environment where no one is made wrong and all are honored.

If you are a spiritual person who is passionate about helping to create a world that works for everyone, if you are committed to peace, if you struggle with how to communicate with people who have opposing views and values, you have come to the right place. Once you discover proven ways to bridge barriers of separation and learn how to talk to those who have different ideas, you will develop confidence in your ability to relate with anyone from a place compassion and love.

Seeing Conflict as a Creativity Challenge

No one has to lose. But everyone has to change.

As human beings, our needs and our values are very similar. We are just trying to get them met in different ways. And that’s what we fight over… instead of seeing how our disparate perspectives could be part of the solution. Is there a way to incorporate a third way? How can we find common values?

Somseva teaches conflict transformation. Somseva sees conflict as a creativity challenge. Conflict transformation takes conflict resolution a step further.

Conflict resolution looks to solve the problem. In conflict transformation, we don’t view the conflict as a problem. We view the conflict as an opportunity to grow the relationship. How do we begin to see our interests as intertwined, not separate?

We say: “I really want to see the world through your eyes.” We ask: “What is this conflict calling us to in terms of our individual growth and in terms of the relationship with the other party? What got us here? What in our relationship are we being called to shift?”

What if we could deeply hear each other and see that we each have a piece of the solution to the problem? This turns the conflict into a creativity challenge. It is no longer an argument. It isn’t easy, but it offers a new perspective. How do we bring our needs to the forefront and find the solution? This makes the problem manageable. There is no limit to our creativity.

Conflict resolution is a compromise—the problem may be solved, but it is not fully satisfying to each side. Conflict transformation brings all involved to a higher level where our relationship is improved, and we have come to a solution that makes us stronger afterward.

“No one has to lose. But everyone has to change.”

Somseva models and teaches how to use our own transformation to transform the planet. When we become the embodiment of peace, joy, love and compassion, the planet reflects that, and we get to bring that out into the world.

About Rev. Gregory Toole

Rev. Gregory Toole is the founder and spiritual director of Somseva, a Centers for Spiritual Living ministry that supports people in seeing their oneness and connectedness with others. His practical, spiritually grounded approach provides an opening for people to connect and relate across ethnic, cultural, political, and other forms of difference and diversity.

Gregory believes our very survival as a human species, or at least our ability to live at peace with one another, depends on us gaining greater mastery of this skill/state of being, individually and collectively.

Gregory played a key role in the reuniting of two spiritual organizations that represented a denomination that split more than 50 years prior. He has helped communities that were divided to hear each other and find common ground. He has counseled individuals and couples who were struggling in their relationships.