Expanding Empathy with Living Room Conversations ft. Joan Blades Purposeful Empathy Hosted by Anita Nowak

Watch this episode to hear a passionate progressive political activist make the case for listening to "both sides." Joan Blades is the co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org, an open-sourced effort to build respectful connections across ideological, cultural, and party lines while embracing our core shared values. In this episode, she explains why she felt compelled to launch this latest start-up (she also co-founded MomsRising.org & MoveOn.org) and describes the power of dialogue. She also shares how she’s forged many surprising friendships across the divides. 00:00 Introduction 00:23 About Joan Blades 01:53 What is a "living room conversation”? 04:43 How to change people's minds? 06:31 Who participates in "living room conversations” and how does it work? 10:02 Joan’s backstory 14:00 Building bridges across the political left and right 15:45 The impact of social media on political polarization 17:47 Exploring “The Power of Empathy” as one topic for a "living room conversation" 21:31 How has Joan’s activism impacted her personally? 25:26 Differences and similarities of values among political divides 26:56 Potential applications of "living room conversations" 33:24 Joan Blades’ Purposeful Empathy story CONNECT WITH JOAN BLADES ✩Website LivingRoomConversations.org ✩ TED Talk https://livingroomconversations.org/video/lrc-at-ted-free-yourself-from-your-filter-bubbles/ ✩ Forgiveness conversation highlights https://livingroomconversations.org/video/forgiveness-living-room-conversations-highlights/ CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email [email protected] ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com/ ✩ LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Twitter https://twitter.com/anitanowak21 ✩ Facebook Page https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyFacebook ✩ Facebook Group https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyCommunity ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast This episode was brought to you by Grand Heron International REACH THEM AT ✩ Website www.grandheroninternational.ca; www.ghi.coach ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/grand-heron-international/ ✩ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/grandheroninternational/ ✩ Instagram @Grand_Heron_International ✩ Twitter @GrandHeronIntl ✩ https://twitter.com/GrandHeronIntl Video edited by David Tsvariani