Practicing Connection

Send us Fan Mail Finding your character strengths can help improve your life and emotional well-being, as well as meet the challenges and difficulties you are facing.  Some frameworks and assessments for identifying our strengths focus on workplace performance, but Character Strengths can be applied to any situation, leading to positive emotions, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, and ac...

Send us Fan Mail Amy Rodick, Director of the Office of Military Family Readiness and Policy in the Department of Defense, joins the podcast to talk about the informal and formal network that help military families thrive. As an Army veteran and military spouse, Amy brings a unique perspective,  sharing real-world strategies for service providers to successfully engage with the Military Family Read...

Send us Fan Mail This is the third is a series of three practicasts centered around "holding space," a concept we learned from Heather Plett, author of "The Art of Holding Space." Our co-creator for this series was our OneOp colleague, Kristen Jowers. In this episode, Bob Bertsch shares a practice for letting go of something in order to let something new emerge. Sign up for our...

Send us Fan Mail Check out the show notes. This is the second in a series of three practicasts centered around "holding space," a concept we learned from Heather Plett, author of "The Art of Holding Space." Our co-creator for this series was our OneOp colleague, Kristen Jowers. In this episode, Kristen Jowers shares two practices to help us prepare to hold space for someone exp...

Send us Fan Mail We are offered gifts from others every day. The hard part is often noticing them and recognizing them as gifts. Once we do, it has the potential to unlock amazing possibilities in our communication and collaborative relationships. In this practicast, special guest Shannon Hughes of Enlivened Studios talks with Jessica about how the applied improvisation practice of "Noticing...

Send us Fan Mail We live in a world where competition is everywhere. But what if we broke the mold and instead focused on making each other look good - de-centering ourselves and centering others? In this practicast, special guest Shannon Hughes of Enlivened Studios talks with Jessica about how the applied improvisation practice of "Making Your Partner Look Good" can help us in our lives...

Send us Fan Mail Saying “yeah, but” is a habit that has become second nature to many of us. Yet we know that validating and building on ideas and offers from others is an effective way to build high-trust relationships and teams.  In this practicast, special guest Shannon Hughes of Enlivened Studios talks with Jessica about how the applied improvisation practice of "Yes, And" can help us...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, co-hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about share the work (and love) - one of the eight ways of cultivating community resilience identified in the “ Connecting Communities in Asset-based Community Recovery ” project. "Connecting Communities in Asset-based Community Recovery" is a collection of resources developed during the COVID-19 pandemic....

Send us Fan Mail Discover the transformative power of feedback. Hosts Bob Bertsch and Jessica Beckendorf explore the nuances of giving and receiving feedback, emphasizing its role in personal and professional growth. Jessica shares a practical readiness checklist, offering valuable insights for enhancing feedback practices.  Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-co...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch explore the profound impact of emotion regulation on health, well-being, and relationships. They delve into the importance of regulating emotions and the misconceptions surrounding it.  Bob guides listeners through a mindfulness meditation designed to cultivate equanimity, providing a tangible practice for integrating emotional r...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, learn how values shape emotions, decisions, and relationships, providing a roadmap for reduced stress, boosted confidence, and thriving connections.  Bob Bertsch introduces practical exercises, guiding you through reflections and rapid assessments to uncover and understand your core values.  Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-co...

Send us Fan Mail A conversation about building an ecosystem of support and addressing issues upstream with Nicola Winkel, Project Director at the Arizona Coalition for Military Families , a nationally recognized public/private partnership focused on building Arizona’s capacity to care for and support all service members. Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-connec...

Send us Fan Mail Setting goals that focus on what we can learn from each other not only builds our own personal and collective knowledge, but can build community and leave space for collaboration.   In this Practicing Connection practicast, Bob Bertsch shares a practice to help us take control of our learning and begin to build a knowledge network.  Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneo...

Send us Fan Mail Community engagement, co-creation and collaboration depend on meaningful conversations. Asking the right question is the most effective way of expanding a conversation, keeping it engaging and making it meaningful. In this Practicing Connection practicast, Jessica Beckendorf shares a practice to help us engage people in the meaningful conversations we need to have in order to plan...

Send us Fan Mail When people feel that they are being listened to empathetically, attentively, and without judgment, they enter a safe state that enables them to delve deeper into their consciousness and discover new insights about themselves – even those that may challenge previously held beliefs and perceptions. In this practicast, Jessica Beckendorf shares about the listening practice, Strength...

Send us Fan Mail Sharing your work, even before it is done, can make your work better, make you visible to others, and lead you to a community of support and growth. In this practicast, Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about the benefits of sharing your work with others and share a practice for getting started. Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-connectio...

Send us Fan Mail We know that relationships are important, but with so much focus on tasks we rarely take time to work on relationships in meetings. IN this episode, Jessica Beckendorf talks about why relationships are so important to collaboration and guides us through some activities we can use in meetings to help build those relationships. Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb....

Send us Fan Mail The more you understand about yourself, the better you’ll be able to align your life with the things that are really meaningful to you.  In this episode,   Jessica Beckendorf shares her experience with energy and engagement tracking. Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-connection-newsletter

Send us Fan Mail When it comes to reducing the effects of stress on our bodies, a growing amount of research supports meditation as a practice that pays off in a big way. In this practicast, Practicing Connection co-host, Bob Bertsch, guides us through a grounding chair meditation, a practice that can help reduce stress levels in the moment, while helping to restore calm.  Sign up for our monthly...

Send us Fan Mail In this practicast, Practicing Connection co-host, Bob Bertsch, guides us through how to use the question, "What Lights You Up?" to begin to find a sense of purpose, an important factor in individual resilience. Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-connection-newsletter

Send us Fan Mail In this practicast, Practicing Connection co-host, Jessica Beckendorf, guides us through how to use the Feeling Wheel , a free, printable resource, to help us identify what we are feeling. Knowing and naming your feelings can be really helpful for allowing yourself to feel it, reflecting to pinpoint the cause, knowing what actions you can take to help regulate the feeling a bit, a...

Send us Fan Mail A conversation with Monica Bassett, founder and CEO of Stronghold Food Pantry, a resource for military families on Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Monica talks about how she started a food pantry on Fort Riley, KS and how she launched Stronghold, highlighting the role military spouses, like Monica, can play in supporting military families. Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://o...

Send us Fan Mail The Food Security Hawaii Working Group is an amazing cross-sector collaboration to address food security issues military families are facing, In this episode, we talk with Arletta Eldridge Thompson, Health Promotion Coordinator for the 15th Medical Group for Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam;  Lorna Souza with the Hawaii Air National Guard Airman and Family Readiness Program; and Kin...

Send us Fan Mail Subscribe on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. Join us in the “Practicing Connection” community. When you sign up you’ll receive a monthly email focused on practicing connection. The email will help us… Continue Reading Coming to Reflection “On Slant” (S.3, Ep.9) Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-connection-newsletter

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-connection-newsletter Subscribe on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. About this episode As we work on the next several episodes, we thought we would replay one of our most popular recordings, recorded in November… Continue Reading Practicing Reflection (replay)