Creation From Chaos: Lessons From the Mediation Room

In our role as mediators, we often meet people in their darkest moments. Due to a series of unexpected and unchosen events, their life has become unpredictable, unknown, scary, filled with phone calls and paperwork— in short— chaotic.

But all creation begins with chaos, and what a beautiful thing creation is to witness! It is messy and even counterintuitive, but we are honored to be next to people as they begin to create from this chaotic place in their lives. As we work with people through their chaos, we are ever amazed at the creativity and generativeness of the human spirit.

When we meet people with severe injuries and see the lives they are able to create for themselves and their loved ones despite the chaos swirling around them, we are reminded that so much of what we do is not about money. The value in mediation is about giving people a chance at the life that all of us want, and that chance begins by offering people a new perspective on the chaos before them.

Even outside the mediation room, the pattern of creation from chaos exists. Although chaos is uncomfortable and not often our chosen route, when we choose to approach it with a different perspective, things begin to change.

Long ago when Prism Group was just a seedling, “perspective” and “choice” were two of the largest guiding principles we knew we wanted to structure our practice around. We have long believed that by offering people a new perspective on their current circumstances, we empower them to then make a choice to move forward differently despite the circumstances remaining the same. We do not have the power to calm the chaos, but we firmly believe in our power to help people choose a better tomorrow by empowering them to create the life they want from within that chaos.

It’s often a challenging process, but it’s a very rewarding experience for all involved to witness the creation that springs forth from chaos when we choose to see our circumstances differently. It’s not always an easy job, but it’s work we’re proud to take a stab at in every case we get to see, and we always learn something about life from the work we get to do.

The mediation room teaches us so much about life and vice versa. What have you learned from your own work or your experience with us?