Rev. David Bergstrom, M.Div. Diversity & Difference Connecting with others, yourself, and your creativity Rev. David Bergstrom, M.Div. Pastoral Services Altru Health System

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each others’ eyes for an instant?” Henry David Thoreau

Diversity is about people… how we are different… and how we try to get along with each other.

Culture Defined Culture is all of the visible, invisible, acceptable and unacceptable things that happen in our lives that define our existence.

Respect Defined The attitude of being at peace with those different from you, allowing them to live and pursue their goals and dreams without hindrance, and with all of the same freedom that you enjoy.

“Every change in the quality of a person’s life must grow out of a change in his or her vision of reality.” Brennan Manning, The Wisdom of Tenderness

“The true sign of intelligence is not wisdom but imagination.” Albert Einstein

What is the opposite of diversity? Sameness Uniformity Agreement Conformity Similarity Identicalness

Yesterday’s solutions no longer work today.

Open-minded people don’t care about being right, they care about understanding

“The human spirit lives on creativity and dies in conformity and routine.” Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Theory of Multiple Intelligences Frames of Mind, Howard Gardner, 1983

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Albert Einstein

Creativity is… Expanding of the range and diversity of what you can know, evaluate, and control Increasing in your ability to appreciate other persons across greater barriers of estrangement Increasing in the freedom to absorb a cause acting upon yourself in such a way that it fulfils you “Man’s Ultimate Commitment,” Henry Nelson Wieman. UPA Publishing, 1958

Socially diverse groups are more innovative than homogeneous groups. Diversity Helps Us All Socially diverse groups are more innovative than homogeneous groups.

Diversity Helps Us All The presence of difference forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints, and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort. From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

How Diversity Provokes Thought Impact of racial diversity on small decision-making groups. From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

How Diversity Provokes Thought Being with similar others leads us to think we all hold the same information and perspective. From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

How Diversity Provokes Thought 186 people identified as Democrat or Republican, then asked to read a murder mystery. From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

How Diversity Provokes Thought From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

How Diversity Provokes Thought When disagreement comes from a socially different person, we are prompted to work harder. Diversity jolts us into cognitive action in ways that homogeneity simply does not. From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

The Power of Anticipation Members of a homogeneous group rest somewhat assured that they will agree with one another; that they will understand one another’s perspectives and beliefs; that they will be able to easily come to a consensus.

The Power of Anticipation When members of a group notice that they are socially different from one another, they change their expectations.

The Power of Anticipation Differences are anticipated Assume more work needed for consensus People work harder cognitively and socially Hard work leads to better outcomes

How do you prepare for the meeting? Will you work harder? Practice explaining your rationale? Anticipate alternatives?

Respect what you know

Respect what you know Don’t give up on what you know Admire and cherish what you believe Accept your natural intelligence and knowledge and use it! Sing with it, play with it, dance with it! The world is not served when you play small

Respect what you don’t know

Open-minded people don’t care about being right as much as they care about understanding.

Respect your community/others

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

Healthy hospital communities are awaiting us if we will love the ones who are already here, and continue to welcome and love others.

They are worth it It brings good survey results – better reimbursement To communicate belonging It is only the people who belong that can welcome and invite others to belong as well.

“We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don’t function as we were meant to.” Brené Brown The Gifts of Imperfection

Respect for ourselves

“We can talk about [respect and compassion] until we sound like a greeting card store, but unless we’re willing to have an honest conversation about what gets in the way of putting these into practice in our daily lives, we will never change.” Brené Brown The Gifts of Imperfection

What part of life makes it difficult to care for yourself? What stops you from being proud of who you are and what you have to offer?

Stress of self-talk

The journey of connecting with others is never a greater distance than the journey of connecting with yourself.

Tools for Self-Care & Self-Love Be aware of your feelings Ask, “What is it about today that makes it harder to care for yourself or others?” Change how you talk to yourself “I never do anything right!” “I TELL MYSELF I never do anything right.” Allow yourself to be authentic, vulnerable, and imperfect

The Gifts of Imperfection Brené Brown The Wisdom of Tenderness Brennan Manning Self-Compassion Kristin Neff