Skip to content
info@starfishimpact.com1-818-906-1768
LinkedinTwitter
Client Portal
Starfish ImpactStarfish Impact
Starfish Impact
Connecting Resources. Driving Missions.
  • Services
    • Foundations
    • Non-Profit Organizations
    • Companies
    • Purpose Driven Connections
  • Our Work
    • Our Fundraising Impact
    • Our Clients
    • Testimonials
  • About Us
    • Inspiration Story
    • Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Services
    • Foundations
    • Non-Profit Organizations
    • Companies
    • Purpose Driven Connections
  • Our Work
    • Our Fundraising Impact
    • Our Clients
    • Testimonials
  • About Us
    • Inspiration Story
    • Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Blog

A Guide to Meaningful Holiday Conversations

November 24, 2016Connects, ResourcesBy Marta Gazzera Ferro

In light of the deep divide across our country, and with the intention of fostering productive and positive dinner conversations with family and friends, we put together a few tips on how to facilitate meaningful holiday conversations at the dinner table with a focus on real issues and social challenges.

  1. Don’t initiate the conversation yourself if it hasn’t gone there already. This may seem like an obvious, but given how passionate many of us are about the issues facing our country, it’s the easiest step to avoid allowing the conversation to turn negative. A productive, healthy, respectful debate about the issues may be welcome but if you need an outlet ahead of time, call a friend, listen to a political podcast, or even journal some thoughts so you don’t feel bottled up upon arriving at your family/friend’s home.
  2. Pick up on family and friends’ references to big issues like immigration or hate speech and share the names of a few well-respected American leaders that were immigrants. From philanthropists like Michael J. Fox to business leaders like Rupert Murdoch, or from sports figures like Sammy Sosa to celebrities like Charlize Theron – this lightens the conversation and can serve as an easy transition from policy issues to Parkinson’s disease.
  3. Similarly, you can extrapolate the larger issues from your family or friends’ comments to discuss innovation and how quickly the world is changing. Arguments around infrastructure investments? Share about Elon Musk’s Hyperloop or the Gates Foundation’s Toilets!
  4. Personalize it. Help family and friends understand how negative comments affect you. Reference specific people in your life to make it clear that generalizations about groups of individuals are dangerous. Keep it short and fact based, in order to minimize uncomfortable contention.
  5. Celebrate the Season of Giving. A common one is to go around the dinner table and share what each individual is grateful for. Ask everyone to share one personal item, and one more macro item. A continued exercise to share is to write three things a day that you are grateful for over a 21-day period. Gratitude exercises have been proven to make you happier, feel more relaxed, and can draw people closer to each other.
  6. Focus on tangible ways to celebrate the holiday spirit. Invite everyone to share how they have positively affected someone’s life this year, and their favorite charity. Asking everyone to think outside of himself or herself, is a great way to focus on a conversation around what we have in common, and what we can learn from each other.
  7. Lastly, we encourage everyone to focus on values in their discussions. If we each lead with what’s important to us, we’ll begin to see that we often want the same things. Starting from a place of connection and understanding can often lead to very different conversations, than when we start from opposite sides of an issue.

Happy holidays to all of our friends this season!

.

Sign up here to receive the highlights from the Starfish Impact blog in your inbox.

Share this post
TwitterFacebookLinkedInGoogle+Pinterest
About the author

Marta Gazzera Ferro

Related posts
Nonprofits that are expressions of love
Nonprofits that are Expressions of Love
February 4, 2021
2021 Mental Health Must Haves
Make Your 2021 Better with these Items
January 14, 2021
Wellbeing Practices Resources Free
20 Free Wellbeing Practices Resources Online
January 7, 2021
Start your Year with a Gratitude Practice in 5 Steps
Gratitude Practice to Start your Year in 5 Steps
December 24, 2020
Cultivating Joy
Cultivating Joy to Curb Burnout and Fatigue
December 17, 2020
What is on our Bookshelf for 2021
What’s on our Bookshelf for 2021
December 3, 2020
Join our newsletter
Sign up for our monthly newsletter and we’ll keep you posted on the best resources and practices in philanthropy.


Recent Posts
  • Sarah Breedlove - Philanthropist that we love
    Sarah Breedlove – Philanthropist that we Love
    February 25, 2021
  • Giving is an expression of love
    Giving is an Expression of our Love
    February 18, 2021
  • Budweiser made a different, unprecedented, decision this year for the Super Bowl. Read more to learn about CSR that we love!
    Budweiser at the Super Bowl – CSR that we Love
    February 11, 2021

Tweets by @StarfishMarta
About Us
Our dynamic team has over 300 years of combined experience in both the non-profit and business sectors. The Starfish Impact approach creates a flexible team of experts that best suits the funding goals, operational targets, financial needs, and culture of the organization.
Read more
Contact Us
  • Phone
    1-818-906-1768
  • Email
    info@starfishimpact.com

Find us on:

TwitterLinkedin
Services
  • For Foundations

    Philanthropic Strategy & Management for Individuals & Foundations
    Learn more

  • For Non-Profit Organizations

    Non-Profit Strategy & Business Consulting Learn more

  • For Companies

    Corporate Philanthropy & Social Responsibility Learn more

Featured Posts
  • Sarah Breedlove - Philanthropist that we love
    Sarah Breedlove – Philanthropist that we Love
    February 25, 2021
  • Giving is an expression of love
    Giving is an Expression of our Love
    February 18, 2021
Starfish Impact
© 2016. Starfish Impact. All Rights Reserved
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Client Portal
Bottom