Schmooze To Go With That Schmear?

Sometimes I have noticed that initial aggressions dissipate with the cut of a knife... through a bagel and thankfully nowhere else! Food can be one of a mediator's most powerful tools he or she can bring into the session. Sometimes a bagel and cream cheese and some nectar from the morning Gods, can move the parties towards a path of resolution.

When the parties are in a rush to make it on time to the conference, breakfast is usually forgone and that gnawing feeling from their dispute is now intensified with an additional hunger pang.

Becoming a believer in being a bearer of bagels, (I can't say that three times fast!), I feel this actually enhances whichever discipline of mediation you practice. Now that everyone is fully fueled, the proceedings can take place.

Impass? No, pass the plate and reformulate!

Just some simple "food for thought!"