In every argument, there’s a moment when you choose to fight. It may not seem a choice, because the moment is fleeting and the decision may not be a conscious one.

But choose you still do. I call such moments “choice points,” because with awareness, you can notice them and make a thoughtful choice about how to proceed. Unlike, for instance, the doctor in the following story.

My friend and fellow mediator, Vickie Pynchon, has been blogging the experience of her father’s end of life in an emotionally wrenching and deeply loving series of posts, Negotiating Life’s End. The following excerpt, from Part Two, begins with Vickie’s learning that her dad has been taken to the hospital. She rushes there too. [Read more...]