Where do you see communication happening? ... Today, Abbie is joined by Hannah, Sine, and Jotte of TU Delf's Systemic Design Lab (D-SDL) to talk about life and design as playful experiments. They introduce the four core practices articulated by members of the D-SDL: Framing Complexity, Meaningful Formgiving, Building Relationships, and Nurturing Reflexivity; and discuss centering relationality, moving from extracting to reciprocity, and embracing "doing less" in design. ... Hannah Goss is Assist...
Apr 15, 2026•1 hr 19 min•Season 5Ep. 159
Abbie and Stevie talk about the CSCA pre-conference, why the theme of "Communicating in the Unknown: Navigating Uncertainty in a Changing Field" is so important right now, and what Stevie is looking forward to about this year's conference and next. ... Register for CSCA here. Listen to Ep. 1 with Kristina Scharp here . Listen to Ep. 2 with Jeff Child here . Listen to Ep. 3 with Tiffany Wang here . Listen to Abbie's 'Stories Lived. Stories Told.' podcast here . Check out t...
Apr 02, 2026•12 min
Welcome to the CSW Participant Podcast! ... Today, Abbie is joined by the participants of the Co-Creating Social Worlds Symposium in New York City to reflect on their experiences of this gathering. In this episode, you will hear from 11 symposium participants who stopped to speak with Abbie during the in-person symposium. These conversations were recorded onsite at Mercy University in New York City, New York at the Co-Creating Social Worlds Symposium between January 27-28, 2026. (Please excuse t...
Apr 01, 2026•1 hr 21 min•Season 5Ep. 158
Abbie and Tiffany discuss what goes on behind the scenes to prepare for CSCA, Tiffany's dual roles as Interim Executive Director and Second Vice President, and her hopes for the meaningful experiences- both academic and non-academic- that the CSCA team has worked hard to create for conference attendees. Plus, Tiffany offers an invitation for all conference attendees to reach out to her at csca.ed@gmail.com with any accessibility or dietary needs, general questions, or requests that will help enr...
Mar 19, 2026•11 min
What are your 'practices for togetherness'? ... In this special episode, Abbie shares the recording of a panel she participated in, titled, 'Hope, Agency, and Community: Practices for Togetherness' at the Taos Institute's Co-Creating Social Worlds Symposium. Panel facilitator, Somer Saleh , guides Abbie and her fellow panelists, Chris Hoff and Mario Ismael Espinoza , through a conversation about coalitions, wisdom keepers, interpersonal power, shared precarity, curiosity, story-seeking, imaginat...
Mar 18, 2026•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 157
Introducing 'The Stories of CSCA'- a new podcast mini-series hosted by Abbie in collaboration with the Central States Communication Association (CSCA)! ... In episode two of 'The Stories of CSCA' Abbie and Jeff talk about Jeff’s role as President of the Central States Communication Association (CSCA), including the long-term view of how CSCA evolves over time, the work of the leadership team to ensure gatherings offer opportunities to connect and learn together about how to meet this present mom...
Mar 05, 2026•13 min
Introducing 'The Stories of CSCA'- a new podcast mini-series hosted by Abbie in collaboration with the Central States Communication Association (CSCA)! ... In episode one of 'The Stories of CSCA' Abbie and Kristina explore this year's conference theme: 'TRANSLATE!' They talk what it means to translate communication scholarship, how Kristina is already steeped in a practice of translation, and what her hopes are for this conference and how attendees will experience translating throughout the week...
Mar 04, 2026•11 min
What can you imagine for a better world? ... Today, Abbie and Jenn discuss the recent Chinese Lunar New Year, and the context of the transition from the year of the Wood Snake to the year of the Fire Horse as it relates to a shared sense of urgency, momentum, revolution. As Abbie and Jenn explore imagination as invitation, action, rehearsal, and experiment, they name a relationship between communication, stories, and imagination for designing better social worlds. ... Jennifer Chan (she/her) is ...
Mar 04, 2026•1 hr 17 min•Season 5Ep. 156
What is your practice of systems thinking? ... Today, Abbie and Gerald explore the ongoing practice of defining and redefining systems; the relationship between boundaries and meaning-making; the impact of moral forces on naming the 'sacred' and 'profane;' the inter-relational complexity that goes beyond otherness and belonging: the twin myths of non-intervention and non-communication; the connection between reason and emotion; and the emergent nature of systems. ... Gerald Midgley is an Emeritu...
Feb 18, 2026•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 155
Where are you able to identify opportunities to make new choices in the systems you live, work, and play within? ... Today, Abbie and Christian talk trying out practical methods for system thinking, balancing simplicity and complexity, using the 5M structure (motivate, meet, map, make, manage), and inviting playful exploration of choices with groups. ... Christian Baron , PhD, is a freelance consultant, trainer, and systemic coach. As founder of zusammen-weiterdenken , he supports clients in cre...
Feb 04, 2026•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 154
What have you learned in 2025? ... Today, Abbie offers one last, short episode for Season 4. In it, she explores her own reflections on the past year and hopes for the coming year. She invites listeners to join the conversation however they can- emailing storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com, commenting on YouTube , subscribing and following the CMMi Substack , and joining the CMM LinkedIn Group . ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. ...
Dec 24, 2025•13 min•Season 4Ep. 153
How can you be proactive in your inclusivity? ... Today, Abbie, Jamie, and Celia explore disability through the lens of a communication perspective, talking about transforming exclusion into inclusion in every space, changing narratives to focus on "the problem" as an inaccessible society rather than any one disabled individual, unlearning our internalized ableism as a necessary step for all of us, becoming proactive rather than reactive in our inclusive accessibility practices, and creating spa...
Dec 10, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 152
What makes you a designer? ... Today, Abbie, Claudia, and Chris explore radical changes in learning around systems thinking and design over time, along with the implications for future designers, which includes all of us. This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience as part of the RSDX Online Festival on Sunday, October 5, 2025. Join the RSDX Zoom Event here to watch the recording of Claudia and Chris' presentation 'Configuring Incompossible Futures'. ... Claudia Westermann is an a...
Nov 26, 2025•55 min•Season 4Ep. 151
In what ways are you a designer? ... Today, Abbie, Hannah, and Mathilda explore the dissonance between prioritizing the present and/ or the future; the discomfort (and opportunity for learning) that comes with awkward spaces; the power of storytelling for expanding our imagination; and the importance of designing with emergence in mind. This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience as part of the RSDX Online Festival on Friday, October 3, 2025. Join the RSDX Zoom Event here to watch...
Nov 12, 2025•51 min•Season 4Ep. 150
Welcome to the RSD14 Participant Podcast! ... Today, Abbie is joined by the participants of the Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD14) Conference in Toronto to reflect on their own experiences of both the online and in-person conference, the stories and contexts around design that they bring with them, and the conversations they are a part of and what they hope is next for this community. In this episode, you will hear from 13 conference participants who stopped to speak with Abbie during ...
Oct 29, 2025•1 hr 59 min•Season 4Ep. 149
In what ways are you an artist? ... Today, Abbie, Annie, and Dorianne discuss ‘ The Art of Collaboration: Chamber Music Rehearsal Techniques and Team Building,’ Annie and Dorianne’s new book that introduces themes of co-leadership and empathy which are relevant for all small group communication. Particularly, Abbie, Annie, and Dorianne talk about ‘We Presence,’ LBAD (Live, Breath, and Die), and “trying out everyone’s ideas as if they were your own.” ... Violinist Annie Fullard, celebrated for he...
Oct 15, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 148
What does it look like to connect everyday interactions to broader social dynamics? To use our knowledge of interpersonal communication to create the kinds of organizations, communities, and systems we want to make? ... Today, Abbie and Kate talk about a relational approach to disorganizing systemic violence in organizations, exploring themes from Kate’s new book Transforming Trauma to discuss different ways of knowing (and not knowing) in our bodies, minds, and relationships; flexibility and ag...
Oct 01, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 147
How do we embrace the unknowability of being alive? ... Today, Abbie and Lois explore social therapeutics and performance activism as avenues for “performing beyond ourselves,” embracing life as play (and play as life), and creating stages- not of development- but, for development. ... As director of the East Side Institute , the research and education center for social therapeutics and performance activism , Lois Holzman has broadened its reach globally across geographical and practice/professi...
Sep 17, 2025•58 min•Season 4Ep. 146
What CMMish tools help us to end a conversation in a different place than where we started? ... Today, Abbie and Laura explore the stories of Laura’s evolving approach to therapy, including the introduction of paradox and counterparadox developed by the Milan Center; the adoption of a more strategic approach to communication from a pragmatic perspective; the shift in seeing the therapist as both observer and participant; and the centering of interaction as the place where social realities are re...
Sep 03, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 145
How do games like Dungeons and Dragons enable us to practice a CMM-informed way of relating, participating, and communicating? ... Today, Abbie and Tom explore Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) as a powerful practice and metaphor for developing more relational, emergent, and collaborative ways of being and leading, touching on the value of experiential learning in scenarios our brains will remember as real; the need (both in game and out) to coordinate across different meanings being made in each o...
Aug 20, 2025•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 144
Who isn't being invited to the conversation? ... Today, Abbie and Mil explore ways to create “grains of empowerment” that enable every individual to participate in community-based solutions to our global problems, beginning with each of us asking the question “ who is missing? ” in every space we enter; systematically inviting people with differing perspective, identities, and experiences to the table; and naming the invisible patterns of communication that keep us from hearing each other in con...
Aug 06, 2025•59 min•Season 4Ep. 143
How do we create better social worlds at the intersection of mindfulness, innovation, and complexity? ... Today, Abbie and Mattia consider the responsibility humans have to mindfully engage with tools like artificial intelligence by prioritizing our own imagination; the lessons we can learn from experiences of uncertainty and ambiguity; the need for us to practice thinking in an agile way as we look to the future; and the role we have as participant-observers. ... Mattia Vettorello is a results-...
Jul 23, 2025•56 min•Season 4Ep. 142
How can we learn to see more of our expectations and assumptions? ... Today, Abbie and Rachel are two 'embodied minds' exploring the neurobiology of sensemaking, including our brains being more prediction than reaction, the controlled illusion of acting out of our expectations, the 'felt sense' we experience that encodes all information about priors, and the perception practice that allows us to check our assumptions. ... Rachel Lilley is an Associate Professor at the Birmingham Leadership Insti...
Jul 09, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 141
How do we understand the complexity of who we are and who we are becoming? … Today, Abbie and Celiane use social construction as a framework to explore forming futures, intent v. impact, "good" design, and sustainability transitions. ... Celiane Camargo-Borges is an intercultural explorer, researcher, and facilitator with a passion for fostering collaboration across diverse communities. Born and raised in Brazil, she embarked on a global journey of learning and discovery, moving to England as a ...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 140
What changes when you begin to recognize, name, and move through your icy blue, fiery orange, and calm green areas? ... Martie van der Reijden and Evelien van den Kerkhof are both Orthopedagogue Generalist / child and youth therapist and EMDR Europe Practitioners. They have been working together for years in their independent practice in Voorschoten (the Netherlands) and have a lot of experience in treating children, adolescents and their families with attachment issues and trauma. They work fam...
Jun 11, 2025•54 min•Season 4Ep. 139
How can you speak in a way that allows others to hear you? And listen in a way that allows others to speak? ... Deb Nathan is a licensed art therapist and psychotherapist with extensive experience as an educator, artist, therapist and supervisor. In 2008, Deb founded Artsbridge, Inc. – an organization that utilizes a unique methodology to bring together teens from communities in conflict. Artsbridge has primarily focused on Israelis and Palestinians, while lately expanding its work to the United...
May 28, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 138
What are responsible ways of engaging with ambitions around change? ... Karina Solsø is a self-employed organizational psychologist, who works part-time at the Doctor of Management Programme at University of Hertfordshire, where she supervises Ph.D. students researching complexity in organizations. She also works as an external lecturer at Aalborg University supervising students doing a masters degree. Except from the work at universities, most of her clients work in senior roles in public and p...
May 14, 2025•58 min•Season 4Ep. 137
How are we generating possibilities in every moment? ... Rana Kökçinar is a Systemic Psychotherapist and Family Therapist working on unceded Kaurna Land, South Australia. Anokh Goodman is a Systemic Psychotherapist, Clinical Lead and Training Consultant with Sikh heritage and a working-class background, living in Leeds, North England. Passionate about relationships, narratives, social justice, poetry, and spoken word, he brings an intersectional lens to his work, exploring ideas of radical love ...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 136
Is your communication relationship-enhancing or relationship-destroying? ... Dr. Whitney is a global social entrepreneur. She is the founder of Corporation for Positive Change , a global consulting cooperative; co-founder of the Taos Institute , an international think tank dedicated to relational processes in business, education, families and communities; and a founding advisor to the United Religions Initiative , a global network of interfaith cooperation circles working for peace and social ju...
Apr 16, 2025•57 min•Season 4Ep. 135
How do we create conversations in the world that make us feel inspired? ... Pedro Martins , Ph.D., is a Brazilian psychologist. He obtained his Doctoral and Master’s degree at the University of São Paulo. He is interested in the practice of therapy as social construction in different contexts, and his main goal is to create generative conversational resources that bridge academic and practical knowledge. He works as a clinical psychologist in his private practice. His research focuses on the wor...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 134
