Sweet Fruit from the Bitter Tree—61 Stories of Creative & Compassionate Ways Out of Conflict

Enjoy these fascinating stories of how real people dealt with conflict situations in unusual and creative ways. Many bring tears to the eyes as they open our hearts and bring us a deeper appreciation for what is possible. The solutions each person finds are unique — no two are exactly the same — so they keep us on the edge of our seats through the last story. There are no recipes, no set of steps — just raw experience as it unfolded, how each person came face-to-face with a challenge and found a way to meet it.Some of the stories are intensely moving, some funny, some startling or surprising. Some are in ordinary circumstances much like we all face — a ranch, a local restaurant, or a back yard. Others take place between people in dark alleys, on a psych ward, in a jail, or in the midst of international conflict or war. Includes stories from Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunis, Marshall Rosenberg (founder of Nonviolent Communication), Colonel Christopher Hughes, and Milton H. Erickson, plus people like you and I.

Mark has been gathering these stories of peaceful conflict resolution for the past 7 years, interviewing people with a story to tell, recording these interviews and and then writing up these stories for the book. To this he's added a number of wonderful stories others have written, but which in most cases have not been accessible or well-known, to create this unique and meaningful book.Mark received his undergraduate degree in Peace and Global Studies at Earlham College, after which he got two years of hands-on experience in conflict mediation and leadership as a counselor/trip-leader for the Monarch Center for Family Healing. He was in charge of facilitating groups of “troubled” youth on a round-the-clock basis both in individual therapy and group process during three-week-long backpacking expeditions throughout the western United States.Mark currently offers individual sessions assisting people in achieving life-goals and resolving limitations using NLP and other methods for personal transformation and development: www.markandreas.com. He also continues to explore the realms of conflict and community through his Science Fiction and Fantasy writing. His first novel, Storysong, is due to be published early in 2012: www.storysongandreas.com. Mark lives in Boulder CO.