Pres. Cantwell's New Podcast Episode Highlights Creating Peace During Holiday Season

LOGAN, Utah — The Future Casting with Utah State podcast released episode 8, where USU President Elizabeth Cantwell discusses with Clair Canfield a new way of approaching conflict. This episode was released during the holiday season in hopes of encouraging listeners to create the change they want to see in their relationships, families, and communities.

Canfield is a senior lecturer in the Utah State University Department of Communications and a founding member of the Heravi Peace Institute at USU.

Throughout this episode, Canfield emphasizes the importance of viewing conflict as an opportunity to grow and learn. He advocates for asking questions to understand other perspectives and practicing gratitude.

“Gratitude is actually a pathway to experience joy however, gratitude isn't something that normally just descends like rain on us,” Canfield said. “Gratitude is usually accessed as a practice, and that as we practice gratitude, it allows us to access joy and the experience of feeling gratitude.”

Another highlighted theme in this episode is how to avoid feeling shame when conflict arises but to engage in a way that’s productive. Cantwell and Canfield encourage students to visit the "Conversational space maker" program at USU for peer-to-peer support.

“How do we stop looking for someone to save us and start saving each other? This permission to invite a different kind of interaction, at least on a one-to-one level. With a person you know from home, and when there’s conflict that isn't in your best interest. How do you flip that paradigm?” Cantwell asks in the episode.

The conversation emphasized how to use empathy and non-judgment to foster peace and connection.

For more information, listen to Future Casting With Utah State on UPR.org or visit the president’s communications webpage.