Stories Lived. Stories Told.

By: Abbie VanMeter and The CMM Institute
  • Summary

  • The purpose of Coordinated Management of Meaning is to create better social worlds through better communication. This podcast is about empowering all of us in our communication to see ourselves as curious and active participants with the ability to create meaningful change in our relationships and social worlds.

    Our practice of CMM is about embodying a “communication perspective,” which asks us to “look at communication, rather than through it.” To take a communication perspective is to consider what we’re making and how we’re making it through our communication practices. This means we look at patterns, contexts, stories, and relationships; and that we use curiosity, mindfulness, collaboration, and dialogue to create better social worlds for ourselves.

    So, join us as we take CMM from theory to practice, engage in collective learning together, and apply a communication perspective to make meaning in our conversations.

    © 2025 Stories Lived. Stories Told.
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Episodes
  • Introducing: CosmoParenting | A New Podcast from the CMM Institute
    Dec 30 2024

    Introducing CosmoParenting! This new podcast from the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution is a continuation of CosmoActivities- our free resources for kids of all ages. In this year-long podcast, host Abbie VanMeter is joined by people who are parenting, educators, therapists, and communicators to explore what it means to parent. CosmoParenting is designed to support all who are parenting in the journey of figuring out what it means to parent by enriching their parenting toolbox, offering one short episode each week that provides opportunities to reflect, listen, connect, practice, and engage in meaningful conversations.

    Subscribe to the CosmoParenting Substack to get every weekly episode sent straight to your inbox!


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    2 mins
  • On the Future of Coordinated Management of Meaning with Vernon Cronen and Claire Craddock | Embodiment Series | Ep. 129
    Dec 16 2024

    Where can you be looking back in order to look forward?
    ...
    Vernon Cronen is a co-creator of the Coordinated Management of Meaning theory of communication. In 1963, Vernon graduated from Ripon College and served for two years as Lieutenant in the US Army, Intelligence branch. After acquiring his Master and PhD from University of Illinois, Urbana, he went on to teach at University of Massachusetts, Amherst from 1970 to 2011. In 1979, Vernon began working with Barnett Pearce to create CMM and has been evolving the theory ever since. He is now part-time faculty at University of North Carolina at wilmington, teaching courses in History, Communication Theory, and CMM.

    Claire Craddock graduated from University of North Carolina Wilmington in December 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies. She is passionate about creative arts, especially photography, and enjoys taking part in community service projects. Claire deeply values the art of storytelling and our ability to make connections. Claire was introduced to CMM theory by Dr. Cronen in the last year of her undergraduate studies. Since 2023, she has worked with Dr. Cronen to improve the dynamism in CMM theory by extending and further accounting for the aesthetic dimension, as well as the position of the observer.

    Today, Abbie, Vernon, and Claire discuss the aesthetic dimension of communication, context and reflexivity, and dynamism and disorientation.
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    Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
    Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
    ...
    Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
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    ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
    Explore all things CMM Institute here.

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    1 hr
  • On Relational Construction with Sheila McNamee | Embodiment Series | Ep. 128
    Dec 9 2024

    What are you constructing in your relationships?
    ...
    Sheila McNamee is Professor Emerita of Communication at the University of New Hampshire and co-founder and Vice President of the Taos Institute. Her work is focused on dialogic transformation within a variety of social and institutional contexts including psychotherapy, education, healthcare, organizations, and communities. She is author of several books and articles, including – most recently – Design Thinking and Social Construction (with C. Camargo-Borges, BIS, 2022) and Practicing Therapy as Social Construction (with E. Rasera & P. Martins, Sage Publications, 2022). Other books include Research and Social Change: A Relational Constructionist Approach (with D. M. Hosking, Routledge, 2012), Relational Responsibility: Resources for Sustainable Dialogue (with K. Gergen, Sage, 1999), The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice (co-edited with M. Gergen, C. Camargo-Borges, & E. Rasera, Sage, 2020), and Education as Social Construction: Contributions to Theory, Research, and Practice, (co-edited with T. Dragonas, K. Gergen, E. Tseliou, Taos WorldShare, 2015).

    Today, Abbie and Sheila explore relational construction as a way of being in the world. Sheila shares stories of transformation through dialogue.
    ...
    Take the Survey here!
    Subscribe to the CosmoParenting Substack!
    ...
    Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
    Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
    ...
    Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
    ...
    ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
    Explore all things CMM Institute here.

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    1 hr and 4 mins

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