The Power and Need of Circle

This is what the starting version of Circle looked like last week. Twenty-five chairs faced into a center. Twenty-five chairs that start with the premise that it is important to remember the feeling of turned to one another. A center that has the feel of hearth. A center that becomes a landing place for questions, for stories, for wonders. I have learned through much practice that Circle gives a format for contributing good to one another, in heart and in mind. It connects. It weaves.

These chairs in Circle took on many forms last week. When not 25, sometimes it was groups of three, chairs turned knee to knee. Sometimes it was pairs. Sometimes it was groups of four. The invitation to go together transfers in the moment, and then integrates with invitation to share what happens back to the larger circle and the central hearth.

These are narratives that I love about circle. I’m glad for them. Particularly, because I would suggest that one of the most significantly needed 2020s behaviors is the power and the need to cultivate human spirit together. I’d also say kindness. I’d also say consciousness. I’d also say awakeness. There is a power and a need to bring ourselves into more deliberate flow and energy with life itself, found in the mix of wonderings that people put into a center.

I’m glad to have encountered circle 25 years ago with Christina Baldwin, Ann Linnea, Meg Wheatley, Bob Stilger, and Toke Moeller. I’m glad it became a most central practice not just for the outer learning but also for the inner clarity. I’m glad I’ve worked with many fantastic Circle practitioners over the years — Amanda Fenton, Penny Hamilton. I’m glad I get to continue inviting, particularly through my work with Quanita Roberson that includes Essence of Circle Practice coming in April.

Circle gives a way to encounter each other and to encounter ourselves. Circle gives us a way to lift up aspirations together and to feel inspirations together. There is power and need to have this shape together, this being together — to remember a bit of what might just be the whole-hearthedness together that shapes us into more healthy ways of being.

2 Replies to “The Power and Need of Circle”

  1. What I particularly love about this is the notion that we “need” circle …

    “the need to cultivate human spirit together” …

    “a need to bring ourselves into more deliberate flow and energy with life itself, found in the mix of wonderings that people put into a center.” …

    to have this shape together, this being together — to remember a bit of what might just be the whole-hearthedness together that shapes us into more healthy ways of being.

    oh, so much goodness. the sweetness of it fills me up. leaves me smiling. makes my heart leap a little.

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