Becoming & Belonging (B & B) -- Weekly small group Circles for learning, connecting, and going just a bit deeper. Jump in once, or as often as your heart pings.
“I have found that the surest way of seeing the wondrous in something ordinary, something previously unappreciated, is coming to love someone who loves it.
As we enter each other’s worlds in love — whatever its shape or species — we double our way of seeing, broaden our way of being, magnify our sense of wonder,
and wonder is our best means of loving the world more deeply.”
In some prep today for Part 2 of a Circle Workshop, Learn (To Be) Circle Here. That means a few extra insights are coming this morning. I like feeling the “overnight news” part of design. I like feeling the stuff under the stuff.
Today…
“When we commit ourselves to Circle, Circle commits to us.” We become a bit more gifted to feel the whole, to orient to a center, to tend to / tune to the well-being of the group. We reclaim honesty and authenticity as ways of being and operating. There’s a restoring of group IQ, learning together that is different than what we do alone. There is a lifting of relationality, which brings us to the deeper waters of belonging together and of adding cooperative contribution together.
Hmmm…
I love mornings of insight and learning. I love inviting others to my openings and to the openings that show for them.
I love the way that Becoming & Belonging practices are teaching me and teaching the groups that gather. – Some of it is self care, some permission to acknowledge the necessity of deliberate attention to the self. – Some of is it suspended time (which perhaps is real time), a slowing down to give due attention to the nuance of who we are as humans moving about lives. – Some of it is remembering this feeling of flow, like a creek, “Life lifing us.”
A recent participant, when asked, why are you participating, replied, – “I’m need to learn to let go.” – “I need to revisit who I am.” – “I need to find home within myself.”
These statements represent so much of what comes alive in B & B. I’m glad for it in others. I’m glad for it in me.
Today’s session is Flow Group. 90 minutes online. Typically 4-5 of us. I invite people to bring a circumstance or situation for which they wish to receive insight and intuition. We Circle, meaning we share listening and speaking, we listen for what arrises from our figurative center, and we welcome feeling moved and awakened.
Humans being moved by flow. It’s a practice I both love and need.
A bow to my friend Elif, who last week spoke the term, “unrushable.”
A bow to my friend Christina, who long ago differentiated “speed” from “pace”.
All of that to stir this Fall, Monday reflection in me.
I no longer want to move so fast, so often. I no longer want to move as if trying to catch up from being behind. Some days, sure. But all days, no.
I want to move with natural and calm flow, the way the creek moves. I want to open with satisfaction and joy, the way the sunflower opens.
It’s inner, all the subtle awarenesses. It’s outer, all the human sustenance things.
A joy in all.
Gifts of Circle
asd Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."
Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.
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In My Nature
asd
In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."
This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes) quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.
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Most Mornings + Note Cards
asd Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."
This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes) quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.
