Human to Human

Yesterday I was in conversation with a pastor friend and student from the NGLI program that I so enjoy. He brings wisdom, maturity, patience, honesty, vision. But quietly, which I also love.

We were talking about Circle. The movement he is feeling in Council Meetings. Just by including a Check-In. Not as a “convenience if there is time,” but rather as “essential part of the meeting.” Yup, it changes or restores a relational baseline, which, guess what, is so often the work.

My pastor friend then talked about a class he has been teaching. There too, check-ins. He was naming how by doing a check-in, it brought him clarity about what to teach and how to teach it that day. He could reference their stories and questions and tidbits.

And then he / we spoke it together. He said, appreciatively, “I’m less prepared.” He said it with a relieving glow in his eyes, telling me that he would normally have 10 pages of detailed notes. And then with similar glowing eyes, I added, “but more ready.”

Yup. Circle. It helps with that too.

My friend Bob Stilger and others at NewStories are up to some pretty important and needed work.

This piece, Regenerative Responders, is a community of practice (connection and action) for people living through, and preparing, for disaster.

What I so often like in Bob’s work, and in our friendship over 30 years, is reclaiming a story that invites people to create, have courage, imagine together, tell the truth.

Enjoy peeking, donating, jumping in.

There are many of us that rely on Circle to restore many things. Wholeness. Imagination. Belonging. Wisdom. Intuition. Yup, these are a few that I point to.

I’m glad for the many of us that point to the many things. My friend Andy Swindler and his colleagues / friends at True Purpose Institute recently offered these four prompts for Circle, so a to bring out that wholeness, imagination, belonging, wisdom, intuition.

1. What is present for you in this moment?
2. With all that’s going on in the world, what have you learned about yourself and your relationships? And how has this learning allowed you to find hope?
3. Talk about a recent time you made a difference in someone’s life.
4. Looking back at what you’ve shared today about where you are right now, what you’ve learned, and how you’ve impacted others – what is “change” teaching you about who you’re becoming?

It’s good stuff. Circle calls us to remember another layer of our humanity together, lifting up the importance of the deep inner practice. It’s the kind of world that my heart yearns for. And, that exists beyond so much noise.

Circle isn’t just a story for group process. It’s a story for remembering who we are and what we care about together.

I’m glad.