POET — COACH — GROUP PROCESS FACILITATOR
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.
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.
We are a full house. I’m glad. People drawn to learning the skills and learning the heart. This is the great work for many of us, isn’t it. Learning things. And living ways of being.
Circle has been in my heart since the mid 90s. Thx Meg. Thx Christina. Thx Ann. Thx Bob. Thx Toke. It’s good to be close to people living these ways. It’s good to have people inviting another way that lifts connection. That lifts our delicious, messy humanness together.
Learn To Be Circle Here. I’ll offer it again, dates TBD. Today, what a treat to go in with the folks wishing the heart of it.
Starting again is a theme I pay attention to.
Sometimes it’s a big start-again, claiming something totally new. Sometimes it’s a renewed conviction for the same thing that’s been going on for a long time.
We learn, we humans. I’m so impressed by the courage that people have. To stay the course. To let go the course that doesn’t serve. To nuance the daily. To trust the simple. To open to love. To be unflinching.
With all of that in mind and heart, these words came this morning to my journal.
Thankfully,
there’s always
the starting again.
The way we pick up the dishes
and take out the trash,
and clean the counters.
The way we make room
for a new day, maybe a mystery,
to companion us.
We want whatever is next, don’t we.
We want to trust.
We want something to be there.
Despite all of the troubles,
the complications,
and the reasons not to,
we don’ let go of the next
and perhaps,
it doesn’t let go of us either.
Thankfully,
there is always
the starting again.
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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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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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.
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