I participated in an Art of Hosting community of practice call today. Via Zoom.
The opening check-in was in groups of three for 15 minutes total.
A man spoke of his recent Art of Hosting. “We danced. We laughed. We ate. We told stories. My heart is full of love.”
I smiled. It is the feeling that brought me into the Art of Hosting in the early 2000s.
A woman then spoke of her interest in the call. “We host process. We host meetings. I’m interested in how we host fields.”
I smiled again. It is the kind of question that has stayed with me for over 20 years. “Fields” is reference to the energetic of the group as a connected whole. I have found it to be the deeper work of facilitation.
What a sweet group.
What a sweet reminder of the deep and lasting layers possible when people come together with heart, to learn and explore together.
I love a big sky. I also love high-rising mountains. Up close and in the distance. I love a watershed.
Big skies and mountains and watersheds, like this above taken recently near my home — well these inspire.
They calibrate. They offer perspective.
The perspective that I’ve been seeking lately (and that has been seeking me) is three things. I think of them as instructions for living. As values to embody. As frequencies with which to contribute.
Go slow — Much of the world is frenetic. It moves quickly. I like the feeling, sometimes. I don’t like being stuck in it. The world needs ability to also go slow. To pace. To be thorough. To be celebratory of the moment. To bring dignity that doesn’t come from the paradigm of the instant and the microwave.
Be centered — Much of the world is scattered. It gets busy. Yet so often, distant from a deeper purpose. I like experimenting. I hold “experimenting” as one of my gifts. One of my “can’t not do’s.” It matters to remember the more purposed story together. What are we doing, really? What do we care about together, really? What undeniably centers us?
Start With Joy — It’s so often the smart start. Joy leads. It animates. It calibrates. It shifts energy. Joy clarifies the next step. Joy aligns. Joy guides. Joy resets.
I love a big sky. And mountains. And watersheds. I love instructions for living that have a way of clarifying so much of the picture.
Reach back if you have questions or wish a little help imagining together — for yourself, your team, or whatever configuration of community you find yourself in.
“Breath and Belonging: A Circle Way Intensive lifts skill, practice, and imagination in the methodology that is Circle, and, in what lives beneath methodology — breath, belonging, return to center, and return to each other as a way of being.”
Lately, I find myself interested in the phrase “calibrate.” As a verb.
Some friends have been using it lately. “Calibrate to stillness.” “Calibrate to silence.”
It points to an inner clarity. An alignment. Perhaps emotional. Perhaps more accurately, an energetic. A resonance.
I am interested in the practice that is calibrating. As a way of facing and inviting what is real. As a way of growing in gifts.
Lately, I also find myself interested in the phrase “disregulate.” As a verb.
Again, some friends have been using this to name emotional and energetic impact. “That conversation disregulates me.” It tends to connote a scattering of energy. Perhaps a scattering of emotions.
Again, it points to developing keen skills of awareness. Awareness of being off. Awareness of fear of being off.
I am interested in the practice that is regulating. As a way of facing and inviting what is real. As a way of strengthening gifts.
Hmmm…
These phrases and practices aren’t new. For those that work and guide trauma-informed practice, these are basic. And for those that guide neuro-diverse ways, these are common.
It’s not just the big traumas. Sometimes its the little day to day emotional fields.
Thus the beauty of evolution. To understand more now of what couldn’t previously be mentioned at all.
I’m finding fruitfulness.
Calibrate. Disregulate. And regulate.
This photo above calibrates me. To light. To stillness. To love. From a recent walk with Dana. It makes me smile, which also calibrates.
Lately it is the book The Seven Whispers (Christina Baldwin) that is calibrating me. I’m reading it extra. Little bits here and there.
I’m interested in the words. In the verbs. In the regular day to day that is living fruitfully.
And, not a big stretch, I’m interested in what calibrates communally. Circle is a big part of that for me. Circle both pauses the disregulation. It also calibrates us to deeper integration.
