From a recent walk. With Sweetheart. Near where we live.
Evokes some “wow” in me.
We are high desert. Five thousand feet above sea level. Yet at the foot of mountains. That’s some of the Wasatch range above, on the east side of this valley. Sunrises over that range are quite compelling. A few of those peaks are at 12,000 feet. So, yup, high.
We live in a valley. More to come on the West side Oquirrh Range in the days and months to come, that has a few peaks at 10,000 feet. Oquirrh is a Goshute word with meaning of wooded. So, yup, some trees.
It’s an everyday sight here. It’s also everyday breathtaking. Something about the snow this time of year, the grand horizons, and the open fields — all in proximity.
Something about the love of such geography and such wow so near, within touch and with ample imagination.
I quite love this image, some men that I worked with a few weeks ago. Men who work with young men in school and other community programs. Joy. Smiles. Play. And given the exercise they were doing, some cooperation. Some care together. Some commitment. Fun.
And let’s just say that joy ought to be one of the purposes of people being together. Yup, it often is joy of learning. Or joy of practice. I want that. Others want that. Joy weaves us. It can knit us. It can open us to many other fulfilling paths.
With this same group, I chose to nuance purpose in a particular way. Well, in a way that felt alive for this group. It was some of the opening words, when first sitting in circle. With a bit of tone of, “so what are we going to do now?”
You can see from the above photo’s white board the naming of “A Circle Workshop.” It was. Because this is a group that knows the sweetness of connection. And listening. And witness. And belonging.
Below, were my hand-drawn images that I spoke about and then placed in our center. In our hearth for the two days that we had together in this Circle Workshop.
Create a Pile of Connection — Some fun. Some healthy ways. Some adding to the core of the work that they were doing. It was my friend and mentor Meg that installed this affirmation of connection in systems — “if you want a system (including communities of people) to be healthy, connect it to more of itself.”
Learn Some Skills — That matters in a workshop, right. Of course. But I didn’t want to start didactically. I wanted to create a feeling first (of joy, of connection, of belonging). I wanted to create being first, then back our way up to the doing. What skills? Some things to do. Principles. Practices. Agreements. Some things to be. Some of the deeper why. Some of the utterly simple that centers.
Many Modes — Yah, it seems that for so many people, “workshop” connotes a lot of being filled with information. Often in a “more is better” way. Having information delivered to us with less regard to the mediums of delivery and sharing. I like to emphasize that some of it is play. Some is talk. Some is in the spirit of wonder and wander. Some is small groups. Some is solo.
Leave Something Lasting — They hired me. They contracted me. For a purpose. For a workshop. But this “something lasting” might be the most important nuance of purpose. It’s my buddy Chris Corrigan that often says, “leave more community than you found.” Sweet right. Or the lasting love. More love than you found. Or sparks. More sparks than you found. Or shared language. Or animated spirit.
Connect The Shit Out Of You — Yah, this one loops back to the beginning, “Create a Pile of Connection.” And it’s good sometimes to add a colloquial exclamation point. It’s truth telling. The deeper why is to become more “grown-assed people.” More matured. More able to listen. More able to share. More able to witness. More able to connect.
Well, that’s my version of some nuanced purpose. I find as a workshop leader that such contexting is often one of the most important things I do. To welcome people. To bring their hearts further in to the heart of purpose.
I find myself reflecting much these last days on two workshops that I recently hosted. One was in-person, two days, with a group of 8. It was community organizers, mostly men, who work with young men (more on this in other posts). The other was online, three hours, with a group of 22. It was an interfaith spirituality group.
With the online interfaith group, it was fun to create this invitation below with my friend Cathy Stafford. I loved the deliberateness of “…going with heart…” I love it because it speaks to a context that is more and more common.
Reimagining Together: A Community Workshop that Reclaims Story and Skills for Going With Heart
Human beings everywhere seek more meaningful connection and learning together. With colleagues. With communities. With friends. With family. We seek purposeful, life-giving, and simple ways to be wise together. And kind together. And inspired. And helpful. And authentic. In the causes of our hearts and the causes of our times.
Yet, there is much in contemporary society that stifles such desires. So many of us are pressed for time. And pressed with skewed bias. And pressed with life complexities. And other things that distract and distort.
In this interactive online workshop, we will lean in to each other. For story. For breath. For belonging. For wonder. We will dwell together in the oldest of communal ways — being curious together.
Fun. I love creating invitations of the heart, from the heart.
And in this workshop I loved both leading with, exploring some in the middle, and then reminding at the end — these things below that I hoped they would take home with them, that they would carry in their hearts of remaining together.
It’s all soulful work. A soulful way. Soulful awareness. Soulful remembering.
Going with heart matters (even more, don’t kid yourself).
Distortions and distractions exist.
There is no substitute for finding your center, what is in your heart, and how you can contribute from there.
Circle is your friend; so is story.
Pay attention to a purposeful hello.
Pay attention to a witnessing goodbye.
Ask questions that matter.
Connection is the game, the invitation, the practice — so that we can be more wise, more kind, more inspired, more helpful, and more authentic.
Everything is connected. Everything changes. Pay attention. All of life is relationship.
From connection grows learning and experiments for both everyday evolutions and longer arc revolutions.
Trust your courage. Welcome clarity. Ask for help. Accept it when it comes.
What fun. What joy to be with people in such learning and practice. What delight to create materials from the heart and for the moment.
And I welcome those intuitions that you may have that nudge — maybe it’s time to explore a bit of work together.
Let’s take that to heart please. Let’s take that home.
