The Simple Work — Version ?.?

I don’t know what version of the simple work this is. It is just one of them that I’m seeing now. It comes out of experience, three in particular this month — Tampa Bay Art of Hosting, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Activist Training, and Streetwork Open Space Workshop — and also the New York area Art of Hosting Community of Practice, whose gathered in circle two nights ago. It comes among some other simples that I’m relishing, those beautiful moments of emergence and clarity that are difficult to not notice.

Build Community
Do the Work
Build Community

Yup, that’s pretty simple. This one came from a Harlem, NY corner coffee shop conversation with Chris Corrigan. We were designing the day in front of us, a second day with people from Streetwork, an incredible bunch committed to consciously choosing the future for their newly located Harlem drop-in center. It was not coincidence, I feel that this was coming after working with Chris for this gathering and two weeks prior in Florida. Chris and I laughed at this simplicity. It’s hard not to when this moment come. And that opened us into a bit of what that means.

We noticed the thirds quickly. No, not as formula. Yes, to the weightedness. And to the order. Build community first. What’s that. At Streetwork, it was amplifying something that was already in practice. Helping people to see each other, see each other as a group. Creating a safe enough space — need another word for safe but can’t find it now — to begin reimagining with each other about what could be possible. Shifting the conversation to one of possibility. Providing, inviting, challenging just enough shape to make sense of some of the chaos that is there. Meg Wheatley’s words come to mind — “there is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” One level of that caring is about each other. I love the moment when the group shifts its attention to each other in a way that smacks of family. It is the openness, the “whatever we choose to do will be fine — and I know that I can help choose that if I want too” moment.

Do the work. At Streetwork it was about everything from reinventing the monthly non-supervisors meeting to imagining a new identity for the Harlem location. It was about about finding the right questions to further anti-racism work to redefining the spaces in which the groups can meet. At Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, it was everything from how to we help this group to stay a group to shifting the global image of protecting Utah’s red rock.

When there is relationship, when there is community — this work shows up with more excitement, more invitation, more energy. It shifts from todo list, often held in despair or anger, to “we’ve really got something started here.” Not perfect, and yet oh so much more real and sweet.

Build community. When in work together, born of community, the community gets better and the work gets better. What a lovely cycle.

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Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
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
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 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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