Friends & Purpose, Part 2:

Composting a Dying World

I just finished a Community of Communities planning session with my co-facilitator, Austin Kent. Like many of our conversations, it wandered from crafting an impactful workshop for the participants to engaging with how those workshop themes play out in our own lives. While that may seem like an unfocused approach from a corporate, productivist point of view, it's really the only way to do the work.

How can we create a listening space for introspection and purpose with others if we aren't attentive with each other to allow our conversations to go where they need to go? It's not that the conversations are really wandering, but rather that they are responsive to the people involved.

This collides beautifully with what I've also been thinking recently about what it means to create a "safe space" for people. The term has been derided in popular culture for turning people into fragile snowflakes but when done well, it can do quite the opposite. If you come to this or any of our workshops we will promise you that you will not be harmed. But we will also make sure that you are challenged.

It's like any exercise. Lifting weights can definitely be painful but it can also be done safely so the pain isn't a sign of damage, but rather a sign of growth.

This next session is based on AJ Hawkins' zine, Compositing A Dying World, that explores the various roles we can take in the transformational change that we so obviously need these days.

Austin and I started our planning on the foundational idea that understanding our roles is rooted in understanding our passions. But by allowing ourselves to engage with the topic as we did, we came to realize is that our roles are only really limited by our fears.

What that will look like in the workshop is still brewing, but we can promise you it will be both safe and challenging because will have already been there together ourselves.

We will see you there, on May 3 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm at the Free School Classroom at Red Emma's. Please register below so we can anticipate your attendance.

*Yes, worms are actually hermaphrodites. I looked it up.