living in kairos
what we designed across three sessions of community building, and why the experience of relationship matters as much as the depth of thinking
in our program we like to live in kairos, the space between the push and pull of life, of larger, often hard-edged contexts, and of the systemic shifts we're working towards. the soils from which little things grow. from the opening hello to the very last goodbye, we think about how we can arrive into kairos and stay there together across our fortnightly sessions. we believe that connection, a knowing and an orientation to each other, make arriving into kairos possible.
as we conclude our first three sessions, we wanted to reflect on what we designed for building community.
attending to our arrival and intention -- we begin gently, holding time for folks to drop in with an invitation to arrive fully. we move together towards an Acknowledgement of Country, paying respects to the lands and life, the people and practices that have come before us, and continue still – to give recognition of our connection, our mutuality to the world beyond ourselves. then we take a moment for mindfulness, to transition from somewhere, to here, knowing that the intention of being here now, with each other, changes what becomes possible.
knowing ourselves, knowing each other -- we are the worlds we've experienced. while our lens is unique to each of us, it is only one of many. bringing greater attention to what is often unconscious, but no less influential in how we see our systems is both core to systems leadership, and how we can come to understand each other. we reflect on what brought us here and the archetypal roles we often take up. through deep listening we witness each other in this. we pull back layers of our world view, reflecting on pivotal experiences and how they shaped us then and now. we come to know ourselves and each other through this process of unravelling and revealing.
collective infrastructure -- community is not assumed, it must be created with care and intention. in our orientation to each other, we ask how we want to be together — surfacing what we ask of each other, what we can offer, and what supports each of us in our shared space. from this place we slowly named and began to practice our codes of care. from this evolving relationship of mutuality, we began to see the wisdom our collective holds — what each of us carries and can offer. there is no one way to be present or make a contribution. the invitation to do as you need is offered throughout, because we trust our community, the space, and how it all unfolds. in a small physical token of recognition, we wove our threads, just as we began weaving ourselves into relationship. it is a reminder of what we are building together, and the work we are tending to.
now in our third year, we've realized a little more of what we're trying to do here. we're creating a space where the experience of relationship is as significant as the depth of thinking.
how you build community in your work?
