Transition Whatcom

Hello everyone ‐

I am here to report in on the H&S Working Group meeting we had on Oct 5, 2010. 

Attending were myself (Cindi), Angela Mercy (a TWOG), Nick Waslenko, Jamie Jedinak, Heather Katahdin, David Macleod, and Meredith Murray.

The top agenda items that got attention were what is yet needed to help with the Oct. 22nd Kathy McMahon event and the follow up Open Space Day on the 23rd (SAVE THE DATE!) from 1pm until 6pm.

We still need people to volunteer to 
1. greet at the door, 
2. to clean up, 
3. to get posters/flyers out there, 
4. to arrive early and help set up chairs, 
5. to get clear on what child care is wanted (we have some sitters lined up but don't have the parents to say they will support their being there yet), 
6. and someone to take the lead on finding a local pedicab to help people get transported from the outlying parking areas to the event location.

Are any of you 57 people out there in Heart and Soul land interested in helping out with any of this? 

Jamie could also use just a bit of help with making the place beautiful ‐ please contact her directly via this website.

Meredith and David are following up with an opening and perhaps a closing for the event. (I think David has found someone for this but, Meredith, could you and David take responsibility for communicating
about this?)

I am taking care of our presenter as she arrives, needs to be fed, delivers her to the event and home again, and get her to the train on time on Saturday morning.

I will do a write‐up about the Open Space Day following the event so we can start promoting it.

Adam Ward is working on finding a venue.

Next item up was "Why are we here?" speaking of the Heart and Soul Work Group. We discussed the long history of the group first and then took it to the next question ‐ if there are 57 people in TW that are interested in H&S ...where are they? Why are they not attending this meeting? And...what could we do differently to help raise the energy around H&S?

This is what we came up with as an approach into the future:
1. Continue with the Post‐Isolation Potlucks, aka Potluck with a Purpose, events several of which were held following The Great Unleashing. These were ½ socializing/connecting and ½ structured and very popular.

2. Do more Awareness Raising around Heart and Soul issues. These can range from speaking engagements, introductions from local professionals to skills we might want to know more about, presenters that help us define what Heart and Soul work means, book clubs on H & S issues, …any topic that helps people understand what the Heart and Soul group is all about – How to create change within ourselves & community/understanding the process of change; acceptance of what is; understanding the value of grieving; understanding what compassionate communication skills bring to a community; coming to know different therapeutic models available in our community; how we might bring our spiritual practices into our changing world; etc….

3. Start Heart and Soul Open Space Salons (a discussion group) again. These are similar to Open Space Technology but designed for smaller, more intimate groups. Hopefully, they happen in living rooms. It goes something like this:

1. Check in to see where each person ‘is at’ – what they would most like to talk about, get involved with, know more about, get off their chest
2. See if there are compatible topics
3. Break into small groups, if desired – using an agreed upon time frame (allows for more time on one topic; doesn’t allow for everyone to be a part of each topic)
4. OR Stay in large group, if desired – using time blocks to talk about each topic agreed upon to talk about (allows for everyone to be a part of each topic; doesn’t allow as much time for each topic
5. Come back as a whole, if broken into small groups, and brief the larger group (if we stay in a larger group, this time remains part of the discussion time)
6. The discussion group is facilitated with the usual hand raising, no cross talking, time keeper, etc….
7. Closing.

4. Organize Communication Allies and Social Skill Builders (let’s not call it this…it isn’t quite accurate) for groups that are forming and would like some guidance on different communication and decision making systems, as well as conflict prevention and resolution, etc...
5. Do some writing ‐ perhaps A Heart and Soul Handbook. The objective would be to help people understand what this inner work is all about – the why, how, who, when and where stuff of inner work.

Decisions made:
Cindi is going to schedule a Heart and Soul Open Space Salon (HaS OSS) with special invitations to existing Transition Initiatives in Whatcom County.

One of the objectives for making this a priority is because we would like to encourage people to head into the winter time with tools to stay connected, to do the inner work needed, to not have to travel far to attend them, and to build stronger relations of trust and safety within their neighborhoods. The idea is for each community that is actively working on transitioning to have someone with experience in HaS OSS.

I hosted these in my home every other week for one year in 2008 and 09. We had anywhere from 5 to 15 attending and they were juicy and inspiring and very community strengthening.

Cindi is going to pursue childcare for Kathy McMahon’s event. (At this time, there are 2 young women that are willing to provide childcare in a neighboring room for $5 per hr per child. Unless I hear from someone that is willing to take this a different route, this is the childcare that will be provided.)

Meredith and Kate are working on promoting the event. There are currently letter sized posters that can be put up. If you would like some, please come by my office to pick them up. They are at the front desk. We could really use some help with this! Let’s get the word out to our worlds!

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Replies to This Discussion

Thanks, Cindi! Great notes. I cannot be with you on Oct. 23 - I have an all day commitment helping with a conference on Social Media at Whatcom C.C.

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