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Heart and Soul Meeting 19 February 2008

Notes from the heart and soul meeting 19 February 2008

To return to the list of past events and meetings click here

The purpose was to review what the group has done so far, and to reflect on major questions.. How is the group held and focalised, and how will this change as Hilary takes a step back, and Sophy’s energy is more focused elsewhere? What would we like to see the group create in the next year? What do we see as the territory and purpose of the group now? We started with a musing on place on earth that we each love.. And went on to a review of what the heart and soul group has done in its one and a half years of existence.. the list looks something like this…

Sept 06 Waking the Dreamer, constellations for Transition
Oct Launch!
Nov Dreaming in the Dark
Truth Mandala
Dec Pacha Mama Changing the Dream
Jan 07 Peter Russell, Waking up in Time
First meeting! Mini open space
Feb Open space
March Earth mother celebration / ritual
Meeting with Eileen Noakes speaking
May Social with Arts group
June G8 Ritual
Home groups launched
July Marianne Williamson talk, Personal Transformation, Planetary Transformation
TTT picnic
Meeting at Sharpham, meditation with Mahesi
October Marianne Williamson DVD
“What is deepening, and how do we do it?” – Fishbowl enquiry
Samhein bonfire and ritual
Nov Poetry in Motion with Drew Dellinger and Matt Harvey
Earth Wisdom council
Dec Dreaming in the Dark,
Laughter initiative
Jan 08 Seeting up mentoring for those active in TTT
(TTT event – Authentic Leadership)
(TTT Event – To Fly or Not to Fly, Fishbowl discussion)
Feb 08 Mary Jayne Rust talk, Psyche in Transition

Running throughout this time are regular Heart and Soul meetings, also the Consciousness café – not a H&S event, but connected.. We broke into groups to reflect on what we had enjoyed or appreciated from this time..

What came back seemed to be mainly questions.. Who does H&S serve? This could include – ·those within the H&S group
·others active in TTT
others working locally in areas of consciousness, spirituality and psychology that are not involved in transition
the rest of the local community – not involved in TTT or H&S areas of work
wider groups – people interested in H&S in other transition projects, other practitioners in related fields, other transition projects who have no H&S element…

What does the H&S group have to offer? What are our skills and resources that could help any of these groups? What is the territory of H&S? Many of these have been identified before, and include:

Psychological understanding – why is our society in this place? What goes on within individuals? What happens when we talk about planetary crisis? What happens when people engage (or not) around change?
Skills and knowledge – communication, presentation of ideas; processes, structures, group dynamics, relationships, conflict resolution. Developing these skills in ourselves and in other parts of the TTT project.
Balancing being and doing, thinking, feeling; integration, connections
Reconnection to nature, community, self, other
Exploring and expressing the painful feelings associated with being alive today – fear for the future, pain at the loss of habitats, species, the craziness of our system, the difficulty of a split reality
Consciousness and shifts in consciousness, self awareness
Nurture and support, self care in the process of transition, embodying our principles in our process
Spirituality, celebration, ritual, creating community

About H&S organisation, participation

What is the purpose of a bigger meeting – we have always had about 18 – 25 people coming to H&S meetings.. too many to get a lot of detailed business done.. the meetings have been a mix of process, talks, and planning / organising. There was interest in what people get from, or want from, coming to H&S meetings.. and what you want to contribute. There has been lots of help forthcoming for particular events, but despite a couple of attempts we have never formed a larger “holding” group to widen this beyond Sophy and Hilary. A couple of working groups seemed likely to form from our first meetings a year ago – celebrations, outreach – but these also did not last. Some suggestions were made about possible structures, though mostly we left this for the next meeting… sub groups or working groups that address particular issues.. a wider group that brings these together.. a small “executive” that represents or coordinates working groups? Below is a list of all the kinds of things that Sophy and Hilary do as part of their focalising roles…

Representing H&S at the TTT core group and offering H&S wisdom into TTT – topics like group dynamics, conflicts, facilitation, celebration, inclusion, pacing, appreciation in the TTT process.
Overall holding & development of H&S, thinking about timing & organic development of the process
Meetings – planning process, topics, organisation of H&S
Admin stuff - emails to invite to meetings, updates, events,
Working with what emerges in the H&S group to put together events, create publicity, support with admin of these
Holding the H&S space so it stays broad and inclusive, ensuring we address breadth of field; e.g. after talks on consciousness / spirituality, ensure there is a talk about psychological aspects of Transition.
Support people to come in and run things.. if practitioners want to offer something ask that they get involved in TTT or H&S first, so their offering can relate to the Transition field.
Holding a boundary where people want to use our mailing list to publicise their work
Responding to email enquiries – locally and from around country
Representing Totnes H&S in national Transition movement – currently helping to create this
Writing about H&S of TTT…articles in national journals, interviews..
Additional elements of programme – home groups, mentoring..

Next meeting will be on 4th March, 7.30pm in the officeSooner rather than later, so we don’t lose all the momentum from this discussion. Discussions above to be continued, and home groups..

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