Re: Personal Announcements at Community Meetings
From: Denise Meier (dmmjncal.verio.com)
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 11:31:15 -0600

On Thu, 25 Mar 1999, Bitner/Stevenson wrote:

> Kim has said much of what I was ruminating about in response to your 
> questions. We didn't start sharing personal stuff at our meetings until long
> after move-in. I don't remember exactly, but at least a year, possibly a
> couple! It was an evolutionary event, and didn't feel in any way strained.
> If anyone felt awkward, I didn't know about it. My advice would be to wait
> until it doesn't feel like an "issue" anymore before trying it.

I don't agree with this at all. I'm not sure i understand the question -
announcements of a personal nature are quite different than sharing
personal "stuff", but we've been doing both for years (we'll be moving in
in a couple of months) and i credit that for the strength our group has;
we've weathered many serious conflicts, challenges, and disappointments,
and i think it is largely due to the fact that we know each other pretty
well and have a lot of understanding and compassion for each other, and
that only comes from personal sharing, both in a group setting and in our
individual relationships with each other. 

Most of our general meetings include some sort of opening or closing that
allows people to share a little, and we've had an ongoing separate,
optional gathering that is focused solely on personal expression. In
addition, several times when we've gotten into conflict we've had
facilitated sessions where the feeling side of the conflict was aired,
before resolution was sought.

Denise Meier
Two Acre Wood
Sebastopol, Sonoma County
Northern California


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