Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Sharing Circles

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

Having both observed and spread this sort of thing in several groups I only
have one observation to add in addition to the other posts on this topic.
Pay attention to the patterns. If there are  people who  never attend these
type of events, this is a pattern to add to your understanding. Circles are
places where  people can share emotional and feeling details, where things
that are "bottled up" can be carefully released. If the folks that do not
attend this, have behaviors in meetings that are problematic, the  fact that
they do not come to circles is  useful to notice. Sometimes people need a
personal invitation. Not a demand or an obligation, just a friendly personal
invitation. I have seen some groups not allow any item of controversy on the
agenda of a business meeting unless there had been a discussion/sharing
circle about it first.

In my opinion, creating opportunities to share hopes, dreams, feelings  is
some of the most important community building work you can do. Business
meetings too often are designed and  setup to exclude this kind of sharing.

Rob Sandelin
Community Works!


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