The Gathering for Change Agents
Year 10
“Dancing in the Space Between; Creating
Resilience and Possibility in the Now”

Welcome!

On this page you’ll find the full collection of audio and resource archives from Year Ten of our monthly Gathering calls. Speaker bios, call summaries, audios and recommended resources for each month’s call will continue to be added to this page soon after the call.

Our theme for this tenth year of Gathering together is “Dancing in the Space Between; Creating Resilience and Possibility in the Now.” Along with our Year Ten offerings, please take some time to explore the past 9 years of program archives. This is a treasure trove of information, insights, strategies and practices to support you as an agent of purposeful change!

Year 1 Program Archive – “Mastering the Inner Game”
Year 2 Program Archive – “Align Your Outer Game with the Inner”
Year 3 and 4 Program Archive –  “Integrating the Inner and Outer Collectives: The Dance of ME and WE”
Year 5 Program Archive – “Co-Creating the Global Collective”
Year 6 Program Archive – “Radical Relationship; Embracing the Gifts of Polarity”
Year 7 Program Archive – “Creating Agile And Sustainable Change That Matters”
Year 8 Program Archive – “Love in Action: Connecting for Impact”
Year 9 Program Archive – “Agents of Love; Weaving the Tangled Threads of Irreconcilable Differences.”

Study Materials:

Browse the Year 10 archives:

12/7/22: “Purpose Reveal & Year-End Community Celebration”
11/2/22: “Co-creating more peace in the world by focusing first, on inner peace”
10/5/22: “In The Space Between – Our Differences Make Us Whole”
9/7/22: “Cultivating a Practice of Pause”
8/3/22: “Love Thy Neighbor”
7/6/22: “Authentic Relating”
6/1/22: “Doodling from the Space Between”
5/4/22: “Exploring the Space Between”
4/6/22: “Hallowed Ground: The Space Between Souls”
3/2/22: “Wisdom of Flower Essence”
2/2/22: New theme announcement

We hope you can join us for our next Gathering on February 1, 2023.

 

12/7/22: “Purpose Reveal & Year-End Community Celebration!”

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Our concluding Gathering call for 2022 was a rich, highly engaged and purposeful experience! Together we celebrated the conclusion of a connective and meaningful year for our community – and the culmination of 10 YEARS of The Gathering for Change Agents! After taking a stroll to highlight the speakers, topics and stories we’ve experienced together, we revealed our new Gathering purpose statements and shared a bit about the True Purpose® Institute (TPI) Organizational Consulting process that we used to receive them:

There are Four Aspects of Purpose in the TPI model we used:

Essence (our way of being):
The Essence of the Gathering is generative possibility.

Blessing (our expression of purpose in each lived moment):
The Blessing of the Gathering is to nurture the seeds of generative possibility.

Mission (our greatest calling):
The Mission of the Gathering is to co-create a world where humanity’s divine potential is activated and actualized.

Message (our transmission):
Each and every one has a place and a way that matters. It takes one and all to fully express and contribute to nurturing generative possibilities. All are essential aspects of the whole. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is missing.

There is a place for you here. This is our place. You matter. You are loved, fully, wholly.

Be joy, be love, be here for each other now. Celebrate and appreciate the beautiful unique gifts and perspectives of all. The world needs every single one of our unique expressions.

These new purpose statements are a reflection of The Gathering’s 10-year history as well as a clear direction that will guide and anchor us as we all co-create our next chapter together. Audrey Seymour, one of The Gathering’s co-founders, led the True Purpose® Organizational Consulting process over the past several months to hold space for Beth, Andy and Susan to download this newly revealed purpose.

We set an intention to move into a discussion about this new purpose from our heart and bodies before our head. To assist with this, Marian Baker led the gathering through embodied flow exercises. It was very spacious and gave people a chance to have their own experience and interpret the statements in a way that personally resonated with them.

Participants offered their beautiful unique perspectives for our time together:

  • “Intense wave of gratitude”
  • “I felt like I could not not be in this group”
  • “Tsunami of love”
  • “Bringing love into online space”
  • “No amount of thinking will heal the pain or change the world”
  • “Continuous learning with a lot of heart”
  • “How do the pieces fit to transform society?”
  • “The people are rising up, taking back harmony”
  • “Not about moving and striving”
  • “Tapping into the regenerative ability that nature has all around us”
  • “The voices that aren’t heard”
  • “What is the intersection of not making anyone wrong, and yet being a stand?”
  • “Nurturing is the gift that opens up love”

We invite you to listen to the RECORDING and feel free to post your thoughts and comments in our Gathering for Change Facebook Group.

Call To Action
Reflect on The Gathering’s purpose and let us know which topics and speakers would make the gatherings in 2023 irresistible for you. Also, if you can introduce us to any of your suggested speakers who might lead a Gathering call, we would deeply appreciate that. You can email suggestions to support @ truepurpose.net (no spaces).

Resources
Here is the presentation that we shared with an overview of the past 10 years of Gathering themes and a review of the 2022 topics and speakers.

Also check out the original Change Agent materials designed to ground our community and guide us in generative possibilities:

 

11/2/22: “Co-creating more peace in the world by focusing first, on inner peace“

Kawtar El Alaoui

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Our November Gathering featured our very own True Purpose® Coach/Consultant Kawtar El Alaoui. She opened our call by sharing her journey – guided by her trusted sources – to write a book that helped people all over the world to connect by learning to anchor themselves and work from a place of well-being. Her heart-centered energy washed over us with soft urgency, inviting us to deeply explore how to create inner and outer peace.

Kawtar highlighted the importance of focusing our attention on how we complement each other in service of what we need to accomplish together. Our collective opportunity is to create a context that is broader and more purposeful than operating solely from a place of fear.

Kawtar also shared other poignant aspects of her life journey which exposed her to many different cultures around the world. This helped her appreciate, that while cultural differences are very real, universality is greater than our differences. It’s when we deny or reject our common ground that conflict arises.

The essence of her book, the “9 disempowering beliefs” that keep us stuck and unable to connect both to ourselves and others include:

  • We can solve all our problems with our minds
  • Vulnerability is a weakness
  • We are at the mercy of other people’s actions
  • We can buy happiness
  • Conflict is bad
  • Self-care is selfish
  • We are separate from one another
  • We need others to take action for us
  • Peace is outside of us

Our discussion of each of these beliefs was rich, heart-felt and inspiring — and correlated to the 9 leadership principles in her book. Our shared perspectives and inspiring contributions expanded our appreciation of the impact and opportunities inherent in each concept.

Kawtar El Alaoui. LL. B, PCC is the author of Unfolding Peace: 9 Leadership Principles to Create Cultures of Well-being, Belonging, and Peace. Kawtar is a conscious leadership coach, facilitator and mentor. Her work redefines leadership from the inside out and supports leaders to stop forcing change and start unfolding it. Kawtar’s conscious leadership model weaves self-awareness, conscious communication and collaboration, conflict transformation, social equity, trauma-informed relating, and values-driven decision making. She is the Founder and CEO of Conscious Togetherness, Inc.

Kawtar is a Trained True Purpose® Coach, Faculty and Mentor with Leadership That Works India, Facilitator with the Business Plan for Peace in the UK, and Leadership Advisor with She Did It! Elle a osé! In Canada.

Calls to action:

  • View conflict as an opportunity to birth something new
  • “Pause”.. And get curious to gain a new perspective
  • Be vulnerable and share your truth to build bridges

Resources

Here are some resources offered by Kawtar to help you go deeper—and take purposeful action:

Book: Unfolding Peace, 9 Leadership Principles to Create Cultures of Wellbeing, Belonging, and Peace – https://www.conscioustogetherness.com/book/

 

10/5/22: “In The Space Between – Our Differences Make Us Whole“

Bill Shireman
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This call included a truly enlightening – and engaging presentation and dialogue led by our speaker, Bill Shireman, President of the non-profit Future 500 and Co-Chair of “In This Together.” We explored the BIG questions and brainstormed resilient and actionable possibilities.

In the “space between” agenda-driven polarities…

Can we actually solve vital, life-altering problems – like climate-change?

How can we come together, in shared purpose to

leverage our differences in service to shared purpose?

You might have noticed… that our current paradigms, business models, political system and profit strategies are brilliantly structured to generate power for establishment interests by dividing people into two polarities. We spend billions of dollars to proliferate and manipulate these systems to serve divisive and power-driven agendas. Through this lens, polarity is purposeful and profitable.

Bill shared some powerfully revealing and relevant information with us including the results of some recent non-partisan research studies conducted by NORC (National Opinion Research Collaborative), Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy, the Helena Project and others – as well as his work with the non-profit Future 500 and “In This Together”. These results were both promising and surprising in light of the division and condemnation we see and hear about every day. For example:

  • When 960 Americans with partisan views on climate change, were divided into groups of 10 and then spent 10 hours together talking, reading, learning and listening to experts, two wonderful things happened:
    • People moved closer to facts, away from partisan bias
    • Participants reached 70% agreement on generated solutions

So here’s the question and the invitation: How can we work together to find practical way to disrupt the status quo, political and media industry so that we can (in Bill’s words) “… move from choreographed culture, where we are eager consumers of products that reduce our pain a little bit – to a culture where we have the time to connect with each other, realize how our purposes are intertwined and relate to each other as human beings?”

“Power without purpose becomes abusive.Purpose without power becomes impotent.

Power… needs to serve purpose.

How do we liberate businesses to do that?”

– Bill Shireman

 

Bill Shireman is a serial social entrepreneur, policy innovator, and conflict mediator who brings together capitalists, activists, conservatives, progressives, and other unusual bedfellows to overcome challenges that often divide them.

As President of the non-profit Future 500, he invites Greenpeace, ExxonMobil, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Mitsubishi and other corporate and environmental leaders to work together. He brokered agreements to create the world’s first corporate supply chain standards for sustainable forestry (between Mitsubishi, RAN, and then 400 other companies) and the most effective beverage container recycling program (the California CRV deposit system and its progeny). To tackle political polarization and help revitalize democracy, Shireman co-chairs with Trammell S. Crow, the Donor Roundtable and its citizen recruitment initiative, In This Together. He helps philanthropists use best-in-class proprietary data, analytics, deliberative polling, and communication tools to mobilize pragmatic “solution citizens” behind practical policies that work.

Here are some RESOURCES shared by Bill and others on the call to help you go deeper – and take purposeful action if you are called to do so:

 

9/7/22: “Cultivating a Practice of Pause“

Chris L. Johnson, PsyD
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This call was a refreshing exploration into the power of pause, defined as an intentional interruption to what’s happening. Chris L. Johnson, PsyD. led an interactive experience where participants learned techniques for pausing in the moment to manage energy, process emotions, and respond from a place of wisdom. People from across the globe shared their own challenges and stories about pausing in their life.

We explored why it’s essential—and yet often very difficult—for people and particularly changemakers to pause. As changemakers we are typically focused on following our purpose and changing things in the world, it can seem like there is an endless amount of things to do all the time! And yet we must find our humility to realize we cannot do it all, and that a lack of pause can—and often does—lead to burnout that doesn’t serve anyone.

Chris shared with us a powerfully embodied exercise where we explored how being triggered is an inevitable—and even useful—part of the human experience. We learned how to witness the pause thoughtfully to witness the trigger and ask what it’s trying to tell us in that moment. She reminded us that the uprush of emotion from a trigger only lasts 60-90 seconds. If we can make space for it to process, we may avoid the lingering impact of the stories that unnecessarily expand the trigger’s initial message.

We talked about how frequently we say that “we’re so busy” and how that phrase influences how we respond to life’s events.

One participant shared that “In Chinese, we use the character “忙“ to express “busy”, while the character “忙” consists of “heart“ & ”death”. So when someone keeps saying they are busy, literally, their heart is dead…”

Chris advised us that, “Pausing helps to center and meet in the middle to truly make the difference we are so committed to. What makes this difficult is that we’re wired to stay safe—we are wired to respond to the perceived threat, and pausing can seem counter-intuitive. Our systems are vigilant and we’re also not practiced at doing it. Intentionally taking a pause and a body-based movement helps us to integrate and synthesize the experience.”

As a psychologist, Master Somatic Coach, and business owner, Chris L. Johnson, PsyD., is passionate about embodied learning and leadership, and leveraging it to cultivate strong business and community leaders, healthy workplaces, and engaged, thriving communities. She gets to spend her time creating learning opportunities and coaching folks to embody a more compelling presence, align their actions with what matters most to them, and to transform life’s high pressure stresses into opportunities for deeper connection and greater contribution with others and the environment. It’s the best learning gig around! Chris’s new book, The Leadership Pause: Sharpen your Attention, Deepen Your Presence and Navigate the Future, is an eye-opening, accessible guide to developing one’s leadership via the deliberate, body-based practices that tap the wisdom and intelligence of the body. It’s a potent guide to embodying your best self, living into your purpose, and leading powerfully to build a better world.

Resources From Chris Johnson:

8/3/22: “Love Thy Neighbor“

Revital Chitayat
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The phrase “Love Thy Neighbor” appeared in the Old Testament over 2500 years ago. It appears universally in every religion reflecting “The Golden Rule” — a core moral principle directing that people should treat others the way they want to be treated.

Why is this principle foundational for humanity? And if it is a ground rule for us — why is it so challenging to practice?

During our call, Revital suggested that this concept is, in fact, a deeply profound self-growth tool. If you missed the call, check out the recording and expand your perspectives about the potential of who you really are.

Revital offered us two challenges to explore:

  • Challenge #1 – We explored the concept of Love, realizing that the meaning is very personal.
  • Challenge #2 – Whom do you love? We tend to admire, appreciate and love people who resonate on a similar frequency and/or reflect similar values. That’s the easy part.
    • But what about the people around us whom we dislike? The ones we daily criticise, want to fix, the people we love to hate?
    • Why are we meant to love the “Bad Neighbors”; whether these are our family members, friends, colleagues, people stuck in the car alongside us in a traffic jam and, of course, the family next door?

Recognizing in ourselves — parts of us that we are used to seeing in others but not associating with who we are — is imperative for our personal growth. We can use our thoughts, feelings and judgments about our neighbors (especially the ones we dislike) to recognize aspects of ourselves which have been repressed or disowned.

Only when we learn to know, accept and love ourselves are we able to unconditionally love our Neighbors. By learning to love those around us — the “good”, the “bad” and the “ugly” that we reflect onto them — we are able to truly know, accept and learn to love ourselves. So simple. So Challenging. So perfect.

Revital Chitayat is an International Teacher, Speaker and Spiritual coach. She specializes in high quality decision-making and teaching practical tools designed to tap into your true potential. She has worked with hundreds of people across the globe, leading them to recognise limiting patterns, transform negative inner dialogue, connect to intuition, and manifest their purpose as they expand their influence in the world. The result is the life-changing ability to make meaningful choices with clarity, confidence and ever increasing impact.

Over the past 15 years, Revital has led a wide variety of workshops, courses and seminars alongside her online/ in-person private practice. She is also a proud co-author of the #1 Amazon International Bestseller “U Empath You”. For the past 30+ years, she has resided (mainly) in Israel, is happily married… and mother to three extraordinary human beings.

If you choose to go deeper into this topic, contact Revital at revitalcoach @ gmail.com (remove spaces).

 

7/6/22: “Authentic Relating“

Claudia Alarcon
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This month’s guest, Claudia Alarcon, treated us with several exercises to experience first hand what it feels like to connect with each other in a space of “authentic relating.” Through these exercises, we explored how we can connect with one another in a deeper and more meaningful way and expand our skills to allow us more access to that “space between.”

One of the exercises was called, “The Noticing Game”, where partners shared what we were noticing. Afterwards, participants noted the freedom and joy they experienced in this exercise, and how it so quickly moved them to a deeper connection with their partner.

Claudia then shared some cool information about the 3 levels of conversation – Informational, Personal, and Relational. We also explored how quickly – and often somewhat unconsciously – we make assumptions about ourselves, others and/or the situation.

A special “shout-out” to Claudia for also translating instructions of the exercise into Croatian to connect and support a participant!!

At the end, participants shared their experiences and feelings as a result of being with us on this call; happy, delighted and appreciative of the opportunity to explore “authentic relating” through different experiential lenses and with deep curiosity. What a great state from which to explore the “space between.”

Claudia Alarcon has over ten years experience working with executives and businesses as a Co-Active Coach and an Agile Coaching consultant. She specializes in organizational and cultural transformations, developing higher levels of emotional and relational intelligence and improving team dynamics. She is passionate about bringing Authentic Relating practices into organizations to hep them to create amazing places to work. She volunteers with the Realness Project a non-profit organization that teaches Authentic Relating and communication skills to men and women in prison. Claudia is also inspired and loves to “geek out” about Integral Theory, Spiral Dynamics Developmental Psychology, Philosophy of Consciousness, Burning Man, Virtual Reality, Meditation and Mindfulness practices. Claudia lives in Hollywood, Florida.

Resources from Claudia

 

6/1/22: “The Playful Space Between: Doodle Contemplations“

Karen Light
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Karen has a personal mission of awakening creative power.

As the Founder and an Illustrator at Studio Light Illustration, Karen partners with artists and authors to nurture humanity through the magic of story-creating and story-telling. She believes that stories connect us as humans, forge understanding, evoke empathy, and challenge us to think of ways to create a world in which all living creatures can thrive.

As a Creative Coach, Karen has a passion for helping struggling artists who want to make a soulful living. She is on a mission to erase the phrase “starving artist” from our lexicon and envisions a world where artists are seen and compensated as invaluable resources in the work to create a more sustainable, equitable, and joyful world.

Outside of her client work, Karen is slowly redefining herself as an artist! So far, her new work has been a mixed media exploration of messages shared by creatures that cross her path, in both the waking and sleeping worlds. She has also written and illustrated a children’s book of her own, Once Upon a Doodle, with others in the works.

Karen’s toolbox has been honed from being a working artist, over two decades of teaching, mentoring, and coaching, studying community arts, her work in social justice, and her ever-evolving spiritual practices. And don’t forget doodling. Lots and lots of doodling!

On this call Karen guided us on an adventure to explore “The Playful Space Between: Doodle Contemplations.” We started with a simple test to ensure that everyone was qualified to doodle, which everyone passed with flying colors by drawing a squiggle, line, circle, or whatever came to them on a piece of paper. This set the tone for a playful and artistic examination of our consciousness together.

Karen then set the stage by offering us a set of agreements, which of course were a beautiful work of art themselves. She engaged us by asking us to shout out the agreements that stood out to us, which activated many voices in the room and got us in the mood to doodle together.

Our theme this year is “Dancing in the Space Between: Creating Resilience and Possibility in the Now”. Doodles are a whimsical way to see what we are experiencing in this present moment, and to dance right into the space between—a space that we typically wouldn’t be able to see in all its colors. The temporal nature of doodles removes many of the typical barriers many of us bring to seeing the space between, such as perfectionism, inner critic, fear, etc.

We doodled in a full group, and then we moved into smaller triads. Each time someone made a doodle, they would then have the opportunity to present their doodle to the group. Doodles were interpreted in one of two ways. 1) The doodler could explain their own intention or interpretation of the doodle to the group. 2) The observers would take turns saying, “If that were my doodle…” and go on to share what the doodle inspired and reflected within them. All of this led to an incredibly rich tapestry of visual and interpretive illumination!

Participant reflections:

  • “I’m in San Francisco reflecting my heritage of Doodling. My grandfather was a trained artist from Denmark. He used Doodling to connect to others — on envelopes, cartoons, commentary.”
  • “I love this activity and look forward to attending more often.”
  • “I’d like to thank you for this creative moment of connection, Karen.”
  • “Oh my, this was such a lovely experience and source of deeper discovery. I will be Doodling along with my journal. Thank you.”
  • “Susan’s drawing reinforced my desire/reminder to lay down and rest in nature <3”
  • “It was fun to keep doodling without looking as I shared my feelings/insights in her doodle”

Karen left us with some powerful tips about how to use our doodles for continual guidance and contemplation for the weeks ahead:

  • Leave your doodles within eyesight for 1-2 weeks
  • Continue the doodle: add color, cut it out, etc. Continue to play with it in the same manner and center yourself in the intention from today
  • Ask other people in your life: What do you see in this? Listen to them with a lot of curiosity.

Resources

Karen offered these resources for continued exploration of her work:

 

5/4/22: “Exploring the Space Between”

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On this call we spent some really rich and insightful time as a group sharing practices and resources that help us respond from a place of choice in the space between “stimulus and response.” Some of our favorite tools and practices were voice dialogue, active imagination and Crossed Leg Tapping to help us “pause”, take a breath and examine with curiosity what is stimulating our reaction. Andy even shared with us his “paws”… for that one – you have to watch the video recording!

During our time together we were also reminded that while we have learned many of these practices in the past, we often fall into old habits. This session was such a great re-fresh of the many ways we can move into the space between and respond – instead of falling into an automatic reaction that doesn’t serve the greater good (or our own!)

Lastly, we discussed how art, or music or simply laughter can help us to recenter and see things with fresh eyes. Our lives are enriched and enhanced by all our experiences. All of them!!

“Music is the space between the notes.” – Claude Debussy

Resources:

 

4/6/22: “Hallowed Ground: The Space Between Souls”

Brandon Peele
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Our theme this year is “Dancing in the Space Between: Creating Resilience and Possibility in the Now”. We started with flower essences in March. This month, we moved into exploration of the bison, whose implied ethic is to choose to live in equanimity and inclusion by making space for others and are the national mammal of the United States. This stands in contrast to America’s national bird, the bald eagle, which is an independent apex predator.

Recognizing that The Gathering is a global community—and this session was explicitly aimed at exploring the rise of authoritarianism and other anti-communal qualities in America—we encouraged participants to consider how these concepts apply to their region of the globe and also welcomed them to share their unique insights looking at America from the outside.

We explored three dimensions of this inquiry, twice in breakout rooms with space between each for a collective harvest. First we explored the idea that the private sector (businesses) might have a big role in “saving the republic.” Our second question compared the implied ethics of the bison and eagle. The third was addressed as a whole group, discussing how hallowed ground connects us.

While we didn’t come to any specific conclusions, a diverse array of perspectives was shared, particularly diverging around the idea of trusting capitalist structures to do good and heal people and our world. Some were skeptical this is possible, let alone advisable. Others were more optimistic, having a great deal of visibility into what corporations are already doing to make change for good. Everyone agreed that businesses have a tremendous amount of power to influence the lives of people. Listen to the recording. Let us know your thoughts on our Facebook group.

Brandon is a best-selling author, the CEO of Unity Lab, and an expert in purpose, leadership + culture change. He’s trusted as a keynote speaker, consultant and program leader by organizations such as Google, Johnson & Johnson, Stanford University, JDRF, Morgan Stanley, U.S. Marine Corps, University of California – Berkeley, LinkedIn, the U.S. Navy, Slalom Consulting, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the University of Minnesota.

He is the author of Purpose Work Nation (2022), The Purpose Field Guide (2019), and Planet on Purpose (2018), and co-author of Purpose Rising (2017) and The Purpose Blueprint (2015). His work has been featured by news organizations such as USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and Forbes.

Brandon holds an MBA in Leadership from Columbia Business School, is an Imperative Certified Purpose Leader (TM), and serves on the Council of the Global Purpose Leaders and the Leadership Council of ManKind Project San Diego.

Resources:

Brandon offered these resources for us to continue our exploration:

 

3/2/22: “Wisdom of Flower Essence”

Ruth Altschuler
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On this Gathering, our guest, Ruth Altschuler took us on a photographic journey to explore nature and how we can learn from nature’s experience and wisdom. Ruth provided an overview of Plants and Interconnectedness of plant and human beings over the millenia. We then had an opportunity to view the beauty and features of the Olive Tree and discuss its archetypal nature. Some participants noted the harsh conditions and how the Tree has survived and flourished in those conditions. Others noted the physical nature of the Olive Tree — the gnarliness of its trunk and widespread branches, and when in bloom, the delicate, light flowers. Participants noted the “space between” the branches and how that space enables birds to fly through the branches.

Ruth guided us in a beautiful meditation to immerse ourselves and attune to what the Olive Tree has to share with us. This experience touched many of us, bringing some people to tears as we realized how age and beauty can co-exist. We were amazed at the resilience of this tree and its ability to withstand such harsh conditions and continue to bear fruit. We also tapped into the wisdom of the elders and appreciated the knowledge and gifts of their experience. Truly a moving experience!

Ruth shared with us the process to create flower essences and how these essences can be used in numerous healing and expansive ways. The essence of the Quaking Grass can help bend the will of people, opening up the space for partnership and collaboration. For example, the essence of Calendula helps to open our hearts and can be used to facilitate healing and unifying conversations.

Ruth invited us to do more plant attunements and check out her Open Circles which is a monthly free event. To find out more about this opportunity, go to this link:
https://essencementoring.com/open-circles-essence-community/

Ruth also generously shared a PDF of the slides that she used in our Gathering which you can access here.

Ruth is an official teacher for the Flower Essence Society (FES) Practitioner and Certification Program. She is known for bringing a remarkable understanding of flower essences and how their distinct qualities guide the soul healing journey for each client that she serves. As a native Brazilian, she has brought this work alive and integral to the healing therapists of Brazil. Her work helped lead to the Brazilian National Health Registry, in partnership with various University training programs, to recognize flower essence therapy as a healing modality, alongside other integrative health approaches. In addition to one-on-one consulting, she offers numerous programs and leads Essence Circles to expand this knowledge.

Resources:

FOUNDATIONAL INFORMATION
What are Flower Essences:
https://essencementoring.com/what-are-flower-essences/

Plant Archetypes as References of Living Virtues:
https://essencementoring.com/plant-archetypes-references-sanity/

How to use Flower Essences
https://www.fesflowers.com/learn-about-flower-essences/how-to-use-flower-essences/

Video on how Flower Essences are prepared:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNhStQY-QeA

Flower Essence Society website, with Research Information:
http://www.flowersociety.org

FLOWER ESSENCE PRODUCER WEBSITES
Alaskan Essences website:
www.AlaskanEssences.com

Australian Bush Essences Website:
https://ausflowers.com.au

Bach Essences by Healing Herbs website:
www.HealingHerbs.co.uk

Where to buy Healing Herbs in the US:
www.FesFlowers.com

Desert Alchemy Website:
www.Desert-Alchemy.com

Flora of Asia website:
www.FloraofAsia.com

Flower Essence Services Website:
www.FesFlowers.com

Flower Essence Society Website:
http://www.flowersociety.org

Living Essences of Australia website:
https://livingessences.com.au/?v=7516fd43adaa

Source to buy Living Essences of Australia in the US:
https://www.essencesonline.com/LivingEssences.htm#LEoATopInfo

Pacific Essences website:
https://pacificessences.com

 

2/2/22: “Announcing our new theme for Year Ten”

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Our first Gathering call of 2022 was really engaging, connecting and energizing. We had a highly interactive group with lots of ideas, insights and suggestions about how to co-create irresistible topics, speakers, tools and resources around our new theme:

“Dancing in the Space Between; Creating Resilience and Possibility in the Now”

What does it mean… to dance in the space in between? How many invaluable possibilities escape our perception and attention because we’re too focused on what we want, expect, believe or fear? What thoughts and feelings does this theme evoke in you?

Imagine what we can co-create in our changing and uncertain world,
if we express more resilience
and expand our awareness of what is possible

 

Below are some of the treasures we mined together:

  • Dancing between the spaces allows for all possibilities.
  • The edges between solid objects and the space in between are shared; we can’t have one without the other.
  • Paying attention to the space in between gives us new awareness, perspectives and horizons.
  • In the space between, I don’t need to be, choose or attach to any one thing. What becomes clear and possible from that place?
  • Unlabeling offers the opportunity to be so much freer.
  • There is a call to move between the spaces as smoothly and seamlessly as we move between inhale and exhale.
  • It takes courage to be in the space between; a place of not knowing.
  • Trusting the seeds of change is helpful.
  • Give people a safe space to be (and practice being) in between.

And here are some of the ideas that we generated for possible topics and speakers:

  • Introduce mother nature; Nature has thousands of years of R&D!
  • Biomimicry – to create a design based on nature
  • Regenerative systems
  • Authentic relating – Claudia Alarcon
  • My Grandmother’s Hands – Resmaa Menaken
  • Renee Beth Poindexter – Living The Potential
  • Dance and art as embodiments of moving within and between the spaces

On this call, we also invited people to share their intentions related to our theme. Sharing intentions and goals is especially powerful in a group! What are your intentions for 2022 around the topic of “Dancing in the Space Between; Creating Resilience and Possibility in the Now”?

Let us know what else comes to mind for you! Post your intentions, ideas, insights and suggestions in our Facebook group.

 

Your Gathering Hosts

 

About Beth Scanzani

Beth Scanzani is a highly respected and multi-faceted transformational coach, teacher and speaker. A lifelong student and curious soul, she has enjoyed exploring and integrating a wealth of knowledge, resources, and strategies that draw upon a wide range of psychological, scientific, and spiritual teachings. Prior to her transition into teaching and coaching in support of evolving consciousness, Beth enjoyed a successful career as a human resources executive in the high tech and healthcare industries.

True to her nature, Beth’s studies encompass a purposeful blend of psychological, scientific, and spiritual perspectives. She has attained numerous coaching certifications including True Purpose Coach™, Belief Closet™ Practitioner, Master Career Coach, Dream Coach™, iPEC Empowerment Coach™, Energy Leadership Coach™ and Theoretical Foundations of Coaching with David Rock. In addition, she is a trained facilitator and teacher of the Voice Dialogue™ process.

Beth is deeply passionate about sharing knowledge and strategies that create meaningful and sustainable transformation in service to co-creating a world that works for everyone. Beth has co-developed and/or co-taught many tele-seminars for the True Purpose Institute ™, the Shift Network and others including Voice Dialogue Mastery, Inner Harmony Practitioner Training, Evolving Beyond Your Wounds, Shadow Quest, Purposeful Coach Training, Blessing Yourself, Divine Guidance on Purpose and Purposeful Marketing. Beth also serves as a valued guide for those who wish to explore deeper meaning, insight and guidance through their sleeping dreams and waking life stories. She co-developed and teaches Stories from the Night Shift, a NASW CEU eligible seminar for therapists, coaches and other practitioners who want to increase their competence and confidence in accessing the treasures buried in sleeping dreams.

People who work with Beth value her insightful, strategic, fun and results-oriented coaching which helps them to achieve breakthrough results on short-term goals while simultaneously creating fundamental shifts that build a strong foundation for ongoing success and fulfillment, personally and professionally. Her eclectic approach and natural agility enable her to customize her coaching style, strategies and processes to help clients create a clear vision, navigate their way out of uncertainty and restrained momentum, and successfully achieve their desired outcomes.

Through her work as a teacher and coach, Beth demonstrates her dedication to providing transformative courses, workshops and coaching in service to those who are ready to reclaim their inner wisdom, embrace their life purpose and true nature, and wholly offer their unique gifts to others…and to the world we all share.

About Andy Swindler

Andy Swindler’s brings hearts together. He envisions a world that embraces healthy tensions to nurture dignity and agency for every person. Andy’s Chicago-based practice, Lead From Love, empowers conscious leaders and inclusive organizations to shift the dominant narrative from fear to love through an embodied expression of purpose and values.

He began his entrepreneurial journey at age 24, which led to owning a boutique digital marketing & software development company for 14 years until exiting at the end of 2016. Andy’s journey of studying human interaction and shepherding human flourishing now culminates in FeelReal, which he has incubated and evolved since 2007.

Andy is a Certified True Purpose® Coach & Consultant, Barrett Values Centre® Practitioner, Collaborative Operating System Consultant and Voice Dialogue™ Practitioner. He co-hosts The Gathering For Change Agents each month and is the Strategic Partnerships Chair for Conscious Capitalism Chicago Chapter. Andy speaks and writes on issues of equity and inclusion. He developed The Metamodel framework to visualize the alignment between more than 100 different conscious leadership, business and dialogue frameworks.

About Susan Alexander

Susan Alexander, PCC, is an executive and life coach with an extensive business background. She created her company Rosebud Coaching and Consulting to specialize in helping individuals to create new possibilities for their personal & professional life to fulfill their most important goals and aspirations. Her work focuses on individuals connecting with confidence and clarity to what’s most important to them (their purpose) and removing barriers of beliefs and assumptions that stand in the way of their full and authentic expression. Susan helps individuals be extraordinary leaders in all aspects of their lives. She coaches executives, managers and individuals with a special emphasis on the power of self-perception and communications and their impact on job performance.