Focusing on the Ecological Crisis: Part 2 - Going Deeper

Thursday, October 15, 2020 from 3:00pm-5:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (US)

Times worldwide: convert to your time zone

The TIFI Membership Committee is pleased to offer this series of Focusing Roundtables designed especially for members of the Institute. If you are not a member, please join at http://www.focusing.org/membership, then return to this page to register. This program will afford members a valuable opportunity to engage in casual peer-to-peer conversation with other members who share Focusing-related interests.

In our first Roundtable on the Ecological Crisis (July 29^th), participants explored their relationship to the climate and ecological crises.  Participants were at different points along the continuum from inaction to active engagement in building a life-sustaining and flourishing world. This Roundtable will pick up where we left off, but newcomers ready to engage in this exploration are also welcome.

In this Roundtable, we will provide a space where each participant can explore more deeply where they are on the action continuum to uncover what might be stopping them from deeper engagement. We will also sense into what steps, large or small, we may feel called to take, and what support/resources we need to move forward.

You will have an opportunity to join in one of three facilitated breakout groups depending upon where you are on the inaction --> action continuum. You may select the group which best fits where you are.

Group 1: Not active, perhaps feeling denial, despair, overwhelm

Group 2: Ready and willing to act, or beginning to act, but lacking clarity about how and where and/or seeking resources such as connections with people and organizations

Group 3: Engaged and active, but seeking more impact, ways to maintain motivation and morale, perhaps facing burnout or lack of resources or support

No matter where you are on the continuum, in these groups you will have an opportunity to explore your feelings, inspirations, action blocks, confusion, desires to increase your contribution, need for support or resources, and more. Questions we hope to explore together are:

• Where do you feel most called to contribute?
• How can you contribute your skills, knowledge and gifts to building a thriving world?
• What’s in the way of your moving forward with more impactful action?
• What is your right next step that is specific and do-able?

Other questions may emerge from our mutual exploration during the Roundtable.

Who might be particularly interested in attending this Roundtable? Anyone looking to contribute toward societal and earth healing. Participants from the July 29 Roundtable are especially encouraged to attend, and newcomers are also most welcome.

CONNECTION>CONVERSATION>COMMUNITY

What to expect from Focusing Roundtables: Each Focusing Roundtable is designed to promote informal peer-to-peer conversation. Rather than acting as expert presenters, the Hosts will serve as conversation moderators to encourage sharing and exploration of the topics from the participants’ own perspectives.  All participants’ sharings are welcome and valuable, no matter what level of experience or knowledge you have on the topic. To preserve the nature of informal conversation, the program will be offered live only and no recordings will be available. Registration is limited and on a first-come, first served basis. Participants are encouraged to create follow up opportunities for connection among themselves after the Roundtable.

Focusing Roundtables are presented as a free benefit for members of TIFI. If you are not currently a member, you may attend this Roundtable by becoming a TIFI member at http://focusing.org/membership, and then return to this page to register. By joining at the $25 Friend Level or higher, you will be eligible for this and all future Focusing Roundtables and other benefits of membership during the year following your membership date.

About your hosts:

Annette Dubreuil is an environmentalist and Focusing Trainer living in Toronto, Canada. She is passionate about using the pause and embodiment to catalyze sustainable change with teams—for their organizations, communities and the planet. Most recently she led communications at Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. Annette has done the Presencing Foundation Program in Theory U at MIT. She has an MBA in sustainability and non-profits from the Schulich School of Business.

Peter Gill is a Focusing coordinator and teacher based in the UK. He has spent the last few years training in Facilitating Nature connection and its connection to Focusing. More recently has been exploring the place of welcoming grief as a doorway to deeper engagement with our ecological crisis. He recently offered a TIFI Focusing Highlight class on that subject called "Navigating sorrow and the griefs of our time”. His website is www.livingfocusing.co.uk.

Frank O’Neill is a Focusing Trainer living in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He was active in Green Party politics in the early 2000s, and has since explored small footprint living in 9 intentional communities. He now leads groups crossing Focusing with Non-Violent Communication (NVC) for the purpose of generating connection and mutual inquiry. He sees these modalities as each possessing certain skills of presence which can shift us from evaluative dialogue to emergent dialogue.