{"id":331,"date":"2020-09-08T06:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T10:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conversationmatters.club\/?p=331"},"modified":"2020-09-08T13:26:06","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T17:26:06","slug":"belonging-the-space-before-meaning-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conversationmatters.club\/belonging-the-space-before-meaning-making\/","title":{"rendered":"Belonging: The Space Before Meaning-Making"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to the 10th issue of Conversation Matters, a twice-monthly newsletter by me, Kathy Drewien, with a focus on community leadership, collective wisdom, and whole hearts.

Atlanta, September 6, Day 177<\/em><\/p>\n

To my favorite pandemic denizen, you!<\/p>\n

Think about a time where you felt a strong sense of belonging. Perhaps you can point to a direct situation\u00a0or experience, or perhaps what you remember is a cloud-like feeling that doesn’t appear to be linked to anything in particular. Often, “belonging” and “connection” is not something we can verbalize as it happens, because it happens in the present, before we’ve processed the meaning of it. In other words,\u00a0to be present is to be in the space prior to analyzing and meaning-making.

I’m a big believer that community is a series of quality interactions between people who are part of a distinct group. In this perspective,\u00a0a qualitative interaction conducive to connection<\/em>\u00a0is simply a moment in time, something that happens here and now.

I believe\u00a0the most important role we have as facilitators, curators, designers, artists, and community builders is to\u00a0<\/strong>create moment to moment connections between the people that we hold space for. Conversations and shared experiences can bring us to the space before\u00a0meaning-making where we’re simply being, simply being transformed\u00a0in the same way that art and nature can move us.\u00a0

It seems like what people are craving in this period of social isolation and stress is a more intimate and\u00a0absolute version of connection,\u00a0an exploration of\u00a0togetherness<\/em>\u00a0in the now.

Belonging is a feeling.<\/strong>

To produce these feelings, a community must provide an experience in which people know they are accepted, welcomed, valued, cared for, appreciated, or in possession of insider understanding.

Here’s a worthy challenge: How do you create moment to moment connection in your events, communities and conversations? What is the degree of intimacy you can create 1:1, 1:many and 1:self?<\/p>\n

Interesting Extras<\/h3>\n