Fostering Vulnerability
Let's talk about connection - and then I'd love to invite you to join me in an experiment in forging connection.
Whether it's a two person relationship, a polycule, a family, a tribe, a company, or a club, the intimacy and connection we experience with each other is built on a foundation of vulnerability.
Humans are social creatures that require connection to survive. For some of us, connection is as natural as breathing, and something that happens automatically.
For me, and I'd reckon a guess that for you, too, connection and human intimacy can sometimes feel like an insurmountable obstacle, a myth of epic proportions, a mystery of the dark arts.
Our culture frequently fails to foster the basic necessary requirements for connection. Those requirements are: vulnerability, compassion, and courageous communication.
The first of these is VULNERABILITY. Displaying vulnerability takes a great amount of strength and courage, and can feel truly terrifying to the nervous system.
Sharing ourselves vulnerably is by far the most difficult and most powerful step we can take to fostering connection, but in order to do this we have to feel safe enough in our bodies and in our relationships to step up and out of our protective shells.
Once we find that safety, we also have to deal with big fears like fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of exile, and fear of visibility. Sharing honestly of yourself to another is a herculean feat. And yet, without this vulnerable sharing, we find ourselves exiled and alone, never truly being seen by others.
We are trying to grow and harvest this in the barely-begun alchemical collaborative community of Spirit Sanctorium: herculean vulnerability. Radical, courageous, rockstar vulnerability that breeds intimacy and connection that would make a cowboy blush.
The way I see it, you can't ask anything of others you aren't yourself willing to do, so we baptize the radical intimacy of this space with our vulnerability in:
Exposed: A Leadership Tell-All
This months theme: How Not To Cult
(breathtaking art by Anna Bousquet, https://annasbreath.art)
In Exposed (12/27/22 @ 12 pm ET) you will find Julie Balderrama and I practicing the art of vulnerability on stage, and opening ourselves up to the big pressing questions you all have about cultivating this community. We will be showing up in all of our humanness to share what the experience of trying to create something new has looked like, and offer you space to bring your influence into the mix.
Exposed is our way of bringing those values of vulnerability and compassion to the forefront of our leadership, and transparently showing you all the processing that's been going on behind the scenes.
Overall, we will be addressing the theme of How to avoid becoming a cult and what exactly the hell that means anyway. Some of the questions you will find us answering include:
How do we avoid becoming a cult?
How do we create room for progress to sit alongside safety?
How might we face the triggers of others as well as our own compassionately while promoting growth, spaciousness, and an empowered stance?
How do we avoid the pitfalls of consumerism, materialism, and hustle culture in a for-pay spiritual space?
How do we avoid harm and cultivate authenticity?
how to create a truly collaborative, connected, and intimate space rather than the hierarchical model of power play we so often see demonstrated.
How to include value (money) and avoid the pitfalls of manipulation and using that oligarchic capitalism has modeled for us.
We will also be creating an open-mic town-hall style space for YOU to come ask your questions, participate in the conversation, and help shape what the Spirit Sanctorium community ultimately looks like.
I'm inviting all of you, in or out of Spirit Sanctorium, as I believe this can be a profoundly transformative event for all of us to practice the connection arts: vulnerability, compassion, and courageous communication.
Would you like to join us? To attend or receive the replay, CLICK HERE
