I'm honored to announce that I have been asked to head up a men's group to take place at Unity Gardens, here on the west side of South Bend. I have been working with and learning from the folks at Unity Gardens since this past summer as part of my studies in social work and future practice in therapy.
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After leaving the fire department back in April I began to take notice of this vacuum beginning to form in place of where rich and humanizing conversation had once occupied that space inside of me. It wasn't that I wasn't communicating with my family and friends, rather there was a sharp drop-off in the VOLUME of diverse communication from not co-habituating with firefighters for 24 hours at a time. Simply put, I wasn't around as many people, people who weren't afraid to be themselves around me. I wasn't sharing experiences with as many people outside of my immediate bubble. I was creating an echo chamber of ideas, opinions, and assumptions. This can become very lonely to begin thinking "No one else thinks like me."
In an effort to look outside of myself, I began to observe that the vacuum I was noticing in my own reality was - at scale - also present in so many other people. And most of them didn't have jobs like I did. I was so very fortunate to work in an environment with the time to organically grow these conversations on the things that matter most to each of us. Most people get in trouble for talking at work. In our work talking was sometimes the only thing that kept us sane, given the nature of the work.
"Contemplate" is an effort to facilitate that environment; one for men to reveal enough of themselves in acts of strength which do not seek to overpower nor control, rather to give strength to another who thinks themself alone in their discontent, fears, and worries.
This group is open to any men who wish to participate. It is free of charge and will run from January to May. This is culture-building, soul-work, gentlemen. We will discuss difficult topics here, and in the words of the late Irish poet Samuel Becket "I can't go on I'll go on." I hope to see you there. Tat Tvam Asi.
Salud, my friends.
For further questions, please email thecirclespot@outlook.com or visit
https://www.theunitygardens.org