Co-Creating a Flourishing Collective
It’s been awhile, but you may remember hearing from me about Flourish & Bloom Collective. Even though I don’t always write about it, Flourish & Bloom Collective is always happening—a supportive group that meets weekly via Zoom to meditate and explore topics related to mindfulness, wellbeing, and self-discovery.
I’ll be honest: when I created Flourish & Bloom Collective, I chose the word “collective” partly because I thought it sounded cool. ;) The actual meaning of collective—a cooperative enterprise; done by people acting as a group—was aspirational. I hoped it would become a community that was co-created and shared by each member of the group.
We started this group during the pandemic in July 2020, and as I had hoped…and much more than I had expected, this group helped fill a need for a sense of companionship. It offered us the stability of a routine to help anchor each week. The group that assembled (and continues to reassemble) is kind, authentic, and dedicated to showing up, and YES it feels like each member of the group is an essential part of the group’s character.
Where to go next?
We’re now preparing to enter year three of Flourish & Bloom Collective, and I felt a pause… I wanted to make sure that Flourish & Bloom Collective was still meeting our needs, as our lives and our needs have changed. After two years of gathering, I had a moment of feeling at sea in guiding our next year’s exploration—where should we go next?
Wouldn’t you know, the answer was in the Collective? Here is where I felt the Collective’s magic: I invited group members to get together to share their ideas and wishes for the group. Someone mentioned the wish for a stronger thread of connection – knowing more of what’s happening in each other’s lives. Someone remembered that they had loved it when we took our calls outdoors. Someone mentioned that it would be interesting to read and discuss the work of authors and teachers. Through discussion, we drew out ingredients of connection, reflection, inspiration, and practice.
Co-creating a brand-new framework!
What arose out of these ideas is a brand new format that has me excited to begin, all over again! Throughout each month, we’ll use a framework that invites exploration through a variety of modalities:
Week 1 of each month will be following the thread of Connection with Self and Others. After a grounding meditation we’ll each share a window on our world through council sharing and then open to discussion of the shared themes that inevitably arise.
In Week 2, we’ll bring Inspiration. After a grounding meditation, we’ll delve into a resource (article, video, etc.) offering the wisdom of the author/teacher to understand more deeply together and find action items to guide us. (The resources that we draw from are compiled from group member’s suggestions, housed in our private online group area.)
Week 3 is a focus on Practice & Reflection. We’ll begin with an extended guided meditation (or other modality), move into quiet reflection and journaling, and end with sharing of what arises during practice.
In Week 4, we’ll take our call outdoors to the backyard or another nearby spot for Connection with the Outdoors. To invite a deeper relationship with the Natural World, I’ll offer a sequence of practices from my training as a Mindful Outdoor Guide: mindful breathing, walking meditation, sensory activation, Sit Spot nature meditation, and council sharing.
My wish is that through connection, inspiration, practice, and reflection, we continue to invite ourselves and each other to know ourselves more deeply, to love ourselves more completely, and, little-by-little, to grow and transform.
Over to You:
As you were reading, did you feel drawn toward this group? Every few months, we open the group to new members, but this is the moment to begin the whole session anew – as this session is just beginning. I’d love for you to let yourself follow your curiosity. Read more about Flourish & Bloom Collective, or respond to this email to ask me questions to see if this is a fit for you. If you’re all in, you can sign up for the whole session (August 2022 - June 2023), or you can begin with the first three months and go from there.
Whether you’re with us in Flourish & Bloom Collective or finding another community where you belong, I wish you the magic of co-creating something new and beautiful.
🌸 Katie