Atlanta Men’s Circle

A man paying attention, eventually has to reconcile between his ego-focused life (troubles or chaos included), and felt-experiences of dissatisfaction, unsettledness and questioning. Disconnection, feeling stuck and generalized yearning are frequent parallel experiences.

If serious, he’ll acknowledge how much he puts into masking-up just for the consumption of others; along with how much angst and unease come from truths buried down so deep, he no longer can see them. Not coming to terms with both, are impediments to having one's life be different.

• Yet, changing a life is slow hard work."

Men’s Work:   Change begins with "knowing thyself" - getting real about one’s circumstances, behaviors and deeply set conditioning. This prepares the ground, the roots for "what really matters" grow in.

But when and where do men have permission to do this - speak about what's really true, with enough space and time to have the impact of such speaking really register - and not get foreclosed by ridicule, judgement, shaming, name-calling and "othering," common in the world we live in?

Some men hope to skip this step by simply declaring “meaning” or "purpose” or being on the “right path” is what's missing and set off to find “it” from self-help books, inspirational podcasts, workshops and trainings. This is bypassing – looking “outward” for something that only grows organically within.

Along with a "container" to hold what confronts, challenges, oppresses, disturbs, and knocks us down, we need "space" to fumble with what we care about and desire, what works/doesn’t work, what "brings us alive" and how we seem to block our own progress. The clarity developed through doing our own work is where meaning, purpose and a resonant path that fits, emerge from.

Our behaviors always to point to important hidden truths, like. . .

• the truth behind reflexive reactivity?
• the truth behind saying “yes” then doing something else?
• the truth behind busyness with things we don’t really like?
• the truth behind loyalties we maintain for “not ourselves” and what it costs us?
• the truth behind repeating behaviors that only bring trouble?
• the truth behind drifting through life with nothing truly important to care about?
• the truth behind who we’ve become and why we don’t feel whole?

Change Doesn’t Happen Alone:  Literally “who we are” (and most of our issues) were created relationally; and, along with generational and personal histories, are baked into "our stories.” These stories tell of our orientations, positions and rigidities - in life and the world. For our lives to be different, we have to be different in some way, which means revising aspects of our "old" stories. Many liken it to doing "battle" with what "made us." But, like set points, they don't change without both a desire and an effort to do so. Being "made" relationally, we best discover change relationally. This is where certain "men's work" group experiences shine.

Group Experience:  Slowing way down, risking setting aside defenses, being vulnerable and honest revealing, with others, often surfaces “new ways of seeing” that impact both speaker and listener. Potentially, momentum gathers that carries the entire group further, together, than any one man could ever go, alone.

• “It’s ironic that by sharing what I’ve spent my whole life hiding, and hearing others do the same, I feel more connected to myself.”
• “The group gave me the honest, authentic feedback I needed to really understand the impact I have on others.”

Depth not Performance:  We enter 'the work' through countless doorways, a common one being, “What are you currently living through?” Each man brings what he brings. The group really listens. Each meeting, a strictly confidential, safe, respectful, and judgement-neutral container is created; and no support is given to advice-giving, "back-door" advice-giving, opinion-giving or lecturing. Members sit together as equals.

No Quick-Fixes:   This particular group started in 2007, met weekly for more than a decade, twice monthly another ½ decade, then online during COVID. 2025-26 saw half- and full day “men’s work” gatherings. Donations help cover Meetup costs. The cadence and scope of future meetings will be determined ad hoc.

Our group facilitation roots go back to the Mankind Project (MKP) (https://mankindproject.org), MKP’s New Warrior Training Adventure (NWTA) (http://mankindproject.org/new-warrior-training-adventure/), the Hero's Journey Foundation (HJF) (https://herosjourneyfoundation.org), and HJF’s Hero’s Journey Men’s Intensive (Men's Journey 2025 - Hero's Journey® Foundation ).

Note:  This is not a therapy group, advocacy group, religious group, anti-religious group, social group, MLM group, or a resource for ego’s drive to “win” at life. We follow no guru or charismatic leader.

We simply are men who support one another find healing, clarify needs, discern desire, set direction, grow self-awareness and find "aliveness" - to make this lifetime worth living - vital, fulfilled and authentically free.

David B., Organizer,
Men’s Circle for Authentic & Truthful Living,
aka Atlanta Men’s Circle