Creative Relating Salon : Beliefs (and acceptance)

Do you ever find yourself looking for more from your relationships? Or finding that relating with others is challenging, and wish you could have help?

This event may be for you. We’re having an afternoon of organized discussion about what it means to be human and to relate with others, followed by some connection exercises to practice skills and techniques.

The theme this time is "Beliefs and Acceptance." I'm interested not only in overt beliefs, like, say, spiritual beliefs ("God is great!" or "There is no God!"), but also hidden and unconscious beliefs (like, "That guy should be nicer!" or "I messed that up.") We'll see if we can dig out a few of our unconscious beliefs and gently examine them to see if we can adjust or refine them to make them more helpful. I call this process "acceptance", because this is partly about accepting that maybe these beliefs aren't 100% true. Which sounds easier than it is.

The discussion salon will include opportunities to share feelings in groups of different sizes. It’s a chance to feel heard and connected, and to practice openness and compassion and empathy.

The connection exercises, following the discussion, will provide an opportunity to learn and practice skills that are helpful for open relating. These exercises may include opportunities for gentle, non-sexual touch and may tenderly touch on challenging edges for some people, including the possibility of some clothing optional exercises towards the end. We typically play some fun, varied music (usually linked to the theme of the salon) and often do some dancing as part of this section. Participants are always at choice, including choosing to observe the exercise or leave this part of the program.

After the salon there will be a small casual gathering with snacks and a chance to connect informally. The duration of the event is about 3 hours, plus the opportunity to hang around a bit longer afterwards if desired.

There is a suggested donation of $15 to cover the cost of snacks and materials. A donation jar will be available at the event.

We've been running these events monthly since March and each time we've had a nice turnout, ranging from about nine to a dozen participants (our capacity), mostly from the open relating community, and a small number from Meetup or other friends or newcomers. Feedback in the community about the events has been great, and quite a number of participants have come back repeatedly, some every time. Each month I offer a small number of slots to people from Meetup to help slowly grow our community. As of today (June 21) we already have about 8 or 9 people expecting to participate in July's event, so it's looking like it may fill up.

I will be asking registered participants and people wanting to be on the wait list for contact information other than Meetup, either a phone # for texting or a Facebook contact for messaging. This is because often things change at the last minute (e.g. spaces open up for the waitlist, people have questions about parking, etc., etc.) and I want to be able to contact you quickly, and experience has shown that most people don't check Meetup messages frequently enough to communicate quickly. Unless I have this contact information from you I won't add you to the list of attendees - so if you're new, please send me a message with your info when you sign up, and I'll send you a confirmation that you're registered.

I will send information about address and logistics to registered participants a few days before the event.