Celebration Circle

Did you attend the recent Open Circle workshop? If so, what did you hope to learn or share?

By Circle

Good, Better, Best

The Circle is a good place to be and since it's a constantly changing organism, I wanted to hear ideas from others about how to make this terrific experience even better.

The lovely thing about the rituals we practice is that there's a sense of peace in the sameness, but the dynamic thing about Circle is that it's always evolving.

Are we doing a good job of balancing old and new, comfort and challenge? And do the newcomers who find their way into the Circle feel welcome and affirmed?

those who find their way to circ

''do the newcomers who find their way into the Circle feel welcome and affirmed?''

The above was, to me, the best part of your post. I remember when and how I ''found my way to circle.'' I really believe in the personal responswibility of this finding of a way. I believe those who need to be in Circle somehow wll find their way and show up there. I don't think we need to be caretakers for the others, or take responsibility for them getting there. I'm not trying to be harsh; just recognizing the hard truth that those who need to be there, well, they must be there, must have somehow found their way to Circle just like me and the others there have done. I just don't believe in evangelizing folks; if Circle is ''good, better, best,'' we will attract the ones who need to find us. We won't need a sales job.

I do think we could profit by talking about how to help one another feel welcomed in Circle. I don't think we can just load that whole thing onto the greeters. There are surely ways to say ''hi'' to one another more often, and more enthusiastically, than we do. How can we teach one another this?

ideas

I am sooooooo bad with names. When somebody suggested nametags I thought yippppeeee! A crutch I can rely on to help me break the ice. Maybe we could do some kind of simple hospitality thing on the porch before the service?