learning communities from 2021
“How do you spend your time?” is a question I get often.
The most I can ever come up with is “I learn & talk to people & create art.”
I’ve come to learn that having a gemini moon means my need for information is deeply emotional. Learning & sharing what I learn is how I emotionally regulate. And I feel misunderstood in this all the time because people interpret me as overly intellectual or too heady. The truth is, I learn to feel. I learn to understand what I’m feeling. I learn to empathize with how others feel & how histories/stories shape us. To some, this timeline looks jam-packed or overwhelming; to me, I see the beautiful ways I sought out to maintain my mental health & feed my emotional needs, which ultimately all ties back to living a life with integrity according to my values.
Yesterday’s post highlighted some of my independent learning -- the morning time I spend on my couch diving into books, journaling about passages that move me, and doing my best to shift daily practices & beliefs. Today’s post highlights the learning I’ve done in community -- the hours I’ve spent on Zoom connecting with individuals all over the country, sharing our vulnerabilities & joys, allowing the path of transformation to happen through relationship building.
Being a visual artist, I created this timeline to remember, record, & archive some of the learning communities I belonged to in 2021. I also created this as a tool of accountability. Emergent Strategy teaches us “what you pay attention to grows,” so I asked myself “what have you been paying attention to? where have you been spending your time, energy & money?” I spent a lot of this year thinking about what my values were & if I was embodying them on a daily basis. Some days I did better than others. These learning communities -- and the talented teachers, mentors, & facilitators that held us -- always helped me return.
There’s a lot of pressure at the end of the year to pause & reflect, vision & manifest. This is a practice that pours easily, naturally, and fluidly from within me, so I share it. If it helps you, go for it. And if not, that’s fine, too. Wishing you all whatever you need in this new year 💖