I’d be interested in meeting - although your porch seems like a gnarly commute from DC.
I grew up without a father.
Yet for me, and because of my progressive values and feminist partner, I feel like in our society that men ARE the voices. I have been feeling for sometime that I should be saying less and listening more (elevating) women, African American & marginalized voices forward in conversations. So the idea of a men’s group feels at odds to me because hasn’t our society always been one big men’s group?
This episode is making me question that. Thank you:)
Hal, thank you for sharing about your group and explaining presencing. Now I’m interested to hear about your experience at that Friends Meeting! I hope one day you’ll feel like sharing it, I know from past writings that you have been trying to figure out God and your relationship to Him.
Thanks for sharing this Hal. Its a great question, "where are the men?" I appreciate your writing style and especially the challenge. Its a challenge that I will explore the next several days. Peace and love.
We have a group like this that includes some men, but mostly women All senior citizens. We meet at a member’s class, have coffee and bagels, then use the UU small group format that, like yours , provides time for individuals to share deeply with each other. We all agree that we need this. So glad you have formed this group
I’d love to do this with my male friends! Except… I don’t have too many at this point. Guess that goes hand in hand with your question. I tried opening up to one of my close male friends about my need for such experiences and his limited understanding of masculinity made him shut me down. That was unfortunate.
I’ve glad you’ve found such a grounding experience in learning to rediscover your own masculinity, Hal!
Michael, I’m so sorry that was the response you got from your friend. I hope you find some men that can be real, supportive friends. Hal and his group are your sign that they do exist!
I love this. And, like you, I grew up surrounded by women and I had few male role models. I teach 6th graders now, and told them about this part of my background (to normalize "non traditional families")
I went to the spiritual psychology school, called Ridhwan. I spent 9 1/2 years there. We did this thing called dialectical field tracking. It was pretty much like presencing where you use all your senses to feel the field created by the people you are with. It was my favorite thing that we did. So I basically re-packaged that and called it presencing.
What a lovely new adventure. I have always been shy about joining and sharing. It is very brave of all of you to develop this group and to grow it into exactly what you need. Hugs to all.
I’d be interested in meeting - although your porch seems like a gnarly commute from DC.
I grew up without a father.
Yet for me, and because of my progressive values and feminist partner, I feel like in our society that men ARE the voices. I have been feeling for sometime that I should be saying less and listening more (elevating) women, African American & marginalized voices forward in conversations. So the idea of a men’s group feels at odds to me because hasn’t our society always been one big men’s group?
This episode is making me question that. Thank you:)
HI Michael. thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. I'd love to see you someday. H
“In case you didn't know it, I have the best front porch on South Chestnut Street.” You regularly write some of my favorite sentences, Hal!
It's true. thank you. Lindsey.
Hal, thank you for sharing about your group and explaining presencing. Now I’m interested to hear about your experience at that Friends Meeting! I hope one day you’ll feel like sharing it, I know from past writings that you have been trying to figure out God and your relationship to Him.
Thank you Laura... Stay tuned. :)
Thanks for sharing this Hal. Its a great question, "where are the men?" I appreciate your writing style and especially the challenge. Its a challenge that I will explore the next several days. Peace and love.
Thanks so much, Randy.
We have a group like this that includes some men, but mostly women All senior citizens. We meet at a member’s class, have coffee and bagels, then use the UU small group format that, like yours , provides time for individuals to share deeply with each other. We all agree that we need this. So glad you have formed this group
What a great offering. We can gather with your format and dive ourselves into what feels so good just to read. Smiles, here.
Thank you Margot. I so appreciate that you read these. H
I’d love to do this with my male friends! Except… I don’t have too many at this point. Guess that goes hand in hand with your question. I tried opening up to one of my close male friends about my need for such experiences and his limited understanding of masculinity made him shut me down. That was unfortunate.
I’ve glad you’ve found such a grounding experience in learning to rediscover your own masculinity, Hal!
Wow. thanks for sharing, Michael. I'm so sorry your friend reacted that way. Hal
Michael, I’m so sorry that was the response you got from your friend. I hope you find some men that can be real, supportive friends. Hal and his group are your sign that they do exist!
I love this. And, like you, I grew up surrounded by women and I had few male role models. I teach 6th graders now, and told them about this part of my background (to normalize "non traditional families")
Anyway, nice work making your vision a reality
Hi Bill. Thanks for being there. H
I’m very moved that presencing has legs and has spread to your group and even has a song! Yay!
Yes. Yay! Thank you. Where did you get presencing. Did you make it up?
This is amazing work you are doing Hal. Not only for yourself but for other men. Keep going......
Thank you so much, Missy. H
I went to the spiritual psychology school, called Ridhwan. I spent 9 1/2 years there. We did this thing called dialectical field tracking. It was pretty much like presencing where you use all your senses to feel the field created by the people you are with. It was my favorite thing that we did. So I basically re-packaged that and called it presencing.
Hal,
What a blessing your idea blossomed into, it's some combination of community, friendship, creativity, therapy, and mysticism.
See you Wednesday, my friend.
Hi Hal, this is an absolutely awesome and powerful thing you are doing with this group. I really enjoyed reading it. Great job. Pat
Thank you, Pat. ❤️
I’m so glad you have found your men’s group. It makes me happy to know that.
Thank you Marion. It makes me happy to see you at the KNF. :)
Love your men’s group!! And the structures you’ve developed over the years. ♥️♥️♥️
What a lovely new adventure. I have always been shy about joining and sharing. It is very brave of all of you to develop this group and to grow it into exactly what you need. Hugs to all.
Janee