{"id":1839,"date":"2013-11-23T17:50:25","date_gmt":"2013-11-23T22:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2014-05-06T14:31:56","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T18:31:56","slug":"community-corner-playing-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/23\/community-corner-playing-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Corner &#8211; Playing with Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/CBCxnu4-yXZZR59jSaBnfeQx_FOfkoMeM917ZZa9Sy9LrpAu2YjKl13Ue-D9LmLneqHU885hulnX24aCIkph-Y8diOjSjvnA8oJUYGzAHvDZXTo-kekAcH55ww\" alt=\"\" width=\"300px;\" height=\"335px;\" \/>Writing this edition of Community Corner, I\u2019m literally sitting in a corner table at a cafe just beneath an eatery named \u00a0&#8212; no joke! &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Crows-Nest-Restaurant\/223482086832\" target=\"_blank\">Crow\u2019s Nest Restaurant<\/a>. This synchronicity reminds me how play and purpose make good bedfellows. So here the altered adage rings true: \u201cAll work and no play makes Jane a dull girl!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the spirit of this pairing, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/221987007975860\" target=\"_blank\">Winter Solstice Gathering<\/a> on December 14 in Kalamazoo combines merry-making with ceremony. The free event is organized by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/CrowsNestCommunity\/\" target=\"_blank\">Crow\u2019s Nest Community<\/a>. Being open to the public, newcomers and Nesters\u2019 friends are welcome to join the fun. Please visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/221987007975860\">the Facebook listing here<\/a> for details and updates.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Of course, Nesters have been playing with purpose at the Center and off-site since its creation. Yet the Winter Solstice Gathering is a first in our current <a href=\"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/17\/community-corner-survey-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">experiment of intentional community<\/a>. \u00a0This event embodies a pilot effort directed by Nesters\u2019 participation and is designed to flex with change.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A feature of this initial experiment is gathering in satellite locations. \u00a0By connecting socially and spiritually in various homes and venues, opportunity widens for guests to experience the support of Crow\u2019s Nest. \u00a0Alternating sites brings not only individuals into relationship, but also links up our communities across geographies.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/K7QWmOt-JlLxMvzvJWYnWgJTjDj58JEkDlS_Yj9aFKcZtuepnTb7CFDKetkt_utSGiIsbzSBCkYlH14op5ojbdTiZeFZXx9lP-EMIq_y2gS_1vOfxWBc79aMeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"NaN\" height=\"NaN\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Traveling as a community in this way, the collective forms a rudder, steering across a sea of possibility. Add the oars of play and purpose for balanced strokes, similar to the collective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=475167405929607\">Spirit Boat<\/a> at November\u2019s workshop. That journey began in preparation, as partners painted each other\u2019s faces. Laughter and trust bubbled room to room, moving us toward healing work as a community. Indeed, play and purpose make good bedfellows.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The practice of <a href=\"http:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/Documents\/What%20Is%20Focusing.pdf\">focusing with the felt sense<\/a>, as taught by Founder C. Michael Smith, offers a very handy tool for navigating our growth as a community. As we travel the path of <a href=\"http:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/Documents\/how%20to%20open%20your%20heart.pdf\">the open heart<\/a>, willing to innovate and align our intentions, we can listen to that \u201cstill small voice\u201d and deepen our \u201cexperiential root\u201d. What a resource for our collective experiment!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Community Corner will trace this unfolding process in coming months. Toward future editions, here are some topics I\u2019m floating:<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">* <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Individuation\" target=\"_blank\">individuation<\/a> and community<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">* community, a life of its own<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">* exploring the felt sense in intentional community<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In closing, thanks to responders of the <a href=\"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/17\/community-corner-survey-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">October survey<\/a>. And, yes, replies still are invited! Meanwhile, do you have questions or reflections about Crow\u2019s Nest Community? Please email them to <a href=\"mailto:community@crowsnestshamanism.com\">community@crowsnestshamanism.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">[Credit] <a href=\"http:\/\/deyofthephoenix.com\" target=\"_blank\">Melissa Dey Hasbrook<\/a> explores the creative and healing arts from her base in Kalamazoo, Michigan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Writing this edition of Community Corner, I\u2019m literally sitting in a corner table at a cafe just beneath an eatery named \u00a0&#8212; no joke! &#8212; Crow\u2019s Nest Restaurant. This synchronicity reminds me how play and purpose make good bedfellows. So here the altered adage rings true: \u201cAll work and no play makes Jane a dull [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[81,82],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter","tag-community","tag-community-corner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/970027_392172484229100_2049180207_n.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p211tE-tF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowsnestshamanism.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}