This week I have the privilege of attending Tamarack Institute's Deepening Community Edmonton. I had built it up in my head so much and it delivered and more. How often do you attend a "conference"/professional learning opportunity for 12 hours in one day and leave having more energy than you started the day with. They'll be bits of this sneaking into my reflection for weeks to come.
A lot of the conference is about simplicity. Being connected with others. Building community. It's simple. We often complicate it by not having enough patience to go along with what we're doing or trying to use the wrong tool for the outcome we seek.
The first amazing thing happened right off the hop. Howard Lawrence, who lives and breathes all of what we were talking about through Abundant Communities Edmonton, opened things up by asking us what ours/our creators dream was for our neighbourhoods? To close our eyes and imagine this. It created the space for being, dreaming, hoping and heart that we often forget about it and set the tone for the whole day.
Sylvia Cheuy, the Director of Deepening Community at Tamarack, then shared a simple formula to balance for this kind of "work" (this really needs another name besides work). We require heads, hands and hearts. When we have and balance all three of these in ourselves, our organizations and in the community amazing things happen.
So that takes us up to 10:30am. More juicy learnings to follow. It was a meowgical day (my new favourite phrase shared with me by a dear colleague).
Being a Force for Good 