A flash back from last December.... on one of my favorite topics: COMMUNITY.
A year ago I would have written about a completely different community, but for 2011, this is what resonates for me the most with “Community.”
My experience is this: I have learned what community means when I am fully loved, unconditionally, within a circle of people who love me AND I have learned what community isn’t when I elect to go into a time of solitude or quiet and not a soul from that circle of people who love me shows up to simply ask “What’s up?” or to text, “I’m missing you,” or “I’m thinking of you.” Or “Would you like to meet me for coffee?” Silence between members of a community is like a thunder clap.
It takes me back to those horrid years in Junior High when I was at my most awkward. I got dumped by communities of friends not once, but twice. Then in eighth grade I hated being in school so much I hid in a closet for four days before my parents figured it out.
I stepped back from a community in 2011. I have heard from a couple people, reiterating what makes a community into a community from paragraph 2 but primarily, no one seems to care or notice.
It is fine, though, because I am a cultivator of community.
I have completely enjoyed being a part of the Art and Spirituality Center at Mercy Hospital. I have enjoyed the camaraderie felt both as a leader and as a participant in the programs there.
Last Friday, one of the friends I made from there hosted a Soul Sister Lunch. It was fabulous.
I find these friends in this community are more likely to get together “for no reason” or find reasons or create reasons. I love this level of creativity within a community. I love being able to show up without a mask on, without “having to be Julie Jordan Scott” and instead, just REALLY being Me-in-the-moment.
It is like this when I lead my Writing Camps, also. I am so grateful for all the Writing Campers who participate with me. When I had my big crisis in October, they didn’t criticize my need to step back. In January, we begin again with gusto. I am sure the community will continue to flourish. Many words will get written.
I will be nourished by the delight in the creativity there.
I just checked the January Schedule: our theme is “Celebrating Winter: The Quiet & the Loud ~ the Barren & the Bursting with Expectancy”. Sounds like an inspiring theme.
Ahhh, for the first time in a long time, I am excited about bringing a community to life again.
I am Julie Jordan Scott ~ and this is one of my Reverb11 posts. This year, the Reverb Community is taking an individualized approach to this life changing initiative. I am answering several prompts a day in short snippets during either a 30 minute or 60 minute wordsprint. I look forward to reading other Reverb11ers writing & if you are unfamiliar, just use the prompt and use the #reverb11 hashtag on twitter. You'll have a blast!
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© 2011
Julie Jordan Scott
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