3.1 Supporting evidence - Un/Learning journal - T2

I did a call with Adam Brock (author of Be Change Now) after the retreat ( he was one of the participants) and this is some of the feedback he gave me:

Powerful Experience

Nice to have space held for me

Right group of People- broad experiences

Two of you and Abrah worked off each other

Interesting lack of age diversity (lack of elder energy that would have been welcome)

People most interest

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Too much people (counsel drags)- Energy started to drag

10-16 people

Most Pressure point

Space- felt differently

A lot of problem being cooks and faciltators

Retreats where more of a system being cooked (3 or 4 people not participating)

Menus in advance

Arc of journey was great

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Most of the content felt appropriate

Its not failure if people come out with some real good questions (profound outcome)

Intentional when are you sharing what you have to say and when exploring your wisdom

Core assumptions is undermined- Domestication?

Friday and Saturday nights ended up going later than intended

When to end

Community commitments- co create them instead of buy in or agency from the group

Blank slate but have them be in

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Desire to have retreats like that on a regular basis

Have gatherings down in Boulder or Denver and have that began

Start to create a community of practice

Support you as a key node- ways of asking (integrity and honesty)- Jewish charities of people

Catalyst and initial attractor- Co-creative saturday lunch (commiting to that consistency)- after a few months for rhythm

Bigger retreats every so often where people where to

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Train the trainers retreat- curriculum and strategy and have a handful of people to run this retreat

Set curriculum, so labor is spread amongst community

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This OP is showing me that I can get things done more efficiently. I have been able to get a lot of the OP done even before the retreat. It can be simpler than we make it. Instead of getting overwhelmed, the more I focus on one element at a time the more it gets done. It also helps that I am just using a template. 

I feel that I am becoming better and better with change as we put on more of these retreats. A few things have already come up for this retreat:

• A snowstorm hitting the area
• People shifting and changing-- We have a full house but there has been last minute cancellations and additions
• The organization that we are getting supported by (The Moishe House) was going to give us extra budget for a photographer, but yesterday told me that they can't do that anymore but I already hired a photographer so I had to readjust budget. Luckily, we have a lot of extra money in the budget.

I am gracefully dealing with it all. It also feels a lot easier having my brother here. It's amazing how much more we can accomplish together, holding each other accountable and right away exchanging feedback.

There is a lot of people interested in joining the retreat. We already are over-full. I am trying to navigate this scenario.

I talked with Ophir on the phone and he says he is open to it if the place allows. Do I charge them more money or do I charge them regular money? One of the guys Michael wants to do work trade. Do I let him? 

It feels good to have all this interest. Part of me wants everyone who is interested to come but will that be too much? I am going to keep on thinking about it...

In this OP, instead of using the details to create the pattern as I did in the last OP creating the eight shields model, I am using the model (Andrew's Template) and then going into details which is exactly working really well for me. I cranked out a lot yesterday. I want to see how it continues, but sometimes simplification is key.

I have been deep in Shiatsu training this last week and have not had as much time to focus on the retreat on this OP. I got feedback from Liam which is furthering help me shape this weekend and what I am expecting to do. 

I just revisited my goals and created a new mindmap. Some additions and changes include:

1. Incorporating the Readings I am doing now into the retreat which include (maybe into hike session):
   1. Belonging by Belle Hookes
   2. Women Who Run With Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
2. Having Luna manage work trade on site and not have her do receipts. It will be easier for Ophir and I to just do it.
3. Instead of having a photographer, I will just bring a camera and assign the role to different people throughout the weekend and get multiple different perspectives. I am curious to see what happens when I do this.

I will have this week to work on the menu, put some thought into my sessions, spend a lot of time reading the two books I listed above, read resources Abrah sent me,  taking another look into Liam's feedback, and sending a draft email to participants. 

I feel like I can finally focus on the Rewilding Judaism retreat after a few weeks of travel and completing the mens retreat. Ophir just made the flyer and it looks awesome. It feels good that he's already helping out. We also created the arch on the retreat. I confirmed the location for the weekend and just need the price. Things are moving along. I still need to create OP for men's retreat but that is coming along. Have a design for it and got good feedback from Ava today about it. I am using the eight shields model to design the OP. Excited to actually sit down and start working on it. I have been busy with so many other things.