Circles of Women
Experience AI in a 1 day workshop, or in a series of 4 private or small group sessions.
BUSINESS EVIEW SCORECARD
Facilitator – Barbara Gilday – 676-0765; journeys@nas.com
New daytime group starting mid April in B'ham. Call for dates.
Cost: $250 or $35 per 2 3/4 hr. session – (commit to series) $50 deposit confirms your place
Purpose:
v To connect with others, share our stories, practice tools for positive transitions and more fulfilling futures.
Principles:
v Everyone has the wisdom within to deal with whatever they are experiencing.
v Being listened to deeply, with the hearts and spirits of others, allows our higher self to surface and our wisdom with it.
v A small group of committed, caring souls, can provide the container for our own healthy, holistic process
Process:
v Using Appreciative Inquiry, we will focus on the values and strengths we have brought to the best times of our lives. Then we will look at our futures, and with the awareness of our strengths, begin to look at proactive possibilities.
Comments from previous participants:
* Helped me to face some baggage and turn the rest into a more positive future.
* What I got from this group: Calm, Relationship with women, Spiritual growth.
* Barbara has a magical way of putting people at ease and creating sacred space. She transforms a group of strangers into a warm circle of friends in an incredibly short time.
* The group helped me open up, trust others, love better & move out of an unhealthy relationship; you lighted a flame in each of us.
* I'm so glad I joined the Circle of Women. I am adjusting after my partner recently died. To share where you are in life, to imagine a future and learn techniques for imagining have been invaluable to me at this time of transition. Truly this is the best kept secret in Bellingham! Thank you for your deep caring for us.
* This group helped me identify & begin to shake off a self-loathing I've suffered from most of my life, which neither therapy, journaling nor church changed. I’m taking a writer’s course & I’m able to meet new people & have my voice heard.
* In our check-in, being witnessed, held & heard allowed me to move through soooo many issues & move to a healthier home. What a blessing!
* A safe & healing place to explore depth in relationship to self & other (therapist)
* Deep gratitude. One of the best things I've done for myself in a long, long time & I’m branching out into a part of my business that will be more nurturing for me.
* For me, the Circle is a safe haven in a storm.
* Barbara's Circles provide a safe space where women can go beyond the daily chit chat and explore new ways to go to the deeper issues in our lives. I recommend them highly.
Appreciative Inquiry
Imagine feeling alive, vibrant, curious, empowered, safe, valued, and joyful. As soon as you can see and accept that you have options in creating a meaningful life, that you can perceive, interpret, and act differently from the way you are right now, you have the option of moving toward the world you can imagine. Current research on healthy relationship building is finding that focusing on what is working, giving joy, feeling successful, expands our thought repertoire and increases creativity.
Appreciative Inquiry is a Constructionist, strength based approach to change - finding the root causes of success and wholeness. Through cycles of reflection and action focused on what is working and amplifying it, AI brings out the best in people and organizations.
Consider the resulting value to you, your family, your organization and the world. Imagine families and other systems relating in ways that make them strong, whole and mutually supportive, acknowledging strengths in differences and celebrating individual gifts that make the whole so much more than each person alone.
AI has been used in corporations and non-profits for over 20 years. More recently it is being used with individuals to allow them to make progress in actions based in their strengths. Going through cyles of examining their current reality, visioning a new reality, and taking action steps - takes them to a new reality and the cycle begins again - building strengths upon strengths.
Workshop Comments:
*I recently had the privilege, with our Board of Directors, of participating in an Appreciative Inquiry Workshop led by Barbara Gilday It was held on a weekday evening and we arrived less than chipper. By the end of the workshop we were invigorated and enthusiastic about our group and our responsibilities. The barriers that existed caused by the dynamic of entropy versus enthusiasm were vanquished and we all felt a shared passion for our year ahead. The workshop was invaluable to our board and indirectly to me and my personal life as the lessons of the event spilled over into my day to day issues. I would jump at the chance to participate again, in any context.
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*Since our board retreat learning AI techniques, we are definitely working together more cooperatively and with more energy. It was well worth the time to learn about this work.
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*A better understanding of where I am, and things I need to do for me. I think this is one of the best things I've done for myself in a long, long time.
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*Helped me to acknowledge some of the baggage I've been carrying around, get rid of the negative things and turn the rest into a more positive future. The situation with my sick husband is the same, but I'm managing it in a healthier way.
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*Allowed some deeper rivers to surface which is powerful, really, I just loved it all.
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*Was helpful to see the themes emerge. Insightful –eye opener.
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*Helped me become clearer about my visions for the future and my essence.
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*Using these processes is transforming my business!
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*Best value for my money!
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*Deceptive in it’s apparent simplicity—these exercises were pretty profound. I’ve never done anything quite like this! I'm beginning to make new choices and committments based on this work.