Safe? Well, there's safe and then there's, "This is as safe as it gets." There will be people who misunderstand and take advantage, but it usually turns out by this time in life, that we are far stonger to deal with those little disappointments than we feel we will be.

Hats off to people who are "dealing" instead of "hoarding" their wounds. Fresh air can be a tremendous aid in itself.


Someone asked me a few weeks ago, how to grow a community. (I've done it a time or two, is why she asked.) In her case she was asking about a particular kind of community (a church). The answer, IMO, is the same in most any kind of comunity, and it's surprisingly simple.

People want to be SEEN. They want the inner person they feel they are, to simply be noticed. They want their inner experience of present time to be seen through the smokescreens we're all conditioned, in one way or another, to live behind. Once SEEN, they want to be respected. Once they know they are respected, they want to be HEARD. And when they know they are being heard, they will let you love them, and be able to love in return. Once loved, they probably will tell you the places they need help or applause for.

From this process flows the kind of relationship that can serve as a networked foundation for outreach; plus one sees the self-directed development of accurate community leadership from the ground up and across all differences.

Now, some folks are better at "seeing" than others.... but how much more quickly the connection can happen when one is willing to BE seen.

~Susan