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Current IssueReal Connections Newsletter - May 2022
"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship." - Louisa May Alcott, 1868 As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month at Connected Realities, we are thinking about the relationship between individual mental health and group health. Group effectiveness has long been tied to the mental health of individual group members. When people feel good and aren’t struggling daily with anxiety, depression, or other stressful mental challenges, they can show up, and show up well in groups! Good mental health isn’t just a precursor to good group health; it is also a model for good group health. |
Past Issues
Real Connections Newsletter - April 2022
"Winter's done, and April's in the skies. Earth, look up with laughter in your eyes!"
- Charles G.D. Roberts
Spring has sprung and Connected Realities is helping groups GROW by focusing on Goals, Relationships, Opportunities, and Wholeness! From Strategic Planning to Community Conversations, Connected Realities is guiding teams and communities through growth processes. How can we help you focus on your GROWth?
In this edition of Real Connections Newsletter, take a look at some of the groups we have been working with, download the strategic planning framework we use to help groups grow, and get a sneak peek at our upcoming training offering: Participation Across Differences.
Real Connections Newsletter - February 2022
"You were born an original. Don't die a copy."
- John Mason
While many people were celebrating Valentine's Day, our team was (and still is) celebrating the legacy of love and passion we have for our work. We turned 8 years old on February 14th! We recognize our great fortune in being able to do what we love and work with people and missions that light us up.
One of our secrets to sustaining this small and mighty company, beyond vision, humor, grit, and hustle, is that we take care of ourselves and one another. Our work with groups of all sizes and scopes has taught us the non-negotiable importance of self and team care, which can show up in diverse ways. In celebration of our 8th birthday, read on to learn 8 practices we employ and that you can use to keep our team happy, healthy, and productive.
Real Connections Newsletter - January 2022
"Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing."
- Sarah Ban Breathnach
It's 2022! Hooray! The start of the New Year typically finds many of us considering our lives, priorities, and goals. Recently, we heard The Great Resignation of the pandemic reframed as The Great Renegotiation. Collectively, we are reflecting on the conditions of our lives and the ways we want to live and work. We are reconsidering what we do, what we no longer want to do, and how we want to walk our paths, and renegotiating with our employers, our friends and family, and ourselves.
In this month's blog post, Connected Realities Senior Associate, Cate Bradley, explores the balancing acts we all attempt with various degrees of success. What do you need to renegotiate for your life to be successful and satisfying and avoid burning out?
Real Connections Newsletter - December 2021
"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."
- Hal Borland
In this issue of Real Connections Newsletter, we share some of our wishes for our broader community in the turn of the new year. In these last weeks of 2021, we hope your year-end projects tie up smoothly, and that you and your colleagues take meaningful breaks from your work. Times of transition are a natural moment to reflect. When we pause, we tap into our inner wisdom and knowing presence. Whatever this transition has in store for you and your teams, we hope it is meaningful.
Warmly,
The Connected Realities Team
“Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.”
- Chad Sugg
In this issue of Real Connections Newsletter, learn what one family found out about communicating across differences, find out about an upcoming training opportunity, get a sneak peek inside a different kind of strategic planning process, and consider your own kind of rejuvenation.
“Before I rise,
like a phoenix from the ashes
or a blossom from a barren winter branch,
I must learn to dance in the burning
of each golden falling leaf.”
- Tianna
Here at Connected Realities, the arrival of fall has us thinking about transitions, introspection, discernment, and appreciation for seasons of change. What changes is your team experiencing? What changes do you need to make? And, like the trees are so good at showing us, what do you need to let go of?
In this issue of Real Connections Newsletter, read Connected Realities' Virtual Admin Brooke Gillespie-Trout's blog post, "Choosing Happiness", get information about upcoming opportunities, and download our newest tool: Overcoming Barriers to Participation.
like a phoenix from the ashes
or a blossom from a barren winter branch,
I must learn to dance in the burning
of each golden falling leaf.”
- Tianna
Here at Connected Realities, the arrival of fall has us thinking about transitions, introspection, discernment, and appreciation for seasons of change. What changes is your team experiencing? What changes do you need to make? And, like the trees are so good at showing us, what do you need to let go of?
In this issue of Real Connections Newsletter, read Connected Realities' Virtual Admin Brooke Gillespie-Trout's blog post, "Choosing Happiness", get information about upcoming opportunities, and download our newest tool: Overcoming Barriers to Participation.
Work/life balance. We’ve all heard that phrase before. It sounds simple, but it’s easier said than done. Many of us often find ourselves overworked, stressed, impatient, or full of anxiety when we realize that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Sometimes, things happen (like unpleasant and even scary physical symptoms in our bodies) that remind us to check in with ourselves.
We can do better by learning how to qualify urgency, set boundaries, slow down, and do things differently - in ways that are more aligned with our values and how we want to feel. Achieving a healthy work/life balance requires managing our professional and personal lives in sustainable ways to keep our energy flowing, and our minds and bodies healthy.
In this issue of Real Connections Newsletter, read Cate Bradley’s blog post, "Adopting Work/Life Balance. What If...", download our newest hot-off-the-presses tool "Time Reality Check-In: An Honest Conversation with Yourself About Time" and sign up to join our upcoming training, Participating Across Differences, in October.
Hello fellow facilitators, team leaders, and do-ers of difficult things. What's the buzz in your neck of the woods? We've noticed that things seem to be moving faster now than they were pre-pandemic. How is your hive holding up with the faster pace, a shift to more online work, and the uncertainty and emotional strain of continued global health, climate, and political turmoil? It's a lot to manage. Stress impacts teams. Within teams, stress often arises due to unmet needs.
In this issue of Real Connections Newsletter, read Connected Realities Senior Associate, Le'alani Boykin's blog post about addressing core human needs in planning and facilitating meetings, sign up to join us at an upcoming training or presentation, and meet our newest team member.
Are you hanging on? We've all hung on for summer, we've hung on for a receding pandemic, we are hanging in through the 'Great Resignation', through unprecedented heat waves, and more.
How are you hanging on? What is emerging for you and for your team or organization? What are you climbing out of? Wherever you are, and however you are, you've made it this far! What are the reasons you have endured and what are the techniques you used to get here, to this moment?
Tell us your team's endurance story on our Facebook page and read a blog post about emerging and re-orienting from Connected Realities' founder, Joy Lujan.
