Belonging Circles for Resilience
peer-meetings for climate and the poly-crisis
Witnessing ecological harms together, weaving stories to express feelings; seeking personal resilience during uncertain times.
Confidential
Community agreements.
Deep listening as a collective. Learning how to articulate the emotions behind the thoughts. Listen, allow others their individual experience.
Stories
your monologue.
No crosstalk. Speak about whatever is weighing on your heart. Use the points of "experience, strength, hope" to frame how you tell your story.
Practice personal resilience skills
Every Belonging Circle opens and closes with community agreements, opening and closing readings from prolific thinkers such as the amazing Joanna Macy, RIP. Belonging Circles take attendees on a resilliency journey using skills like deep breathing, grounding, and mindfulness meditation all within a non-judgemental container.
Locations
Online / in-person / hybrid
Currently, most Circles are held in the Portland, Oregon metro at various places. Most Circles happen online, and sometimes, even both online and in-person. Circles have been held in church spaces, at Tabor Space, at art galleries, studios, and once, at a busy tea house.
Dates & Times
Typically, three times each month.
Climate Moxie Facilitators host Circles based on their schedules. Sometimes, facilitators will host in the later evening hours, and then others, on a Saturday morning. The best way to find out when Circles are being scheduled is to subscribe to our event calendar, Luma.
Circle Formats to try
Each Moxie Facilitator creates their own mood and vibe for their peer-group.A CLASSIC Circle has no specific topic, just open sharing.Try an EXPEIENCES Circle. Facilitators will offer activities like Journal Prompts, reading environmental poetry & prose, "The Words We Carry", "Art as a Tool", forest bathing, "Wheel of Cards" and many others.At a TOPICS Circle, facilitators will suggest a particular topic to frame the shares. Some past topics have been: Climate Rage, Ecological Identity, Activist Burnout, Protesting, Corporate Greenwashing, Solastalgia, and many others.
Cascadia Climate Cafe
Climate Cafes are a product of Climate Psychology Alliance, but we've added to it. It's basically a CLASSIC Circle with a twist. Facilitators sprinkle in the concept of bioregionalism as the North Star for hope in a climate-changed future.Nature acts bioregionally, and culture stems from place. Here on Turtle Island, we learn about the history and context of how we came to be on these lands, to create spaces to address past injustices, and work in equitable and a just manner together in mutual aid, solidarity and support.
What people say
“I was surprised to learn that so many others in the Circle are experience similar feelings as I am. It helpful to hear climate concerns given an audible voice. So many of us are struggling with how to talk through our concerns about the future with friends and family - climate change topics are generally avoided in social settings.”
“I hope we can grow the value of safeness, being together, co-holding-- the power of grief and mourning together is so underrated in our culture as well as a lack of trust in how being together makes space for something to emerge."