Endings
In a community session this week, a few people had to drop off early from the call and we didn't do our usual closing. My friend Steven, who is an experienced facilitator, encouraged us to share reflections in our WhatsApp group. As someone who loves the energy of beginnings, I'm not always thinking about endings. Luckily, a lot of my friends are trained coaches and facilitators and even the most informal and boozy catch-ups tend to end with the opportunity to reflect on how we feel and what we are learning (thanks, Erik).
There's a collective experience of "endings" in the world right now - partly positive, with regards to ending social and racial injustices, party negative with the end of social life as we know it. We're in a place of transition - the "new normal" hasn't arrived yet, and the new social contracts which will improve our collective lives haven't been written yet. There's collective pain and collective hope. Something new is beginning, but first, something needs to end.
This week, the invitation is to think about how you are closing the experiential loop - with yourself, your friends, colleagues, and communities.
With gratitude,
V
Correlations
I asked Steven more about why endings were important to him and he left me the most brilliant voice note, which he's allowed me to share with you here. I always dream of being a fly on the wall to overhear interesting conversations, so I hope you'll find this as magical as I did! Click on the image above to listen.
In his note, Steven shares wonderful insight and resources including:
- A TED talk on classical music mentioned the importance of the ending
- David Kessler's work on grief which we've talked about in earlier newsletter issues and especially his book Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief
Last year, two of my friends, Joana and Gianfranco, were involved in hosting the Endings Summit at Techfestival. I'm looking into two of their collaborator's work:
- Shoshana Berger, Editorial Director at IDEO and author of A Beginner’s Guide to the End: How to Live Life to the Full and Die a Good Death. You can also watch her CreativeMornings talk on Death.
- Joe Macleod, former design director at UsTwo, founder of andEnd and author of Ends.: Why we overlook endings for humans, products, services and digital. And why we shouldn’t.
Contemplations
I love everything about the 👁️👄👁️story. In the last 48 hours, “a diverse, ragtag group of young technologists tired of the status quo tech industry” raised over $100,000 in donations for organisations working towards racial justice: Loveland Foundation Therapy Fund, The Okra Project and The Innocence Project. The way they did it, by letting people believe they are signing up to a fancy new tech product, is absolutely genius. Sarah Drinkwater has written a great summary in a Medium post.
Celebrations
Big congrats to David Spinx and his new Masters of Community podcast launch!
Casper ter Kuile's book The Power of Ritual is out and making a lot of noise! We will be doing our Instagram Live next Sunday 3rd! 4pm BST/11am ET on the @_ofbelonging page.
Congrats to Gillian Davis on the launch of the Uncertainty School - her brand new leadership training.
Conversations
Conversations communities around me are exploring this week:
Curiosity is a mindset that allows us to approach life in a way that always leaves space for more.
Is it a good thing or a bad ting that you always end up working with friends and everything ends up being work?
Is 👁️👄👁️ a masterclass in movement building?
That's all for today! Here's to bold and beautiful endings.
Vx