Communication and relationships
The way we communicate and relate is greatly determined by the culture and community we have been born into. Community implies the bringing together of the rich and fertile diversity of people involved in a village, locality or project. The habits, values, norms and language of your community and family will have evolved over generations around struggles to survive, thrive and create. This language will be embedded as invisible mechanisms and codes for communicating and relating.
To relate and communicate satisfactorily we must study, understand and respect these mechanisms. One aspect of this exploration is to place our family and culture within a greater complex ecosystem. This brings understanding and peace with our neurotic heritage, born of many generations. The Medicine Wheel can help us with this, bringing the community together to meet with this rich and complex diversity.
At other times it is beneficial to meet in smaller ‘gender’ groups. These sub groups will meet to explore, define and defend their specific interests. They also meet to support and celebrate each other, to recognise and validate some rites of passage specific to that group. What we mean by specific gender groups might be farmers, bakers, those who are overweight, those with some addiction or infirmity, the elders, social and political interest groups, creative arts groups, etc.…… any sub-group with specific interests. One essential but mostly forgotten set of sub-groups is for men and women to gather separately to support each other.
To relate and communicate satisfactorily we must study, understand and respect these mechanisms. One aspect of this exploration is to place our family and culture within a greater complex ecosystem. This brings understanding and peace with our neurotic heritage, born of many generations. The Medicine Wheel can help us with this, bringing the community together to meet with this rich and complex diversity.
At other times it is beneficial to meet in smaller ‘gender’ groups. These sub groups will meet to explore, define and defend their specific interests. They also meet to support and celebrate each other, to recognise and validate some rites of passage specific to that group. What we mean by specific gender groups might be farmers, bakers, those who are overweight, those with some addiction or infirmity, the elders, social and political interest groups, creative arts groups, etc.…… any sub-group with specific interests. One essential but mostly forgotten set of sub-groups is for men and women to gather separately to support each other.