 Stories
& Insights |
| Stories
& Insights |
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| We talked last time about longing for work with a sense of meaning, which tends to involve a sense of belonging and community. And yet we also seem to be ambivalent about community. What experiences have shaped your ideas about community? | ||||||
| People often assume that living in the city with a car is just a nightmare... but sometimes those kind of difficulties create a sense of community. In my neighborhood, we all park at the end of the street, blocking each other's access... the result is we have to help each other out when it's time to move, or someone has to leave early in the morning. So it brings you together, and you get to know the personalities of some people... like the guy with the red car who always ends up blocking someone and isn't around to move. | ||
| I remember in the past, being around large corporations and feeling like it was death by 1000 cuts. Today, I'm being hired by similar corporations... and being valued for what I contribute around creativity, movement, collaboration. | ||
| Since our last meeting, I have experienced a very difficult tragedy. While running in Golden Gate Park, I was hit by an SUV and suffered severe injuries. So, while I can't join you in person, I wanted to let the group know that my awareness of the importance of time, community and relationships in general has been hugely amplified. This event has really shifted my sense of what is important in life. | ||
| I think I kept my identity at work by always being the rebel, refusing to adopt a patriarchal style, despite pressure from my boss. | ||
| Once I decided to test my assumptions about people who were "above" the rest of us in a neighborhood. So, I marched up the front steps fo the $1.5 million Victorian home to invite them to our Christmas party... and they came. | ||
| I used to get up two hours early to have "my own time" before going in to run a company, in order to have an intellectual life. | ||
| I quit my job to go write a novel in Paris because that was what had meaning for me, and then I discovered that I'm not very good at writing. Realizing that gave me a lot of freedom. | ||
| My friends and I started a company with two other partners but were hamstrung when one partner decided he wanted to go a different direction. That really makes me think twice about joining fortunes with others. | ||
| Illness, and life and death situations in my family brought miracles from my neighbors and others; they weren't really a community, except that they are connected through helping me and my daughter. | ||
| Some friends and I started a community around a spiritual/philosophical practice, where we would gather and meet in each others homes for several days. I was amazed that it lasted 10 years before it gradually tapered off. | ||
| One of the most meaningful communities I've been part of formed during a two-week retreat on finding meaningful work. Because of that connection, I felt I returned home with my "brain cells reconnected" | ||
| While I was at business school, I found that connecting with the local folk-dance community helped me rediscover my own life energy and the power of warm relationships. | ||
| My sense of community is coalescing here in San Francisco, as people who stayed here meet with those who left and return, and other friends who are drawn here from other places. |
| © 2002 Bridge Interactive, Inc. - All rights reserved. |
