Community Cohesion
One of the key aspects that support long-term community cohesion is that community members have a common understanding of the glue that holds them together. I.e. of the intention and vision of the community along with the processes and practices that keep these intentions, visions and the interpersonal relationships alive. See our Visioning page for more detail on how we can help develop balanced approaches to community visioning.
This common understanding requires a willingness to share ourselves with each other. To share not only through practical ‘doing’ but also, and we believe more importantly, through revealing what sits deep within our souls; our ‘being ness’; a sharing of who we are and what makes us tick.
This common understanding requires a willingness to share ourselves with each other. To share not only through practical ‘doing’ but also, and we believe more importantly, through revealing what sits deep within our souls; our ‘being ness’; a sharing of who we are and what makes us tick.
"When I take the time to hear the 'why' that sits behind the doing then all of a sudden I have a much broader understanding of the people I am sharing my life with. When I take the time to share 'how I am feeling and why I feel this way' then all of a sudden I feel seen, heard and understood in the choices that I make and how I act in my community." TAoR
|
This kind of relating within community fosters trust, positive regard and compassion for each other; in essence, the building of community cohesion. It makes your life relevant to my life and my life relevant to yours. It doesn’t mean we always need to agree with each other but that we understand what happens with each other in certain situations (i.e. knowing what happens when a particular pressure or outside stimulus is increased or decreased).
For this kind of common understanding to be common place in community there must be a regular practice to foster this. A practice that is embedded within ‘the way we do things around here’; a ritualised ‘coming together’ as equals who are all fumbling along with our own life stories that make us who we are. ZEGG Forum is one of the core and unique practices we offer in this area.
Click here to jump to ZEGG Forum.
For this kind of common understanding to be common place in community there must be a regular practice to foster this. A practice that is embedded within ‘the way we do things around here’; a ritualised ‘coming together’ as equals who are all fumbling along with our own life stories that make us who we are. ZEGG Forum is one of the core and unique practices we offer in this area.
Click here to jump to ZEGG Forum.