COMMUNITY 

Carolyn Shaffer & Kristin Anundsen (1993). 

Creating Community Anywhere:

Finding Support and Connection in a Fragmented World

 

The book includes many guidelines, rules, commitments, communication, conflict, and celebration ideas for creating a community--even some online options, which are very forward-thinking for 1993. 

Personally, i already feel stretched between self, family, and professorial activities...to spend quality time every day with EACH member of the family, to take time alone to connect with the Spirit and rejuvenate and take care of my needs and to provide quality service to all my students, nurture collegial relationships, and serve on committees is at times overwhelming...i don't see how i can add more "community" to this...whereas others that don't have a family, or are retired from full time work, or have other life situations where they would like a greater sense of community and connection, then by all means explore the ideas in this book.

For an initial practice, locate yourself as a circle in the middle of a page, then add your current relationships (e.g., family/roommates, school, work, neighborhood, friends...), from here, consider consciously creating groups within this network and/or identify existing groups that meet a need that the network isn't fulfilling (e.g., therapy, spiritual book club, online topics group, class or workshop...), or create your own group.