Earlier this week I took part in the closing ceremony of the Remote Facilitator’s Café, beautifully guided by Jamie Colston and Nynke Vos. The Café has been a safe, innovative space for facilitators from across the globe to co create and co facilitate virtual workshops and deep conversations. With the Café’s weekly workshops coming to an end, I was reminded of the importance of closure and the rituals one can undertake to make transitions feel complete, making lasting connections with others that extend beyond the context in which you met, and taking your learnings with you.
When our children were younger and we were moving around frequently, I felt that it was my responsibility to make those transitions as smooth as possible for them. Giving the kids an opportunity to take on a role of responsibility and empower them through these transitions. Every time a chapter of their lives would come to a close, such as when moving to a new country, a different school, and a new home we would create memory boards together. They would identify the people that had left the most profound imprints on their lives and create a collection of memories to give them as a parting gift. In one case that could be a framed collage of photos and/or drawings and in other cases it was a poem written about said person, often accompanied by some more drawings (after all, their dad is an artist and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!). At the time, my incentive was mainly based on the hope that it would make the changes in their life easier to process and their new beginnings feel like a fresh start every time. So, as you can imagine, I was elated when I was told many years later that this ritual was a core memory for both our kids – and something they say they still use when navigating the changes they face in adulthood.
We have the power to bring conscious closure to the waves of our lives by cultivating rituals of gratitude and reflection.
I want to thank my friends at the Facilitator’s Café for all the time and valuable work we have done together to share insights, expand our minds, hone our professional skills and have fun while doing so. I am deeply grateful, especially to nadJA petranovskaJA who initiated the Café, Benjamin Sung Ho W. who introduced me to this wonderful group of people and who together with Ola Olu have been amazing co creators who have inspired me to make bold moves in using the latest technology.
Rik Wagter, Stefanie Zeep 🙏🏻❤️, Pedram Shandi, Rebecca Sampson, Gesa Oldekamp, Sara Huang 黃詩惠 🇹🇼🇳🇱, Gesine Engelage-Meyer, Daniela Gardini ✔, Sharon Leigh, Heinrich Schwendener 🎯, Judith Castillo, Manal Sayid, MBA, Mansi Jasuja ✨ मानसी जसूजा, Pragya Taneja, Simone Jo Moore and Thomas Krause, Anna Momber, ady suciu and many more.
