Life in Community
The Relationship of Relationships to the Group
Posted on June 7, 2011 by2 Comments
Relationships don’t exist in a vacuum. Through a culture of communication and support, communities can create the healthy container which relationships need in order to flourish.
Honesty and Intimacy
Posted on June 7, 2011 by3 Comments
In the author’s first, very intense intentional community immersion, revealing the truth led to love and intimacy. He left that group, but, in many spheres of life, emotional and intellectual honesty became his religion.
A Nomad Ponders Family and the Ecstasy of the Group
Posted on June 7, 2011 byTo a former communitarian and long-time student of community, utopian experiments—some sweet, some gone sour—offer valuable lessons about oneness, diversity, and intimacy.
Hopeful New Stories from the Old World
Posted on March 7, 2011 by1 Comment
Ten European ecovillages show the way to a brighter future.
Nurturing Healthy Minds
Posted on March 7, 2011 byLiving in community can provide all the elements necessary for promoting mental well-being, from kinship and useful work to recreation and beauty.
Rx for “Mental Illness”
Posted on March 7, 2011 by3 Comments
How can we best support mental health? Caring attention—even from amateurs—can promote healing unattainable through impersonal approaches or drugs.
Prescription Facebook
Posted on March 7, 2011 by5 Comments
Ex-members of the Emissaries of Divine Light reflect on their shared past and discover more holistic approaches to inner wellness as they reunite online.
Shadow Sides of NVC and Co-Counseling
Posted on March 7, 2011 by1 Comment
To make best use of nonviolent communication and co-counseling, avoid these traps.
Hand in Hand, Heart to Heart
Posted on March 7, 2011 byWith loving help from others, the old emotional distresses that can sabotage both our mental health and our relationships in community can be cleared and permanently resolved.
Communicable Gifts
Posted on March 7, 2011 byBoth healthy ideas and unhealthy ideas can take hold and spread like viruses. Suicidal tendencies and eating disorders provide invaluable lessons to one communitarian.
Gifted, Mad, and Out of Control
Posted on March 7, 2011 by4 Comments
The author recounts his personal history with the “mentally ill”—social misfits who can show us the way to a better world, if they are allowed to make the journey.
Further Thoughts on a Community’s Changes
Posted on December 7, 2010 byThis companion piece to Elderhood, In and Out of Community gives further reflections from community members.
Getting Elder All the Time
Posted on December 7, 2010 byCommunity can be balm for the discomforts of aging, just as elders’ wisdom and caring can soothe the growing pains of youth.
And I Listen
Posted on December 7, 2010 by2 Comments
Howling, shouting, cries of despair, and The Pierced One greet a parent on her first visit to her daughter’s adopted community. Luckily, through lots of talking and listening, things improve.
On Becoming Elders
Posted on December 7, 2010 byFor many baby boomers, taking on the mantle of eldership means transforming the sometimes rambunctious, in-your-face, empowerment-obsessed energy they worked so hard to sustain.
Elderhood, In and Out of Community
Posted on December 7, 2010 by2 Comments
A disenchanted community founder leaves her group, and finds that her rural hometown farming community and international travel and service better match her vision of honorable elderhood.
It Takes a Community to Grow an Elder
Posted on December 7, 2010 by5 Comments
After confronting an identity crisis worthy of adolescence, a 65-year-old finds a new home in community and discovers that elderhood is a blessing, not a curse.
The Community that Dines Together, Aligns Together
Posted on September 7, 2010 byAuthor: Valerie Renwick-Porter Published in Communities Magazine Issue #148 Ah yes, the community meal table. Communal dining can be a glorious bonding experience, as members recreate the feeling of an… Read More
Power and Powerlessness in Community
Posted on September 7, 2010 byA community member transcends a feeling of powerlessness when he inadvertently comes up with a brilliant idea about how to organize cooking groups, and others join him in implementing it.
Balancing Powers
Posted on September 7, 2010 by1 Comment
In a healthy community, leadership and followship are equally important roles, each with vital skill sets that can assure effective teamwork.
Power and Disempowerment on the Ecobus
Posted on September 7, 2010 by7 Comments
Some saw this radical environmental education program as a “cult,” others as an intensely focused experience of challenge and growth. Had participants lost their individuality, or gained a new sense of self?
More Perspectives on Leadership and Followship
Posted on September 7, 2010 by1 Comment
The author identifies additional leadership skills, cautions against blind followship, and reflects on the many types of power in cooperative groups.
Being “Overthrown”—A Celebration
Posted on September 7, 2010 byThe founder of Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage describes what it’s like to be criticized, marginalized, stripped of leadership responsibilities, and given the opportunity to explore a new role.
Seeing the Good in the World
Posted on June 7, 2010 byAfter several years teaching about community in the abstract, an anthropologist and environmental studies teacher finds that direct student engagement with intentional communities provides the spark needed for personal inspiration, connection, and the potential for social transformation.
To Learn Sustainability Is To Learn Community
Posted on June 7, 2010 by1 Comment
Strained by difficult economic and ecological conditions, farmers Claudio and Fernando discover new avenues toward prosperity and land restoration through alliances with a peace community dedicated to regional renewal.
Live and Learn
Posted on June 7, 2010 by1 Comment
The residents of an eco-oriented, education-focused intentional community and demonstration site wear many hats, both public and private.
Second Family
Posted on March 7, 2010 by4 Comments
A mother responds to empty-nest syndrome by discovering her new family in community.
Together and Apart; Eden Within Eden
Posted on March 7, 2010 byReviews of two great books on community living, one on life in a convent with surprising insights even for the most secular, and one on the history of utopian experiments in Oregon.
Exploring Family
Posted on March 7, 2010 byWhat do Hopi Indians, John Keats, lost loves, intentional community, and family have in common? For better or worse, they’ve combined to befuddle, enlighten, dismay, and inspire our author.
Growing Family in Community
Posted on March 7, 2010 byTwelve-year-old Jibran has always lived with fuzzy boundaries between “family” and “community.” They became even fuzzier when he came home to discover his mom’s positive pee test.
