💜 Happy New Year! 💜
What better arc to begin a year of learning, exploring, and wondering together than the 💜 Heart Arc 💜?
The Orange Band opened this year of Luminosity by sharing aspects of themselves. Even though many in our group have known each other for years, we still found ways to surprise one another. With new students joining our Brightworks family, we were also able to share those stories, tried and true, that have marked our times together.
Name Stories
A saying of the Swampy Cree people is that "to say the name is to begin the story." And, so, the Orange Band began our time together by sharing the stories that our names carry: the ideas, family lore, hopes, and dreams of our names. Students created Name Story pieces that reflected those most important aspects of themselves and took time to share, ask questions, and find commonalities among us.
Circles of Me
Our work in sharing our Name Stories led us to begin to identify the many aspects that comprise each of us. Who are we, as we see ourselves? Who are we, as we think and know others see us? Orange Banders contemplated the Many Circles of ME - the most relevant and influential parts that make up our multitudinous selves. These circles sparked memories of moments in which a particular circle stood out vividly, sending kiddos to their journals to write about those recollections.[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="7016,7014,7013,7012"][gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="7010,7011,7015,7017"]
Animal Styles
Orange Banders also took to inspiration from animals in the wild to self identify their communication styles. Are you a wolf, a member of a collective, ready to strategize and plan out before making a move? Or, are you a turtle, an independent worker amongst a sea of others, needing both the protection of the group AND the ability to operate on your own? We asked ourselves if perhaps, the tiger was more our style: vocal, at times intimidating, and needing to be self-aware of body language and tone. Some of us resonated with the rabbit, full of boundless energy and ideas and ready to jump from one topic to another.We also realized that we can change from one type of animal communicator to another, dependent upon time and place.
Knowing that we have such a wealth of communication styles will be crucial as we move forward in our year of learning, exploring, and making together. So, too, will Band Agreements that we feel we can live with and support each other in meeting.
At the 💜 Heart 💜 of Our Journeys
What lies at the heart of our work together? Surely, to know one another and ourselves that much better is an important aim. As we meander through this first arc, we find what is most valuable--we find that heart. This coupling of journeys and introspection has long been represented by the ancient labyrinth.
The Orange Banders visited their first of many labyrinths this arc in our field trip to Bernal Heights Park's labyrinth. With the words and images of Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnell's beautiful story, The Other Way to Listen, in mind, kiddos walked the labyrinth and journaled the sounds and images that came to them in solo, circuitous ambles; each journey unique to the walker as they made their way to the heart of the labyrinth and back out again.