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September 17, 2016
In this newsletter:
Dear (Contact First Name),
Since the last newsletter I sent out, I've been to Europe on a teaching tour, and on the Appalachian Trail, backpacking. I just returned last week, digging myself from under a huge backlog, and staring into the reality that we have just started the third year without my sister Inbal who died September 6, 2014.
It was both painful and sweet to be out in nature at the time of the anniversary, as I remember various trips that Inbal and I took in years past, and just how much she loved camping and being in nature. She was the one who introduced me to backpacking.
Her legacy continues to live even as she is no longer with us. Most movingly, the program she created: Parent Peer Leadership Program, has completed its first 10 years with 272 graduates. These are people who have learned the revolutionary framework that Inbal developed around parenting, and have applied themselves to bringing it to other parents. Disrupting parenting patterns is one of the most hopeful ways I know of to move into a future I like. This is why I am choosing to share information with you below about the next PPLP, which is starting soon. 
|  | Arnina |  |
Now that we are only two sisters remaining, Arnina and I visit each other's homes more often, and Arnina is coming soon for her annual visit. She is offering a mini-intensive workshop, which I also want to tell you about, because I want you to have the opportunity to experience the magic that she brings to her work. Her workshop is called " Behind the Mask: From Fear to Freedom", and I am itching to see many people exposed to the profound liberation that her work offers, as you laugh and cry your way to a freedom you may have not known was possible.  Sabbatical! As for me, the third sister... I've had an amazing August and early September, and I am reaching more and more clarity about how essential it is for me to reduce my level of travel and teaching. This year, I have pared down to focusing primarily on Convergent Facilitation, which I believe is my most unique contribution at this time aside from my writing. I am preparing for a sabbatical next year, committing to at least 145 solid days of writing and doing less teaching and consulting. In my hope, this sabbatical, if successful, will continue indefinitely, in lieu of retirement, which holds no interest for me. The challenge, needless to say, is that finances are difficult already, and if I work fewer hours, are going to be even more tenuous. For this reason, I invite you below to embrace the Circle of Support and participate in my future ability to put everything that's in my mind in writing so it's available to the world even after I die.
| Miki with the team who supported the Poland workshop last month (+ a guest peeking) |
Recently, I have joined SURJ (Showing up for Racial Justice), a national US-based organization created by white people to support movements like Black Lives Matter and other people-of-color-led groups. I can't remember the last time I joined a political organization, so this may well be my first ever. We just started a reading project: we are all reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, about the war on drugs, mass incarceration, and the way that they keep US society as a racial caste system. I just started, and I am already painfully riveted. Please join me if you want to understand and perhaps contribute to changing the social reality of life in the US. in peace and hope, Miki
P.S. If you want to hear more of what's been happening in the last month, click here for both work and personal celebrations and mournings, including the very last LYI retreat I led, my backpacking trip, and more.
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Parent Peer Leadership Program
October 2016 - June 2017
Here's what Inbal said about the PPLP after she was no longer able to lead it once she was diagnosed with cancer: "The Parent Peer Leadership Program is the single most powerful vehicle that I am aware of to take a HUGE LEAP in your understanding of NVC and your capacity to live it with your family and community. Plus it gives you fabulous leadership tools you can use to share what you learn." The PPLP is a 9-month distance learning program, aimed at nurturing and developing lay leaders who are committed to spreading Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to parents in their communities. It runs from October 2016 to June 2017, and is on 20 teleclasses and individual study with materials created by Inbal and Miki. Info and application.
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Behind the Mask: From Fear to Freedom, with Arnina Kashtan
October 28 - 30, 2016
The Compass, Arnina's unique process for personal, familial and social transformation, shows us the way to remove our masks so that we can be who we really are as well as support others in seeing their own true self.
This workshop, composed of The Compass tools and practices, will be your opportunity to have a taste of this exciting approach. Info and registration.
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Convergent Facilitation
If you work with groups that struggle to make decisions or collaborate effectively, this workshop is for you. You'll receive intensive training in Convergent Facilitation, a unique decision-making process developed by Miki Kashtan based on the principles of Nonviolent Communication.
Three workshops in 2016:
2017: Plans are being laid for Convergent Facilitation workshops in 2017 in Spain, Israel, Oakland, Poland, and more.
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The Challenge of Connecting the Dots
This month my blog post is about my next step in grappling with the ongoing challenge of how those of us who see and understand how everything is interconnected can connect across a worldview divide with those who have a radically different understanding of the world.
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In 2017 I am planning to go on sabbatical. Anyone who knows me knows that sabbatical for me doesn't mean not working, because my work is such a deep source of both joy and meaning for me. Rather, sabbatical for me means relief from stress and being able to write more. My commitment is to having at least 145 days of writing in 2017, and to do only work that I can do without immense effort after 15 years of pretty incessant stress and crises.
During this time, my plan is to complete the NVC self-study package, get the book about Convergent Facilitation to a publisher, complete at least one more manuscript, write many more blog posts, and engage in planning how best to ensure that all I have to give can outlive me and how to sustain my work into the future beyond this year.
To make this possible, it would be immensely helpful if many more people join the Circle of Support. It hasn't grown for about a year now, with small ups and downs, and not going beyond $2,000 a month, often going down to $1,900 as people come and go. I hope that knowing what this will make possible will inspire more people to join. |
I have been talking with a film director about creating a movie or a TV series based on my stories in Reweaving Our Human Fabric. The synopsis of the potential movie is now ready for an experienced screenwriter to look at it, participate in deciding about format, and do the actual writing of the script in collaboration with us. This is a truly exciting possibility. Please reply to jobs@baynvc.org if you have experience in screenwriting and have participated in actual productions. Include a resume, a cover letter about what attracts you to this possibility, and a writing sample (such as a scene from a screenplay you wrote). |
Image credits:
Behind the Mask, by Xtream_i, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0; Happiness, by sciondriver, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0
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