Heart and Soul Meeting Minutes

HEART AND SOUL MEETING MINUTES 5/13/20
Location: Online/Zoom

Present: Jillian, Eva, Maya, Mittie, Greg, Amara, Donna, Arinna, Kit Facilitator: Jillian Minute Taker: Kit

Treasurer’s Report: None Team Reports: None

Action Items: Further discussion on guidelines for leaving members.
We reflected on several members who have left recently and how we would like to let them know how much their contributions meant. It was decided to not talk about leaving outside the group and the importance of making a formal announcement to the whole group.
It was also suggested that we invite alumni members to Zoom with us.

New Business: Reflecting on what H&S’s work could be during the pandemic.
*Get together in groups and send postcards of support to organizations.
*Re-stimulate connections with TJT and Transition US.
*Support local food groups.
*Teaching elders and others how to use Zoom and other methods of contact via the internet.
*Continue supporting each other, our neighbors and family.
*Pod-mapping activity to support avenues of support.

New Action Items:
• Whoever sets up the Zoom link should put in a “Full Invitation” that includes the phone number in case of loss of connection.
• Greg will contact Transition International to find out if they have any suggestions of how to be of service during the crisis.
• Eva will contact Susan to see if there is a need in the larger group.
• Arinna will contact us all when she can set up a postcard writers date.
• Jillian will share a pod-mapping activity for next meeting.
• We agreed to continue to meet during our normal summer hiatus.

Next meeting: Wednesday, June 10, 3:00-5:00 on Zoom. Eva will facilitate.

H&S Meeting Minutes – April 8, 2020

Location: zoom Present: Arinna, Donna, Eva, Greg, Jillian, Kit, Mittie

Facilitator: Jillian Minute Taker: Jillian

Treasurer’s Report: the team decided that we would not collect dues while meeting over zoom, but that individuals are welcome to put money aside during this time and contribute it when we next meet in person.

Team Reports: No team reports because no events/meetings due to shelter-in-place.

Action Items Report: No action item reports.

New Business:

Discussion about guidelines when a team member leaves.
- In the spirit of Heart and Soul’s focus on heart-based communication and practices, the team proposed the following guidelines:
  - When a team member is contemplating leaving, any discussions they have with individual members should remain confidential until they are able to tell the entire team;
  - When a team member is ready to leave, every effort is made to have their departure be shared/discussed during a meeting to give time to acknowledge and appreciate their connection with the group, to honor their contributions, and to express any loss or sadness about their leaving;
  - Ideally, the departing team member would announce their departure in person at a meeting to enable this process to happen in person;
  - If for any reason the team member needs or wants to leave quickly, they are encouraged to join the next meeting by phone/zoom to participate in this process; and
  - If for any reason it is not possible to have this discussion with the departing member, the team still sets aside time during the next meeting to have this leaving process in absentia.

Discussion about Heart and Soul’s work during this crisis.
- In the spirit of Heart and Soul’s commitment to the three lines of work (individual, team, and community) the group decided to devote our next meeting to this topic.
- Some preliminary suggestions and guiding questions for contemplation include:
  - Community outreach
  - Supporting work already happening in the community
  - Sharing resources
  - Questions from Eva:
    - What does the world need now that I uniquely can provide?
    - What continued sacrifice might be called for from me for the betterment of the whole?
    - Who do I want to be on the other side of this moment?

Development Session:

Greg did a presentation on John James and Frank Cherry’s “A Step-by-Step Program for Moving Beyond Loss” based on The Grief Recovery Handbook, followed by some brief comments and discussion.

Action Items:

In preparation for next meeting’s discussion, everyone to reflect on what could be H&S’s work during the pandemic.

Next Meeting:

Wednesday May 13, 2:45-5:00pm on zoom. Jillian facilitating.

H & S Minutes 3.4.20

Location: Arinna’s Present: Maya, Arinna, Greg, Kit, Amara, Donna

Facilitator: Greg (business) Maya (development) Minutes Taker: Donna

Treasurer’s Report: Took in $20; no Treasurer’s report.

Old Business:

Team Reports: (Include name of reporting member.)

Coordinating Council – Jen update submitted prior to meeting:
Meeting scheduled for March 15^th, but as it is currently Joe, Susan and myself we may cancel that meeting as we just met Sunday and there isn’t any real new business to discuss at this time.

Enterprise – Jen update submitted prior to meeting:

Met on Sunday
Still working through Patreon/Social Capitalism presentations
Mark calendars for General Meeting on Sunday April 5th – Team Reports & Reskilling
Working on planning a reboot of the P-Team w/ Manuela, Isaiah and Joe

Permaculture – No report.

Action Item Reports (include member’s name): No reports.

Project Group Reports: (Include name of group and reporting member): No reports.

Other Old Business

- Debrief last Death Cafe: Kit reported that there were 3 tables, a lot of repeat attendees, and a few new people. She felt the event was successful.
- Death Café March 12 Assignments: See New Action Items below.

New Business:

Another CC Rep: Jen submitted before the meeting that she can’t be the only rep and that the CC generally meets Sunday mornings for breakfast at Susan’s house; the meeting is at 9 and is usually less than an hour. No one volunteered to be a CC rep, so this item is in the parking lot for the April 8 H&S meeting.
Need for H&S to develop an exit process when a member leaves H&S that will help all with feelings of loss. We decided there was a need for such an exit process and decided to put this on the agenda for the April 8 meeting.
April 5 General Meeting of Transition JT: See New Action Items below.
Water Education Day on 3/29: H&S will not participate. See New Action Items below.
Earth Day on 4/18 at YV Community Center: See New Action Items below.

New Action Items (include member’s name):

Kit collected $20 and will email Jen and give the $20 to Jen at the next WP meeting.
For March 12 Death Café: Kit will facilitate and Amara will handle social media and will email everyone to sign up for assignments on google docs.
For April 5 General Meeting: Kit will present the waxed fabrics, and Amara will present the H&S team report.
Regarding Water Education Day, Kit will tell Jen that H&S will not be participating.
Regarding Earth Day, Maya will send an email to H&S members requesting a volunteer to coordinate H&S participation in the Earth Day event at the YV Community Center.
Maya will ask Jillian to facilitate the April 8 meeting’s development session on the topic of Loss & Grief Recovery.

Summary of Development Session: Maya led the development session focusing on peer support. We interacted in dyads and as a group to practice our skills in supporting each other. All agreed this was a powerful session that helped us all. Thanks Maya!

Next Meeting: (Include Date, Time, Place, and Facilitator): April 8, assume 3-6 pm, at Kit’s house. Greg will facilitate the business meeting. See action items above re facilitation of the development session on the topic of Loss & Grief Recovery. Agenda items carried forward from the March 4 meeting to the April 8 meeting are:

The need for another rep with Jen to attend CC meetings for H&S.
Development of an exit process for when a member leaves H&S. The process will help all with feelings of loss often experienced.

H&S February 12, 2020 meeting Cancelled

H & S Minutes 1/8/202

Location: Jillian’s Present: Arinna, Greg, Donna, Kit, Mitty, Jillian, Jen, Maya

Facilitator: Greg Minutes Taker: Maya

Treasurer’s Report: took in $17 (not $19), $9 to CC, new total $261.40

Old Business:

Team Reports:

Coordinating Council; Jen -Next meeting is Jan 19th. No report
Enterprise: Jen -Working on reusable food wraps with cloth and beeswax. Local food meal is Jan 26th. They are hosting the next quarterly meeting. TENTATIVE quarterly meeting date is March 29
Permaculture: Still on hiatus

Project Group Reports:

Death Cafe – Jillian, Discussion of resource list, facilitator guidelines, logistics and assigning tasks to volunteers (see action items)

New Business:

Lecture on trauma resiliency at Maya’s this Sunday. Contact Maya to be invited.
Motion passed to add a movement break into all meetings

New Action Items (include member’s name):

EVERYONE Please avoid using scented body & hair products before meetings to accommodate team members with sensitivities.
Kit will look into local grief support group for death cafe resources list
Jillian will send out death cafe facilitator guidelines
Maya will confirm she can attend death cafe
Kit will make signs directing people to friendship hall for death cafe
Kit & Donna will bring tea, Arienna will bring electric kettle, Greg will meet & Greet. See death cafe email thread & sign up for previous assignments. All snacks welcome (death cafe)
Maya will contact Eva/ update agenda template to include movement break

Summary of Development Session – facilitated by Arinna:

Guided meditation asking what we want to explore with heart and soul development sessions. Small groups discussed what came up during the meditation. Whole group brainstormed a list (see below). We chose our 3 favorite topics and broke into small groups discussing what those things could look like as development sessions. (see below)

We then chose our top 5 that we’d like to see happen and chose “Support each other -listening tools and support in small groups” [Maya will likely come up with a slightly snappier title]

Development session lists:

First brainstorm (* indicates top 3)

Trauma resilience
Tolerance
Climate anxiety & Climate Grief*
Indigenous spirituality & relationships
Self care -free, happy, body alignment with values and other practices*
Skinny dipping / hot springs
Feeling seen, heard together, connecting
Support for challenges
Prayer circle
Time for activities for joy and creativity*
Loss and grief recovery
Hold internal grief

Small group brainstorm for specific development sessions * indicates top 5:

Self care

field trip to hot springs
Self care- where do we lose it*
Qi Gong with Doug
8 lifestyle factors for mental health
Support each other, active listening & support in small groups* -Maya will facilitate

Joy and Creativity

Sharing the things tat bring us joy
Writing activities with prompts around joy and other topics (ie stress, trauma)* -Jillian will facilitate
Moments of movement during meetings -ie laughter yoga (see new business)

Climate anxiety and Climate grief

Exploring “what do I do now” in development session, and take it to the community* -Donna, Greg & Mittie will facilitate
Acknowledge different needs

Next Meeting:

Wednesday Feb 12, 3-6 Mittie & Greg’s house. Greg facilitates business portion, Maya facilitates development -Support, empathy & listening tools.

H&S Meeting Minutes – December 4, 2019

Location: Jillian’s Present: Donna, Eva, Greg, Jenn, Jillian, Karen, Kathy, Kit, Maya, and Mittie
Facilitators: Kathy Minute Taker: Jillian
Treasurer’s Report: took in $19 dues and also had $27 from November’s meeting, additionally we received a $50 donation from Quarterly Meeting. Gave 50% of Nov/Dec dues to CC (= $23) and the $50 donation, for a total of $73 to the CC and a balance of __________ for Heart and Soul

Old Business:

Team Reports: Enterprise Team (Jenn): the team had a great meeting last Sunday with regular members and also some visitors. The E-Team is focused on creating a compostable/reusable form of wax paper to wrap to-go food items at the JTLFP monthly meal. The next E-Team meeting is Sunday January 5 at 10am at Susan’s. The next JTLFP is Sunday December 22, 5-6pm – all welcome, bring a vegetarian/vegan dish, and also a request was made for nourishing home-made healthy granola bars (or similar) that can be to-go foods for food-insecure community members.

No other team reports.

Action Items Report:

The series of Death Cafes co-sponsored by JTRC are scheduled for Wednesday January 15, Tuesday February 11, and Thursday March 12, 2020, all in Friendship Hall in the JT Retreat Center. The team approved a redesigned flyer, which Jillian will send to Communications Director as part of promotions rollout.
Kit will email directions to her house for WP meeting
Eva talked to Joe about the CC meeting; it was emphasized that it’s important to have two representatives from each team on the CC. Jenn and Eva volunteered to be the H&S representatives.

New Business:

Shorten business meeting. It was agreed that team reports should be really short (suggested one minute) and that if more time needed for discussion, the team representative should create an agenda item with some time allotted.
Posting meeting dates on TJT website – Eva now knows how to do this!
Debrief Quarterly Meeting:

○ Strengths: well-attended (approximately 35 people); mix of people, including founders, current members, and new people; good energy in the room; timeline activity generated nice discussion; good food.

○ Areas of growth/lessons: uneven and last-minute promotions; teams didn’t have a chance to give reports; no introductions; agenda was confusing; meetings could be more kid-friendly.

Action Items:

Jillian will submit promotional materials for Death Cafes to Communications Director
Jenn will schedule the next CC meeting
Eva and Jenn will take suggested revisions to promotions protocols to CC meeting
Eva and Jenn will see if CC approves creating a banner/sign with brief info about TJT to have at all public events

Jillian will send land acknowledgement to H&S team
Everyone will think about what development sessions they could offer and/or that they would hold.

Development Session: Eva and Kathy led the team in a lively and engaged discussion about the ways that the H&S team currently or could demonstrate the principles of social permaculture.

Next Meeting: Wednesday January 8, 2020, from 2:45-6:00pm, at Jillian’s. Greg will facilitate, and the development session will be devoted to purposefully planning spring’s series of development sessions that (1) draw on the team’s shared knowledge/skills and (2) respond to specific needs or areas of potential growth for H&S.

H&S Minutes 11.6.19

Location: Jillian’s / Present: Kathy, Mittie, Greg, Maya, Jillian, Kit, Eva, Arinna, Amara, Karen

Facilitator: Kit / Minute Taker: Eva

Treasurer’s Report: $27 dollars were taken in. Mittie will keep for Jen, our treasurer

Team Reports:

Permaculture Team (Maya) – At this time no one is available to facilitate the meetings and the group has folded.
Enterprise Team (Maya) – They are working on their projects. They’ll absorb those from the Permaculture Team who want to join. Joe will let folks on the Permaculture mailing list know about this possibility.
Coordinating Council Team (Maya) – With some effort, Maya was able to schedule a meeting of the CC. No one is able to take on a leadership role in the CC at this time. There was a discussion at that meeting about asking Heart & Soul to consider planning another Open Space event. A discussion about the future of TJT began. We decided this was very relevant to the Development session we had planned about Social Permaculture and altered our agenda accordingly.

Old Business:

Transition Streets (Mittie) – Mittie continued knocking on neighborhood doors. She had an initial meeting with a couple of people, and another one is scheduled for Wednesday, the 13^th at 6:30 pm, at her house.
Death Café (Jillian) – The Retreat Center is excited to collaborate with us again. We came up with a range of dates for January, February and March. Jillian will contact the Retreat Center to firm up dates for Friendship Hall (our strong preference).
Quarterly meeting – November 17, 6-8pm at Yucca Mesa Comm. Ctr. Jillian will facilitate a group exercise that involves doing a timeline for TJT. Maya created a flyer and has been posting it on social media. She will resize it and repost it. Jillian asked us to reach out to former members to invite them to come. H&S members who can are asked to come at 5 pm to help with set up. There will be a “give away” table. Label the ingredients in your potluck dishes.

New Business:

Need a volunteer to post meeting dates on Transition calendar – Eva volunteered and will contact Susan for information on how.
Making the business portion of our meeting shorter – tabled till next meeting.
Development session for next meeting – Understanding what is meant by Social Permaculture. Kathy and Eva will design.

New Action Items:

Jillian will contact the Retreat Center to firm up dates for Friendship Hall (our preference).
Maya will resize and repost the quarterly meeting flyer
Eva will bring flip chart pad, stand, markers, name tags, sign up sheets, clip board and NVC cards
Eva will find out where the big flip chart stand is.
Karen will bring a donation jar
Kit will contact Susan about bringing the old H&S time line.
Eva will call Joe about Maya and the CC
Kit will send directions to her house for the WP meeting on Dec 11^th.

Development Session: Discussion about the state and health of TJT, the relevance of the CC, and the pros and cons of outreach / an Open Space event. The feeling was that the Quarterly General Meeting is very timely now and will be a good time to assess where we’ve been, where we are now, and how we want to proceed organizationally.

Next meeting: Dec 4^th, 3-6 pm, at Jillians. Kathy will facilitate.

WP meeting is Dec 11, 3:30-5:30 pm, at Kits.

H&S Minutes 10.09.19

Location: Jillian’s

Present: Greg, Mittie, Tina, Amara, Kit, Jen, Karen, Anahita, Jillian, Karon

Facilitator: Kit Minute Taker: Karen

Treasurer’s Report: previous balance $214.40. Taken today: $16 Total 230.40. As H&S is hosting upcoming Quarterly Gathering, we will not submit to CC. $75 used to reimburse Jillian for renting YMCC (Healthy Generations not available) New balance: $155.75

Team Reports:

CC: No CC members present. Susan updates later that CC had not met as of 10/9. CC pays for 2 websites but has been unable to afford this obligation as well as sending the larger TransitionUS and our webmaster donations. Funds are low and these commitments are unmet.
Permaculture: Hannah and Joe have been unavailable. Team has not yet rebooted.
Enterprise: Jen – will meet 10/20 for discussion on Surveillance Capitalism aka New Human Rights Movement. LFG meeting this month at Community Church 10/27 will be pizza. Garden is on hold due to the instability at the Methodist Church. Time bank is up and running, please join.

Old Business

Transition Streets: Mittie reports that project is in motion for her neighborhood and will be in time for TransitionUS report. Meeting time tentative to develop pilot program around water use in Sky Harbor. Flyer planned, not yet printed for meeting and group participation including cake!
Conservation Models TBA: No one recalls what this topic refers to
Name Change: Consensus that this will be next development session, Nov. 6
Dues sharing with CC: Consensus, a temporary hiatus to cover costs of Quarterly Meeting, short discussion
Plans for White Privilege discussion group: Long detailed discussion ensued. Results include following: group will continue as a side study group. Jillian will lead with help from other leaders. Interest expressed in the historical elements, how we got here. Wednesday afternoons. 4 meetings then re-eval. May include books or reading list. Dec. 11 first meeting. Kit will host. 3:30-5:30
Continue with Death Café? Yes! Very popular so we will continue to host. Jillian contacted Terry at JTRC for venue. Terry is receptive to continued hosting at JTRC. Possible first Café in Jan. Table further discussion to Nov.
Quarterly Meeting/Jillian, Maya & Greg discuss and define: Meeting plan in place, venue will be YMCC, already reserved. Activities will include demonstration of history of TJT with all present included. Individual team tables will not be the focal structure, however, H&S will report on White Privilege

Action Items:

Mittie takes on Karon Masterson as buddy to provide and go over the member handbook.
Need a volunteer to take over posting the H&S meeting times on the website calendar. Susan relinquishes the task after many years.

Development Session: Anahita spoke on Ayurvedic Doshas, lifestyle and nutrition choices. Interesting material came with thought experiments and handouts.

Closing: Reflections of approval/satisfaction all around including Anahita indicating an interest to join the group.

Next Meeting – November 6, 3:00 Jillian’s

*******

H & S Minutes 9.11.19

Location: Jillian’s

Present: Kit, Karen (guest), Eva, Mittie, Amara, Maya, Arinna (guest), Karen, Susan, Jen, Jillian, Greg

Facilitator: Kit Minutes Taker: Greg Staininger

Aim, Agreements, & Norms – Maya Centering – Amara

Tribute to & Memories of Laurie Lustica

Treasurer’s Report: Started with $ took in $ , $ to CC Team

Reports:

Coordinating Council -Susan asks for new rep. & Maya volunteers
E-Team – Jen – 9/22 dinner will be Fall foods
Permaculture – Susan – They are regrouping with Dave & Hanna as co-facilitators. Joe will support a reforming committee. Looking for new location. H&S members are available to support Permaculture if requested.

Old Business:

Transitions Streets – Mittie w/ Susan & Amara – Water Conservation 4 modules to be launched in Mittie’s neighborhood. Date tbd.
Is ‘Social Permaculture’ a less obscure name for our group, yet ‘Heart & Soul’ is the national/global standard – and the discussion goes on…

Development Session:

Eva led an NVC ‘Feelings & Needs’ exercise.

Action Items:

Meet to discuss & define 11/17/2019 quarterly meeting – Jillian, Maya & Greg
Eva to update H&S contact list.
Susan will contact Kathy re: Social Permaculture.
Susan, Kathy & Amara discuss a Social Permaculture Development Session.

Parking Lot issues ’til Next Meeting:

Dues sharing with the CC
Continuing with Social Justice.
Plans for the White Privilege discussion group
Should we change meeting length?
Do we want more Death Cafes?

Next Meeting: Oct. 9, 2:45 at Jillian’s

*******

H&S Minutes 6.3.19

Location: Jillian’s Present: Tina, Jen, Jillian, Amara, Susan, Kit, Maya, Eva

Facilitator: Tina Minute Taker: Maya

Treasurer’s Report: Starting balance $262. $17 in / $96 to Jillian for earth day zine printing. New balance: $183

Team Reports:

Enterprise: (Susan)

Studying capitalism, starting a social activism library
Food program dinner is Sunday, June 23
United Methodist church is being decommissioned. May be acquired by ARCH. CC and e-team will discuss the possibility of TJT having the building.
Ice cream/sorbet social at Susan’s house on June 21st

Permaculture/water: (Susan) – Cancelled last meeting due to folks out of town. Will have a fresh start in fall

CC: hasn’t met.

Action Items Report:

Maya needs suggestions about Grief Support Services in Morongo Basin. –dismissed
Maya and Eva to set a date to teach Maya how to upload minutes to the website -done
Annual Social Event proposal for CC – done (e-team ice cream)
Transition streets water (Mittie) –not done
Fall quarterly meeting (Maya, Jillian, Greg) -done (Maya and Jillian met, Greg didn’t make it)
Progress on death cafe (contact with Daniella) –Done, Susan spoke with Daniella. Daniella decided to do Death cafe on her own. Has hosted 2 at Tumbleweeds.

New Business:

H&S support to other TJT teams -We already have a protocol listed in the member handbook and on our website. H&S members make up a portion of the E-team, and have been attending permaculture meetings . Maya said she’d like to attend permaculture team meetings as a heart and soul member.

Team Name Change – Susan suggested “Social Permaculture Team.” We discussed and had a wide range of opinions. Individuals will do some research on the topic of social permaculture and we’ll re-visit the idea in the fall.

Proposal to shorten the meeting to 2 1/2 hours – Discussed and decided to leave meetings at 3 hours for now. If the development session lends itself well to a shorter time, the development session facilitator may schedule an earlier end time.

Next Meeting: September 11, 2019, Jillian’s house. Kit will Facilitate with support from Susan (note: this is a different date than what we planned at our May meeting)

Agenda item: Name change

Summer Action Items:

Everyone google social permaculture
Maya plan on going to fall permaculture meeting
Amara will look into contemplation questions from her Path of Service course for possible sharing/development session

H&S Meeting Minutes – 5.1.19

 Location: Jillian’s  Present: Amara, Greg, Jillian, Kit, Maya, Mittie, and Tina

Facilitators: Maya and Amara  Minute Taker: Jillian

Treasurer’s Report: took in $15 at meeting and decided to keep all (Jen – please let me know what balance becomes); also received $10 from Earth Day to go to CC.

Team Reports:

All teams were present at Earth Day event in Yucca Valley.  No other team reports.  Note that JTLFP attendance last Sunday was slightly lower, perhaps because the meal was not advertised in the paper (as it usually is).

Action Items Report:

Maya needs suggestions about Grief Support Services in Morongo Basin (tabled until next Death Cafe).
Maya and Eva to set a date to teach Maya how to upload minutes to the website (still to do).
Annual Social Event proposal for CC (Greg – still to do)
Mittie gave an update on the Transition Streets Water Project she is piloting in her  neighborhood. The first meeting (open to all in TJT, not just her immediate neighbors) will be in the next couple of weeks.

New Business:

Fall Quarterly Meeting: After some discussion about possible activities and themes for the meeting (to be hosted by H&S), the team selected a sub-committee of Greg, Jillian, and Maya to meet during the summer to plan and schedule it.
H&S support to other TJT teams discussion (tabled for next meeting)
Death Cafes: The team is interested in Death Cafes being regularly hosted in the  community but does not want to duplicate efforts by others (e.g., current series at  Tumbleweed Sanctuary) and needs to learn more before planning future events.
Team Name Change (tabled for next meeting).
Proposal to shorten the meeting to 2 1/2 hours (tabled for next meeting).
Informal H&S social event in July: Mittie proposed that she will organize and host (or find a  location to host) a summer social event.

Action Items:

Send email to H&S with date/time of Transition Streets Water meeting (Mittie).
Set time to plan Quarterly Meeting (Greg, Jillian, and Maya).
Reach out to Susan or other CC member about CC hosting Annual Social Event (Greg)
Reach out to Daniella about Death Cafe plans (Amara).
Ask Eva if she can facilitate NVC at September’s meeting (Jillian).
Send Mittie ideas for July social event (everyone).
Check her schedule regarding Wednesdays (Amara – already done at time of writing).

Development Session:  The team practiced NVC activities using the feelings and needs cards.

Upcoming development sessions proposed:

Greg on crisis planning
Maya on nurturing a blossoming child  /
Tina and AVP (can only happen if H&S meeting not held during the afternoon)

Next Meeting:  Tentatively scheduled for Wednesday September 4, 3-6pm, at Jillian’s. Possible development session on NVC games. Tentative because of people’s schedules. Proposal to check in about time/date in late summer.

H & S Minutes 4.3.19

Attendees: Jillian, Amara, Maya&Oliver, Greg, Jen,Eva,Tina,Kit,Kathy

Facilitator: Amara / Minute Taker: Kathy

Treasurer’s report: $21 plus $60 from Death Cafe, minus $10 for CC = 262.40.

Agenda Review: Team Name Change was postponed until next meeting.

Team reports:

Enterprise Team (Jen) Next meeting is Sunday 4/7 at Susan’s house. Team partnered with Permaculture Team at Water Education day.
Permaculture Team (Kathy) Susan and Kathy are working with the team to develop effective team skills; Team has requested one or more H&S facilitators to work with them until they take a summer hiatus, then again in the fall.
Coordinating Council — no report.

Review of Action Items from last meeting (listed on 4/3/19 agenda)

All items were completed, except the following:

Kathy find materials on Social Permaculture to hand out at Earth Day, print them.
Maya still needs input via email, on Grief Support Services in Morongo Basin.
Uploading minutes to the website: at the last H&S meeting before summer hiatus, Eva and Maya will set a date to learn how to do this.

Other Old Business:

Earth Day Event April 20:

Jillian offered to donate/make available copies of her “Last Bottle of Water” and “Take Your Tupperware” zines (with printing costs covered by H&S and a suggested donation during event to generate funds for H&S). She will print 100 of each, plus 50 of the Heart and Soul zine, given for free to those who are interested.
Tina is welcome to have materials for her workshops displayed at the table.
Volunteer for new CC rep: Carried over to next meeting

Debrief of last Death Cafe:

Very successful; well facilitated; table arrangement was improved and the noise level better: greeting people at the door went well; best one yet.

The team decided to further develop our protocols for facilitators– both for responding in the moment to topics that arise during table discussions and for debriefing afterwards.

We discussed the announcement that there would be more Death Cafes, and reaffirmed that TJT H&S does not want to sponsor another one this spring.

Parking Lot: Decide H&S event goals at SEP meeting after summer hiatus.

New Business:

H&S hosting next general meeting: We decided that the next general meeting should be in the fall. Further discussion next meeting. Agenda item.
Proposal to create Annual Social Event (Greg). Needs to be brought up with the CC. Discuss next meeting. Agenda item.
Future of the Death Cafe: postponed. Agenda item.
Team Name Change– postponed. Agenda item.
Proposal to shorten the meeting to 2 1/2 hours (Eva). Agenda item.

NEW Action Items:

Discuss and develop plan for H&S support to other TJT teams. Agenda item.
Maya will send out an Earth Day assignments reminder.
Jillian will print copies of her Zines for Earth Day, and will pass along the “Five Things” materials to Kit and Greg.
Kit and Greg will work together to create an H&S Poster for display at Earth Day.
Kit will bring a cash box, and Jillian will provide coins/change to Eva.
Eva and Susan will talk with the other original Death Cafe initiator about future Death Cafes.

Development Session

Eva facilitated practice with the Non Violent Communication (NVC) cards.

Homework: When feelings arise, ask yourself: What’s the need (met/unmet) that is going on?

Next Development Session: more practice with NVC cards (Eva)

Next meeting: May 1, 3-6pm, at Jillian’s

H&S Minutes 3.6.19

Location:Jillian’s

Present:Amara, Maya, Kit, Jen, Kathy, Eva, Susan, Mittie, Tina, Jillian, Greg, Marya

Facilitator: Amara / Minute Taker: Eva

Treasurer’s Report: Took in $22, gave $11 to CC. Got $40 from the Death Café. Total $201

Team Reports:

Enterprise Team (Jen) – Their team hosted the Quarterly Meeting on March 3. The next Community Meal (last Sunday of the month) will be Indian. Also the Enterprise Team is going to rebuild the garden at the Methodist Church and needs volunteers.
Permaculture Team (Susan) – They will have a presence at the Water Education Day, and Earth Day, where they will be sponsoring the film “Dreaming of a A Vetter World” (Director – Bonnie Hawthorne). Susan and Kathy are continuing to work on organizational development with the team. There is a Permaculture Design Certificate Program being held at Harrison House – March 31 to April 14.
Coordinating Council Team (Susan) – They approved Mittie to go ahead with the Transition Water Program. Hanna, the new Permaculture Rep was “initiated” into the CC. Deb B donated money to the CC to help with our web page.

The CC Aim:As keepers of the vision, to build a sustainable, resilient community in the Morongo Basin by supporting & coordinating TJT members and teams through developing clear internal communications, strategic planning, organizational development & promoting the mission by sharing & engaging with the larger community.

Action Items Report: All the action items from the last meeting were completed except for Eva training Kit to upload minutes to website.

Other Old Business:

Treasurer handoff – Jen volunteered to take over the Treasurers job.
Volunteer for new rep for CC – no one volunteered.Susan will continue to ask at every meeting, as this really needs to happen.

New Business:

Earth Day event, April 20^th– We will be there. Need to assign tasks and responsibilities. Kit, Amara, Greg, Kathy, Susan and Eva volunteered to booth-sit. Maya will send out a checklist for the display, and a schedule for volunteering
Debrief of General Meeting – Those who attended enjoyed it – the connection with our community. The attendance was low and we discussed why that might be. Each team needs to encourage attendance. Heart and Soul will host the next one. We’ll discuss it at our next meeting.

Reflections on Death Café

Went very well, pace and tone were great – kudos to Amara.
We need to brainstorm some new questions – send ideas to Susan.
Think about having a short intro activity in the large circle and personal introductions in our small groups. Jillian will look for an activity. Send your ideas to her.
We could have more materials and resources available.
Tina mentioned that having a meet and greet person is important.
Jillian and Kit will host the next Death Café.
Tumbleweed is interested is having a Death Café at their venue.

New Action Items:

Maya will send out a checklist for the display, and a schedule for volunteering
Eva will bring the canopy to Earth Day.
Susan will check on the availability of tables for Earth Day.
Kathy find something about Social Permaculture that we can hand out at Earth Day, and print out a bunch.
Amara– put a discussion of next General Meeting on our April agenda
All– send ideas for Death Café questions to Susan
Amara send all changes and new materials for Death Cafe to Susan, Jillian and Kit.
Maya will put together a list of websites, links and other resources for Death Café. All – send info to her by March 13^th.
Jillian will look for a short intro activity for Death Cafe. All– Send any ideas to her.
Amara– put a discussion of future Death Cafes on next agenda
Amara– put Greg’s idea of an annual event on the next agenda
Eva will resend the edited poem, “The Beauty of Death”.
Susan make suggested changes to poster.
Kit email Disaster Psychology material to members
Eva train Kit to upload minutes to website.

Development Session – Kit gave an informative presentation on Disaster Psychology. “We are all first responders.” She talked about the emotional environment for rescuers and victims, the effects, symptoms and ways to reduce stress.

Plan next meeting – The next meeting will be April 3, from 3 pm – 6 pm, at Jillians. Eva will facilitate the development session using the NVC card games.

H&S Minutes 2.6.19

Location: Jillian’s

Present: Amara, Eva, Greg, Jillian, Kathy, Kit, Mittie, Susan, Tina

Facilitator: Susan / Minute Taker: Jillian

Treasurer’s Report: took in $30 from Death Cafe and $21 in dues; paid Susan $25 for Death Cafe materials; remainder of $26 to H&S for a balance of $150.

Team Reports:

Enterprise Team (Susan)

Next General Meeting rescheduled for March 3, 5-8pm at Yucca Messa Community Center, with a focus on promoting the Time Bank. Bring potluck dish and good-condition items for Free Table.
The funds from Mazamar “seconds” sale (thanks Amara!) are allowing JTLFP to buy $100 of produce for free distribution at the community meal each month.
E-Team wants to also use some of the Mazamar funds to revamp the vegetable cage at the Methodist Church.
The next JTLFP Community Meal will be Sunday February 24, 5pm at the Methodist Church on Park in Joshua Tree. All welcome to participate and help, bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share (with ingredients listed).

Permaculture Team (Susan)

Kathy and Susan have been working with the P-Team.
There is a Permaculture Design Certificate Program being held at Harrison House – March 31 to April 14.

Coordinating Council Team (Susan)

The next meeting TBA.
The CC-Team needs new representatives from all team (each team can send two representatives).

Action Items Report:

There are no scholarships available for the PDC course at Harrison House (Eva)
New member handbook, no update (Mittie).

Other Old Business:

Treasurer handoff (tabled for next meeting).
Discussion of H&S doing suicide prevention events (after discussion and interest, tabled until we have the capacity for more events).
Death Cafe debrief. Team agreed the event was a great success, with a good turnout and many meaningful conversations. Suggestions to streamline and improve the event recorded.

New Business:

Volunteer needed for new H&S representative for CC-Team (tabled for next meeting).
Eva will train Kit how to upload minutes to website.
TJT will apply for a table for Yucca Valley Earth Day event (April 20). Either Permaculture or H&S will host a table with TJT info and screen Bonnie Hawthorne’s documentary, “Dreaming of a Vetter World” followed by a discussion.

New Action Items:

Eva will share Kahlil Gibran poem as possible item to read at start of next Death Cafe.
Susan and Amara will meet to plan Amara’s facilitation of next Death Cafe.
Eva will train Kit to upload minutes to website.
March 6 meeting agenda item to assign tasks and responsibilities for Earth Day event.
Mittie will send links for Transition Streets info (done at time of writing).
Susan will schedule next CC meeting at a time that works with Mittie.
Amara will connect with Maya to learn how to create an agenda and facilitate a meeting.
Kit will meet with Eva and/or Kathy to prepare interactive elements for upcoming development session.

Next meeting:

March 6, 3-6pm at Jillian’s place; Amara to facilitate; development session with Kit on disaster psychology.

H & S Minutes 1.2.2019

Location: Kit’s

Present: Kit, Eva, Laurie, Mittie, Tina, Jillian, Maya, Greg, Robin, Amara

Facilitator: Robin Minutes Taker: Maya

Treasurer’s Report: (Mittie) Previous balance: $123, took in $27, $13 to CC $13 to Laurie for printing reimbursement. New balance $124

Old Business

Team Reports

Coordinating Council: no reporting member present
Enterprise: no reporting member present, Jillian suggested we sign up for the time bank promptly to prepare for the quarterly meeting/time bank focus January 20th TJT Time bank link: https://hourworld.org/bank/Join.php?hw=1617 more info about the time bank: https://transitionjoshuatree.org/enterprise-team/
Permaculture: (Eva) Mittie and Susan will be facilitating a session on Starhawk’s group mandala for the team at JTRC 6pm on Wednesday. Anyone who hasn’t previously done the mandala exercise is encouraged to participate.

Action Item reports

Mittie still working on new member handbook. Will run changes by Eva (new member committee)
All other previous action items complete

Project Group Reports

White privilege study group (Jillian); most people didn’t weigh in on working aim statement. Anyone who wants to should do so soon.

New Business

Tina hosting workshop for the public on Alternatives to Violence on Jan 26 &27th. Details emailed. see www.avpusa.org
Karen Tracey giving a talk titled “Toxic Dentistry” at Grateful Desert Jan 11th. Looking for a helper. Kit volunteered.
Potential new development sessions NVC games facilitated by Eva.
Transition streets/emergency preparedness discussion

New Action Items

Eva find out if there’s a scholarship for Permaculture Design Certificate course and how to donate to it.
Jillian send time bank link to Maya (done at the time of writing. see above)
Eva resend contact list (done at the time of writing)
Greg, Kit, Mittie, and Susan to discuss transition streets & emergency preparedness, and H&S development session, possibly with Zoom conferencing platform, as suggested by Amara.
Jillian confirm she can host next meeting (done at the time of writing)

Summary of Development Sessio – Suicide prevention resources, facilitated by Laurie. Heart and Soul now has a binder of suicide prevention resources that Laurie put together for us. Resources include hotlines, websites, and apps. Most notably Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255, can be called by anyone who needs help or is helping another. We discussed the 5 steps for lay people:

ask
keep them safe
be there
help them connect
follow up

Fishbowl style role play and discussion filled the second half of the development session.

Next Meeting: February 6th, 3-6pm, Jillian’s house, facilitated by Robin, Development session to be Transition streets/ emergency preparedness discussion if it’s ready by then. Otherwise NVC games facilitated by Eva.

Business Agenda items for next meeting:

Treasurer handoff
New member handbook update
Discussion of H&S furthering suicide prevention mission

H&S Minutes 12.5.18

Place: Mittie & Greg’s Present: Susan, Jillian, Eva, Greg, Laurie, Tina, Mittie, Susan, Kathy, Kit

Facilitator: Susan Minutes Taker: Greg

Treasurer’s Report: (Mittie) Previous balance $111/ took in $23/ $11 to CC/ new balance $123.

Old Business:

Team Reports:
- Permaculture (Susan)– Kathy and Susan will meet with them to provide a little H&S. Susan introduced the term “Social Permaculture” and observed that this is the function of the Heart & Soul group.
- E-Team (Susan) – Time Bank participants will present their offerings at next TJT General Meeting on 1/20/19, place to be determined.
- Food Sub-Group (Susan) – next dinner is Sunday, 12/16 – Holiday Bake-off theme. Susan having a cookie bake on Sat., 12/8 at her house.

ACTION ITEMS:
- Eva – combine business and development meeting templates
- Laurie – communicate with Mittie and one other member re: Suicide Prevention development session
- Kit – send out address for next meeting

Other Reports: New Member Handbook – New once/month meeting format requires changes to handbook. We’ll address them at January meeting. In the meantime, new members Amara and Tina have received the Jan 2016 version.

White Privilege study group: Change to new member policy was addressed. Members may make up one missed meeting with an attendee. Jillian will send out reading materials. Jan. meeting 1/16/19 at MIttie’sand Greg’s.

Death Cafe: Susan making flyer: 3 Tuesday meetings in Jan, Feb. & March. Jan. meeting 1/22/19, 6-8:00 @ JTRetreat Center. Daniella & Susan will host

Development session: Eva’s follow-up on our last development session offered opportunities for attendees to practice having difficult conversations, using Empathic and Developmental Listening with the aim of finding purposeful questions that might facilitate a communications breakthrough.

Next meeting: January 2, 2019 at Kit’s, 3-6pm. Laurie will present a development session on suicide prevention.

H & S Minutes Business Meeting 11.7.18

Place: Mittie & Greg’s Present: Susan, Robin, Jillian, Eva, Greg, Tina, Mittie, Maya

Facilitators: Robin & Susan Minutes Taker: Maya

Treasurer’s Report: Started wit $100, took in $22, $11 to CC

Team Reports:

Permaculture – Susan – Lots of cool projects including sponsoring a movie. Their leadership team has requested the services of H&S team. Eva, Susan will meet with them.
E-Team – Susan – It is rolling along, next meeting is Sunday at 10am at Susan’s. All are encouraged to check it out. They are working on a 4-part series on Marxism, and looking into creating a co-op in JT.
Coordinating Council – Susan – Two members of the CC have been there longer than they are supposed to be, but nobody else is stepping in. CC hasn’t been meeting regularly. We discussed what the CC does, the Transitions JT constitution; and what would help raise awareness and appreciation of the CC maybe at the next quarterly meeting.

Action Items:

Eva and Susan will meet to prepare for meeting with Permaculture team.
Susan will contact people who may be interested in the “Water for Streets” pilot program.
Eva will find out who’s turn it is to host quarterly meeting.
Maya and Jillian will read the constitution.
Maya and Tina will check in as buddies for study group.
Eva will update contact list & include phone numbers.
Mittie will check in with Laurie about suicide prevention materials and development session.
Susan will email Maya dates for Death Café.
Eva will send membership guidelines to Mitty.
Mittie will print/email new member packet for Tina and Amara.
Mittie will meet with Tina, Susan with Amara to go over membership packet.
Susan will email Jen about new monthly meeting schedule.

Old Business:

General meeting debrief: – Mittie did great, Doug did great, other than that the turn-out was a little disappointing. Discussion of how this ties in to Coordinating Council discussion and individual teams not seeing the value of Transition as a larger whole. Concern that folks don’t get the point of general meetings. There was a suggestion that H&S team should visit other team meetings before the next quarterly meeting to drum up support.
Project Group Reports:
- White privilege study group: Jillian – discussion of how closed/open it should be. A decision was made that all current H&S members are welcome before we start, then it will be closed for the 4-6 week session. If someone in the group misses a meeting, it’s their responsibility to meet with another member for a make-up session. First meeting will be Wed November 14, 3-5pm, at Mittie and Greg’s.
- Death Café: Susan – Daniella will be involved, there are some Tuesday’s booked at JTRC’s friendship hall. Info will go out to the retreat center’s mailing list as well as Transitions mailing list.
- Water streets program : Susan – Transitions US wants us to run the program with 5-7 people and give them feedback before they (TUS) releases the program to the public.
- Emergency Prep: Mittie – Similar to Water Streets program, only they haven’t written it yet.
Reports on Other Action Items: All old action items done.

New Business:

Discussion of meeting format – how often to meet and for how long. Proposal made to meet once a month for 3 hours. The first hour for business meeting, then a break for movement and snacks, then 2 hours for development. All voted in favor. Next meeting is December 4. We’ll all bring snacks. Current known dietary restrictions include:
- Meat
- Sugar
- Highly processed food
- Gluten
- Please label foods containing the above.

Next Meeting: December 5, ***from 3-6pm (not 3-5, as before), at Mittie’s & Greg’s

H&S Business Meeting 10.17.18

Location: Mittie and Greg’s

Present: Arwen (guest), Eva, Greg, Jen, Jillian, Kathy, Kit (guest), Laurie, Mittie, Robin, Susan, Tina

Facilitator: Susan / Minute Taker: Jillian

Treasurer’s Report: took in $21; $10 to CC; $100 balance

Team Reports: (no team reports in the interests of time)

Action Items updates:

Death Café – Susan contacted Daniella, who is available and interested in the proposed January Death Cafe events. Terry at JT Retreat Center is interested in co-sponsoring, which will help defray cost of renting a space and also spread the word beyond TJT community.
White Privilege Sub Group – The first meeting is scheduled for November 14, 3-5pm, place tbd. At the next H&S meeting, team will finalize decisions about group expectations. Readings/listenings to be distributed via email before next meeting.
General Meeting – Mittie agreed to summarize H&S’s work at the next Quarterly meeting (10.21.18).

Development Session on Developing Purposeful Questions

Eva led the group in a hands-on, interactive session on how to cultivate purposeful listening, as a necessary prerequisite for purposeful questions. The group discussed various kinds of brain function and the kinds of listening they employ and to what ends; this was followed by some quiet time to reflect and answer a series of prompts, and finally a pair-and-share period of reflection. The team agreed that a second follow-up session would be beneficial.

Next meeting:

November 7, 3-5pm, business meeting, at Mittie and Greg’s; Susan and Robin co-facilitating

Upcoming meetings:

(N.B. No meeting on November 21 because of Thanksgiving)

December 5, 3-5pm, development session (Eva part 2 of developing purposeful questions)

December 19, 3-5pm, business meeting

January development meeting – Laurie penciled in to do a presentation of suicide prevention materials

H & S Minutes – 10.3.18

Location: Susan’s Present: Eva, Greg, Jen, Jillian, Laurie, Maya, Mittie, and Susan

Facilitator: Susan Minute Taker: Jillian

Treasurer’s Report: took in $24; $0 to CC (because we are under $100); $89 balance

Team Reports:

Permaculture Team (Susan)

Next General Meeting on October 21 5-8pm at Center for Healthy Generations to be hosted by the P-Team (flyer to come); each team will have two minutes to give team reports
Friday September 28, the P-Team co-sponsored successful screening of Bonnie Hawthorne’s documentary, “A Vetter World” at Furstwurld
October 12-14, the P-Team is co-sponsoring a permaculture event with Warren Brush at Harrison House

Enterprise Team (Jen)

The team came out of summer hiatus and met last week; the next meeting is Sunday October 14, 10am at Susan’s
The next JTLFP community dinner is October 28, 5-6pm at the Methodist Church with the theme of Halloween
The team is revamping the wicking beds and will transplant seedlings
The video for the composting workshop is online
They are planning to do more skill-sharing workshops in Fall
They are reconstituting the food coop committee and revisiting the surveys from 2016
They will do a Time Bank Q&A at the next Quarterly Meeting
They watched a video about Marx’s critique of capitalism

Action Items:

Emergency preparedness workshop (Mittie): Transition US has completed fundraising and is finalizing materials for pilot program on neighbors working on emergency preparedness. They are looking for neighborhoods willing to do a pilot study and to give feedback on their materials.
Outreach from Om Circle event sign in sheets (Mittie): Mittie sent email to attendees and received one response of interest to join team.
Founders’ Page (Susan): Susan shared the website’s Founders’ Page with team at the meeting and reported that the founders were gratified and appreciative to have the information (picture and timeline) restored to the website.

Reflections on Suicide Prevention Presentation

Overall, the team found the workshop very helpful in terms of presenting important information, offering useful tips for conversations and resources, and helping facilitate a discussion among the group about the prevalence of suicide. The team reflected that they would like a more clearly-defined structure for any future workshops, and also to receive more resources to take away and read.

White Privilege Sub Group Discussion

The team decided that they would try again for a time to meet before the end of the year and that once a time/date is decided the team will select a reading or podcast for discussion.

Signature Events Discussion

The team will develop a series of three Death Cafe events in January, February, and March 2019
At the next business meeting we will discuss being a pilot program for the Transition US Emergency Preparedness program
At the next business meeting we discuss the Om Circle event
At the Quarterly Meeting, the team will include as part of its report that we offer training in facilitating meetings (but not offer stand-alone Facilitation Trainings)
Potentially include Suicide Prevention workshops as one of H&S’s signature events (for further discussion)

New Action Items:

Susan will contact Transition US to see if the water program is ready
Susan will send Mittie the manual for the water program
Mittie will send Jillian contact info for person interested in joining H&S team
Mittie will develop a questionnaire to send to Om Circle attendees
Jillian will send minutes to new person
Susan will include new person on email reminders for next meeting
Maya will check in with Nathen about suicide prevention resources
Laurie will do research about online materials on suicide prevention
Susan will contact Daniela Bellisimo about the Death Cafe
Kathy will do a doodle poll to find a time for the white privilege discussion (last two weeks of October and first two weeks of November, including weekdays 3-5pm; 4-6pm; 5-7pm; and Sundays 12-2pm; 1-3pm; 2-4pm).
All, think about whether or not we should be do pilot program on Emergency Preparedness

Next meeting:

October 17th, 3-5pm development session with Eva (on developing purposeful questions) at Mittie and Greg’s, Susan facilitating

Upcoming meetings:

November 7, 3-5pm, business meeting

(N.B. No meeting on November 21 because of Thanksgiving)

December 5, 3-5pm, development session (Laurie on suicide prevention materials)

December 19, 3-5pm, business meeting

H & S Minutes – 9.19.18

Place: Mittie’s and Greg’s Present: Kathy, Jennifer, Laurie, Susan, Mittie, Greg, Maya, Nathan, Jillian, Eva

Facilitator: Maya Minutes Taker: Eva

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie – We took in $26, which added to the $38 we already had, gives us $65 in our kitty. We decided to continue building our reserves and not contribute to CC now.

Action Items:

Mittie: look into Transition US Emergency Preparedness workshop and report   – tabled
Mittie: email Om Circle sign ups to check for interest in H&S/helping with Om Circle.   Mittie & Susan: meet to combine rosters. –Susan brought the roster and Mittie will email people this week
Susan: email founders about recreating Founder’s Page on the website.  Done and Founders are working on it.
Jillian send email about white privilege sub-group  - Done. None of the proposed times worked. We will reflect and have a discussion about this work at our next business meeting.

New Business:

Susan – Yolanda has been working with the immigrants detained at Adalanto, and one who was released recently is staying with them. He needs income, so if anyone has odd jobs, please think of him.
Jillian – There is a Creative Summit live stream the 1^st weekend in Nov, with climate change as the theme. Does TJT want to sponsor this? Susan will take this to the CC, and Jillian will send her the information about it.

Summary of Development Session: Suicide Prevention  with Nathen Lester

Nathan presented an informative, interesting and valuable session. He is passionate about this work, and does it in order to “create suicide prevention agents”. He outline 3 main steps:

Detection – Nathen shared a Risk assessment scale and some of the signs of suicide ideation.
Ask “Are you thinking of killing yourself?”. Many people are afraid of asking thing this but it is very important. It will not push the person toward killing themselves, and it doesn’t matter if they get mad at us. We practiced asking this question.
Getting professional help for someone. Try to get them to call 1-800-SUICIDE. Nathen will get us a list of other local resources.

Next Meeting: Business Meeting October 3, 2018, from 3-5 pm, at Susan’s, Maya facilitating

TJT Heart & Soul Meeting 9-5-18

Place: Eva’s Present: Jennifer, Jillian, Maya, Kathy Greg, Eva, Kathy, MIttie, Susan

Treasurer’s report: Mittie reporting. $39 total. Agreed to not send any on to the CC as our funds are so low. Eva reimbursed $45 for printing of Om Circle posters.

Old Business:

Team reports:

P –Team has done a composting tea workshop, is planning to host the next General Meeting and is co-sponsoring a permaculture movie at Furstworld in October. Susan reporting.
CC-Did not meet in August. Susan & Doug met with Martin for a website lesson. Martin reported that the original Founders Page is gone and would need to be recreated. CC is working with Transition US to implement a neighborhood water watch program. Susan reporting.
E-Team. Did not meet in August. Food program continues to be successful. Jennifer reporting.

Om Circle debrief:

Spent $264 on the event, Karen S received $60. Took in $97 in donations.
Mittie requested contact information for people who signed up for follow up contact.
Excellent event. Discussed whether we wanted to do it more often. Not without new people to help with the event.
Need lights at the snack table if we do it at Windwalkers again.

Discussion: social justice and white privilege followup:

Most people did not do the suggested readings, but said that information presented itself in other forms during the break.
Most people were affected by what we had done in the spring and could see evidence of that
A need for updated vocabulary was a repeated theme
Discussed guidelines for setting up a group to continue the work on white privilege
Decided to have a subgroup to continue the work, so that the main H & S group can continue its work.

Outreach: What are the signature events that H & S wants to do with the public?

Topic tabled to next business meetings.
Om Circle, Death Café, facilitation workshops

New Business:

Emergency preparedness – Mittie suggested adding this to the list of possible outreach programs. Agreed that she would look into this further.
Suicide prevention development session- Maya suggested bringing in a family therapist to lead us in a workshop on this topic to see if we are interested in supporting this as an event. Agreed to invite him to present a development session.
Eva has a development session ready to go on How to Ask Purposeful Questions.

Decisions made:

Proposal: A subgroup is to be formed to further study white privilege/diversity. The group will meet each month for 2 hours for the next four months. It will be a closed group for the duration of this session. Participants are asked to commit to attending and doing the homework. Laurie and Robin will be asked if they want to join as they participated in the spring session. Passed unanimously.

Action items:

Eva: send around the New York Time anonymous op-ed article
Mittie: look into Transition US Emergency Preparedness workshop and report
Mittie: email Om Circle sign ups to check for interest in H & S/helping with Om Circle.
Mittie & Susan: meet to combine rosters.
Susan: email founders about recreating Founder’s Page on the website.
Maya: invite Nathen Lester to bring his suicide prevention workshop to our next development session. Let Eva know if that date doesn’t work for him.

Next meeting:

September 19^th, 3 PM at Mittie & Greg’s home. Suicide prevention development session. Maya facilitating.
October 3^rd and 17^th are the dates for the for the following H & S meetings.

H & S Minutes 6.6.18

Place: Mittie & Greg’s – Present: Jillian, Susan, Jen, Greg, Karen, Kathy, Eva, Maya, Mittie

Facilitator: Maya Minutes Taker: Mittie

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie – $21 collected, $34 reimbursed to Jillian for 50 zine copies, $32 balance

Team Reports: Deferred until next business meeting

Action Items:

Jillian to send out summer reading list
Eva to forward New Yorker article
Check posting places and re-post as needed.
See New Business for OM Circle assignments

Old Business: Former Action Items

Distribution of flyers accomplished. We will re-check posting places and refresh as needed.
Mittie sent press release to Susan.
Susan mailed the Om Circle flyer to TJT and posted to TJT website.
Mittie is working on contacting someone to play bowls along the path. Karen provided contact information for a second source.
Greg will contact Abe re: smudging.
Jillian brought whiteboard for Om Circle Schedule.
OM Circle Action Items listed below as New Business.

New Business:

Project Group Reports: OM Circle Event, June 21, 2018 at 7:00

Arrival time for set-up: 6:00
Susan to bring TJT items for table: Sign-in sheets on clipboard, TJT banner, TJT cards, zines, donations jar
Susan to get canopy from Joe and bring to OM Circle. Eva offered space in her car.
Mittie to get Enterprise cups from Susan and bring
Eva to bring folding table, cooler, and water vessels (and canopy?)
Greg and Mittie to bring whiteboard and markers, 2 card tables,
Karen to bring cooler
Everybody – Please bring folding chairs, if you have them.
Food: Susan – fruit/grapes, Eva – cheese & crackers, Jen – tabouli, M&G – hummus & pita chips
Roles at event: Kathy & Eva at entrance, Susan & Arwen along path, Greg & Abe on path turn to Medicine Wheel, Mittie with Karen S. in Circle.

Summary of Development Session

Preparatory to the development session, Jillian sent a short reading assignment. Jillian and Eva facilitated a discussion on personal experiences of unearned disadvantage and advantage. Jillian will send a reading assignment for the summer so we may continue the topic in the fall.
Link to Ta Nehisi Coates article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Next Meetings:

Next meeting: July and August – pot luck/movie events TBA. Regular meetings will resume in September on 1^st and 3^rd Wednesdays, 9/5 and 9/19 Facilitator: Maya. Location to be determined.

Parking Lot: Transition US Emergency Preparedness project

H & S Minutes 6.6.18

Place: Mittie & Greg’s – Present: Jillian, Susan, Jen, Greg, Karen, Kathy, Eva, Maya, Mittie

Facilitator: Maya Minutes Taker: Mittie

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie – $21 collected, $34 reimbursed to Jillian for 50 zine copies, $32 balance

Team Reports: Deferred until next business meeting

Action Items:

Jillian to send out summer reading list
Eva to forward New Yorker article
Check posting places and re-post as needed.
See New Business for OM Circle assignments

Old Business: Former Action Items

Distribution of flyers accomplished. We will re-check posting places and refresh as needed.
Mittie sent press release to Susan.
Susan mailed the Om Circle flyer to TJT and posted to TJT website.
Mittie is working on contacting someone to play bowls along the path. Karen provided contact information for a second source.
Greg will contact Abe re: smudging.
Jillian brought whiteboard for Om Circle Schedule.
OM Circle Action Items listed below as New Business.

New Business:

Project Group Reports: OM Circle Event, June 21, 2018 at 7:00

Arrival time for set-up: 6:00
Susan to bring TJT items for table: Sign-in sheets on clipboard, TJT banner, TJT cards, zines, donations jar
Susan to get canopy from Joe and bring to OM Circle. Eva offered space in her car.
Mittie to get Enterprise cups from Susan and bring
Eva to bring folding table, cooler, and water vessels (and canopy?)
Greg and Mittie to bring whiteboard and markers, 2 card tables,
Karen to bring cooler
Everybody – Please bring folding chairs, if you have them.
Food: Susan – fruit/grapes, Eva – cheese & crackers, Jen – tabouli, M&G – hummus & pita chips
Roles at event: Kathy & Eva at entrance, Susan & Arwen along path, Greg & Abe on path turn to Medicine Wheel, Mittie with Karen S. in Circle.

Summary of Development Session

Preparatory to the development session, Jillian sent a short reading assignment. Jillian and Eva facilitated a discussion on personal experiences of unearned disadvantage and advantage. Jillian will send a reading assignment for the summer so we may continue the topic in the fall.
Link to Ta Nehisi Coates article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Next Meetings:

July and August – pot luck/movie events TBA.
Regular meetings will resume in September on 1^st and 3^rd Wednesdays, 9/5 and 9/19 Facilitator: Maya. Location to be determined.

Parking Lot: Transition US Emergency Preparedness project

H & S Minutes 5.16.18

Place: Mittie and Greg’s Present: Jillian, Eva, Karen, Mittie, Greg

Facilitator: Eva Minutes Taker: Karen

Treasurer’s Report: after payout to Robin for tent and Abe for Medicine Wheel = $31, following collection today = $44

Team and Project Group Reports: none

Old Business: Former Action Items – Mittie and Eva, regarding OM Circle

Tour of Medicine Wheel
Discussion of physical layout and timing
Decided to define roles and ask for volunteers at June 6 meeting
Explanation of Abe’s offerings and rules
See list of action items to bring OM Circle up to speed
Passed out flyers (Eva will bring receipt to June 6 meeting). Flyers will be distributed as follows:
- Karen – Wonder Valley and 29 Palms
- Mittie and Greg – Yucca Valley and Morongo Valley
- Jillian – Dhamma Dena, CMCC and CMC
- Eva, Susan and Maya – Joshua Tree (Karen took flyers to give to Maya and Susan)

New Business: Edit H&S Zine again

Bhramari Breath tinker/wordsmith for Zine
print 50 zines – H&S agrees to pay Jillian back for cost

Action Items:

Robin to send photos to Susan
Susan meets with Martín regarding website
Ongoing Action Items-
- Susan will bring TJT banner to OM Circle
- All – update Distribution of flyers List to keep everyone current
- Greg – connect with Abe regarding helping smudging, possible bottleneck at Medicine Wheel
- Jillian – brings White board and markers to next meeting, June 6
- Greg – to write up a schedule for OM circle without times
- Mittie – Press release to Susan today
- Mittie – Timing schedule to Karen Soriano
- Eva – send timing schedule to H&S
- Jillian – connects Doug with Mittie in order to locate Tobi to play bowls at OM
- Karen, Eva, Mittie – bring coolers to Medicine Wheel
- Jillian and Eva – discuss ongoing development article for June 6

Reflections on the Meeting: Honor ourselves for pulling together the meeting from a “last minute” stance and finish in 1 hour 10 min.

Next Meeting: Mittie and Greg’s June 6. Maya facilitates meeting. Eva facilitates development session with Jillian.

H & S Minutes 5-2-18

Place: Susan’s

Present: Maya, Eva, Joseph, Jillian, Karen, Mittie, Susan, Greg, Kathy, Robin

Facilitator: Maya Minutes Taker: Robin

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie – $26 collected, $13 to CC, $221 balance, $65 reimbursed to Robin for shade cover purchased for Earth Day.

Team Reports:

Permaculture/Water – Joe

One meeting held with a large group. Items discussed were Education component, Wicking bed workshops, (brochure coming), Tim at Harrison House, May 26th Composting Toilet workshop at 6610 Park Blvd, 8a-10a. Joseph will use shade cover for an event and become caretaker of cover.

Enterprise – Susan

Items discussed were Hi Desert article about food program, May 20th is next food program (50 Shades of Salad) Jen to hold a kombucha event, garden at the Methodist Church, Maz Amar pottery in Pioneer Town has a display of pots used as a fundraiser for TJT.

CC – Susan

July 8th General Membership Meeting. Looking at Team US sheets for Water Project, Joe and Doug heading up. CC is meeting on a regular basis. Robin new rep from H&S with Susan as substitute. Need suggestions for social for all of TJT.

Action Items:

Eva send to Susan names gathered on Earth Day sign up list
Robin send pictures to Susan
Susan gets refresher on website
Susan calling Abe for Om circle event
Susan bringing TJT banner for Om circle event

Old Business:

Project Group Reports:

Mittie – Om Circle event looking at Wind Walker Medicine Wheel for location. Karen to do press release. Event will be June 21st at 7pm. Eva was added to the committee. Discussions of music, food, lighting, sage, timing, singing bowls for entry path. Greg volunteered to help with sage, Maya doing poster.
Mittie – Banner will become a fall sewing circle activity
Meetings to remain on the 1st and 3rd of each month.

New Business

Summer Schedule: July and August will suspend regular meetings and instead will hold a pot luck/movie event each month.
Jillian and Eva Discussion of next steps in development on “Diversity and Inclusion” vs “Justice and Equity” debrief from last meeting, agreed Jillian will send a reading assignment for the summer so we may continue the topic in the fall. Jillian will send a short reading assignment for discussion during the next May 16th Business Meeting.

Next Meetings:

Next meeting on May 16th was changed to a business meeting facilitated by Eva and to be held at Mittie’s. Om Circle planning.
June 6th Meeting will be a development session discussing the reading assignment from Jillian in order to continue discussion of the Diversity and Inclusion project. Maya will facilitate the meeting and Eva will facilitate the development session. Location to be determined.
June 20th Meeting cancelled.

H & S Minutes 4-4-18

Place: Susan’s

Present: Jillian, Laurie, Greg, Susan, Karen, Jen, Kathy, Jill, Robin, Maya, Eva, Mittie

Facilitator: Susan Minutes Taker: Mittie

Treasurer’s Report: $25 collected, $12 to CC, $208 balance

Summary of Development Session: ’Diversity and Inclusion’ vs. ‘Justice and Equity’

It was noted that the meeting was held on the 50^th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination.
Participants received a handout with examples contrasting “diversity and inclusion” with “justice and equity”, based on a 2017 article by Dr. Dafina-Lazerus Stewart entitled “Colleges need a language shift, but not the one you think”:
- Diversity asks: “Who’s in the room?” Equity responds: “Who is trying to get in the room but can’t? Whose presence in the room is under constant threat of erasure?
- Inclusion asks: “Have everyone’s ideas been heard?” Justice responds: “Whose ideas won’t be taken as seriously because they aren’t in the majority?”
- Diversity asks: “How many more of [pick your minoritized identity] group do we have this year than last?” Equity responds, “What conditions have we created that maintain certain groups as the perpetual majority here?”
- Inclusion asks: “Is this environment safe for everyone to feel like they belong?” Justice challenges: “Whose safety is being sacrificed and minimized to allow others to be comfortable maintaining dehumanizing views?”
Participants did individual reflections followed by group work where they discussed what these questions meant to them personally and in relation to H&S.

Decision taken: For the month of May we will meet on the 1^st and 3^rd Wednesdays rather than the 2^nd and 4^th.

Next Meeting: May 2, 2018, 3:00 at Susan’s, Facilitator: Maya

Agenda items:

Report from Om Circle committee
Report from Banner committee
One hour to discuss of next steps in development on ‘Diversity and inclusion’ vs. ‘Justice and Equity’

H&S MINUTES – 3/14/18 Business Meeting

Place: Susan’s Present: Susan, Mittie, Greg, Robin, Maya

Facilitator: Maya Minutes Taker: Robin

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie Last balance $183, $8 collected, $4 to CC, $4 to treasury, $9 reimbursed for flyers, Current balance $178

Team Reports:

Enterprise Team – Susan

Upcoming Italian JT Local Food Program on 3/25
Water Education Day 1pm on 3/25
Wicking Beds Workshop 4/8

Water Team – Susan

Water Team is now part of the Permaculture Team. Their $100 treasury was given to the Permaculture Team.

CC Council – Susan

Quarterly meeting on 3/18. There was a write up in paper for the meeting.
Transition Streets project discussed. Part “3” Water suggested for our area w/home schoolers. May start in fall with a small stipend.
Sponsoring a movie called “Abundant Land” to show on Earth Day…screening 3 times.
Council needs a social
Next CC meeting will be Wednesday 3/21 with Susan and Robin attending.
Posters to be posted around town for Quarterly meeting.
H&S team to host Quarterly meeting.

Action Items:

Robin to email sign up for Earth Day table times (people needed from 9-2), and a list of items to bring
Mittie will post on Instagram for Quarterly Meeting.
Mittie will look at Enterprise banner at Quarterly meeting and request their help.
Susan and Mittie to finish up New Member Manual.
Group members to hang posters for Quarterly Meeting
Susan to forward contact information for retreat center to Robin.
Susan will forward contact information for Karen Soriano to Mittie.
Mittie will check with Karen Tracy for dates for Om Circle
Susan will write agenda for Quarterly Meeting.
Susan will contact Team leaders to bring Aim and read at Quarterly Meeting.
Mittie will bring Messy Truth info to Quarterly Meeting for table.
Eva will work on email list.
Susan will be facilitator at the CC Meeting.

Old Business:

Banner Project. Mittie reported needing a ball park cost and concern about expense. Tabled for next meeting, after considering Enterprise banner and possible guidance from that team and sewing circle.
Maya discussed change of meeting days. Possibly can change to 1st and 3rd Wednesday.
Susan discussed plan for Quarterly meeting.
Mittie discussed Om circle location and dates.
Maya made FB event for the Quarterly Meeting.
Zine was reviewed for final printing.

Next Meeting: March 28^th, Development Session at Susan’s. Maya to facilitate. Jillian will do Part 2 on Inclusion and Diversity.

H&S Minutes – Business Meeting 2.14.2018

Place: Mittie & Greg’s

Present: Greg, Maya, Eva, Jillian, Susan, Robin, Janet, Mittie, Kelsey

Facilitator: Greg Minutes Taker: Maya

Treasurer’s Report: $8 out for banner fabric samples. $16 collected, $8 to CC, $175 balance.

Team Reports:

Permaculture/Water – Janet: Contour Swale workshop was amazing. 22 people showed up and Damian was great.
Enterprise – Susan: Mazamar pottery shop has implemented an ongoing fundraiser for food program, e-team will continue to help them with their Empty Bowls events. Methodist demonstration garden is switching to wicking beds and will have a workshop to build the wicking beds.
CC – Janet: no meeting yet (see action items)

Action Items (include member’s name):

Janet will contact Joe to schedule next CC meeting
Janet will contact Isaiah and Manuela re coconut coir
Maya and Susan will meet to plan next quarterly meeting
Mittie will contact “that t-shirt place” to explore banner options and pricing
Maya will send Jillian Starhawk’s group grounding
Everyone email Mittie with any suggestions for Om Circle locations
Robin will coordinate Earth day booth
Susan will look up cheerful disclaimer to check for consistency with H&S zine
Jillian will update zine based on team feedback
Eva and Mittie will update new member packet
Eva will update new member/email policy based on team feedback

Old Business:

Project Group Reports:
- Messy truth -Susan: project taking 6 weeks off to allow for some major life events
- Banner committee met, presented mock-up and fabric samples. Options discussed.
- Zine feedback discussed.
Reports on Other Action Items:
- Eva to discuss possible development session of ‘reflective question and group intention creating’ with Kathy -pending

New Business:

Team voted yes to approve basic banner design.
Possible development session of movie night; not unanimously desired.
Development session led by Jillian on inclusion and diversity
Proposal to word membership policy thus: “Visitors are welcome to attend meetings, after two meetings are invited to join the team.” Joining team means: on the mailing list, right to vote, new member packet, and a buddy if desired. Team voted yes.
Robin and Mittie are Om circle committee

Parking lot: for Next business Meeting:

Discuss Om circle locations.
Webpage update
Transitions t-shirt sign-up
Development session idea: inner relationship focusing

Next Meeting: Feb 28, 3pm at Susan’s. Development session “Inclusion and diversity” led by Jillian. Eva Facilitates

H&S MINUTES 1.24.18

Place: Janet’s

Present: Susan, Robin, Mittie, Greg, Maya, Jillian, Janet, Annie, Karen, Eva, Laurie

Facilitator: Greg & Mittie

Minutes Taker: Maya

Treasurer’s Report: $175, $9 to CC

Team Reports

Permaculture/Water: Janet reported TJT water team is joining permaculture team and they’ll work together on the food forest at the JTRC. Team is also working with Enterprise on the demonstration garden at the methodist church, has an upcoming mesquite processing workshop, and a contour swale building workshop.
Enterprise: Earth day booth has been secured.
CC: no recent meeting

Action Items:

Eva to correct minutes from last meeting (Karen/Kathy name confusion)
Susan will ask Joe (water group) if H&S should take over organizing next quarterly meeting.
Maya will email transition US and tell them to list TJT website.
Janet, Greg & Mittie are the H&S banner making committee and will make banner

Old Business:

Update of email list policy -Eva, Susan & Karen
- Karen & Eva met & drafted email policy based on required attendance & participation of members in order to remain on H&S mailing list. Draft to be discussed at next business meeting.

Project group reports

Messy truth update -Susan will meet with Dave Beruman soon
Janet to raise skill sharing event and next CC meeting -pending

Report on action items:

Maya updated materials checklist for H&S table, will email it to team.
Jillian drafted H&S zine, we loved it, will discuss at next business meeting and Laurie will help Jillian with zine language.
Eva to talk with Kathy re development session on setting intention. -Pending
Mittie emailed elevator speeches and researched Transition Town alternative names (see development session notes).
Members researched alternative names for H&S. (see development session notes)

New Business

Voted to add the tag line “Tools for Personal and Group Regeneration” to Heart & Soul name.

Development session -Possible Heart & Soul name change -Facilitated by Mittie

History of the name discussed, members’ transition town research & brainstorming shared. Identity and positioning statements discussed.

Next Meeting: 2/14/18, 3:00, Greg & Mittie’s house, Facilitated by Greg)

Agenda items for next meeting (business meeting):

Review membership/email policy
Discuss H&S zine made by Jillian

H&S MINUTES 1.11.18

Place: Janet’s House / Present: Maya, Eva M, Mittie, Greg, Jillian, Janet, Karen, Susan

Facilitator: Maya / Minute Taker: Janet

Treasurer’s Report: $166.00 (after expenses for art and Retreat tip); $8 to CC

Team Project Group Reports:

Water Team –needs to join Permaculture for quorum until it regroups.
Enterprise Team – working with Permaculture to establish wicking beds for growing vegies at Methodist Church
Permaculture Team – upcoming compost tea workshop at Damien’s 1/13/18. Have met with JT Retreat people who want Permies to install demonstration food forests on Retreat site. There are lots of ideas for workshops and field trips – open to public.
CC – received presentation from member of collective at Garths (Boulder Gardens) who wish to establish eco/art village. They welcome input from Transition.

Action Items:

Janet to raise subject of Skill Sharing event at next CC meeting
Maya to make H&S table checklist.
Jillian to create Mini-Booklet for table.
Eva to talk with Kathy re development session on setting intention.
Mittie to look at other Transition Town alternative names for H&S.
Members to research alternative names for H&S.
Mittie to email collected elevator speeches to all members
Eva, Susan and Karen to generate policy re email list.

Old Business:

More Messy Truth: film Make America Dinner Again; per Eva date to be announced
H&S Table – Death Café materials could be used as template. Jillian printed bold H&S sign. Suggested “Ask Us About” list for members manning table. Suggested “mini-booklet” for take away (see Action Item).
Retreat – Positive. Discussion on “setting intention”. (see Action Item).
Updating Email – See Action Item.

New Business:

Name Change – Various opinions as to quality of present name, but vote taken to pursue looking for a possible improvement.
Earth Day Table – Saturday, April 22. Manuela and Jennifer (Enterprise) are in charge. H&S to participate (members rotate every 2 hours).
Karen requests members to attend Wednesday 2/21 6:30 meeting at JT Water District to support water rate raises.
Next Meeting – Development Meeting, Jan 24, 2018, 3 pm – 5 pm at Janet’s. We will discuss changing our name and outreach activities.

H & S Minutes 10.11.17

Place: Mittie and Greg’s / Present: Maya, Eva M, Mittie, Greg, Jillian, Janet, Karen

Facilitator: Maya / Minute Taker: Janet

Treasurer’s Report: $179.00 (after $50 to Retreat Center plus $10); $10 to CC

Team Project Group Reports:

Permaculture – Discussion of Janet’s issues with the team.

Old Business:

Messy Truth: film Make America Dinner Again; per Eva date to be announced
H&S Table needs work. Mittie showed very nice large collage. Other suggestions: a Binder, some extra signs with a few terms, Julia has easel for collage, brochure

Action Items:

Janet to raise subject of Skill Sharing event at next CC meeting.
Jillian to make signs for H&S table.
Maya to make H&S table checklist.
Eva to facilitate discussion on next Agenda – What does it mean to be a member of H&S—relates to email list.

New Business:

Email list needs updating. No decision until further discussion.

Parking Lot:

Create H&S brochure after Retreat.

Next meeting: Wednesday, October 25^th (3:00 – 5:00) at Mittie and Gregg’s (Development).

H & S Minutes 9.24.17

Place: Susan’s House

Present: Susan, Maya, Eva M, Jill, Mittie, Greg, Jillian, Janet

Facilitator: Susan / Minute Taker: Janet

Treasurer’s Report: $229 (H&S); $20 (CC)

Team Project Group Reports:

CC (Janet reporting): Eva M. has decided not to be a CC rep from the H&S Team. It was Janet’s first meeting. Very informal—only three attendees. Joe has connection with Terry Taylor at the High Desert Retreat Center. They have new management and new more open policy to the community. They are offering free meeting spaces. Our next quarterly could be there. The next CC meeting will be held there, and the CC will have a tour. It is contemplating opening that tour to a larger group—to be determined. The Retreat Center is open to being site of the demonstration “Six Plants Food Garden.” CC discussed last potluck. Need better organization to bring in new members—better team tables for some. Would be better to have more structure—team reports and occasional business. Also Eva M-type games would be welcome.

Old Business:

Messy Truth: Dave has doodle poll out for the next meeting date. Group will be watching Accidental Courtesy, a documentary on a black musician making friends with KKK members. Everyone welcome.

Action Items:

Janet to raise subject of Skill Sharing event to next CC meeting.
Jill to send email to H&S an inspiring video about Trump supporters meeting Black Lives Matter activists.

Debrief of General Meeting:

Heart and Soul Table could use some work. Janet missed hearing team reports. Maya felt cramped in that space. There was no Water Team table. Jillian liked the space and format , but thought it could have improved traffic flow. There was one signup sheet for all groups. Water Group is hosting next General Meeting.

Next meetings: Wednesdays 11^th and 25^th (3:00 – 5:00) at Mittie and Greg’s house

Development Session:

Jillian led the group in an exploration of remembering their first experience with prejudice using reflective listening techniques. Very successful development session.

Parking Lot:

H&S presence at the next General meeting on the next agenda.

H & S Minutes 9.10.17

Place: Mittie & Greg’s / Present: Jillian, Susan, Karen, Jill, Greg, Janet, Eva, Laurie

Facilitator: Jill / Minutes Taker: Greg

Treasurer’s Report: No treasurer’s report but $13 dues were collected

Aim & Agreements – Eva

Norms – Jillian, being on time helps to be in the present.

Announcements:

Janet – would like to read her paper on “My Weird Joshua Tree”. It was agreed to expedite the meeting to make time.

Old Business:

Our Table at next General Meeting, 9/24, 6-8 will display several items that highlight the diversity and relevance of H&S.
It was agreed that our next development meeting will be on Social justice prepared and presented by Jillian.
Susan will facilitate our next meeting filling in for Maya who will then get the awesome experience of facilitating H&S meetings.
There was no Messy Truth team report as Dave was unable to may the meeting.
The H&S Retreat was decided to be one day on Dec 10 or 3. Susan will review doodle results to determine favorite.
Eva and Janet stepped up to take over from Greg representing H&S on the CC. Greg will back up if needed.
We will continue to meet on Sunday afternoons at 1:00.
Karen observed that the Om Circle was a huge success but a larger team of about 5 would allow for following the event prep check list. We missed the opportunity for attendee follow up, maximizing benefit to H&S growth. Karen pretty much carried the load this time.

New Business

Jillian questioned if the National Night Out was something that we wanted for JT. It was suggested that maybe a Skill Sharing Festival, a Repair Cafe or a Time Bank event might be a better fit. This might be more appropriately sponsored by the CC.
Janet read her treatise on her weird experiences in JT, which stimulated much discussion & interest. Options suggested were:
Group experiment in visioning manifestations
Group Development Session led by Janet
Janet run with her passion with a nucleus of interest and support from H&S individuals, but not under the H&S/TJT label

Action Items

Eva and Janet – will propose to the CC a CC organized skill sharing event
Susan, double check the doodle and get the best Sunday date for the retreat.
Susan, contact CC about next meeting date and get that information to Eva & Janet

Next Meeting: Sunday, September 24^th at Susan’s; Time 1:00 pm.

H & S Minutes 7.29.17

Place: Eva’s / Present: Jillian, Susan, Karen, Mittie, Greg, Janet, Eva, Laurie

Facilitator: Jillian / Minutes Taker: Eva

Treasurer’s Report: No treasurer’s report and no dues were collected

(This was a brief meeting prior to a potluck and social time.)

Announcements:

Janet – has an idea for an event and will do a mini presentation about it. Karen will work with her on it.
Jillian – will not be available for meetings on Wed, Thurs, and Fri, after mid August.
Eva – did some editing of the H&S manual and will send it to Susan, Mittie and Greg for input.
Susan – asked about Greg’s role as H&S rep on the CC. Greg would like to have someone else take it on, but will continue till we find a replacement.

Retreat Planning:

Jillian had prepared some questions and topics for discussion:

Should we have a sub-committee / project team to work on this, especially the logistics – venue, facilitator, accessibility, etc? We decided this was a good idea, and Susan, Laurie, and Greg volunteered to be on it. We also decided hold it in early December and Jillian volunteered o send out a Doodle to find out which weekend would work best.
What things/topics do we want to cover at the retreat – such as new member orientation, expectation of members, our vision for H&S for us as members, TJT, the community? Here is what we came up with:
What are the unspoken norms and forms of gatekeeping that stop people joining H&S or that are keeping people in H&S?
I’d like to see us grow, to recruit, to have new members with lots of sub-committees, being really active, and thinking about how we bring people in.
Revisit the vision for H&S (aim, norms, decision-making, expectations, goals, etc.)
Most of the people find their way to H&S as friends of friends – other ways to bring people in? We need a “hook”.
Have enjoyable events where people can get to know us (e.g., Death Cafe, Om Circle)
Is the name off-putting? Do we want to change it?
What are the expectations for group members, both philosophical (e.g., commitment to personal growth) and practical (e.g., attending meetings, rotating responsibilities)
What expectations do new members come in with?
Revisiting our decision-making process
Revisiting and developing a conflict-resolution process, both internally and to share with TJT and beyond
Welcoming disruption because it helps us reflect on ourselves and consider our work
How do we handle conflict in our group? How can we do it better?

Next Meeting: Sunday, September 10^th at Susan’s; 1- 3 pm

H & S Minutes 6.23.17

Place: Susan’s / Present: Beth, Eva, Greg Janet, Jillian, Karen, Mittie, Susan

Facilitator: Jillian / Minutes Taker: Eva / Aim and Norms: Beth / Centering: Susan

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie – took in $16, $8 goes to CC. Current balance – $160

Team and Project Group Reports

Enterprise: Susan – Italian dinner, this Sunday needs volunteers to help
Permaculture: Susan – Damian is doing a water assessment at a member’s home. All invited.
Water: no report
CC: Martin prefers payment in the form of gift cards for local businesses. Joe will talk with him regarding changing tagline from “sustainable” to “regenerative”.

Old Business:

Reports on Action Items:
- Image for website: Jill – Flame image is up, Hands image is completed and available, but needs a bigger conversation with all H&S members as to whether it is representative of our group.
- New member packet: Eva – Jesse gave Eva a text format that can be revised. Mittie and Eva will add the revised forms and do some minor clean up prior to our July meeting. Major revisions will wait till after our fall retreat (see below under New Business).
- Om circle checklist:
  - Water dispenser (Mittie and Greg)
  - Tablecloths (Mittie and Greg)
  - Hospitality table – Mittie spoke with Sampatti.
  - Enterprise team reusable water cups (Susan)
  - Distribute flyers (everyone)
  - Bring donation jar (Karen)
  - Monitor donation jar before, during, and after event (Mittie and Greg)
  - Holiday lights (Susan and Mittie)
  - Bring finger food (everyone)
  - Four people to arrive at 5:45pm – Janet, MIttie, Greg, Karen
  - Rest to arrive at 6:30pm – Susan, Doug, Jillian

New Business:

Summer Meetings – We decided to hold one in July and one in August, which will be part business and part social.
The development session stimulated a discussion about the need for a team retreat, and it was decided to talk further about this during the business portion of our July meeting.
Janet has a pitch for something she is interested in the team doing. She will share it in the business portion of our July meeting.
Jillian would like to rotate out of facilitating, but agreed to do the next one as it is a follow up to the last two. Beth wants to take on facilitating and would like Jillian to mentor her. Janet would also like to facilitate and wants “training”.

Summary of Development Session: Jillian had put the results from last meeting’s question (“How do I feel about my role in H&S, and how do I feel about how H&S works with other TJT teams and the broader community?”) on a flip chart and went over them with us. She also posted charts with our Aim, our Services, the 4 Agreements, our Norms and our Decision Making Process, so that we could keep them in mind during the development session. Jillian asked us to think about what unspoken norms might be present in our group, which we need to make more explicit, and to be aware that what is inclusive for some might not feel so welcoming for others.

She then guided us through a paired listening exercise using 2 questions:

Think of a moment when you felt you didn’t belong / had a sense of disconnect and distance from H&S.
Think of a time when you felt connected and a sense of belonging to H&S.

The following are some of the questions that emerged during our discussion afterwards, resulting in an awareness of the need to revisit who we are; what we are about; what it means to be an H&S member; what our core values are. This led to the idea of having a daylong team retreat, most likely in the fall.

How are new members brought into H&S? Do they come as friends of friends or on their own?
What does it mean to be an H&S member?
Do we share a core value of commitment to our individual development, as well as a commitment to the growth of H&S and our role in the community?
What behaviors define membership, e.g. attendance, participation?

Reflections on the Meeting: very valuable, insightful and timely.

Next Meeting – Combo of Business and Potluck: July 29, at Eva’s, Jillian to facilitate. The business portion of the meeting will begin at 6 pm (indoors). We will move outdoors when it cools off, for a potluck and socializing. Please arrive by 5:45 so we can begin promptly at 6.

H & S Minutes 6.9.17

Place: Janet’s / Facilitator: Jillian / Minutes Taker: Beth

Present: Laurie, Greg, Mittie, Jill, Karen, Jillian, Susan, Janet, Eva, Maya, Beth

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie reports $32 collected today, $16 to Coordinating Council. $320 currently in H&S Budget.

TEAM AND PROJECT GROUP REPORTS:

Enterprise Team: Susan reported the team will meet this week
Permaculture: Jill reported that they are planning a development session to be held the last Wednesday in June (6/28) at Mary M.’s house to repair some water issues there. The team will have a business meeting soon. Also, the team is looking at redesigning the garden behind the Methodist church.
Water Team: Susan reports the team is meeting in the courtyard behind Pie for the People, who have been generously donating pizza to the team for the meeting. This team is talking about the issue of Cadiz.
Coordinating Council: Greg reports he has 2 points to take to next CC meeting: 1) re-posting the founder’s page to the website and 2) paying Martin for his time in working on the website.

OLD BUSINESS:

OM Circle: Karen reported on planning for the event. Posters and hand bills have been printed. Eva shared that Going Postal did a great job and were great to work with. Printing cost was $32.33. Everyone was invited to distribute the promotion materials, starting with the handbills this week, then posters next week. Be sure to check back and restock as needed. *PLEASE SEE ACTION POINTS
Website Updates: Jillian sent line drawings to Jill; Jill will review.

ACTION ITEMS:

OM Circle action points:
- Mittie and Greg to bring large water dispenser
- Mittie and Laurie will bring tablecloths
- Laurie will check in with Sampati about hosting the hospitality table
- Susan to borrow / bring the non-disposable cups from the Enterprise Team
- Greg will check in with Jesse about distributing flyers
- Karen has the donation jar
- Mittie will monitor donation jar; Greg will lock it in the trunk of the car during the medicine wheel ceremony
- Susan and Mittie (and anyone else who has them) will bring holiday lights for extra outdoor lighting
- Everyone: please bring finger foods
- Everyone: please arrive between 5:45 and 6:30.
- NEED a few people to arrive at 5:45 to help with set up.
Prep for next meeting:
- Eva will bring easel
- Jillian will bring flip chart
- Eva will send out “New Member Handbook” to team
- Karen will send out link to Google Drive
All: look at Summer schedule (who is in town? Who will be out of town? what events or meetings are coming up?)

DEVELOPMENT SESSION SUMMARY:

Topic: the health of the team: Jillian led the group in an exercise and discussion. We will continue discussion in next meeting,

REFLECTIONS ON THE MEETING:

Good meeting, feeling hopeful, excited, looking forward to next meeting.

NEXT MEETING: June 23, 9:00 to 11:00 am at Susan’s. Jillian will facilitate.

H & S Minutes 5/26/17

Place: Susan’s / Facilitator: Susan / Minutes Taker: Beth

Present: Susan, Karen, Dave, Laurie, Janet, Jill, Jesse, Gregg, Eva, Jillian, Beth.

Treasurer’s Report: $21 was collected. Gregg will take to Mittie (50% to CC.).

TEAM REPORTS:

Enterprise: Susan reported the team hosted a successful dinner with support from the Thai restaurant. It was brought to attention that an email was sent out requesting help with the dinner. Only 3 people responded.
- REQUEST: please respond (yes or no) to emails, even if you are unable to help.
Permaculture: Dave reports the quarterly meeting has been postponed to September.
Water: Susan shared Joe’s report that this team is meeting in the space behind Pie for the People now, and find that it is easier to outreach to people and bring new people into the group in this type of public space.
Coordinating Council: Gregg reported the CC met on Wednesday, and are discussing the possibility of having a social event in Summer, in lieu of quarterly meeting.

PROJECT REPORTS:

OM Circle: Karen shared updates on this project. Flyers have been created. Medicine Wheel requested. Budget was discussed.
Website: Susan & Beth presented 4 images to choose from. The most popular image is being modified by Jill G. and the flaming heart is going up temporarily to add color to the landing page.

OLD BUSINESS

See Project Reports, above.

PROPOSALS AND DECISIONS

Proposal made to add selected image to website now; vote was 10 in favor, 1 abstention.

ACTION ITEMS:

REQUEST: everyone please respond to emails, especially requests for help from team members.
Gregg: make formal proposal to CC re 1) ok to reinstate founder’s page on website? And, 2) is the CC willing to match H&S funds ($50?) to be given to Martin for work done on website?
Karen: send Eva file with OM Circle promotions (poster)
Eva: research pricing to find less expensive vendor (Vista Print, Going Postal, etc.)
Jill: work with graphics for new H&S website image
ALL: if you have specific suggestions for the new website images, please forward to Jill before she starts work on the image
Susan: add image of burning heart to webpage now, as a place holder
Jillian: do line drawing of many hands image and send to Jill

DEVELOPMENT SESSION SUMMARY

Eva and Jill led us in an exercise in emptiness and deep listening as inspired by Scott Peck. The group broke into teams of 2, and each person was to talk for 2 / 3/ 5 minutes while the other person simply listened. No reflective listening, no response, simply listen. Participants shared that being heard in this way was a deep and powerful experience for them.

REFLECTIONS ON MEETING: participants appreciated the candor in this meeting, and appreciated the listening exercise. This helps us develop our communication skills.

NEXT MEETINGS: June 9^th and June 23^rd (note: date change) Location: Janet’s, Facilitator: Jillian. **Agenda points for next meeting:

Discuss further adding founder’s page to website and paying Martin for his work on the website
Follow up on discussion about how decisions are made

H & S Minutes 5.5.17

Place: Janet’s / Present: Beth, Eva, Janet, Jesse, Jillian, Karen, Laurie, Maya, Sampatti, Susan

Facilitator: Jillian / Minutes Taker: Eva / Norms: Karen

Treasurer’s Report: None. $26 taken in – $13 to CC (Janet keeping for Mittie)

Team and Project Group Reports

Enterprise – put on the last Quarterly meeting. Business aspect of the team is flourishing. They are hooking up with the Permaculture group to have a booth at a June 4 event in Palm Springs.
Permaculture – had a field trip to Buck’s.
Water – asked the CC if TJT could sign on to a letter for the Interior Dept. protesting the Cadiz project. The letter is from a coalition of environmental organizations. CC agreed.
Coordinating Council (CC)
- The CC wants to get permission from the teams to change ‘sustainable’ to ‘regenerative’ in the TJT slogan. Creating resilient & regenerative Mojave Desert Communities.
- The CC is going to create a new banner using natural materials rather than the plastic one we currently have.
- Louis is asking to return to the P-Team. P-Team facilitator was updated on the situation and a plan was formulated to handle the situation. CC is supporting the P-Team and H & S has been informed they may be needed.
- CC has $182 in their treasury.

Old Business:

Report on Action Items
- Eva still needs to revise template for our business meeting agenda

Website: Karen – Web site out of date. Front page needs new image and be more inviting. It has been very challenging for Karen to work on this alone. A project team was created to work on this – Susan, Jesse, Laurie, Beth? We brainstormed image/graphics for the front page:
- Images of non-specific/non-recognizable people in nature/in harmonious relation with the planet
- Images of H&S team being a group, doing group event/activity, conveying heart energy
- Images of heart
- Symbolism that captures the H&S aim
- Word-based graphic element using H&S aim statement
- Static image(s) with words/phrases from H&S aim statement overlain/moving across screen
- Hire a local artist to design something
- Images of circles/regeneration

We all need to check out the images that have been uploaded to Google Drive.

Link: TJT H & S Team – Google Drive

We need a budget to work with Martin on the website – waiting to hear back from the CC on this.

OM Circle Event: Karen – This will be the 5^th. Location at Abe’s Medicine Wheel. Cost is $100. Contacted Karen Soriano to see if she will lead again. Waiting for her answer.

New Business:

Debrief of Quarterly Meeting – Attendance was lower than expected, but it was a great meeting. The format was different and gave people a chance to connect with each other – lots of cross-fertilization, very informative. Evidence of how much TJT has developed and matured.
Discussed our principle of starting our meetings on time. Beth proposed that we arrive a quarter of an hour before the start time in order to settle in, and we voted to try it. (see revised agenda).

Action Items:

Eva – carry over – revise business meeting agenda: times and order of team reports.
Eva – revise our contact list to include new member, Laurie, and correct spelling for “Toccata”.
All of us check out our web page on the TJT site, and also look at images on the Google Drive, and send your impressions to Jessie ASAP.
Greg – Report on where CC s with a budget for working with Martin on our website.
Messy Truth Project Team – send out any prep for the next meeting.

Next Meeting: May 26, at Susan’s. Arrive between 8:45 and 8:55 am

H & S Minutes 4.21.17

Place: Janet’s / Present: Jesse, Susan, Janet, Jillian, Dave, Karen, Greg, Mittie

Facilitator: Jillian / Minutes Taker: Karen

Treasurer’s Report: $14 taken in, $7 to CC, total now $280

Team and Project Group Reports (Include name of group and reporting member.):

Enterprise-Susan-Soap felting, example shared, next Sunday is monthly LFG dinner, this month is Indian food and produce giveaway
Permaculture-Dave- Recent business meeting planned field trips and tours
Water-who?-met recently in patio at Pie For The People, no direct report
CC-meeting will be next Wednesday-Earth Day booth will be set up beginning 7:30 Saturday

Old Business:

OM Circle-Karen- Report on site visit to Medicine Wheel. Om Circle location is not to be published. For privacy, the flyer for the event (Tami) will not show address – “call for location”
H&S Web page design-Karen-photo or graphic undecided-options shown on Google Drive page are varied but decision still in the future-possibly a picture of Janet’s garden?
Founders’ Page- Greg to confirm at upcoming CC meeting- this action item to carry over to next business meeting
What We Do: Access this document: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B96J2w9RQENCQkRlQ2FCYmh5bzg and fill in what you would like to be available to discuss at the next Quarterly Meeting, luncheon, 4/30, 11am, YMCC. Send your results to Susan.

Action Items:

Jill-carryover from previous meeting-was going to collect T-shirts for silk screening
Eva-revise meeting template to reflect CC meeting report last, also a carryover
Everyone-consult ‘What We Do’ and get back to Susan which Tool of Transformation you will be available to discuss at Quarterly meeting. Deadline ASAP-meeting Sunday 4/30

Summary of Development Session: 2 Mini-Development Teaching Moments

“Messy Truth” subcommittee-Dave-met to write AIM. AIM contains words like process, respectful, non-confrontational and safe. Safe became a word of discussion in the larger H&S group. Template for the eventual process will be rent a room at YVCC. 18 people present with 6 from subcommittee. Looking for 12 from community, likely places to look: Service Clubs, Toastmasters, Religious leaders. Seeking balance. May show Van Jones clips to get started.
Bridging Global Crises by Coming Into Consciousness-Jillian-Jillian presented many familiar ideas within the context of her profession background. Looking to integrate her skills into H&S, she developed a short activity. Dividing into 2 groups we used large format to put big pens to paper to draw the challenges as they may be perceived in a growing and serving context. Words to stimulate social justice representations: Music, Environment, Feminism, Anti-racism, Youth and Union Organizing, Mindfulness, White Privilege, Racial Movements with White Allies, Peak Fossil Fuel, PERMACULTURE, Sustainability.

Reflections on the Meeting: “infinite corrections”, “to be continued”, “deeper version of self”, “great resource”, “deeper connection to here”, “a focus for positivity in a synchronous way in my life”

Next Meetings:

May 5 at Janet’s Business Meeting
May 19 at Susan’s Development Meeting

H & S Minutes 4.7.17

Place: Mittie & Greg’s / Present: Eva, Susan, Janet, Karen, Jill, Dave, Jillian, Greg, Jesse

Facilitator: Jillian / Minutes Taker: Karen

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie – $25 total taken in-$12 to CC-H&S balance=$273

Team and Project Group Reports (Include name of group and reporting member.):

Enterprise: Susan

Tee Shirts Custom made for TJT-silk screen with logo and Transition tag line. More information about obtaining your own coming soon
Makers’ Market for those with creative ideas-maybe a brick/mortar maybe an online shop
Next meeting-Soap felting Wed. 19^th
Next Local Food Give-away: Indian food date?
Enterprise hosts next Quarterly Meeting April 30-Lunch-Team Tabling to explain Team activities-each Team member may chose a passion and be ready to converse, educate fellow TJT members about that passion-action item to create list-Eva(?)

PermaCulture: Dave – Business Meeting worked on welcoming and organizing new members and new member packets. Also organizing work projects in members’ yards trading PDC knowledge for labor

Water: Susan – Water Is Life demonstration at Hwy 62 x Park weekly. Tour of HDWD behind the scenes to learn water district workings

CC: – Nothing to report that has not been covered in Team reports – Some mention of Water Ed. Day in Yucca Valley and TJT participation

Old Business:

Website: H&S page now has no photo at all. Need to select something appropriate. Send .jpg’s of something that will be representative of H&S to Karen. She will create one email for circulation and deciding what will represent us online

H&S email list: remove Bernard’s email address from all future emails

New Business:

Discussion of Dave’s proposal: it now has a sub-committee: Jill, Eva, Dave (lead) Susan, Mittie, Greg following a unanimous vote: We agree this general bringing-together is 100% in agreement with our AIM. Sub-committee meeting to be scheduled via Doodle tasked to Dave
Jesse brings to H&S the geographical limits of TJT stating that we should not be limited to Morongo Basin but should extend to Coachella Valley. As explained by Jill, this was an early topic in Initiating Group. Permaculture is the basis of Transition; permaculture is bounded by biological, ecological, water drainage boundaries. Jesse encouraged to make connections as he finds appropriate.
Jillian brings to H&S a very brief discussion of possible development session embracing many groups which demonstrate leadership and justice. She proposes that we use focused listening and amplifying their values. Proposal to bring this back next meeting folded into developmental session workup.
OM Circle: Date tentatively set July 7. Site suggested, Abe Daniels’ Medicine Wheel. $100 charge confirmed with Abe. Next: site visit with committee: Karen, Susan, Mittie

Proposals and Decisions

Eva and Jill proposed and amended an idea to prepare us for Quarterly Meeting. Each team member will select a topic to teach other TJT members thereby carrying their passion to the group. Eva will compile a list, and send to Susan, which she will circulate. Deadline April 17
Dave proposes content of next development session be a split learning session on Jillian’s idea and Dave’s proposal with report back from his new sub-committee

Action Items:

Karen: gather and circulate photos/jpg’s for image on H&S webpage
Greg: make certain CC is onboard with Founders’ page on website coming back online
Susan: Check on Jillian and Dave not receiving gmail general emails
Jillian: list Action Items in the text of next meeting’s Agenda
Jesse: recirculate to H&S Google drive location for picture storage
Dave: bring back to group results of his committee meeting decisions
Eva: revise meeting template to reflect CC meeting will report last to eliminate duplicate reports
Eva will compile a list of things we do: events, development topics, projects.

Reflections on the Meeting: “cranking” “fixing hearts” “great role models” “a new energy”

Next Meeting: Janet’s April 21, 2017 9:00-11:00

H & S Draft Minutes 3.17.17

Place: Susan’s / Facilitator: Jillian / Minutes: Susan

Present: Jillian, Maya, Beth, Dave, Karen, Janet, Jill, Susan, Mittie, Greg, Kathy, Eva, Jesse

Treasurer’s report: $260/$12 to CC via Greg

Team & SPG reports:

Water Team is in a restructuring stage. Will be at Water Awareness Day. – Susan
P-Team has Dave B. as a facilitator. Vertical swale workshop at Jill’s on 3.25.17. Isaiah & Manuela & Jill are running the booth for Water Awareness Day. Have divided meetings into business & development using the H & S model. – Dave
E-Team showing the movie Minimalism on the 19^th at Jen’s. Everyone invited.- Susan
CC – no report
Karen encouraged everyone to read the Ken Wilbur booklet, Trump & the Post-Truth It explains the recent election in terms of human evolution, that the course of human development had flaws that needed to be correction. Several people enthusiastically reported finding it useful as well.

Proposals & decisions:

We will continue the discussion regarding the Van Jones video and where we are going with the project of communication across the political divide. A half an hour will be set aside for this at the next business meeting for this.

Action Items:

Susan to email out Jen’s address .
Susan to post H & S meetings on the calendar.
Greg to contact Susan & Kathleen at the Water District about the mixup between Earth Day and Water Awareness Day.

Development Session: Facilitated by Dave. We watched a 10 minute clip of Van Jones interviewing Trump supporters and followed that with a discussion analyzing the techniques Jones used to communicate with his interviewees.

Next Meetings:

April 7^th, 9 to 11, at Greg & Mittie’s. Jillian facilitating. Business meeting
April 21^st, 9 to 11, at Janet’s. Jillian facilitating. Development meeting.

H&S Minutes 3.3.17

Location: Susan’s house

Present: Greg, Janet, Jill, Karen, Mittie, Eva, Susan, Jillian, Beth, Jesse

Facilitator: Susan / Minutes: Jesse

TREASURER’S REPORT: Mittie – $20 collected, $10 to CC, new total = $247.00

TEAM REPORTS

Water: meeting on March 2 at Buck’s house to observe biofield, et c.
Permaculture: Susan and Jill will facilitate March 3 meeting to get them re-organized
Enterprise: The Joshua Tree Local Food Program (JTLFP) is growing into a community dinner. The JTLFP is a community dinner and food giveaway, everyone is invited to attend and help. E team is researching the establishment of a food coop; a survey is circulating.
CC: new website is a redesign after four years; it is more mobile-friendly.

OLD BUSINESS

Coffee: Susan continued giving coffee away after the last H&S meeting
Reflections on last Development Session (the Van Jones model of talking/listening to alienated parties). Perhaps talking to each other is the solution. H&S could offer it to the community when we are good at it.
Ken Wilbur has a long new essay regarding his theory that we are in period of evolutionary adjustment. Karen and Susan are forming an ad hoc committee to study this for a future Development Session. (See action items, below.)

NEW BUSINESS

March 26, (Sunday) – Water Day at JBWD garden. Hundreds of people will attend. Permanculture and Water teams are committed to this event. H&S is invited to help get the public more involved.
April 22 – Earth Day
Food Coop – E Team continues collecting survey responses.
State of the H&S Team – H&S does a lot of good for personal and organizational development, but is often relatively invisible. There is a lack of clarity in the community of our role, and also of the mission of TJT (and Transition movement) as a whole. New H&S members need more help getting “up to speed” with TJT and H&S.

DECISIONS MADE

H&S will make a $50 donation for Martín’s work on website
Ad hoc committee to study Ken Wilbur formed by Karen and Susan. H&S members may join the study by contacting Susan

ACTION ITEMS:

TJT Website:
- Susan is to get the minutes and services back up on the H&S web page, and will ask Martin to link our “Next Meeting” info to the TJT calendar.
- Refresh the selection of photos (photos should suggest no connection with particular religions)
  The agenda of the next Business Meeting should seek a decision on the kinds of photos – people or generic emblem, or….
- For CC consideration: Bring back the “Founders” page to honor the legacy with photos and biographies.
- Greg will suggest to CC that it make a grant matching H&S $50 donation to Martin for the website design.
- Greg will ask other CC representatives if their teams would want to donate to Martin.
- Development session: Susan will email the Ken Wilbur essay. Let Susan know if you want to join their ad hoc committee to study this document.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

March 26 (Sunday) – Water Education Day at JBWD garden
April 1 (Saturday) – Glen has an art show at Taylor’s Junction in JT (next to yoga studio)
April 1 (Saturday) Harvest day at Cahuilla Tewanet Overlook on the Palms to Pines Highway (Hwy. 74). (Details at http://www.malkimuseum.org)
April 8 (Saturday) Feast at Malki Museum in Banning. $10 per person. Their website recommends reservation at (951) 849-7289. See malkimuseum.org/agaveharvest&roast.htm
April 22 (Saturday) – Earth Day event in Yucca Valley
April 22 (Saturday) MBCA landscape tours
May 14 (Sunday) (Mothers Day) Harrison House global day of art making and conservation honoring (Lou Harrison’s 100th birthday)

Next meeting: Susan’s house, March 3 (Friday) 9am to 11am. Jillian facilitating.

*****

H & S Minutes 2.20.17

Place: Susan’s house / Facilitator: Mittie / Minutes taker: Jill

Present: Karen, Sampatti, Jesse, Beth, Mittie, Greg, Susan, Eva, Dave, Jill

Treasurer: Mittie – report: $24 collected; $12 to CC via Greg; new total $237

Team & SPG reports: None given at this meeting.

Old business:

Debrief on TJT General Meeting
Impressed by responses and management of exercises
Better time management
Might be better to go back to idea of Observer being time keeper
Forgot to assign team for next General Meeting, but Enterprise knows it’s up
People who volunteer to arrive early for set up need to do so
Triad feedback, general agreement that it was very informative and worthwhile
Dave’s Van Jones Proposal, continued discussion
Crux is finding willing people
VJ very skilled
We all watch the videos together first
Further discussion moved to next meeting – 30 minutes allotted

New business:

Susan’s coffee
Time for it to go away. Everyone take some home.

Development Session:

We continued our Reflective Listening Practice

Decisions made:

Discussion of the Van Jones idea continued to next meeting. 30 minutes allotted
Meetings will now be on the First and Third Friday of each month. We will try morning breakfast potlucks before the meetings and see how that goes.

Action items:

Jill sends Dave’s Links to all in the Minutes. Scroll to end of these Minutes.
All- watch Van Jones video clips.

Reflections on the meeting: The meeting was dynamic and pushed us forward in our development.

Next meeting:

Susan’s house, 62126 Canterbury Street (corner of Sunburst and Canterbury), Joshua Tree, March 3 (Friday). 8:30am to 9am will be a potluck breakfast. 9am to 11am will be the meeting. People who can’t make it for breakfast can come at 9am for the meeting.

Susan will facilitate.

Van Jones Links:

Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=495aCpj6PEI
Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Cm7pPR9Ng
Episode 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFX3Mrm_hTs

*****

Minutes H & S 2.4.17

Place: Mittie & Greg’s / Facilitator: Greg / Minutes taker: Susan

Present: Mittie, Dave, Greg, Susan, Karen, Jillian, Beth, Eva, Jesse

Treasurer’s report: $37 collected; $18 to CC via Greg; new total $225

Team & SPG reports:

Water Team is planning the coming year
E-Team is running the Time Bank, studying a co-op, working on reskilling events
CC is working with Martin to redesign the website
P-Team not having meetings currently

Old business:

Quarterly Membership Meeting – roles and duties assigned, see action items.
Practiced reflective listening in triads

New business:

Dave addressed the Team proposing that we work with Van Jones ideas’ about talking to Trump people, and discussed how that might look. No decision made, discussion ongoing.

Decisions made:

Beth to do Triangulation exercise at the General meeting.
Jesse will help with timing at the general meeting.
Discussion of the Van Jones idea continued.

Action items:

All- watch Van Jones video clips.
Eva – resend Van Jones video clips.
Eva – bring agenda on a flipchart to General Meeting
Susan – bring coffee & tea, sign in sheets and quorum forms to General Meeting
Jillian – work with Beth on Triangulation exercise

Reflections on the meeting: The meeting was dynamic and pushed us forward in our development.

Next meeting: Susan’s house. February 20^th from 3:30 to 5:30. Mittie to facilitate.

*****

H & S Minutes 1.18.17

Place: Susan’s home. Present: Jillian, Susan, Kit, Mittie, Eva, Greg, Karen, Jesse

Facilitator: Jillian/ Minutes: Susan

Treasurer’s report: $75 sent to YMCC by Mittie, $199 balance. Today’s receipts $13, $6 sent to CC via Greg. New balance: $206

Team & project group reports:

Karen Tracy of the Citizen’s Advisory Council for the water district invited us all to the next meeting of that group the 2^nd Tuesday in March @ 6PM.

Old business:

Team building activities for the General Meeting will be an ice breaker, ‘Triangulation’ and a Reflective Listening Exercise, which is the foundation for NVC.

New business:

David Berumen Team wants to present a proposal to the H & S team at our next meeting – Eva

Development session:

We worked with the Reflective Listening Exercise that we’ll be presenting at the General Meeting, taking turns doing the three roles: Speaker, Listener & Observer.

Proposals made & decisions taken:

Karen Tracy proposed that we give Kathleen Radnich 10 minutes at the general meeting to talk about the serious situation the JT Water District is in. Approved.
General Membership Meeting roles: Greg to facilitate/ Mittie to take minutes & gather quorum tallies; Karen do centering & give H & S team report/Eva to run Listening Exercise.
David Berumen to present a proposal to H & S at our next meeting. Approved.
Work on the Reflective Listening Exercise at the next H & S meeting. Approved.

Action items:

Karen to let Kathleen Radnich know our decision.
All – send Susan input for the website as Martin is going to revamp the TJT website
Jesse – resend the google link for uploading pictures and sayings for the website.
Eva – reply to Dave and invite him to our next meeting
Susan – put Jillian on the TJT gmail list
Susan – send out doodle calendar to decide new meeting date

Reflections on the meeting: we need more work on NVC. Great facilitation by Jillian.

Next meeting: Saturday, February 4^th, 3 to 5 PM at Mittie & Greg’s. Greg to facilitate.

*****

H & S Minutes 1.4.17

Place: Eva’s home / Present: Eva, Jill, Susan, Jesse, Jillian, Mittie, Greg

Facilitator: Susan / Minutes Taker: Jesse

Treasurer’s Report: $266 in hand at start of the year. $16 received today in individual contributions. $8 to Susan for CC share. $274 now in hand on January 4

Team and Project Group Reports (Include name of group and reporting member.):

Elevator Speech project: Water Team: Mittie and Karen attended their December meeting (which was also the Water Team’s holiday party) and gave presentation on Elevator Speeches
Enterprise Team: H&S will teach Elevator Speech to them on January 15.
CC meets next week
Permaculture Team has been quiet the past month.
Website – Eva has been maintaining the H&S pages on the TJT website, but needs to be relieved of that duty. Eva did agree to continue posting the H&S minutes and routine calendar items. Eva and Susan have been updating some of the forms on the website.

Old Business:

General Membership Meeting – February 12:
Venue – We agreed to give priority to Yucca Mesa Community Center as venue for the meeting. Alternately we would go to Healthy Generations
Quorum – There may be a need for quorum at the General Meeting (if some important business arises).
Meeting Agenda. H&S will use the General Membership meeting for team building and will include group problem-solving exercises as a “mixer.”

New Business:

Susan’s term on CC expires this month.
Day of the Dead – This is planned as a major event, a carnival or cabaret for the larger community. We need a team larger that H&S to make it bloom. We might call this something like Ancestor Appreciation Day or Death Café; “Day of the Dead” already has a strong cultural identity, which H&S does not intend to recreate faithfully.

Proposals and Decisions

Greg volunteers to take over as CC representative
The TJT home page is a blog format, but it remains too static, with little fresh information at the top. The rotation of graphics at the top lists events, and all the info is stale. Susan will suggest to the CC that the rotator should have photos or other graphics which do not need to change frequently. It was suggested that the Outreach group (within H&S team) should take responsibility for H&S web pages. It was suggested that H&S collect beautiful, simple thoughts to be posted prominently near the top of our page(s), and that the items in the rotator be changed frequently. This kind of banner could also convey an open invitation for readers to participate in H&S. H&S may post elevator speeches that are collected in training sessions with TJT Teams.

Action Items:

Mittie will bring materials, including the elevator speeches that were produced at the meetings, to the H&S meeting on January 18
Susan will propose to the CC that TJT pay Martin to spend time on the whole website.
Jesse will create an online repository for H&S to collect photos and other materials for the website or other team uses.
Susan will reserve either YMCC or HG as a venue for the meeting.
Mittie will take quorum forms from the several TJT teams at the General Membership Meeting and do the math to see if we have a quorum of establishing quorum at the general meeting.
Susan will create a flyer and press release for promoting the General Membership meeting
Eva, Jillian and Susan will prepare a program for General Meeting team-building exercises
Mention the carnival at the General Membership meeting
H&S Member Manual – Jesse will edit an update of the manual. Mittie will send electronic version of current manual to Jesse, Jill and Jillian, newest members of H&S. Eva and Mittie will work with Jesse on the update with current documents – Aim statement, agenda template, et c.
H&S members will collect beautiful, simple thoughts to be posted prominently near the top of our page, and changed frequently.
Debrief of NVC session at H&S meeting of December 14, 2016
There is a need for us to practice of NVC more than once per month. Eva is available weekly for role playing work. These meetings will start after the H&S meeting on January 18.

Next Meeting: January 18, 3:00 to 5:00 at Susan’s

*****

H&S Minutes 12.14.16

Place: Mittie and Greg’s / Present: Debbie, Eva, Greg, Jesse, Jill, Jillian, Karen, Kathy, Mittie, Sampati, Susan

Facilitator: Eva / Minutes Taker: Jillian

Treasurer’s Report: Collected $21, gave $10 to CC, kept $11 for H&S. bringing current balance to $266

A delicious potluck was enjoyed by all.

Decisions Made: It was proposed and agreed that at future meetings the centering exercise would be the first agenda item.

Development Session: The remainder of the meeting was devoted to practicing Non-Violent Communication:

Discussion of how best to do role plays to support and deepen practice
Selection of a scenario that several different pairs then enacted
Discussion of what was successful, what was challenging.
Some key ideas discussed included:
- the goal is not to persuade but to connect;
- identifying and naming the feelings that the other person is experiencing
- putting one’s own feelings aside to enable empathy with the other person;
- letting go of an attachment to changing someone’s mind.

Next meeting: Wed, January 4, 3-5pm, at Eva’s. Susan facilitating

H & S Minutes 11.30.16

Place: Mittie & Greg’s / Present: Jillian, Eva, Ramona, Jesse, Karen, Jill, Mittie, Greg, Sampatti, C, Susan

Facilitator: Mittie / Minutes: Susan

Treasurer’s report: Mittie – $16 to CC (plus $7 from previous meeting), current total: $255

New Business: This was C’s last meeting. She turned over her contact list from the Outreach Group to Mittie and donated a $200 gift certificate from Unique Nursery to Susan for the use by JTLFP.

Action Items:

Eva will facilitate the NVC charades at our next meeting
Everyone bring situations that we can explore with NVC
Everyone invite guests who are interested in NVC

Summary of the Development Session: NVC, presented by Eva & Karen

The Rosenberg model was reviewed.

Two parts: expressing honestly & listening empathetically
Four components: observation, feelings, needs/values, requests

We then reviewed Basic Pitfalls of Using NVC by Miki Kashtan, which addresses the difficulty of using NVC language in real life situations and the fact that it is really a shift in consciousness that needs to happen to make NVC work. We used feelings & needs cards to get more adept at recognizing and separating feelings and needs. We ended with a fishbowl practice about using NVC in difficult situations.

Next meeting: Holiday Celebration Potluck, December 14^th, 1 PM at MIttie & Greg’s. NVC 2.0 charade game will be the theme of the party.

H & S Minutes 11.9.16

Place: C’s / Present: Eva, Karen, Kathy, Mittie, Greg, Jillian, C

Facilitator: Greg / Minutes: C

Treasurer’s report: Mittie – $14 dues collected, $7 to CC, $239 now in treasury

Eva inserted “for” into the last minutes, and they were approved.

Action Items:

Eva and Karen will prepare a development session for November 30^th meeting.

Decisions Made:

Karen and Mittie will co-facilitate the next TJT General Meeting, on February 12th. C will work with them to prepare.
Eva will act as a neutral facilitator for that meeting to model the role. She will then propose that as an ongoing role for H&S at the General Meetings.
We will develop an action plan for incorporating new members into TJT.

No Project Group reports

Old Business: Both commas were removed from the Aim statement

New Business: We shared thoughts and feelings about the Nov.8^th election.

Next meeting: November 30^th 3:00-5:00, at Mittie and Greg’s

H&S Minutes 10.28.16

Place: Eva’s / Present: Greg, Mittie, Eva, C, Susan, Karen / Minutes : Mittie

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie. Took in $13, and gave $6 to the CC. Balance: $232

Team Reports:

Permaculture – No report.
Enterprise – Susan. Due to the holidays, the next Food Program will be in January.
Water – Susan. Water Team to host the General Meeting on November 6.
CC – Susan. There will be a discussion of our donation to Standing Rock, and whether we should develop a policy for making donations. Discussion of the CC’s protocol for keeping in touch with new people who come to the General meetings. Should this be a function of the Outreach sub-group? We agreed that Heart and Soul’s should be “the friendliest group.”

Action Item To Be Completed Before Next Meeting: Everybody to send their elevator speeches to C, indicating whether you’d be willing to present yours at the General Mtg.

Decisions Made: Meeting time changed to 2^nd and 4^th Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00, except in December. (Only one meeting, a potluck, December 14, 1:00-4:00.) Next development session will be Nov 30.

Old Business

Review & revise & approve AIM – Discussion on whether we would like to remove the comma following “way” was tabled.

Development Session: Elevator Speeches. Discussion about developing answers to questions from the public “What is the Heart and Soul Team?” List of buzzwords distributed and discussed. Worked individually on a compact, 30-second version of elevator speech and practiced presenting. Phrases to remember:

How am I going to handle my state?
We are going to need each other in ways we have not in the past
Learn to CARE for each other
Heart & Soul is a place where you can feel embraced
We focus on solutions, not the problems
Learn some skills
Heart & Soul values my values

Next meeting: Nov. 9, 3:00-5 pm at C’s- Facilitator: Greg

H & S Minutes 10.3.16

Place: Susan’s / Present: C, Eva, Greg, Karen, Mittie, Susan

Facilitator: Susan / Minutes Taker: Eva / Norms: Karen

Treasurer’s Report: Mittie – Took in $14, gave $7 to CC, have a balance of $325

Team and Project Group Reports

Enterprise – Susan: The Local Food project is going well. They want to start a food co-op. Death Sisters Special Project Team working on a workshop to teach people how to do their own end of life documents. Penelope is advising.
CC – Susan: They voted to support Standing Rock. The CC will match the donations that each TJT Team gives. Our donation to be designated specifically for food and clothing. Enterprise and Water Teams donated $61 each. We decided to do the same. Joe is writing a draft policy to guide how we will proceed in the future with similar requests. The CC has a cash balance of $702, currently. They need approximately $300 annually to meet expenses. Susan passed around the CC’s financial spread sheet.
Water – Susan: They are hosting the next General Meeting on November 6.

Proposals and Decisions:

Mittie – Proposed H&S Team donate $100 to support Standing Rock. Seconded, passed and given to Susan to take to the CC.
Susan – Proposed creating a subgroup to work on updating our web page. Seconded and passed.

Old Business:

Debriefed last meeting’s Development Session, lead by C and Mittie. Members shared how it has impacted their conversations with people since. We want to develop this into a workshop for the other teams. Note for our workshop design – when working in small groups, we need to emphasize that this is an individual/personal statement.

New Business:

Eva – Revising our Aim, A Flow Experience (minute taker’s perception). We quickly shared and discussed suggestions for revision, and ended up with: We practice and share tools for personal and group transformation, in an authentic and heart centered way that supports community regeneration in a changing world. We decided to reflect on it till our next meeting when we will discuss, revise if needed, and approve.
Susan – H&S web page. We need to update and revise it. She proposed we created a subgroup to work on this and then bring the results back to our whole team. C and Karen volunteered to work with Susan on this.
C volunteered to give our report at the General Meeting
Talked about creating a Day of the Dead Celebration event next year
Future Development Session: The next will be a dry run for the Elevator Speech Workshop. After that – Non-Violent Communication – project team: Greg, Mittie and Eva

Action Items:

Susan, Karen and C will bring their ideas for web updates to our next (business?) meeting
C prepare General Meeting Report

Next Meeting: Was set for Thursday, October 27, 2-4 pm, at Mittie and Greg’s, but since then has been changed to October 28, 2 pm – 4 pm at Eva’s house. Greg is facilitating

Meeting Dates for rest of 2016: Nov 10, Dec 1, and maybe Dec 15.

H&S Minutes 9.19.16

Place: Mittie & Greg’s / Present: Greg, Mittie, Sampati, Norman, Eva, Jesse, C, Susan, Karen

Minutes Taker: Karen / Treasurer: Mittie / Centering: Karen, Bhramari Breath / Norms: Eva

Treasurer’s Report: following Open Space: $296. Today’s Dues, minus CC donation: $318

Agenda Review: Considered adding donations to Stop DAPL in North Dakota as an Agenda item for tonight-Susan would like all comments directed to her via email or phone call instead

Development section: Elevator Speeches.

Discussion about developing answers to questions from the public “What is Transition?” Inspiration came from Open Space and the need to get the word out. List of buzzwords distributed. Worked together and in divided groups to hone an understanding of what’s needed. 30 second and 60 second versions of elevator speech. Begin contextualizing the speech by asking questions. Each person or group’s motivation will vary. Phrases to consider:

How am I going to handle my state?
We are going to need each other in ways we have not in the past
Learn to CARE for each other

New Biz: Next meeting Oct. 3, 5:00 at Susan’s- Susan facilitates-Business meeting-Notice time change for fall/winter

Meeting Evaluation: Everyone had time to express himself or herself.

H & S Minutes 6-27-16

Place: Susan’s / Present: Susan, Karen, Jesse, Greg, Mittie, C, Norman

Facilitator: Karen / Minutes Taker: C

Treasurer’s Report: OS and Healing Circle expenditures $254. Intake from OS and Om Circle $276. $308 currently in treasury.

Team and Project Group Reports: (include name of group and reporting member)

Permaculture: (Norman) July 17^th will sponsor meeting 5:00-8:00 at YM Community Center
Water: (Susan) Movie was a success; Cadiz presentation not so much
Enterprise: (Susan) Food Program and Time Bank ongoing; garden resting for summer
CC: (Susan) $150 donation to Food Program; over $500 in treasury now; Susan and Norman working on updating mailing list; suggestion for public movie nights

Old Business:

Open Space Debrief: Limited public attendance was noted; suggestion that the right people did in fact show up however. Was the Joshua Tree name off-putting? Was the time of year responsible for light attendance? Agreement that for the next OS an Aim Statement must be prepared well ahead of time. Susan will send each possible new team the H&S support packet. C will prepare a “lessons learned” document.
Sound Healing Circle Debrief: 31 attended circle. Karen has now made a Donations jar for all groups to use. A different venue could offer more privacy and safety.

New Business:

New Group Possibly Forming: An Alliances/Outreach/Speakers Bureau interest group, formed at OS, will meet on 6-29 to pursue methods of increasing TJT communications to all Basin stakeholders.

Action Items:

C will prepare Lessons Learned document for OS and Healing Circle and attach to these minutes.
Mittie will send her list of posting sites to Susan on 6-28.
Karen will send her list of posting sites to Susan on 6-28.
Susan will compile and disseminate comprehensive posting site list ASAP.
Susan will send each possible new team resulting from OS the H&S support packet ASAP.
Norman will respond to Sant about the possible Nature Connection team ASAP.

Parking Lot:

20 minute root chakra meditation
Review H&S Aim and Purpose
Upgrade webpage
Development session

Next Meeting:

July 25^th, 6:30 p.m., at Mittie and Greg’s
Potluck and movie night – “I Am”

H & S Draft Minutes 5.23.16

Location: Paula’s Dome Present: Kit, Mittie, Greg, C, Paula, Eva, Susan, Marilyn (guest)

Facilitator: C & Eva / Minutes: Susan

Treasurer’s report: Current total: $473. Last meeting took in $11 and this meeting $12. $160 in from the CC/TOPS. $70 spent on posters.

Team reports/Old Business:

P-Team is redefining itself. Hands on A frame workshop at their next meeting. -Paula
E-Team hosted the TJT 101-Time Bank. JTLFP is ongoing, donations welcome. -Susan
Water Group is hosting a film at Bobby Fursts in June. Flyer out soon. -Susan
CC report: Donating $150 to JTLFP for doing the food for the open space. Will help set up for OS on Friday, June 10^th. CC is operating smoothly. -Susan
OM Circle is on track and ready to print flyers. -Mittie
OS – see attached report-Susan
Constitutional requirements for the formation of a team, in development – Eva

New business:

Om Circle distribution questions – suggested Tami for Morongo Valley & Bernard for 29 Palms – master posting list in development
Development session based on the Transition US telenar The Power of Conflict for Building Connection & Community soon to be in development – Eva, Susan, C

Action items:

All – bring items for the OS information wall to next meeting, June 6^th.
All- meet at 2:00 on Friday the 10^th at the Center for set up.
Eva -write an elevator speech for OS, key words inner transition; send to all for review
Eva – get feedback on Guidelines for Formation of a Team from Susan/Mittie

Parking lot: reviewing our Aim & H & S’s Purpose, upgrade our webpage; root chakra meditation.

Summary of Development Session: Eva & C developed five questions on the topic of happiness, which we contemplated and then discussed. Much laughter and learning resulted. Key concepts: pickle fairy; Bengali Tea.

Next meeting: Business meeting mostly about OS. 6:30 PM, C’s home, C facilitating.

•••••

H & S Minutes 5.9.16

Facilitator: C.; minutes: Susan; Location: Susan’s

Present: Eva M, Karen, Norman, Paula, C, Susan, Klaus

Centering: Starhawk’s declaration of the four sacred things; Air, Fire, Water, Earth

Treasurer’s report: $11, C is holding until the treasurer’s return

Team & project group reports:

Permaculture –re-centering & brainstorming
Enterprise – TJT 101, opening time bank to the public; next JTLFP is Sunday the 22^nd, 5 PM at the Methodist Church.
CC – Jennifer is the info wall coordinator for the Open Space; we rec’d money from TOPS fund from CC, $160, treasurer has it.

Old Business:

OM Circle: flyer done; press release in to Communication Director; need to get flyer’s printed
Open Space: see attached report. Mittie – welcome; Eva – ice breaker; Into to TJT- CC decide; Over view of the day & Explanation of the OS Process – Jill.

New Business:

Discussed that more care needs to be taken when someone volunteers so that people do not feel dismissed

Action Items:

Susan: check on OM Circle printing dates.
Karen: look for list of flyer posting places in the area.
Eva: look for information on how teams are formed for OS Event
Post flyers for OS in Joshua Tree
C: post flyers in Yucca Valley

Development session: Movie Happy

Next Meeting: 5.23.16 at Pauls’s Dome – Development Session to be led by C and Eva

•••••

H & S Minutes 4.25.16

Place: Susan’s

Present: Susan, Greg, Mittie, Norman, Karen, C, Paula, Eva

Facilitator: Greg Minutes Taker: Mittie

Treasurer’s Report: $446 + $12 collected – $6 to CC and $20 to Tami = $432

Team and Project Group Reports: (Include name of group and reporting member.):

Permaculture – Paula requested help de-briefing the most recent Permaculture meeting, facilitated by her, at which a longstanding conflict within the team was resolved by removing a member from the team for a period of six months. Paula and Norman will capture their learning from the Permaculture experience. Heart and Soul will explore ways we can support teams in being prepared to deal with difficult members in the future; these might include structuring norms, determining consequences for inappropriate behavior, writing a contract to define behavioral expectations. Norman reported that the Earth Day and Water Education Day events were very successful. In particular, the events garnered lots of new names of people interested in TJT.
Enterprise – Susan: Enterprise will host the next Transition 101 on May 22 at the Center for Healthy Generations, noon – 2pm. They will make a presentation on the Time Bank and will open it to the public.
Coordinating Committee – Norman and Susan: The CC has committed to provide manpower and financial support for the Open Space.

Proposals and Decisions: (Include name of person who made the proposal, if a decision was reached and how. Include dissents if member requests they go on record.)

Karen will act as liaison with Stacey, social media point person for the Open Space event.
Eva proposed that we meet more frequently than every three weeks, in order to stay connected and focused prior to the Open Space event. We decided to meet every two weeks.

Old Business:

Om Circle Planning Report: The date and time have been set for Monday, June 20^th at 7:30pm; the Yucca Mesa Community Center has been reserved. Karen shared Tami’s completed design for the flyer. Susan stated the finished flyer and press release are due to the TJT Communication Director by May 20^th.
Open Space Planning Report & Discussion: Susan distributed handouts outlining the status of planning (indicating the person responsible) and the day’s agenda. (See attached) She asked Karen to be the liaison with Stacey, our social media point person for the event. We discussed what sort of support we might offer to groups at the Open Space, including providing a facilitator and minutes taker for the group’s first meeting, and helping to write an Aim statement and guidelines. We’ll discuss further after confirming the requirements for formation of a Team, as stated in the Constitution.

New Business:

Meeting Schedule – decided to meet every 2 weeks for now.

Action Items: (include completion dates.)

Mittie to forward New Member Handbook file to C.
Susan: Research the requirements for formation of a Team, as stated in the Constitution.
Susan and Norman will take to the CC the requests that (1) representatives take back to their teams the information about what kinds of support will be needed for the Open Space event, and (2) teams provide materials about themselves for the Information Wall.

Parking Lot:

20-minute root chakra meditation
Movie proposals: 2012 Time for Change (Karen), Happy (Norman), I Am (Norman), The Power of the Heart (Norman), Waking Life (Susan), Groundhog Day, Pink Panther, Avatar, Men Who Stare at Goats
Reviewing our Aim and H&S’s purpose
Upgrade our webpage

Attachments: Open Space Agenda, and Open Space Report

Next Meeting: Date: May 9^th,6:00 (Early start time for potluck) / Place: Susan’s / Facilitator: C Type of meeting: potluck and brief (1/2 hour) business meeting before a movie (TBD)

Open Space Agenda 2016

8:30 Coffee
9 AM Start
- Welcome
- Ice Breaker ‘who’s my neighbor?’
- Intro to TJT
- Overview of the day
- Explanation of the OS Process
10:00 Brainstorming
11:00 Round One
12:15 Lunch
1:00 Round Two
2:00 Round Three
3:00 Next Steps
4 PM Closure

Open Space: Where we are @ 4.25.16 – Date: 6.11.16 8:30 AM – 5 PM

Location: Center for Healthy Generations – confirmed
Facilitator (overall): Jill
Flyer: Jill – in process
Agenda: rough draft done Waiting for Jill’s feedback
Food: JTLFP will do this for a donation ($100?) need budget
need money CC has around $180 from TOPS – Susan pick up at next CC meeting
Publicity: Susan (Bernard)
Social media: Stacey
Printing: Susan
Volunteers needed:
- Flyer posting (repeatedly) Eva. Mittie. Karen?
- Signs made for the event: Mittie & Greg
- Typist for the event: Mittie & Paula & ?
- Information wall coordinator: needed
- Slideshow – Eva
- Parking
- Infiltrators
- Set up: Cynthia?
Materials needed at the event:
- Laptops – up to 5. Mittie
- Signage: E-Team, Mittie & Greg’s signs, banner, timeline
- Flipchart Frames: Susan, Eva & Paula
- Flipchart paper: Eva is ordering
- Post its: Eva is ordering.
- Blue tape: needed
- Markers – Everyone who has them
- Nametags: Eva

•••••

H & S Minutes 4.5.16

Place: Greg & Mittie’s

Present: Karen, Eva, Greg, Norman, Susan, Mittie, Ramona, C

Facilitator: Greg Minutes Taker: Mittie

Treasurer’s Report: $436 + $19 – $9 to CC = $446

Team and Project Group Reports: (Include name of group and reporting member.):

Permaculture (Norman): Large presence at Water Education Day at the Joshua Basin Water District on April 3rd. Will also have a booth at Earth Day.
Enterprise (Susan): Hosting Gen. Mtg. on April 10. Time bank will be opening up to the TJT general membership.
Water (Norman): Sponsoring next Transitioin 101 at Sportsman’s Club on 4/13 (?)
CC (Susan): Asking for help updating website. Expanding outreach to new members. (New members to receive a call from a team member in the area of their interest, in addition to being added to TJT mailing list.) editorial comment: this is great idea!

Proposals and Decisions: (Include name of person who made the proposal, if a decision was reached and how. Include dissents if member requests they go on record.)

Eva proposed acceptance of the Om Circle committee’s recommendations: Om Circle to be held on Monday, June 20^th, led by Karen Soriano, at Yucca Mesa Community Center – rental of YMCC $80. Snacks to be provided by Heart & Soul. A large portion of the proceeds from the donation jar will go to the facilitator, Karen Soriano. The proposal was seconded and approved.
Meeting planned for Thursday, April 7 is cancelled.

Old Business:

Om Circle Committee report
Open Space Planning: June 11 & 12 at the Center for Healthy Generations. Susan has volunteered to serve as the Event Planner, mentored by Boxo. Stacy is on-board as social media person. Jill Giegerich is available to contribute to the planning and execution of the event.

New Business:

Eva presented a new minutes format for discussion.
H&S report at General Meeting on April 10th — to be presented by Mittie

Action Items: (include completion dates.)

Karen Tracy to ask Tami to design the Om Circle flyer.
Susan to send the TJT Communications timeline to the Om Circle Committee.
Eva to send Open Space documents to Susan.
Susan to brief Paula on tonight’s meeting.
Eva will sync the Agenda and Minutes forms and send out.
Everybody to bring movies and program suggestions to our next meeting.

Parking Lot:

Facilitation workshop in the fall
Body mapping workshop for the community
Reviewing our aim and H&S’s purpose

Next Meeting: Date: April 25^th, 6:30 – 8:30 Place: Susan’s Facilitator: Greg

•••••

H & S Minutes 3.14.16

Present: Mittie, Paula, Greg, Bernard, Susan, Norman, Karen

Minutes: Susan Facilitator: Greg

Treasury report: Mittie/ + $16. $8 to CC. New total $436

Team Reports:

Permaculture – Supporting the HH Water harvesting workshop, re-did their guidelines (norms), participating in Water Education Day & Earth day.
E- Team – Time bank is up and running, General Meeting is scheduled.
Water Team – no one to report

H & S Brainstorming session on new direction & and new meeting format: Inspired by Greg’s summary of what H & S does, it was decided that our outreach was what needed to be focused on at this point. Ideas included: OM Circle, Death Café, Speaker’s Bureau, Celebrations such as socials, Integratron Sound Bath, Contra dancing parties and etc.; body mapping, facilitator training, NVC, change cafes.

Karen pointed out that we don’t really have enough people to implement these programs, that we need to grow and that the open space is what is really needed now.

Decisions Made:

If the CC will assist, H & S will take the lead in putting on an Open Space in June.
H & S meetings to be 3 weeks apart as more time will be spent on special project groups to get more community action going.

New Business: tabled – Transition 101, elevator speeches, update website plan

Action Items:

Susan (and Norman) to ask CC to back an Open Space this spring. H & S can offer a facilitator, find the event space & date, and run the event. PR (beyond the norm) & an event coordinator are needed.
Susan to get Ramona in touch with Mittie to help with OM Circle
Mittie & Greg to check calendars for a date in June, and see if Healthy Generations can give us the space we need.
Mittie & Karen to set up OM Circles

Next meeting: Monday, April 4^th, 6:30, Susan’s house, Greg to facilitate.

Parking lot: rework Aim, Transition 101, elevator speeches, update the website plan.

•••••

H & S Minutes – 2.22.16

Present: Tami, Bernard, Susan, Paula, Mittie, Greg

Facilitator: Greg

Minutes Taker: Mittie

Treasurer: Mittie

Centering Exercise – Susan

Reading of the Norms/Personal Reflection – Boxo

Treasurer’s Report: Additions: $16 dues + $14 donations from the General meeting;

Subtractions: $8 to the Co-ordinating Council; New Total: $428.00

Decisions Made: Our next meeting will be a brainstorming session on what we want Heart and Soul to look like.

Old Business: Reminder about Transition 101 on Wednesday, March 2

Development Session: Tami led a development session on Michael Ruiz’s book The Four Agreements, explaining that they are the four agreements we make with ourselves in order to live with ease and integrity. Agreements from fear are enervating, costing us energy. Agreements that come from love create energy and are empowering. The four agreements are:

“Be impeccable with your word.” (This refers no just to keeping your word, but also to the choice of your words, since words have the capacity to “create a spell”.)
“Don’t take anything personally.” (Understand that “All men do their best,” and all people pursue doing good.
“Don’t make assumptions.”
“Always do your best.” (This is the only agreement that is an actionable practice. The other three are the spiritual work of noticing, becoming self-aware.

Tami distributed a packet of questions about ways in which we have or might apply the agreements. Each attendant chose one agreement to examine, using the questions, and we shared our findings.

Action Items: This will be a Business Meeting. Please send items to Greg to put on the planning agenda.

Reflections: Tami expressed a need to devote more time to her business. We wished her well and will be happy to see her when she can attend.

Next meeting: Monday, March 14^th, 6:00 to 8:00 at Susan’s House Facilitator: Greg

•••••

H&S Minutes 2.8.16

Present: Eva M, Susan, Karen, Tami, Mittie, Greg, Paula

Treasurer report: Tami reported a total of $406; $8 went to the CC. Mittie was elected the new treasurer. Thank you Tami for all your work!

Old Business:

Mittie brought a couple of copies of the new member handbook. We can send it electronically to new members and also pick a buddy to sit down with the person and review it.

New Business:

Updating the website – Our website page is out-of-date. Susan can post the new handbook; Eva M has a picture from the Quarterly meeting Susan can post

It was tabled to the next business meeting to form a sub-committee for changing the website. Greg volunteered and we hope Bernard will be interested too. Susan can post, but needs to get direction about what to post.

Susan asked for someone to volunteer to post the minutes and Eva M said she could. Susan will teach her how.

Susan passed out the Transition 101 tentative flyer and schedule for the first event. It is an “Introduction to TJT” with a guest speaker – NPCA’s Seth Shteir. The title refers to a series of outreach speaking events that the CC special project group on local environmental issues is hosting. The idea of the project is to introduce people to TJT as we found out at the last General Meeting that people are finding it difficult to get into our organization. The CC special project team is hosting the first one featuring Seth as a speaker. Hopefully members from each team will join this special project group. It was proposed and passed that H&S supports it in principle and we are interested in participating. Susan will inform the CC.

There’s a “Desert Peace Symposium” schedule for Feb 28^th at 5pm at the Beatnik with 7 speakers. This is presented by Lauren Ell of the Hidesert. Joe Fairbanks is speaking for TJT.

Debrief of the Quarterly meeting:

A few comments were that: it created momentum, context and energy; it was well put together and experiential; positive feedback about 2 people sharing together at the end and then sharing in the group; it helped unify TJT and remind everyone of what we all have in common and all the work we’ve done; helped us remember and tie into the beginning.
Also, the energy was the kind needed to do an Open Space. In discussion it was agreed that H&S by itself not do an Open Space event. A mix of members from all teams is more desirable.
Criticism from the CC is that we didn’t follow agenda protocol so next time we need to remember.
From the process, it’s clear that we need to do more community outreach. The process helped focus the energy on the future. Partnering with the JT Chamber of Commerce is helpful.

Discussion of ideas for new development sessions:

It was agreed Tami would present the 4 Agreements at our next meeting. In March the development session will be led by Greg and involve public speaking, especially motivational elevator speeches.

Reflections:

Eva M announced a hiatus from H&S. Some sadness followed, but also understanding and love.

Action Items:

Eva M send Susan picture(s) from Quarterly meeting.

Susan to teach Eva M how to post minutes.

Susan to inform CC we support Transition 101.

Tami to email Greg (since he is facilitator and agenda writer for the next meeting) detailed instructions to her place.

Next meeting: February 22^nd 6-8pm, at Tami’s Facilitator: Greg Minutes taker: Mittie

•••••

H & S Minutes 1.25.16

Present: Mittie, Greg, Eva, Kathy, Paula, Bernard, Susan

Treasurer’s Report: $20 taken in, given to Mittie for printing & binding. She will give change and receipt to Tami next meeting. New total next meeting.

Decisions Made:

H & S will continue to donate $50 of dues to the Coordinating Council, retroactive.
The treasurer will give an annual report to H & S Team. Date to be determined.

Action Items:

Treasure Map laminated and mounted – Mittie
Print and bind Handbook – Mittie
Retro pay dues to CC – Tami
Re-write Gen Meet Aim nicely

Quarterly Meeting duties:

Facilitator: Susan
Greeters: Paula & Greg
Center us: Paula
Potluck table & start potluck – Tami
Presentation – Eva & Kathy
Quorum – Mittie
H & S report – Mittie
WE NEED SOMEONE TO TAKE MINUTES!

Meeting Aim: To reconnect our members with TJT’s mission in a way that creates a space in which everyone can participate so that our collective energies are focused on our purpose and its value in our community.

Next meeting: February 8^th, at Paula’s Dome, Mittie facilitating. Business meeting.

•••••

H & S Minutes 1.11.16

Present: Eva, Susan, Mittie, Greg, Bernard, Crystal, Luana, Tami

Facilitator: Eva

Minutes: Tami

Treasurer: Tami – paid for YMCC space $75.00, collected $17.00 current total $439.00

Topics discussed:

Debrief Dec 14^th meeting at the Next meeting ( Jan 25)
Susan received a NEW worksheet to determine Quorum at the Water Group meeting. Also, General meetings need a Dinner bell
General Membership Meeting (February 6 or TBD) – Eva & Kathy will do presentation entitled “Important events in Transition that has had an Impact on you”. Includes visual Timeline and transition AIM statement.
General Membership Meeting: Facilitator: Susan, Centering: Paula, Greeters: Luana, Bernard, Table: Tami, , Presentation: Kathy & Eva, Free market table: TBD, Introduction for attendees to include name & group only OR name & visitor.

Action Items:

Bernard & Mittie-( in handbook) to Update to include ‘opportunity for buddy to new member’
Bernard & Mittie- ( in handbook) to Update the minutes template to include ‘parking lot’
Susan to send quorum worksheet to members
Eva to obtain Transition Joshua Tree Statement of Values and circulate
Eva to send out contact information to members
Boxo to order paper for Feb 6^th presentation
Mittie & Tami to finish collage
Eva & Boxo to Develop the Visual timeline for general Meeting
Luana – bring more stickie’s
Eva – bring stickie’s and name tags and markers, bring flipchart and stand.

Next meeting: January 25, 2016 @ 6pm, Location: BoxoHouse

Facilitator: BernardMinutes: Susan

Development Session: Eva, General Meeting AIM and format planning.

Add this to Parking Lot:

1) Revise the AIM statement- Eva

2) 4 Agreements development Session- Tami

•••••

H & S Minutes 12.14.15

Present: Eva, Susan, Paula, Mittie, Greg, Bernard, Crystal, Paula, Luana, Karen, Tami

Facilitator: Paula

Minutes: Susan

Treasurer: Tami – current total $497

Topics discussed:

New member package – add ‘definition of terms’ page, a cheat sheet about what a meeting should look like
Think about the buddy system for new members – table to next meeting
Aim – revise the Aim, discuss Eva’s proposed Aim – table to next meeting
General Membership Meeting

Action Items:

Tami & Crystal check calendars (and YMCC calendar) to pick a date for Gen Meeting at the end of January or beginning of February.
Mittie & Tami to finish collage

Development Session: Treasure Map for a Vision of H & S’s Future – Mittie

The process of change information was interwoven with the treasure mapping process to create a visual image of where H & S has come from and where we are going. Team members word stormed and then image stormed and ended with putting words and images together on a poster board. Project still in process by the end of the meeting.

Next meeting: January 11^th

•••••

H & S Minutes 11.16.15

Present: Crystal, Luana, Kathy, Eva M., Mittie, Susan, Paula, Tami, Greg, Bernard

Facilitator: Mittie

Treasurer: Now holding a balance of $497. Contributions to the Coordinating Council are on hold pending development of a CC budget.

Development session: Eva M led a session on the process of change. The distinction was made between a change event and the transformation that takes place over time following the event. A model for the transformation was discussed and a model of the brains various levels of functioning was also presented. The latter was aimed at unlocking the tools one can use to handle change and to be a contribution to others facing transitions. A possible outcome of the session might be the initiation of discussion groups dealing with change and transition for the TJT community.

Action Items:

Mittie to circulate the draft handbook by Wednesday Nov 18 and to elicit comments via email.
Bring magazines and images/words for treasure mapping exercise to next meeting (see below)

Next Meeting: The next meeting will be on December 14 from 5-8pm and will commence with a potluck. The meeting will be a development session with Mittie leading a treasure mapping exercise focused on where we see Heart & Soul heading in the TJT context. Please bring magazines and images and/or words that represent your aspirations for the H&S team. The meeting will be held at Paula’s dome.

•••••

Minutes H & S 10.26.15

Present: Bernard, Kathy, Eva M., Mittie, Susan & Paula

Facilitator: Mittie

Treasurer: took in $19, (plus $10 from the previous meeting, Susan now holding $29 for Tami.) Tami reports a balance of $445.

Development session: Eva M on Trust based on a system designed by Gloria Bador of San Diego.

Trust has four principles or categories:

Respect – treat others fairly
Openness – share freely
Honesty –truthfulness and integrity
Reliability – do what you say you will do

We went through a series of questions about our relationship with trust and were surprised at our answers. The group wants to look more deeply into this issue.

Action Items:

Announce changed meeting dates for November & December. November 9^th is a Business meeting. November 16^th is a Development Meeting on the stages of change with Eva M. December 7^th is a business meeting. December 14^th is a potluck and Treasure Mapping development session by Mittie.
General Meeting presenters have switched, with Mittie delivering the H & S presentation and Eva M presenting the TOPS report.

•••••

H & S Minutes 10.12.15

Present: Paula, Susan, Mittie & Eva M – quorum established

Facilitator: Mittie, Susan minutes; Eva centered

Treasurer report: Susan temp treasurer. Took in $10. Susan gave Tami the $17 from our last meeting. New total the next time we have our regular treasurer in attendance.

Team reports:

CC is working through difficulties
Water group is hosting the next general meeting
E-Team is working on procedural items, and planning a regular sharing table at general meetings.
Permaculture group – no report
TOPS – everyone shared feelings of disappointment – and relief – about the postponement of the event

Old Business:

Mittie reported that the new member orientation package needs to be put together in a PDF and she’ll do that soon and send it out to us
Susan reported that the ‘quick request’ was updated by Susan and Paula and sent directly to Bernard for inclusion in the new member package.

New Business:

Agenda policy for general meetings (from the CC) discussed in detail by the team. Many simplifications and revisions were noted. See agenda addendum on Agenda Policy.
Guide for Policy Development (from the CC) voted as not necessary at this time as all TJT policies are well written and we’re feeling overly policy-ized.
Scoping boundaries (from CC)- discussed the creation of a special project team made up of members of different teams who keep track and dispense information from other related environmental groups in an efficient and timely manner. Seems like a good idea.
Change in meeting dates for the holiday months: November will be the 9^th & 16th December will be the 7^th & 14^th.
Development session schedule: October 26^th is Trust session- led by Eva. November 9^th business meeting will devote an hour to Treasure Map led by Mittie. November 16^th will be Process of Transition – led by Eva. December development session to be decided.
Tami to be asked if she will present the H & S report at the General Meeting.

Action Items:

Susan- Talk to Tami about representing H & S at the General Meeting and give her more information about the Treasure Map session to develop a group vision for the logo
Susan – present to the CC the idea to make a donation to YMCC to pay their taxes as a community gesture, and perhaps to the Center for Healthy Generations as well.
Susan- change meeting dates on the website and update minutes on the website.
Paula- talk to Tami about the 4 agreement development session.
Mittie – poster board and magazines for Treasure map
Mittie – call Hiroko and invite her to the Trust meeting.
Mittie- send out new membership package to Team members
Eva – scissors, magazines, glue sticks for Treasure Map
Eva – call Penelope and invite her to the Trust meeting.

Reflections: It was a touching and joyful meeting and everyone felt refreshed and rejuvenated. Excellent agenda organization and facilitating by Mittie.

Next meeting: October 26^th, at Mittie’s, 6 to 8 PM. Development session on trust led by Eva.

•••••

H & S Minutes 9.28.15

Present: (at Boxo’s): Bernard, Mittie, Karen, Susan, Eva, Al, Nikki and Paula (Al & Nikki were Workaway guests of Paula’s)

Treasurer’s report: $17 came in and Susan collected to give to Tami who will pass on CC’s share.

Development program: Listened to Transition US audio of Sophy Banks, founder of Heart and Soul teams, called, “Inner Transition for Everyone”. Some of it was difficult to hear because of static. Detailed discussion followed.

Proposed and passed unanimously: Eva to do the next development session on Trust cards.

Parking Lot:

Paula suggested using the 4 Agreements during our reflections: how well did we follow them?
After TOPS & Quarterly meeting—possibly redo Aims
Tami and Paula are both interested in presenting the 4 Agreements.
Eva also could do development on The 3 Levels of Thinking.
Boxo is waiting for more documents to finish a new member’s packet.

Next Meeting: Oct. 12^th 6-8pm, Paula’s Dome

Facilitator: Mittie Minutes: Susan

•••••

H&S Minutes – September 15, 2015

Present: Susan, Eva, Boxo, Mittie, Paula, Tami, Karen

Facilitator: Susan Minutes Taker: Mittie

Treasurer’s Report: Tami: Collected $16.00; gave $13.00 ($5 from last meeting + $8) to CC. Total is $428.00.

Proposals Made & Decisions Taken

We agreed that we will provide services to Transition groups who have agreed to request Heart & Soul services, as opposed to individuals requesting help in dealing with their groups.
Bernard/Mittie will re-present revised orientation packet at next business meeting.
Susan/Paula will revise Heart & Soul Services Quick Request Guide.
We agreed that a Quorum should be established at the beginning of quarterly meetings, in order to determine whether business can be conducted. Susan will take ideas from our discussion back to the CC.
When time is of the essence, we are in favor of the CC being empowered to sign on to environmental letters without the requirement of holding a vote in the Groups.

Action Items

Boxo will email current Norms to the group.
Tami will work on a logo and on packaging for the H&S Handbook.
Susan will email the Starhawk mandala and questions to Boxo.
Susan will get the chart back to Karen.
Eva will research Heart & Soul decisions taken to find the latest versions of requirements of a new team.
Karen will contact Mittie to do the mandala exercise.

Next Meeting: September 29, 2015, 6:15 – 8:15 pm, at Boxo, Facilitator: Mittie, Minutes: Susan

Development Session: Susan will choose a Sophie Banks video on the Transition website. (Will request comments on changing back to 6:00 in email containing the minutes.)

•••••

H & S Minutes 8.10.15

Place: Mittie’s house Those Present: Susan, Hiroko, Mittie, Bernard, Tami, Greg

Facilitator: Susan Minutes Taker: Mittie

Centering Exercise – Mittie

Reading of the Norms/Personal Reflection – Boxo

Treasurer’s Report: $163 for the expenses of the Healing Sound Circle ($50 for the venue, $60 to Karen Soriano, $53 to Oasis for printing), was subtracted from the balance of $462 at the previous meeting. $116 from donations at the Healing Sound Circle was added. Tami collected $10, for a total of $425. (As no representative from the Coordinating Council was present, our customary donation of half ($5) was postponed.

New Business:

Om Circle de-briefing: Everybody enjoyed it. Decision made: A sub-committee will discuss future plans, i.e. frequency, how to lower costs.

H&S Representative to Coordinating Committee needed: Although several people expressed interest, they are unable to attend weekday morning meetings. Action item: Susan will write to the coordinating Committee

Development Session: We listened to the Transition United States webinar on “Building a More Effective Core Team” given by Chris Corrigan, an Art of Hosting practitioner. The Art of Hosting is a set of practices that help us become better participatory core leaders. The core team practice is a collective leadership practice. Focus question: What happens when a group of people host together? One of the key points was his explanation of the difference between facilitating and hosting. Everyone agreed they felt they needed to listen to the webinar a second time. The link to this particular webinar is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR7WFgf9Ulw&feature=youtu.be. There are many other training webinars on the Transition US site: http://transitionus.org/training/past-events.

Next meeting: Monday, September 14^th, 6:30 to 8:30 at Boxo’s House Facilitator: Susan

Action Items: This will be a Business Meeting. Please send items to Susan to put on the planning agenda.

•••••

H & S Potluck Meeting 7 – 20 – 15

Attendees: Mittie, Greg, Susan, Karen, Tami, Paula, Robert, Raoul

New business: We ate, we laughed – a very good time was had by all.

Now then, back to work! Next meeting is August 10th and I’ll offer my house again as a meeting place. Proposed agenda: Listen to the Transition webinar on The Art of Hosting.

Summer hiatus for H & S. Irregular social meetings planned, visitors welcome. Contact Susan Jordan for dates & times. sj@bostonschool.org

•••••

H & S Minutes 6/22/15

Place: Mittie’s Present: Bernard, Karen, Hiroko, Tami, Penelope, Susan, Mittie, Greg, Beth

Facilitator: Tami Minutes: Paula

Treasurer report: In: $23; out to CC: $12; TOTAL $462

Action items to be completed before next meeting:

Penelope will email the completed objectives list to Paula to include with minutes.
Susan will contact YMCC about OM Circle event.
Bernard will cancel with JTRC.
Tami and Susan will communicate about venue and then Tami will redo the flyer.
Beth will write a press release about OM Circle.
Tami and Susan will bring ice and igloo coolers.
Tami will bring the $60 for Karen S to the event.
Tami will do marketing on FB and whatever and show Susan how to post it on FB.
Bernard will create a FB event.
Beth will bring up at CC about communications protocol.
Karen to bring amplifier and mic to quarterly meeting for Bernard to use.
Susan will help write up the quarterly meeting report for Bernard.

Proposals:

Tami moved to give Karen S $60 for OM event. Passed.
Tami proposed Oasis make 20 posters and 150 small flyers. Passed.

Old Business:

Penelope led the continuation of the objective list and we finalized it.
Karen led the OM Circle update—see action items and proposals above.
Susan brought up discussion about communications protocol.
Bernard offered to be the speaker at the quarterly meeting 6/28.
Susan reviewed a new system discussed by CC regarding quorum for quarterly meeting which she sent us by email via Eva S. The CC constitution says 1/3 of voting members at quarterly meeting makes a quorum.
Summer gatherings. Mittie set up two summer sessions: July 20^th at 6:30 a potluck and ice cream social. Aug 10^th at 6:30 a viewing of Transition US film, The Art of Hosting.
Paula and Susan will get together this summer regarding protocol development for team requests for our assistance.
Susan debriefed us on the 3 Death Café series. Last one went OK. Diminishing numbers, so not planning on continuing.
Tami and Mittie will meet regarding setting up a laughter club and bring back to group for discussion/approval.

New Business:

Beth announced she is stepping down from the CC in the fall and H&S needs one or two new CC reps.
Tami is interested in doing a development session on the 4 Agreements sometime.

Tami led a laughter exercise.

We reflected on the meeting.

Next meetings: July 20^th at 6:30 a potluck and ice cream social.

•••••

Heart &Soul Minutes 6. 8. 15

Place: Susan’s house Those Present: Susan, Hiroko, Mittie, Paula, Penelope, Karen, Bernard, Tami

Facilitator: Susan Minutes Taker: Mittie

Treasurer’s Report: $54 added from Death Café; Tami collected $20, gave $10 to CC. Total is $421.00.

Approval of Last Minutes: Approved online; No further discussion

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Susan – Change notice of Om Circle time on website from 7:30 to 8:00.
Beth – Call Karen, who requested assistance with writing the Om Circle flyer
Tami – Talk with Karen on Tuesday about design/production of Om Circle flyer
Bernard – Call Victoria at the Retreat Center, to confirm location of Om Circle
Tami – Send members the link to Dr. Madan Kataria’s Ted talk
Susan – Ask Beth to bring TJT business cards to next meeting to distribute to members
David – Put Transition webinar on thumb drive for presentation at next meeting
Penelope – Amend the outline of Proposed Goals, Objectives, and Strategies to reflect our discussion.
Mittie – Contact facilitator to schedule time at next meeting to discuss “Plan fun summer meeting”

Decisions Made:

Sub-committee formed to develop a welcome/orientation packet and buddy system protocol for mentoring new members. Bernard and Mittie volunteered.
As a follow-up to Tami’s presentation on Laughter Yoga, we will discuss our future use of the Laughter Club information at our final meeting before the summer hiatus. The link for Dr. Kataria’s Ted talk is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=41&v=5hf2umYCKr8
We need a consistent protocol for responding to requests for Heart and Soul assistance. We agreed that Susan will be the initial contact person. Paula and Susan formed a committee to further develop the process.
We agreed that the protocol for publicizing an event through the TJT gmail list should be considered as a part of the new member packet. There is a Heart and Soul calendar on the Transition Joshua Tree website.
The final item on the agenda “Plan summer meetings” was tabled for discussion at the next meeting.

Project Groups’ Reports:

OM Circle Report – Karen requested urgent assistance in overcoming some challenging obstacles and meeting pressing deadlines; Tami, Beth, and Bernard will respond. (See action items) Time changed from 7:30 – 8:00. There will not be a potluck dinner.
CC Report – Beth not present to report
Death Cafe – The next Death Café will take place Sunday, June 14^th at Yucca Mesa Community Center, 6:00 – 8:00. Susan requested a back-up facilitator, in case she can’t get back to town in time. Tami volunteered. Daniella will provide a carrot cake.

Goals, Strategies & Objectives – Penelope presented the detailed outline of Proposed Goals, Objectives and Strategies developed by her, Susan, and Eva. Members received drafts of the outline. Since the time allotted for the presentation was cut short by earlier discussions. discussion of the Strategies for providing development services to other groups, and of Goal 6: Have fun will be continued at the next meeting. Penelope will amend the draft to reflect our discussions, and the amended outline will be entered into the final version of the next minutes.

Next Meeting: Monday, June 22, 2015, 6:15 – 8:15 pm. Changed by email to a planning meeting and Pre-hiatus Potluck. Mittie’s house Facilitator: Tami Minutes: Paula

•••••

H & S Minutes 5.28.16

Present: Bernard, Susan, Eva, Paula, Mittie, Tami, Karen, Penelope, Hiroko

Treasurers report: Previous balance $343. Dues taken: $28 – $14 to CC via Susan. New total: $357

Decisions made:

Move June meeting dates to the 2^nd & 4^th Mondays to accommodate Beth’s schedule

Action Items:

Bernard to let Beth know about date/time change.
Send agenda items to Susan for the next Planning Meeting.

Development session: Process Work with Paula

This development session was introduction to an ‘awareness process using your deepest art to help resolve issues’ (quote from Paula) based on the work of Drs. Amy & Arny Mindell. The process was then applied to an interpersonal situation to demonstrate how to use the model. Much thought and discussion followed during the week. For more information go to http://www.processwork.org and/ or www.aamindell.net

Next Meeting: Planning Meeting, Monday, June 8^th at 6:30 PM at Susan’s. Facilitator: Susan

•••••

H & S Minutes 5-14-15

Present: Bernard, Karen T, Beth, Susan, Eva, Paula, Hiroko, and Matt

Facilitator: Eva

Action Item: Karen to circulate her updated version of the group norms to everyone.

Treasurer’s report: (Bernard for Tami) Took in $19 and $9 to CC; now have $343

Om Circle report: (Karen T)

Date is July 31^st
Karen Soriano is confirmed
Beth, Tami and Bernard will help
May do at JTRC again, but have to wait their OK
Planning on marketing as sound healing

CC report: (Beth)

Kathy J did a development session with them
Worked on norms, but not the “normal” norms; ones for a bigger vision
Did MDLT permaculture blitz
CC meeting with water group next Thursday;
Inhabit movie shown in partnership with Nourishing Tree

Susan’s report:

As communication director she’s on a tech learning curve
Death Café is Sun—need cookies and coffee and volunteers
Question regarding donating to Transition US mainly because of the excellent webinars they produce.

Proposal: Susan proposed H&S make a $35 donation to Transition US. Passed unanimously.

Development Session – Eva:

Regarding previous desire by some for more specificity about what we do as a group, she explain difference between usual mission statement and vision statement and pointed out our Aim covers both. To get more specific, we discussed clarifying goals, objectives and strategies. We started on identifying these and Susan and Eva will continue to expand it. They will bring it back to the group for further discussion at another planning meeting.

Reflections: After playing the “Have you ever” game, we reflected on feeling a “heart and soul” connection during the meeting.

Next meeting: May 28^th, 2015, at Paula’s Dome, Development meeting on Processwork by Paula

Facilitator: Bernard Minutes: Susan

•••••

H & S Minutes 4.23.15

Present: Tami, Paula, Bernard, Mittie, Karen, Susan, Beth, Penelope and Jake the Wonder Dog.

Minutes: Susan

Treasurer’s report: Took in $23. Gave CC $11. Balance of $333.

Development Session: NVC/focus on feelings and needs. Penelope led with a fresh explanation of NVC. Played various needs and feeling games and ended with a successful fishbowl.

Reflections were very positive and Penelope was acknowledged as an excellent presenter.

We also watched Karen’s video speaking in Santa Rosa representing Project Bobcat for the Joshua Tree National Park Association (and us).

Action Items: Everyone send items to Eva to put on the planning agenda.

Next meeting: Planning Meeting. May 14^th, 6:15 to 8:15 at Boxo House

Facilitator: Eva Minutes: Paula

•••••

H&S Minutes 4.9.15

Present: Paula, Susan, Beth, Matt, Eva, Tami, Mittie, Penelope

Facilitator: Susan Minutes Taker: Penelope

Treasurer’s Report: Tami: Collected $24.00; gave $12.00 to CC. Gave $115.00 to Susan for two Death Cafes, and $10.00 for previous Death Café. Total is $321.00.

Proposals Made & Decisions Taken

Om Circle: Beth will work with Karen to organize the Om Circle to be held this spring.
Eva moved and the group agreed that we authorize a $115.00 budget for the two Death Cafés Susan is organizing with Daniella and establish the dates for the events as May 17 and June 14.
Eva moved and the group agreed that we retain the new two-hour meeting format in which we alternate planning and development meetings.
We agreed to limit check-ins to very brief statements, unless a person has a particular need to speak longer and says so, and agreed to time each check-in with a cell phone gong.
We agreed that, to do planning between monthly planning meetings, we will use email, request action within a stated period of time, and label the email “ATTENTION” when action is needed.
We agreed to devote a development session to development of a mission statement.
We affirmed the statement of the group’s aim in its current form, with the proviso that when we develop our mission statement we will consider adding a term such as “light-hearted” or “joyful” to the aim.Project Groups’ ReportsOm Circle Report: Susan
We need an additional person to work on the Om Circle with Karen. Beth volunteered.
Summer Solstice is a possible date.CC Report: Beth
CC members attended the last 350.org meeting but have no plans at this time to establish a formal working relationship with the group.
CC is working on a planned Earth Day event for April 25.
Still time to volunteer to work on the TJT open space event. Contact Tim DeLorean.Death Café Report: Susan
Susan and Daniella are planning two more Death Cafés this spring, one to be held Sunday, May 17 and the other Sunday, June 14, both from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Yucca Mesa CC.
Budget: YMCC will give us the discounted rate of $50.00 per event; printing budget is $15.00; the plan is for donated cake, coffee and tea. YMCC has a coffee pot, and we’ll bring a pot to heat water for tea. We will likely see a profit, or at least break even.Debrief the New Meeting Format
We had general consensus that we like two hour meetings more than three hours.
See Decisions Taken re limiting check-in time.Where Do We Go From Here?
We looked at the aim statement and affirmed it in its current form with the proviso noted in the Decisions Taken section.
We agreed we can benefit from a mission statement and will develop one in a development session.
Upcoming development sessions will be: Arny Mindell’s process work; adopt a mission statement; further development of facilitation skills, with a view to a public facilitation workshop in the spring; one or two Body Mapping sessions, with a view to assessing whether to do a public body mapping event; additional work with feelings and needs.Action Items
Susan will post the TJT General Meeting minutes on the TJT website, with a note re approval at the next general meeting.
Tami will research Laughing Yoga and report on it at the next planning meeting for a possible future development session.

New Members: Welcome! to Mittie Staininger and Matt Perry.

Next Meeting: Development Session: 4.23.25, 6:15 – 8:15 pm. Paula on Arny Mindell’s process work (changed by email to Susan and Penelope facilitating a feelings & needs session).

Minutes: Susan Facilitator: Penelope

•••••

H & S Minutes 3.23.15

Present: Penelope, Karen, Beth, Bernard, Eva M, Susan, Paula, Louis

Facilitator: Bernard / Minutes: Susan

Temp Treasurer’s report: Took in $21/ Gave $11 to CC/ New total: $345

Decision made to move our meetings to the 2^nd & 4^th Thursday of the month. That would be the Thursdays of April 9^th and April 23^rd.

Debrief of General Membership Meeting of March 22^nd.

The Not Ready for Harrison House Players were awesome.
Beth rocks: writer, director, lead singer and choreographer of The Musical.
46 people in attendance
We had no system for determining a quorum at that meeting – take issue to CC
We need to remind people that these meetings can be recruiting tools. Team presentations need to be sharper and more dynamic – should CC make that point to all teams?
Facilitator should stand to add some authority to the position.
The energy dropped off at the end of the meeting when the reflections became announcements. We might try doing announcements at the beginning of the meeting. More thought needs to go into this. Reflections are important
As we grow, H & S (and all of TJT) need to get new members on board with things like centering at the beginning of a meeting and reflections at the end.
Facilitator should make sure the next General Meeting Facilitator/Team sees our debrief.

Development session: Eva and NVC/ Feelings and needs. We used the NVC model’s 4 Steps: observations(facts), feelings, needs & requests. We worked through an issue with all participating to sharpen our awareness of feelings and needs. Very profound and useful development session.

Action items:

Paula – Add ‘See H & S minutes on the website for a debrief and evaluation of the General Membership Meeting’ to your General Membership Minutes.
Susan – change dates of our meetings on the calendar.
Susan – get information about setting up two more Death Cafes this spring. Information will be emailed to the H & S Team for an ok so that we have enough time to set these up properly.
Susan – see if Transition US would like an article about our Musical.
Susan – see if the old IG documents file can be posted on the website
Penelope – make sure the Permaculture facilitator knows where our General Meeting evaluation is.
Beth: take both issues from our debrief to the CC.

Next meeting: 4.9.15. Susan’s. Susan to facilitate, Karen to do centering exercise, Beth to take minutes. New time: 6:15 to 8:15 PM. This is a planning meeting. Please send your agenda items to Susan.

•••••

Heart & Soul Minutes 3.9.15

Present: Beth, Eva M., Susan, Penelope, Paula & Boxo

Treasurer’s report: collected $15. Gave Beth $7 for the CC, we kept $8. Total: $335

Decisions made:

Changing meeting time to Thursdays at 6:15 PM in April. 1^st & 3^rd Thursdays. (April 2nd & 16^th.)
Eva leading the development session on Monday, March 23^rd, 5 to 7 PM/Feelings & Needs.
Penelope will facilitate General Meeting

Death Café is on track for this Sunday, March 15^th from 6 to 8 PM. Daniela & Susan lead. Volunteers requested. Paula, Beth, Eva & Penelope will be available if we need extra facilitators. Penelope to direct parking from 5:30 to 6 PM. Thank you!

The Musical dress rehearsal went well.

Action Items:

Beth – Get Susan banner & business cards for Café on Sunday
Beth – purchase kazoos
Susan – update calendar
Susan – ask Karen to take photos
Bernard – BRING SPEAKERS TO GENERAL MEETING
Bernard – download overture
Bernard – ask Tami to take pictures & tell her about meeting change
Eva – find ‘fun’ in handbook
Eva – rewrite blurbs as needed.
Eva – coffee pot & water cooler for General Meeting
Send GM agendas to Penelope
Paula – bring water heater thing & tea to GM
Penelope – bring water heater thing to GM

Next meeting at Paula’s Dome, Boxo to facilitate, Susan minutes, Eva development session. 5 to 7 PM on Monday, March 23^rd.

•••••

No Meeting February 23rd.

•••••

H&S Minutes 2.9.15

Present: Kelsey, Paula, Susan, Bernard, Beth, Penelope

Facilitator: Susan Minutes Taker: Penelope

Treasurer’s Report: Bernard: Collected $22.00. Total is $327.00.

Proposals Made & Decisions Taken

Following Susan’s suggestion that we rename the monthly “business meeting,” it was moved & agreed that we rename the meeting to call it a “Planning Meeting.”
It was moved and agreed that we hold a trial Death Café in the established event format on Sunday March 29^th from 6-8 pm at the Yucca Mesa Community Center with a suggested donation of $5.00 and with a total budget of $75.00. NOTE: Change is afoot and the Death Café will likely be at the Retreat Center.
Paula has confirmed that the planned Mil-Tree event will not conflict with a Body Mapping event in the last weekend in May. We will plan on the Body Mapping event in May if there will not be a Sharing Day that month.
We will decide on a facilitator for the March 22 General Meeting when more H&S members are present. Paula has volunteered.
We’ll buy kazoos at $5.00 per dozen for the H&S Musical’s group finale.
The rehearsal for H&S: The Musical will be Tuesday, February 17 at 3:00 pm at Susan’s.

CC Report: Beth

CC treasury balance is $458.00
Kathy is working with the CC on team building.
CC members are: Louis Kannenberg, Eva Soltis, Tim DeLorean, Joseph Fairbanks and Beth St. John. A spot is open for a H&S rep.
The CC is working on possible alternative currencies.
As part of the CC’s work to create alliances, TJT has joined the Joshua Tree Chamber of Commerce.
The Water Group had a display at Black Rock Lecture Series.
The Permaculture group is creating two (competing) lists of the six best plants for our environment.

Death Café Update: Susan

The plan is to hold a series of three Death Café events this spring.
We could hold the trial Death Café at the JT Retreat Center I($25, Mondays only, different rooms depending on availability) or Yucca Mesa Community Center ($50).
We will follow the established Death Café format (e.g., coffee/tea and cake; no expert speakers)

Body Mapping Update: Bernard

We would like to hold the event on the last weekend in May.
Need to find a space large enough for the event.

General Meeting Update: Susan

H&S is hosting the March 22 TJT General Meeting to be held at Yucca Mesa Community Center.
We need a facilitator and a flyer.

H&S: The Musical Update: Beth

We will have a bookcase and curtains.
Rehearsal will be on February 17 at 3:00 pm.
H&S members will bring props.

Action Items:

Bernard: Will design the advertising poster for the Death Café.
Paula will let us know the date of a Mill Tree event so the Body Mapping event will not conflict.
Beth will create the General Meeting flyer.
Beth will determine at the next CC meeting whether there will be a Sharing Day in May that would conflict with the Body Mapping event.
Beth will ask Eva to write a brief description of NVC for the H&S Musical.
Susan will look for a comment on meditation to be read as part of the H&S Musical.
Penelope will ask Karen to send a copy of the H&S Musical plan/information and include it with the minutes.
All who are performing in the H&S Musical need to review the lyrics and youtube videos (text and links in the Musical plan/information to be emailed with the minutes).
Bernard will bring a Buddha statue and a portrait of Barack Obama.

New Member: Welcome to Kelsey, a new H&S member.

Next Meeting: 2.23.25 at Beth’s. Development Session.

Facilitator:Penelope / Minutes:Bernard

•••••

H&S Minutes 1.26.15

Present: Susan, Beth, Eva, Kathy, Bernard, Penelope, Natasha, Paula, Aili, Carmen, Craig, Daniela

Facilitator: Bernard / Minutes: Paula

Treasurer’s Report: Bernard. $48 in (including $17 from last meeting) and $24 out to CC; $380 total

[No proposals made, group reports, or old and new business as not a business meeting.]

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Susan and Daniela on Death Café subcommittee to research and report on how to bring into community.
New emails gathered for Natasha, Aili, Carmen (includes Craig) and Daniela.

Development session: Facilitator Susan read the Aim for Death Café and shared their guidelines. People shared about their experiences and issues around death.

Reflections: Interesting; want to do more; helpful personally; our culture needs this open conversation; loved the open facilitation and waiting for whomever wanted to speak; there are no answers because it’s so individual; cake and tea/coffee important; website suggests setting up 4 in a row and taking a break; also suggests breaking large groups into smaller ones of 10

Next meeting: Business meeting February 9^th from 5-7pm at Bernard’s.

Facilitator: Susan / Minutes: Penelope

•••••

H&S Meeting Minutes 12.11.14

Place: Boxo / Present: Eva, Penelope, Susan, Tami, Bernard, Paula, Beth, Karen, guest Natasha

Facilitator: Bernard / Minutes Taker: Karen

Treasurer’s Report: $376 total after taking in today’s dues and giving half to CC.

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

All members: Consider ideas for H&S Community Outreach

Decisions Made:

We agreed to pay for our share of joining Chamber of Commerce, and $20 was given to Susan as our contribution
Split meetings-separate business meetings from development meetings

Old Business:

CC Report-Beth-
- Spoke to meaning of DRECP. Eva Soltes will be informing CC further in January report
- CC is discussing visuals and welcoming of web page-perhaps enhanced greeting at top of first page, also possible page of classified ads
- CC interested to join local Chamber of Commerce-decision made to endorse this and pay for one quarter of one year’s dues to C of C
- Change the name of quarterly meeting to General Business Meeting. We discussed this and are not all agreed that it is a good idea. Beth will report this to the CC .
Dates of H&S meetings-discussion-consulting of members’ calendars-changed to 2^nd and 4^th Mondays beginning with January 12, 2015. Karen to post to TJT Google calendar
H&S volunteers to host next Quarterly Meeting-subcommittee Beth, Tami and Karen-aiming for Feb or March.
Outreach planning-discussion of movie ‘Death Makes Life Possible’ as public community program. Also discussion of Body Mapping as public event, funds needed to purchase supplies and venue big enough for 20-plan for something in Spring 2015

New Business:

Split H&S meetings to shorten the time involved total-alternate business and development-2hr. meetings instead of 3hrs. with Treas. report and dues to be taken at development meetings-resolution includes reassessment at end of Feb. after 2 cycles

Development Session:

Watched and discussed ‘Death Makes Life Possible’ movie by Marilyn Schlitz of IONS

Meeting Evaluation: In place of evaluating the meeting we chose to plan the next one. In line with our new policy of splitting the meetings, this one will focus on planning the next quarterly meeting H&S The Musical and how to best initiate new community outreach.

Next Meeting: Jan. 12 at Paula’s Dome 5pm – 7pm. Paula will facilitate.

•••••

H&S Meeting Minutes 11.13.14

Place: Susan’s / Present: Susan, Eva, Karen, Bernard, Beth and Paula

Facilitator: Susan / Minutes Taker: Paula

Treasurer’s Report: Tami (absent—no report) Collected $19 though.

Proposals Made and Decisions Taken:

Eva proposed we host the next general meeting in February.
Eva proposed the next meeting be a potluck party at her place on Wed the 26^th with a theme of gratitude and a sounding and silent meditation in her art installation.
Eva proposed we do event development at the next meeting. [12/11/14 as party 11/26/14]

Old Business:

Beth gave a CC report. There are two new members: Eva Soltes and Louis Kannenberg.

New Business:

Hosting the next general meeting: We agreed to do it in February.
Requesting assistance from H&S:
- Kathy was asked by Susan to do team building on the CC because of two new members. Discussion pointed out that H&S offering assistance is not exclusive and it’s fine. Kathy has done this previously.
- Susan wants to offer the permaculture group the mandala process.
Susan shared about the movie, Death Makes Life Possible and the possibility of using it for a development session and also in public. We discussed the “death café” groups that are arising.

Development Session 1: Draft constitution

We went over the cheat sheet that covers the 4 main voting points and came to agreement with them.

Development Session 2: Sessions for the New Year

Eva continued the process on future development sessions and we prioritized the top 4:

1) The movie and Death Café, 2) communication skills on feelings and needs (vs. NVC), 3) “Heart and Soul, the Musical” to present at the Feb. general meeting we host, and 4) Facilitation skills.

Planning next meetings:

Next meeting: Wed, Nov 26^th will be a potluck party at Eva’s and include both a sounding by Charlin and BC (if willing) and a silent meditation experience in her art installation. 4pm start, 5pm installation session, 5:30 potluck.

Summary of Development Sessions:

We discussed and agreed with the 4 major changes in the constitution.
We picked the top 4 development sessions for new year.

Next meeting: December 11^th at Bernard’s, and he will facilitate. We’ll watch the Death Makes Life Possible movie and decide if it would be good to present at a public Death Café event.

•••••

H&S Minutes 10.9.14

Present: Eva, Karen, Tami, Susan, Louis, Joe, Buck, Paula, Joseph, Patricia, Penelope

Facilitator: Tami / Minutes: Penelope

Treasurer’s Report: Tami: Collected $25.00, of which $13.00 went to CC. Balance is $354.00.

Proposals Made & Decisions Taken

Tami proposed and the group adopted by consensus: (a) pay ½ of H&S dues weekly to CC (rather than monthly). (b) round up CC contribution to the next dollar one meeting and round down the next.
Proposed and adopted: We will skip the usually scheduled meeting on the 4^th Thursday of this month (10/23) and meet next on the 2^nd Thursday of next month: Nov. 13.Old Biz:

CC Report:

Susan: Eva, Louis and Beth are revising the TJT draft constitution, to be considered for adoption at the next TJT General Meeting to be held 11/16/14 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm at the Radio Free JT location. There are four substantive changes. Draft will be emailed to TJT members for review before the general meeting.New Biz:
Joseph reported a re-economy event, part of a developing TJT re-economy team: a solar potluck next Saturday, 10/18/14 10:00 am – 2:00 pm in front of JT Trading Post. Event will be under the TJT banner.
Buck reported a re-economy solar potluck, held under the TJT banner at the 10/11/14 CERT event.

Action Items to Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Beth: print norms

Summary of Development SessionStarhawk’s Group Mandala:

Karen and Susan facilitated. They set out Starhawk’s Group Mandala—a five element / five directions system that identifies basic roles that we each take as we participate in groups. We broke into small groups to talk about how we see our own and each others’ roles, then returned to the full group and spoke about our own and each others’ roles.

Next Meeting: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014. 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm at Susan’s. Susan will facilitate. Development session will be a review of the TJT draft constitution.

•••••

H&S Minutes 9.7.14

Place: Paula’s Dome Present: Beth, Penelope, Karen, Paula, Bernard, Eva, Tami, Susan

Facilitator: Eva / Minutes taker: Bernard

Treasurer’s Report: Tami reported that we have now have $338 in the Treasury. The contribution to the CC will be made at the next meeting.

Proposals made and decisions taken:

Eva proposed that the facilitator remind the group to bring items to gift, trade or sell before each meeting. The proposal was unanimously adopted.

Old Business:

A further debrief was had regarding the OM Circle and focused on lower than expected attendance. It was agreed that the Retreat Center is a good location and we need better publicity for the next event:

promote therapeutic benefits (power of vibration)
brief other Transition groups and encourage them to attend
advertise through the Retreat Center ($50)
ask H&S group members to send out invitation to their personal/business lists
ask other organizations to send out

CC report by Susan: We are encouraged to go to the website and engage in the forums. The draft constitution will be taken up at the next general meeting.

New Business: Development Session ideas for the coming season:

Conflict Resolution – Eva
Facilitation Skills incl. fishbowl/difficult interactions – Susan/Bernard
Starhawk Mandala – group roles
Heart Connection (EM Machine) – Paula/Karen
Feelings & Needs – Eva
Story – Susan
Emotional Freedom Tapping – Penelope
Heart & Soul the Musical for next General Meeting we host – all

Action Items to Complete Before Next Meeting:

Beth will work with the Norms to get them into easily legible/usable state
Eva will tidy up Development Session plan
Beth to put Recruitment onto the next agenda
Bernard to check calendar for meeting time conflicts

Summary of Development Session: We worked on differentiating between using the mind and the heart to make decisions. We looked at dilemmas we are facing, made decisions based on thinking and then went into heart-centered states and looked at the issues from a different space. The decisions and process were discussed.

Next Meeting: 9/25 from 6-9pm at Boxo / Facilitator: Beth / Development Session: Susan – Stories

•••••

H&S Minutes 6.17.14

Place: Boxo House / Present: Beth, Penelope, Anny, Karen, Paula, Bernard, Eva

Facilitator: Penelope / Minutes taker: Paula

Treasurer’s Report: Boxo for Tami – we have $310. The OM Circle was a net cost of $167

Proposals Made and Decisions Taken:

Eva proposed we do an introductory centering/focusing activity of 10 minutes at the TJT general meeting on 6/22, led by Karen. Passed by unanimous vote.
Beth proposed we adopt as our Heart and Soul Team Aim the following: [Title: The Heart and Soul Team, Transition Joshua Tree] We are committed to practicing and sharing tools for personal and group transformation in a way that is authentic and heart-centered so that we can support community and regeneration in a changing world. It passed unanimously.

Old Business:

The OM Circle was attended by 24 people. We had planned for 60. However, comments were all positive regarding the quality of the circle.
CC report by Beth. New CC member Joe will present the Conflict of Interest document to be voted on at the general meeting 6/22.
Martine and Wolf are working on a forum space on the website. Each team is being asked to list topics they want in a breakdown menu, which would include what we do. People can interact and ask questions in different threads of discussions. Caveat: we must keep these threads active.
Susan is asking for volunteers from any TJT team to help with the draft constitution made by the IG so that it can be ready to vote on in the fall.

New Business:

Eva said Jill had asked H&S to do a team building exercise at the general meeting Sat. Instead we passed the proposal above that Karen will do a 10-minute centering exercise.

Action Items to Complete Before Next Meeting:

Beth will tell Jill what we are doing for the Sunday general meeting in lieu of team building.
Beth will talk to Susan about website forum items for H&S.
Eva will put on next meeting’s agenda a debrief of the OM event.
Paula and Penelope will plan on a development session for the September meeting on “getting back into the groove”.

Summary of Development Session: We continued working on the aim and read the individual ones submitted since the last meeting. We came up with a new aim as in the adopted proposal above.

Next Meeting: September 7, 4-7pm at Paula’s Dome. Facilitator: Eva / Minute Taker: Paula

•••••

H&S Minutes 6.3.14

Place: Beth’s / Present: Beth, Penelope, Tami, Annie, Karen, Paula, Bernard, Eva

Facilitator: Penelope / Minutes Taker: Paula

Treasurer’s Report: Tami – Total at the moment is $457.04. It was clarified that ½ of our dues go to CC, not ½ of event income unless specified.

Proposals Made and Decisions Taken:

Paula proposed that Eva will give the H&S report at the Transition JT general meeting on June 22^nd. Vote was unanimous, yes.

Project Groups’ Reports:

OM Circle. Tami reported. Volunteers should come at 5pm. The entrance is one west of the main entrance and accessible from HWY 62 or off of Yucca Mesa. Signs were made by Tami and Beth, which can be reused for other events. Discussion covered who is doing what. See action items for details.

Old Business:

Beth reported on the CC. Joseph Fairbanks from the water group was elected as a new representative. Beth discussed what the CC has been working on, especially forms and agreements. These will be presented at the general meeting.

New Business:

Eva opened a discussion of what should be covered at the CC report for our group.

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Eva will bring water jugs, a donation jar, a rubber mallet, and two 6 ft. tables to the OM Circle.
Karen T will connect with Karen S. regarding her arrival time and directions and CC Paula.
Karen T, Tami, and Bernard will do a site visit.
Bernard will ask Eva Soltes to play flute if she comes.
Beth will bring TJT business cards or make sure they get there.
Beth will also bring buttons that will be for sale for $1.00 at the potluck tables.
Penelope will sell the buttons.
Tami will bring two ice chests.
Eva will email a picture of our AIM brainstorming sheet.
Homework for everyone: Come up with your personal version of our Aim statement for the next meeting.

Summary of Development Session:

Eva explained the difference between an aim (a process that grows and changes with the group) and a goal (which is static). There are three components to an AIM statement and there is a dynamic relationship between them:

function (what)
will (why)
being (how)

The 3 forces are activating, restraining and reconciling

We brainstormed what our group meant to each of us and pulled some ideas together. This process will continue at next meeting – 6/17 at Boxo’s. (See homework action item.)

•••••

H&S Minutes Date: 5.20.14

Place: Boxo House Present: Karen, Bernard, Annie, Penelope, Paula, Eva, Tami, Beth

Facilitator: Karen / Minutes Taker: Beth

Treasurer’s Report: Tami – wetook in $18.00, and $20.00 given to Beth for CC dues

Proposals Made and Decisions Taken:

Eva: Meetings will not separate the 2 formats (business and development session,) but meetings can be flexible giving more or less time to development session. Approved
Karen: Heart and Soul will not formally meet for the months of July and August. Approved
Karen: Enumerated Norms with 1) To be on time, 2) turn off phone, 3) personal information . . . and the rest in order as is. Approved
Penelope: Change: “listen completely” to “listen completely, e.g.: no side talk.” Approved
Penelope: Change: “Put our AIM before your ego.” Approved
Eva: Add a new Norm (#10) to read, “Speak your truth.” Approved
Eva: Amend with a disclaimer that Norms are not listed in any order of priority. Approved
Karen: Suggested a 10 minute break before development session, and eliminate the snack-luck with the understanding that those who want to use the 10 minutes to eat their own snack is fine. Approved

Project Groups’ Reports:

Beth / CC: CC working on conflict of interest, self-dealing, and vetting documents. Documents will have to be voted on and possibly at the next general membership meeting on June 22, tentatively. Tim is working through Farmer’s Market policies. Members have been listening to Transition US webinars.

Karen / H&S: H&S has new gmail address: tjtheartandsoul@gamail.com

Tami / H&S Om Circle event: Karen (S?) will stay at Paula’s. H&S treasury will pay for her stay with the $50 that the group was going to pay Eva for the cleaning fee for her vacation rental cabin. Presented and distributed the Om Circle flyers. The cost was discounted by 50% for allowing Oasis Office Supply to print their logo on the bottom. Asking volunteers to show up at 5 PM Jill will send out a notice not to bring any throw away items such as paper products. It will be a ‘pack in and pack out’ event

Eva / H&S: Feedback on the 3 Brain Facilitator Workshop: Good feedback with attendees reporting that they learned a lot and found it useful. From H&S point of view, everyone was engaged. There was a through debrief with Kathy Jennings. Kathy said that overall everyone worked well together, and that everyone got something out of it. Eva has extensive handwritten notes on Kathy’s feedback.

Old Business:

Tabled revisiting AIM statement for next development session

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Beth: email Paula minutes form
Tami: email Beth and Penelope where they signed-up to post Om Circle flyers
Tami will contact Beth re: time and place to make signs
Bernard: will act as treasure for Tami if she can’t make the June 17^th H&S meeting
Eva: Will laminate a copy of the Norms by September : )
Bernard will post Om Circle flyers for Eva at Crossroads, JT Tavern (?)
Karen will post Om Circle flyers for Eva at MLT and the library
Eva will send the facilitation workshop handouts to H&S members

Next meeting: 4 PM, June 3, at Beth’s

•••••

H&S Minutes 5.6.14

Place: Paula’s / Present: Paula, Beth, Eva, , Karen, Tami, Penelope / Facilitator: Beth / Minutes: Penelope

Treasurer’s Report: Tami – delivered $95.00 to Eva for the Facilitation Workshop. H&S treasury balance is $120.75 counting 5/6/14 dues collected.

Proposals Made & Decisions Taken:

Eva proposed and the group adopted by consensus an email address for H&S: TJTHeart&Soul@gmail.com
The group decided by consensus to table until the next meeting discussion of (1) H&S aims and personal aims for the group, and (2) whether to continue snackluck meetings.
Eva proposed and the group decided by consensus to devote 1½ hours as the May 20 development session to (1) a review of H&S aims and our personal aims for ourselves and the group; and (2) H&S norms.

Project Groups’ Reports:

CC Report: Beth

At the last CC meeting the group discussed conflicts of interest and TJT’s relationship with vendors. A special projects working group (Beth and Penelope) is developing some proposed conflicts and vendor vetting policies.
The CC also discussed economic localization as an important part of sustainability and transition.

Om Circle Report: Tami

The flyer for H&S’s June 12 OM Circle flyer is almost completed and the budget almost worked out. Preparation proceeding well.
Eva reported that her cottage is unavailable the night of the OM Circle, and offered to pay the difference between $50.00 and the actual cost of other accommodations for Karen Soriano. Possibly a hotel or Paula’s rooms.

Facilitation Workshop Report: Eva

21 people are registered.
Preparations are on schedule and nearly complete.

Old Biz:

See Proposals Made & Action Taken re decision on snackluck meetings.

New Biz:

See Proposals Made & Action Taken re discussion of aims
On behalf of awareness and use of group facilitation skills, Eva said that, in her role as facilitator of the discussion on prioritizing group goals for 2014, it would have been preferable procedure to ask the group where they wished to begin before she stated her view.
Karen: Added to New Business development in communications. See Proposals Made & Action Taken re H&S email address.

Action Items to Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Tami: Bring OM Circle flyer to May 20 meeting for H&S members to distribute to local businesses.
Karen will check with Karen Soriano re her needs for overnight accommodations for the Om Circle.
Susan will send the form sign-up sheet to Tami for use in the Om Event.
Eva will send Karen the larger H&S membership list.
Karen will send a request for OM Circle volunteers to the larger H&S membership list and to other TJT members and supporters.
Paula will direct parking at the Facilitation Workshop.
Penelope will greet people and collect donations at the Facilitation Workshop.
Eva will bring water jugs to the OM Circle.

Summary of Development Session: Paula facilitated. We each took up to five minutes to tell a story that represents strength, wisdom and heart-based cognition that could be useful to yourself and others in a world in transition. Stories included a series of Hatha Yoga postures that demonstrated the focused, meditative and devotional state of a yoga practitioner, imagined books with titles and epigrams, photos of grandchildren with telling of heart-based awareness of their uncertain futures in a rapidly changing world, poems, demonstration of subtle foot movements to create awareness and alignment in the body, and a vignette of human communication between two friends who understand each other in a direct and moving way.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 20, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm at Boxo House. Karen will facilitate the meeting; Karen will facilitate the discussion of H&S group norms; Eva will facilitate discussion of H&S aims and personal aims. Beth will take minutes.

•••••

H&S Minutes 4.15.14

Place: Paula’s Dome / Present: Paula, Beth, Eva, Susan, Karen, Tami, Anny, Jane, Penelope

Facilitator: Karen / Minutes Taker: Penelope

Treasurer’s Report: Tami – H&S treasury balance is $215.00 after $24.00 given to CC for April.

Proposals Made & Decisions Taken

Proposal that for use of the Dome for the May 10 facilitation workshop Paula receive 10% of the amount taken in for the event minus $20 for Paula’s donation for the workshop. Agreed by consensus.
Susan: Proposed $100 budget for the May 10 facilitation workshop. Agreed by consensus.
Eva: Proposed we alternate in coming meetings between personal development sessions and group development sessions. Agreed by consensus.
Agreed Paula will facilitate the development session on Heart Cognition/Sharing Our Stories at our May 6 meeting.
Informal agreement to continue snackluck meetings.Project Groups’ Reports (Include name of group & reporting member)

Reports:

CC: Susan Jill and Martin are the administrative team of TJT. CC will give a JT Natural Foods gift card to each of them to recognize their administrative work for TJT.
Om Circle Report: Tami
- Draft of the flyer is complete.
- Planning publicity is in progress.
- Volunteers needed for the June 12 event.
- Anny and Eva volunteered to be gatekeepers and request a $5.00 suggested donation.
- Susan and Karen volunteered to do food table preparation.
- Beth volunteered for sign making/placing.
- Other volunteers needed: parking attendants, set up crew, clean up crew.
Facilitation Workshop Report: Eva
- 16 people are registered, with one maybe.
- We did two fishbowl role playing exercises on dealing with difficult behaviors.

Old Business:

Eva: Concluded Strategic Planning.

We reported on our reflections on the three questions in the Three Lines of Work handout.
We selected priorities with three hash marks each. Under Personal Development, 8 marks went to NVC and other Communication Practices; 8 to Heart Cognition/Sharing Our Stories/EM Wave device; 6 to Meditation Practices/Mindfulness, and 1 to Healing Practices. Four hash marks went to Ongoing Team Development as a whole category.

New Business:

No decision made re continuing snackluck. (Snacks are included in the Action Items on the assumption we will continue next time and evaluate then.)

Action Items to Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

All: Bring something to share (in 5 minutes time) that represents or expresses your heart cognition.
All: Bring a snack to the next meeting for the snackluck.
Karen: Will check with Karen Soriano re her title for the Om Circle flyer.
Susan: Will send the form sign-up sheet to Tami for use in the Om Event.
Karen will ask Jill to repost the facilitation workshop flyer.
Eva: Will bring signs to direct traffic at the Om Circle.
Eva: Will send results of the Strategic Planning session to Penelope to include with minutes.
Penelope: Will include Karen’s cherry walnut bars recipe with these minutes.

Summary of Development Session: (Usual development session time given to Strategic Planning.)

Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 6, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm at Paula’s Dome. Beth will facilitate the meeting; Paula will facilitate the development session; Penelope will take minutes.

•••••

H&S Minutes 4.1.14

Place: Paula’s Dome / Present: Paula, Beth, Eva, Susan, Karen, Tami, Anny, Jane, Penelope, Bernard

Facilitator: Bernard / Minutes Taker: Penelope

Treasurer’s Report: Tami: confirmed that H&S treasury balance is $198.00 before this weeks dues.

Proposals Made & Decisions Taken

Informal proposal that we devote our meeting time largely to strategic planning until it is complete. Informal consensus agreed.
Informal proposal that we make the next meeting a snackluck and have a 15 minute break for snacking. Informal consensus agreed.

Project Groups’ Reports

Group: CC. Reporter: Susan.

Buck’s resignation accepted by the CC.
New website: CC met with Martin for training on posting on the site. Jill will show Karen how the posting is done.
CC has a little over $500.00 in the TJT treasury.
Earth Day in Yucca Valley is celebrated April 19, 2014, 9:00 am – 2 pm. JT Music Festival is May 15-18. If you want to staff a TJT booth, let a CC member (Susan, Beth, Tim) know.

Old Business:

Eva: Continued Strategic Planning. Distinguished strategic and operational planning. Reorganized our brainstorming results into 3 categories: (1) Personal Development, (2) Team Development, & (3) Role & Impact in Community (see TJT H&S 2014 Strategic Planning Draft 3 handout, attached). Identified 3 lines of work (see Three Lines of Work handout).

New Business:

Eva: postponed until after strategic planning is complete: clarification of who is a member/friend of H&S; who should be notified of what.

Action Items to Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

All: (1) Answer the three questions in the Three Lines of Work handout. (2) Consider the proposed H&S goals/actions on the TJT H&S 2014 Strategic Planning (Draft 2) handout. (3) Ask yourself how each item relates to your answers to the three questions in the Three Lines of Work handout; consider the purpose, value & priority of the goals/actions as they relate to your answers to the three Lines of Work questions.
All: Bring a snack to the next meeting for the snackluck.
Eva: Will revise list of goals/actions and send strategic planning handouts to Penelope to include with minutes.
Susan: Will send H&S group norms to Penelope to include with minutes.

Summary of Development Session

We all reported on results of awareness of thinking about the past.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, April 15, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Paula’s Dome. Karen will facilitate; Penelope take minutes.

•••••

H&S Minutes 3.19.14

Place: Paula’s Dome Present: Paula, Beth, Eva, Susan, Karen, Tami, Anny, Jane, Penelope, Bernard

Facilitator: Bernard / Minutes Taker: Penelope

Treasurer’s Report: Tami- $61.00 given to Susan for CC to bring H&S to date on 50% contributions. H&S balance-$198.00

Proposals Made & Decisions Taken

Follow-up on proposal to contribute 50% of H&S dues to CC. Adopted by consensus.
Tami proposed: Give dues to Beth at last meeting of month. Adopted by consensus.
Took up Bernard’s proposal to change to later meeting time. Decided by consensus to meet in the months of April -July on the 1^st & 3^rd Tuesday of each month from 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Karen was nominated to be H&S Reporter to the CC and web page Pipeline. Agreed by consensus.
Penelope proposed: Consider whether we want to be Body, Heart & Soul. No decision made.

Project Groups’ Reports

Group: CC. Reporter: Susan.
Buck resigned from CC. Three members remain.
The new website is up.
CC is seeing what interest there is in having a booth at the Farmer’s Market. If interested in selling things you make, let a CC member know.
TJT is invited to have a booth at Earth day in April & Music Festival (5/15-5/18). If interested to staff it, let a CC member know.
Re-skilling workshop under consideration. Let a CC member know if you have a skill to share.

Old Business:

Tami: Contributions to CC: see Proposals Made & Decisions Taken
New meeting time: see Proposals Made & Decisions Taken
Eva: Continued Strategic Planning by rating our choices 1-5, adding some items & confirming that the Group Development items, the OM circle & Facilitation Workshop are already decided to be included in the plan.

New Business:

H&S Reporter to CC and Pipeline: see Proposals Made & Decisions Taken

Action Items to Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

All: Assignment is to notice how often you think and speak about the past. Tailor the (voluntary) assignment to your specific needs. The practice is to become aware of the habit of thinking of the past.
Paula will email link to TED talk “Make Stress Your Friend” along with additional handouts.
Susan will email: April Earth Day date and a Reminder re possible Earth Day & Music Festival booths
Bernard will (1) include in next week’s agenda at least ½ hour for Strategic Plan; (2) work with the meditation facilitators to weave meditations into next week’s agenda with silent mediation included.

Summary of Development Session

We all reported on results of awareness of complaining.
Paula discussed & demonstrated, & group participated in, mind & body techniques to manage stress & avoid burnout. See handout.

Next Meeting:Tuesday, April 1, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Paula’s Dome. Bernard will facilitate; Penelope take minutes.

•••••

H&S Minutes – 3.5.14

Place: Susan’s Present: Paula, Karen, Bernard, Anny, Eva, Beth, Jane, Susan, Tami, Penelope

Facilitator: Eva Minutes Taker: Tami

Treasurer’s Report: Tami – see attached

Proposals Made and Decisions Taken

Karen – H&S needs to continue contribution to CC – Postponed decision until funds verified.
All workshops will start as a H&S Development sessions first.
Eva will offer her rental for Karen S. to stay while out for OM event on June 12^th, 201. Cleaning Fee $50.
Lightweight Easel needed for H&S
Paula to teach development session next meeting about burnout/ stress
Tami/Bernard to do H&S team update on March 9^th general meeting.

Project Groups’ Reports (Include name of group and reporting member):

CC Report – Beth
Kathy has helped CC with group development.
Farmers Market project is moving forward (Tim is the lead).
Martin still working on website.OM Group – Bernard/Karen/Tami
Event is planned for June 12^th (full moon).
Team need to clarify parking and portable toilets. OM team will outreach to Transitions team for volunteers.

Old Business:

Facilitation workshop progressing. Date set for May 10. Title will be “Three Brain Facilitator” (Head, Heart & Hands). Paula joined the team and offered her Dome for the event.

New Business:

Transition Water Group has a proposal for an event in which they think H&S might play an appropriate role. We have a number of questions and will seek more information in order to make a good decision about participating, if it goes forward.

Action Items to Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Karen will send out copy of our 2014 Strategic Planning notes.
Tami – attach a treasurer’s report for 2014 –Jan, Feb, and March
Paula – send out directions to Dome.
For all of us – Observe your complaints, work on not making them and we’ll share at next meeting.
Next meeting: March 19 @ Paula’s Dome, Bernard to facilitate 2pm-5pm. Paula to send directions

Summary of Development Session: Susan – Played a portion of Joe Dispenza’s “Get your Shift Together”. Karen shared her experience with Meditation. We had a 20 minute silent group meditation. Decision was made for all members to “Observe your complaints during these next 2 weeks and record”.

We will discuss at next meeting 3/19/14, at Paula’s Dome.

•••••

H&S Minutes – February 19, 2014

Place: Boxo House Present: Bernard, Susan, Anny, Tami, Beth, Penelope, Eva, Karen, Kathy, Biddy

Facilitator: Beth Minutes Taker: Tami

Treasurer: Tami: report: Added $25.00 to $175.00, Total $200.00

Proposals and Decisions Made

March 5^th, Next meeting development session will be featuring Joe Dispenza on the topic of controlling the beta mind, followed by a silent meditation practice.

Old Business

Kathy & Penelope to draft suggested facilitation model to present to H&S
Susan checked with Karen Soriano. Karen is good for 21^st or 22^nd. Handed off info to Om Circle Committee
Kathy updated on Deb Bollinger’s facilitation support
Beth & Susan update on CC: Martin Mancha working on TJT website, using a new green hosting.

New Business

H&S Goals and Development sessions for 2014 continues
OM Circle report/New Date June 12^th (full moon)

Action items

Eva & Susan to organize the March 9th Transitions general Meeting @ Susan’s
Susan asked H&S to email her any questions for the General meet on March 9^th.
Eva: New Roster for H&S

Summary of the Development Session:

The Development sessions was scattered throughout the 3 hours, starting with Guided Meditation with Susan, active listening and Brain waves. Karen facilitated a silver bowl demonstration about Diaphragmatic breathing and reverses breathing. Karen led us in a Nadi shodanam Channel purifying breath exercise. Susan ended with standing in consciousness. Powerful Sessions throughout the 3 hours. Feedback was very positive. Per Susan, We will not be following this format. It was a one-time experiment.

Next meeting: Wednesday, March 5^th @ 2pm-5pm @ Boxo House, Facilitator is Susan.

•••••

H&S Minutes – 2.5.14

Place: Boxo House Present: Bernard, Susan, Anny, Tami, Beth, Penelope, Karen, Eva, Jane, Deb Bollinger

Facilitator: Beth Minutes Taker: Tami/Beth

Treasurer: Tami – Treasurer’s report: Added to our bank $37, grand total is $175.00.

Proposals Made and Decisions Taken:

Kathy will work with Deb Bollinger regarding facilitation support
Sun, March 9^th, H&S to host TJT general membership meeting. Eva and Beth to facilitate. At Susan’s house starting at 3 PM ending with a pot luck dinner at 6 PM
Tami will lead the Om Circle project with the assistance of Karen and Bernard
Next meeting Karen & Susan: meditation as next development session
H&S goals for 2014 the theme for the next meeting
Kathy and Penelope will draft and present to H&S for consideration suggested facilitation model protocols/templates

Old Business:

Om circle event at Joshua Tree Retreat Center. Possible site for H&S public Om Circle for June 21/22. Retreat Center will advertise event at a cost of $50.00.
Susan emailed Karen Soriano, but no response at this time
Decision on contribution amount to CC

New Business:

CC report by Susan:
Martin Mancha working on new TJT website, and using a new ‘green’ hosting server
Permaculture special project group applying for Transition Team status approval
Clean-up event successful, and more information up on TJT website

Action Items:

New roster: Eva

Summary of Development Session: NVC continued with interactive role playing using NVC with difficult personalities and situations.

Next meeting: 2/19/14, at Boxo house / Facilitator – Beth

•••••

H&S Minutes 1.21.14

In attendance: Eva, Jane, Bernard, Beth, Tami, Anny, BC, Susan, Penelope

At Boxo. Beth facilitator. Susan minutes. Tami treasurer

Treasurer’s report: Added 24$

Subgroup reports:

Resource Development Team (facilitation team) Progress made, aiming for mid-April, limit to 20 people, charge 20$ Transition Members & 25$ non-members

Action Items:

OM Circle

Bernard to talk to Victoria about co-sponsoring at JTRC
Susan to contact Karen Soriano about availability
New roster being created. Email and phone numbers collected and organized by BC. Eva to add check and send to all.
Beth check out renting the room for the March 9^th Transition Teams meeting

Decisions Made:

Meetings have been moved to 1^st & 3rd Wednesdays from 2 to 5 PM for February & March. Karen asked to post on Calendar.

Business for next meeting:

Om Circle: elect a coordinator for the project.
March 9^th TJT Working Team meeting: elect coordinator or subgroup

Development Session: NVC. Led by Eva, we worked with a personal event using the 4 components and the 2 parts of NVC. Good session.

Next meeting: 2/5/14, 2 to 5 PM, at Boxo House. Facilitator Beth. NVC to be continued

•••••

H&S Minutes – 12.3.13

Place: Susan Jordan’s Home / Present: Susan, Anny, Shari, Tami, Beth, BC, Karen, Eva.

Facilitator: Eva / Minutes Taker: Beth

Treasurer: Susan – Treasurer’s report: $41.00 added tonight to $72.00 for a total of $113.00.

Proposals Made and Decisions Taken:

Susan nominated Tami for Treasurer. Approved
Beth nominated Susan to the Coordinating Council. Approved
Proposal made by Eva to adopt the new minute’s template. Approved
Proposal made by Eva to have Shari facilitate a relationships workshop within the H&S group. Approved
Decision made to continue NVC development sessions for the next 3 consecutive meetings, and then a relationships workshop facilitated by Shari.

Old Business:

There was a discussion on possible H&S open events. A facilitation workshop late spring and an Om circle are the two events the group would like to focus on.
Susan suggested a yard sale for a H&S fundraiser.

New Business:

When should Eva write a NVC blurb for our webpage?
Action Items:
Susan will contact Bernard about the changes in the H&S meeting times and dates.
Susan will coordinate with special project team to set a date for the H&S facilitation workshop.
Eva will email minutes’ template.
Eva and Karen will meet to plan the next 3 NVC development sessions.

Summary of Development Session:

A presentation by Susan and Karen on of the components of a successful, collaborative group as represented by a mandala designed by Starhawk. The mandala represented the inner powers of the individual within a group. A group exercise displayed where each group member saw themselves within the mandala’s group roles.

Next meeting: January 7^th, 2 PM at Boxo House.

H&S Minutes – 11.5.13

Place: Eva’s / Those Present: Bernard, Eva, Steve, BC, Karen, Beth, Cathy, Tami

Facilitator: Karen / Minutes Taker: Beth / Centering exercise ; Karen

Treasurer: Susan (acting) – Treasurer’s Report: $42.00, took in $10 tonight

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Bernard with talk with Susan re: how to enter the e-blast
Bernard will also talk to Susan about a working group update as requested by Jill

Old Business:

We will continue to recruit new members. Having events will help with this. Members asked to continue thinking about folks to invite into the group.
Karen asked the universe and the group for help in cataloguing and entering all her materials into the Heart and Soul data base. Steve said he will help her.

New Business:

Bernard will continue to work on the H&S e-blast./
Consider sending an open e-invitation to all TJT members to join H&S
Discussion on a facilitation skills training tabled to next meeting.

Summary of Development Session:

Eva presented on Non-Violent Communication (NVC), or the language of compassion. She gave an overview of the first NVC session she had given last June. The NVC process includes:

4 Steps: Observations / Feelings / Needs / Request

2 Modes: Expressing honestly / Listening empathically

The group participated in 2 exercises to help us become more familiar with the “language of feelings and needs”, and how feelings are the result universal needs that are met or unmet. For example, a person who feels rejected might have an unmet need for connection or support. By learning first to identify one’s feelings and the need behind that feeling, communication can be enhanced and an empathic connection established. When that is done a request can be made, (not a demand!) which should should convey to others our openess to receiving a “no”, and learning more about the other person’s needs and feelings.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, Nov.19, 6:30 – 9 pm at Susan’s house.

Susan will facilitate and Eva will continue with NVC for the Development session.

H&S Minutes – October 17, 2013

Place: Eva’s house / Those Present: Bernard, Eva, Susan

Facilitator: Susan / Minutes Taker: Eva

Treasurer: Susan (acting) – Treasurer’s Report: $34

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Eva will get our “treasure” from Cregan
Bernard will email Steve to see if our Handbook has been uploaded to the library
Bernard will take over the Eblast. He will talk with Cregan about the software she was going to use and also get the material we sent to her for it.
Susan will send out a meeting reminder for the next meeting and ask for someone to volunteer to facilitate it.

Decisions Made:

Raise the suggested meeting donation to $2
Move the meeting to the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday of each month, from 6:30 pm – 9 pm

Old Business:

We will continue to recruit new members. Having events will help with this. We will ideas for events at the next meeting.
Bernard completed the introduction to our Handbook and sent it to Steve. He will follow up with Steve with regard to it being published in our library.
Susan is working on the Starhawk webinar, putting it on disc so we can all have access to it.

New Business:

Susan will continue as acting Treasurer till Bernard returns in January, when he will take on that role, unless someone else volunteers.
It was proposed and agreed on to move our meetings to the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday of each month, to facilitate a couple of prospective new members attending, and to lessen a scheduling conflict for Eva. We also decided to start the meetings a half and hour later, i.e. at 6:30 pm. This will shorten our meeting, but we believe we be efficient enough with the business portion of the meeting to still leave ample time for the development sessions.
Susan will send out the meeting reminder. Bernard will Skype in.
Eva will facilitate an experiential NVC development session.

Summary of Development Session:

We attended an evening of inspirational music and story telling performed by Savia Lee and Manon. Savia, who was also celebrating her 92^nd birthday, played the gongs, crystal bowls, xylophone and various other strange and wonderful instruments, while Manon played the cello. The music was improvisational and included non-verbal vocals and story telling by both performers. We three “Heart and Soulers” were blown away as were the rest of the audience-participants. It was a nourishing and uplifting happening!

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, Nov.5, 6:30 – 9 pm at Eva’s house.

H&S Minutes May 30, 2013

Place: Boxo’s / Those Present: Bernard, Cynthia, Eva, Karen, Kathy, Megan, Steve, Susan, Tami

Facilitator: Bernard / Minutes Taker: Eva

Centering exercise was led by Bernard, and then we had our “check-in”

Treasurer’s Report: Susan collected $10

Minutes approved – no changes

Agenda review – Susan requested we add a discussion about creating a new member packet

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Eva will type up our Group Norms and email them to the H&S Working Group
Susan, Steve and Kathy will meet to plan our OM event for July
Susan and Bernard will work on the New Member Packet and have a draft by June 27.
Steve will resend the Yahoo groups invitation.

Old Biz

Steve explained that the Yahoo groups is a closed group, open only to those who are invited to join. Some members had not gotten or deleted the invitation, so Steve will send it out again.

Susan will send reviews of Starhawk’s books to Steve for the library data base, and to Michele for our e-blast.

We tabled the review and discussion of our “Guidelines for Requesting Help from the H&S Group” to our next meeting.

New Biz

Summer plans and June development sessions – It was decided unanimously to:

Have our regular sessions in June, on June 13 and June 27.
Not have our regular meetings in July and August.
Have a Potluck and OM Event, lead by Karen Soriano in July, on or close to the full moon, at Kathy and Eva’s place.
Not have any meetings or events in August, and resume our regular meeting schedule of the 1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of the month in September.
New Member Packet – Susan proposed that we create a packet of information for new members that would help them understand who we are, what our purpose is, and how we operate. Eva and Kathy suggested that it somehow be made experiential for them, perhaps by having an existing member go over the packet with them, and take them through a process, such as the “Mandala of Group Roles”. Susan and Bernard volunteered to work on the packet, and we decided to continue the discussion when the draft is presented at the meeting on June 27.

Summary of Development Session – Body Mapping

Bernard first gave a history of the Body Mapping process, which was developed in South Africa as part of the Memory Box project working with women with HIV. It involved story telling about the passage of their lives, with the Body Mapping part playing a crucial role in helping the women gain important insights about themselves, as well as experiencing themselves as feeling much more empowered. Bernard was instrumental in getting the Body Maps of these women to New York for a show in a gallery there.

Bernard then took us to his studio where he had all the materials gathered for our use. He then explained the process to us, taking care to point out that the process was likely to elicit emotions, and that there would be an opportunity for us all to reflect at the end of the evening.

We worked in pairs in the beginning to accomplish drawing of the outline of our bodies on long pieces of butcher-block paper. Then Bernard guided us through several steps that invited us to go inward – remembering, re-experiencing and then recording on the paper, the various experiences and feelings that came up. We were invited to use color, pictures, symbols, words — in any way that was meaningful to our story of ourselves.

Our reflections at the end took the place of the meeting evaluation. The sharing indicated that people found the process interesting and valuable and several people expressed that they had gained new insight. One comment, which several people related to, was that this person had the experience of being able to “step outside of themselves” and thus feel increased objectivity about prior events in their lives.

We did not finish the process, and so will continue at our next meeting, which will be on June 13, again at Boxo House.

H&S Minutes 5.9.13

Place: Susan’s / Present: Susan, Kathy, Steve, Karen, Eva, Cynthia, Michele, Cregan, Klaus

Facilitator: Cynthia / Minutes taker: Cregan / Centering exercise led by Susan

Treasurer’s Report: After collection of donations from current meeting, Cregan reports that we have $71 in the H&S Group treasury.

Approval of minutes: Cynthia noted that the review of the sub-committees’ guidelines was missing from the last minutes. She remembered to add it to current agenda.

Action Items

Steve demonstrated the Yahoo group via computer.

The URL is groups.yahoo.com. Group is called “heartandsoultjt.” Steve will resend the invite to everyone in case anyone still needs to join.
The primary focus of the group is the library database. We can see who currently has each book, and all details about the book itself. Always let Steve know who has books. Members can email other members to exchange books.
Give Steve info on new books to add.
We can also post photos and links to interesting websites on the group.

Michele presented digital copyright issues.

It is illegal to make unauthorized copies of dvds, cds, audio books and ebooks. Bottom line is that we can’t share ebooks because there’s not way to insure they are not copied.
Eva proposed that we do not put ebooks or any downloadable material that have been paid for in the Group Library. Group came to a consensus on that proposal.

Michele share the first draft of the eblast.

She will email everyone a copy for feedback. All feedback welcome!
Michele is the designer of the eblast, but she requests that other contribute to writing. Suggestion that we form a subcommittee to collect and write the content for each quarterly eblast.
Goal for first eblast is June.
Eblast includes photos, info about recent development sessions, upcoming dev. Sessions. Link to TJT website / HS page. Could potentially post eblast on website too.
Also include a contact email. Eva’s email address is volunteered.

Old Business

Karen reported that the presentation to the pot luck was successful. People were especially interested in the Mandala.

Eva and Kathy reported on the conflict resolution process.

They created an aim for the process. Structured the session into 4 phases, including an “active listening” phase.
There was a suggestion to add “active listening” as a future development session.
Eva and Kathy felt that the goals of conflict resolution were met. Congratulations!
Eva will email the process outline (4 phases) and the aim to the group. Steve will upload to Yahoo group.
Cynthia suggested that for next conflict resolution session, either Eva or Kathy could do it paired with someone new. Always create a new aim specific to that session.

Review of guidelines for conflict resolution requests tabled to next meeting. Please review individually before the next meeting, and include as a bigger piece of the agenda.

Development Session

Group Norms List – Susan and Kathy

Kathy led the group in an exercise to reconnect with the purpose of the creating group norms.
There was a suggestion to have a subgroup wordsmith and finalize norms list, but discussion led the group to an agreement to allow it to be a living document.
We discussed potential new group norms that came up during the exercise.
Steve suggested we read the current norms at each meeting, along with the aim. We will read at next meeting and experience how it feels. Keep in mind it’s a living document and we’re always open to someone’s input and changes.
Discussion around how to orientate a new potential member. How to “bring them up to speed” in a personal way. Someone from the group can act as a mentor.
Agreement to table discussion concerning new people and group norms.
The general feeling is that we do not want to be too strict or become too set or static.

Action Items from Meeting:

Steve resend invite to Yahoo group
Michele send draft eblast to group (DONE)Eva email their conflict resolution Aim and 4-phase process
- Members send feedback on eblast to Michele
Cregan email guidelines for conflict resolution process
- Members review before next meeting

Next Meeting:

The next meeting will be on Thursday, May 30^th at Boxo house. Bernard will lead a development session in body mapping.

H&S Minutes 4.18.13

Place: Boxo’s / Present: Bernard, Eva. Kathy, Susan, Cynthia, Michele, Cregan, Steve, Karen

Facilitator: Bernard / Minutes taker: Steve / Centering exercise led by Bernard

Treasurer’s Report: After collection of donations from current meeting, Cregan reports that we have $62 in the H&S Group treasury.

Approval of minutes: We discussed that minutes are approved via internet and that no response indicates approval.

Action Items:

Steve reported that a new Yahoogroup was created for H&S and that all active group and IG members were invited. The Yahoogroup contains the lending library database but can also be used for meeting announcements, archiving of minutes and other information. Michele requested a demonstration of the Yahoogroup at our next meeting. Michele will research copyright regulations regarding lending of digital materials.
Michele will have a draft of the monthly e-blast available for the next meeting.

Old Business:

A request was made by Eva to rearrange the agenda by moving the item regarding the Food Group to after the development session.
Karen will report on our offerings for workshops and assistance to other TJT working groups at the TJT Working Groups potluck on April 28th.

New Business: 6:35PM

A discussion of starting the meetings at 6:30 and having shorter meetings was tabled to an unspecified future date.
Susan proposed a development session for the second meeting of May on Klaus’ Constellation work. Discussion took place regarding scheduling conflicts for the third Thursday in May with Jill’s permaculture demonstration. There were also other conflicts with availability for dates in May. Susan volunteered to host a workshop on the Constellation work outside of H&S but to invite group members.
We will then review the possibility of H&S presenting the workshop at a later date.

Development Session: 6:50PM

A team building exercise was led by Eva with participation by all present. The exercise involved being blindfolded and working together to identify objects of various shapes and colors to determine which items are missing. The group was successful in doing so within the allotted time limit and everyone seemed to agree that it was a very enjoyable and effective exercise.

Old Business: 7:35

A discussion took place regarding a request from Jill for assistance in resolving a conflict between the IG and members of the Food Group. Eva distributed copies of the questionnaires that were filled out by parties involved and also by other members of the Food Group.

Some members of H&S expressed the feeling that we were rushed into utilizing our conflict resolution process before it was fully refined, but Eva expressed that this seemed to be an urgent situation that provided us with an opportunity to assist and that the process was sufficiently developed to be ready to use.

The questionnaires were reviewed and discussed. It was decided that assistance would be offered and that Eva and Kathy would act as a conflict resolution panel. It was also decided that as a separate issue, all services of the H&S Group would be offered to the Food Group.

Next Meeting:

The next meeting will be on Thursday, May 9th at Susan’s. Susan & Kathy will lead continued development of a Group Norms list.

The second meeting in May will be Thursday, May 30th at Boxo’s – development session on Body Mapping.

H&S Minutes 4.4.13

Place: Susan’s / Those Present: Cregan, Damian, Karen, Michele, Kathy, Bernard, Susan, Eva

Facilitators: Susan and Kathy / Minutes Taker: Eva

Treasurer: Cregan / Treasurer’s Report: $53 presently in kitty

Centering exercise – Bernard

Approval of Last Minutes: done online, no comments

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Approve minutes online
Michele will create the first monthly e-blast.
Eva prepare an experiential exercise related to our development

Decisions Made:

Yahoo group for H & S: Steve –tabled to 4.18
Send Steve books or DVDs for library – tabled to 4.18
Subgroup on recommendations for guests with issues tabled to 4.18
Next development session will include a discussion to clarify the purpose of our development sessions. We will also do further work on Group Norms.
We will separate our contact list into the actual working members and “friends” of H&S. Michele proposed a monthly e-blast and will take it on.

Old Business:

Kathy & Eva: summarized and asked for reflections on last development session. This really was just and intro. It is a big topic that we will return to many times. The learning process has to be experiential. How to give feedback and methods of conflict resolution are just some of the areas we want to focus on.

New Business:

Susan brought up the question of rotating facilitators. She talked about her process in doing it – one of moving from fear in the beginning to having fun at it now. She highly recommended the learning opportunity. Bernard volunteered to take it on for the next (number?) of meetings.
Karen volunteered to represent our group at the Working Groups pot luck on Apr. 28^th.
H & S contact list – It was proposed and agreed after discussion, that we should separate the contact list into the actual working members and “friends” of H&S. Michele put forth the idea of a monthly e-blast for the “friends” that would let them know what was happening in the group and perhaps encourage them to come to meetings. The group thought this was a great idea and Michele said she will take this on, and that the first one will let everyone know about the separate lists. The consensus was that because the agenda and minutes of each meeting are available to the public on our web page, they don’t need to be sent to the “friends” list. Bernard talked about having guidelines for the minutes – i.e. that sensitive issues are only described generally and with out using people’s names.

Summary of Development Session:

Kathy and Susan lead a discussion on the purpose of group norms, which include:

To provide clarity about common expectations
To serve as guidelines to which we can refer

We then brainstormed the following:

Personal information stays confidential
Start and end meetings on time
Let people know what you need
Put our aim before our egos
Don’t interrupt each other
Listen completely
Everyone who wants to be heard, is heard

We ran out of time and will continue at the next meeting

Susan and David then lead us in a session of Energy Play in which we practiced generating energy ourselves and then played with it with partners.

The next meeting will be at Boxo House on April 18. Bernard will facilitate and the development session will continue work on our group norms.

Meeting Evaluation:

Enjoyed the pot luck, but glad it is not every time as it uses valuable meeting time
The energy work was great!
The e-blast is a great idea!
Observation from our visitor – we operate very differently from other groups he has attended.

H&S Minutes 3.21.13

H&S Minutes 2/21/13

These week’s minutes are presented in PDF format.

H&S Minutes 2.7.13

Date: 2/7/13

Place: BOXO Projects

Those Present: Susan, Karen, Michele, Bernard, Eva, Jill, Tom and Jim

Facilitator: Bernard / Minutes Taker: Jill

Treasurer: Cregan (not present), Treasurer’s Report: tabled

Approval of Last Minutes: Yes

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Susan – ask Cregan to buy 2 copies each of Starhawk’s 2 books and reimburse herself through the kitty
Susan – send Dev. Session cheat sheet to Sequoia, Steve and Cregan
Jill – resend digital mandala attached to Minutes
Processing the dev. Session with those missing: Jill – Sequoia / Susan – Cregan / Bernard – Steve
Susan – ask JTopia for clarification on their indoor smoking policy
Karen – will post all past approved Minutes to the website
Jill – will move Unsubscibe to bottom of message when she sends out Minutes and will make font smaller.

Decisions Made:

Eva and Kathy will run next development session on Facilitation
Old Biz agenda will include review of current past development sessions. We should mind making comments on most current sessions so that we don’t get bogged down in the past.
Susan will be next Facilitator. Meeting will be Feb. 21 at Boxo Projects.
The group will purchase copies of Starhawk’s “Empowerment Manual” and “Truth or Dare”. All will read.

Old Biz:

1. Report on use of Jtopia for our meetings – Susan – Thursdays are open. Joe asks for small donation towards utilities. Susan smelled cigarette smoke in the room. Will check with him on his smoking policy.

New Biz:

Susan proposed that we make review of current past Dev. Sessions an agenda item each week. Need more feedback. Consensus achieved.
Bernard proposed that we move the email Unsubscribe text to the bottom of our emails and make font smaller. Too much in your face the way it is. Consensus achieved.

Summary of Development Session:

Balancing the Wheel – presented by Karen and Susan.

We began by facing the four directions and getting a feel for the meaning of this kind of mapping. Susan described the importance of the axis in the center of the mandala – the axis of learning and the axis of action. The mandala is all about balance. We balance speech and silence. We shift from trying to win to trying to learn. This builds trust in the group. We then paired up and each person told the other which of the 4 directions she/he felt most applied to the other followed by discussion and feedback. We then came back together as group and discussed our experience.

Meeting Evaluation:

Feeling that the experience of hearing from another person about one’s place on the mandala was very enlightening and surprising.
Loved the experiential nature of the workshop.
Really deepened understanding of how group members can move between roles as needed by group dynamics.
Kudos to Susan and Karen.

Next meeting – Feb. 21 at Boxo Projects, Susan facilitates

H&S Minutes from 1.24.13

Date: 1/24/13

Place: Eva and Kathy’s house

Those present: Sequoia, Steve, Jill, Eva, Susan, Michelle, Karen, Bernard, Will, Cregan

Facilitator: Susan / Minutes: Jill Giegerich

Treasurer’s Report: Cregan $90.50 on hand

Approval of Last Minutes: Yes

Comments – Steve asked that Minutes and other documents be sent out as a .doc not .docX file.

Action items to be completed before next meeting:

Eva will delete two subscribers from email list and resend list to us
Susan will check with J-Topia to see if we can have our meetings there
Jill will send Starhawk’s Transition U.S. audio file to us. All will review it. See link for this at the end of the Minutes.

Decisions Made:

Self regulated side bar snacks allowed at meetings with the understanding that we will be sensitive about breaking the circle to snack up.
Karen and Susan will run next development session on Starhawk’s Mandala of Groups
Next meeting will be at Bernard’s (directions will follow)
Bernard will be the facilitator

Summary of Development Session:

Steve handed out an info sheet on the Four Agreements. Sequoia talked about it as a tetrahedron – one of the most stable of geometric arrangements. He brought a cardboard tetrahedron as a talking stick that we each held as we talked about our personal experiences with, thoughts on the Four agreements. People gave each other feedback. A lively discussion ensued.

Eva asked if the four agreements could be its own workshop. It was generally agreed that it would be better introduced in a workshop as a one of many tools in a toolkit. Steve mentioned Non Violent Communication and Zegg. He also suggested looking at the New Culture website. Sequoia suggested that we could ask the other working groups for feedback about what kind of workshops would be most beneficial to them. Susan asked if we want to adopt the four agreements as our Operating Principles. Generally agreed that we would like to wait on that and let all this information percolate. Better perhaps to use them personally first.

Old Biz:

1. Proposal by Susan

That self-regulated sidebar snacking be allowed at the meetings with the understanding that people be sensitive to timing if they wish to go to the snack table.

Pros and cons discussed. Consensus achieved on the above proposal.

New Biz:

1. New meeting space? – Eva

Because our numbers are growing, do we want to find a larger meeting space? J-Topia was suggested. Discussion. Decided that Susan will see if J-Topia is available. Next week we will meet at Bernard’s.

2. Email list Unsubscribes – Eva

How to deal with unsubscribes on the email list? Decided that Eva will delete them and then send out the new email list to us. Steve asked that documents get sent out as .doc not .docx files. He can’t open them.

3. Next Development Session? – Susan

Group looked over the list and came to consensus on Starhawk’s Mandala of Groups. Karen and Susan will lead.

Meeting Eval: Understanding of Four Agreements was deepened. Thanks to Sequoia and Steve. Thanks to Susan for facilitating. Session was challenging and engaged deeper parts of the self.

H&S Minutes 1.3.13

Place: Eva’s / Those Present: Jill, Sequoia, Eva, Susan, Steve, Kathy, Karen

Facilitator: Eva / Minutes Taker: Karen / Time Keeper: Eva

Treasurer’s Report: We now have a total of $78.50 (Eva substituting for Cregan)

Approval of Last Minutes: yes, see comments

Comments: Per minutes from Dec. 6: it was decided to approve the minutes by email from now, with a 2 day window for any revisions.

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

Eva will send out our latest proposal to H&S members present
Susan will update Cregan on this meeting’s events and status
Sequoia and Steve will develop 4 agreements development section of next meeting

Decisions Made:

New AIM statement formulated and agreed to (see below)
Heart & Soul Event to be scheduled when we have skills to teach other working groups about group process
Heart Cognition will be a part of each meeting. An exercise to bring words generated by the heart not the brain will take place at some point during each meeting.

Project Groups’ Reports:

Sub-committee offered draft AIM statement. Agreement reached with minor adjustment.

Old Business:

Leading the presentation of the sub-committee, Susan opened with a centering exercise creating the environment for heart-based discussion, which followed resulting in consensus of new AIM statement:

The aim of the TTJT Heart & Soul Working Group is to be a source of heart-based tools that enable individuals and groups to develop inner strength and wisdom, so that we become a supportive and sustainable community during and beyond transition.

Development session:

Sequoia: “Greatest samurai does not need to lift his sword”-swords is an anagram for words and emblematic of the solution to conflicts.

Discussion followed about group and interpersonal dynamics. A power imbalance will result in a power struggle. 180° from “what’s-not-working is still not working”. Mandala or circles of revered core values will put all points of view equidistant from all others giving consensus an opportunity. We will be unlikely to get conflict if consensus comes first.

New Business:

Priority for development will be acquiring the skills to offer help to other Working Groups. This help will take the form of teaching facilitation, elements and use of group dynamics and aims, the consensus process, CPR, communications and housekeeping within the group. We crafted a proposal for moving forward, which Eva will formalize and send to others present for final approval. We will begin by learning the 4 Agreements. Steve and Sequoia will present the next Development section on Jan. 24^th.

Meeting Evaluation: We have worked well and accomplished much tonight.

Next Meeting: Jan 24, at Eva’s

H&S Minutes 12/6/12

Location: Eva’s house

Those Present: Buck, Cregan, David Z, Eva, Jill G, Karen T, Kathy J, Laura H, Sequoia, Susan J, Tim D.

Facilitator: Jill / Minutes Taker: Eva / Time Keeper: Susan

Treasurer: Cregan – Treasurer’s Report: We have total of $52.50 in the kitty.

Meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm and we did our check-in.

Minutes from last meeting were approved with no changes or comment. It was decided to approve the minutes by email from now, with a 2 day window for any revisions.

Agenda Review and Additions:

1. Jill – Using the new Minutes Form

2. Cregan – our website

3. We added time frames for each agenda item

Development Session Summary:

Susan gave a presentation on the subtle energy body and ended with some Tai Chi energy exercises. Reflections from those present indicated that we all felt our energy shift as we went through the exercises. Susan noted that the information we get from the subtle energy body or the heart mind is experiential. She shared that the planet has a subtle energy body also and that we can access it with ours. Some of the people she has been reading on this subject are Brian Swimme, teacher of Evolutionary Cosmology, Bruce Lipton, who is best known for promoting the idea that genes and DNA can be manipulated by a person’s beliefs., Carl Jung and Carlos Castenada.

Action Items To Be Completed Before Next Meeting:

1. A sub-committee consisting of Cregan, Susan and Eva will meet Dec 17^th at 6 pm at Eva’s house to work on a draft Purpose Statement for our group. Cregan will solicit input by email prior to the meeting. This draft proposal will be submitted at the next meeting.

2. Cregan will take a look at our web site and assess it.

3. Sequoia will lead the development session at the next meeting.

4. Jill will email the new Minutes Form.

Decisions Made:

1. The development sessions of our meetings for the next several months will be devoted to the teaching of skills such as non-violent communication, conflict resolution, working with the 4 Agreements and learning to use Starhawk’s group manual so that H & S members become skilled as resources for other groups.

2. We will meet twice a month for the next few months, beginning in January, so that we can speed up our learning process.

3. We will drop the potluck and limit the business portion of the meeting to 1 hour, allowing 2 hours for the development session.

Old Business:

1. Further work on our AIM:

We were not able to make much progress on the Aim, and Eva proposed that we form a sub-group to create a draft Aim to bring to our next meeting for discussion. This was agreed upon and Cregan, Susan and Eva volunteered and were accepted as the members of the sub-group.

2. Discussion about the urgency of developing ourselves as resources for other working groups:

Eva led this discussion. We are in agreement that this should be our priority right now, and that we all want to become more skilled facilitators. It was proposed that for the next several months, we will devote the development portion of our meetings to the teaching of skills such as non-violent communication, conflict resolution, working with the 4 Agreements and learning to use Starhawk’s group manual, so that H & S members become skilled in assisting other groups through their growth process. The proposal was agreed on, and it was also decided to meet twice a month for the next few months, beginning in January, so that we can speed up the learning process as conflict has already come up in working groups and in personal lives.

The meetings will be streamlined by dropping the potluck. We will limit the business portion of the meeting to 1 hour, and allow 2 hours for the development portion of the meeting.

3. Proposal that we all read Starhawk’s downloadable “Five Fold Path of Productive Meetings”: Jill shared her thoughts about the consensus process in Starhawk’s manual and suggested we read the part on facilitation also.

4. Discussion about organizing our email list: We agreed that we want to keep anyone who has ever expressed interest in the H&S group informed of what we are doing, in hopes that they may be attracted to become more involved. It was decided to put the following at the bottom of all our emails from now on – “If you no longer wish to receive these emails please reply with “unsubscribe” in the subject line.”

New Business:

– Discuss when we will start to work on our Operating Principles – Sequoia suggested we might start with the “4 agreements”. We will discuss this next meeting during the “business” portion.

– Do we want to meet 2x’s a month for a while? Yes – see above (#2 under Old Biz)

– A discussion about keeping our main meeting to the 1st Thursday of the month – yes, this is what works best for the majority.

– Jill proposed that we try the new minutes form and we agreed to do it. Jill will email it.

– Cregan offered to take a look at the Transition web site and assess it. This was met with enthusiasm and gratitude.

– The next meeting will be January 3rd at Eva’s. Sequoia will lead a development session on conflict resolution

Reflections on the meeting:

Very useful, loved the Tai Chi exercises, got a lot done

Heart and Soul TJT Group Meeting Notes – Nov 1, 2012

Present: Cregan, Eva, Jill, Sequoia, Steve, Susan

Location: Eva’s house

Facilitator: Eva

Minutes taker: Jill

Agenda:

6:00 Pot-luck

6:30 Check-in

Treasurer’s report: Eva shared that Laura Hamilton had brought the treasury to her, as she was not going to be coming to the meetings for now. Cregan agreed to be the new treasurer. $7.00 was collected at this meeting bringing our total to $41.50.

Old Business:

Meeting date – The first Thursday of every month works great for everyone present, except Steve. We discussed moving it to the fourth Thursday, however we agreed to keep it on the first Thursday during this holiday season and consider changing it for the new year at the next meeting.

New Business:

Jill brought up the importance of deciding on which Decision Making Process we wanted to use in H&S meetings. She outlined options and we discussed them. A motion was made by Steve, seconded by Susan, and the vote was unanimous to adopt the “Consensus, minus one” process, with the option of “blocking” as long as the blocker has an alternate proposal to present. This means that our decisions will be made by consensus and will be effective as long as there is only one “no”. If the person who disagrees feels very strongly about it, he or she may “block” the decision (this should only be used rarely), in which case the issue will be returned to the floor for further discussion along with the person’s alternate proposal.

There were several comments about the need to clarify the purpose and role of the H&S group, and Eva put the Aim that was developed at the first meeting up on the wall. There was a consensus that it wanted further development, that something as important as a purpose statement should always be open for development as the group grows and that the process of creating it needs time and reflection and should be inclusive. There was a discussion about intentional and aware inclusivity. Some other thoughts that surfaced with regard to the purpose and role of H&S were:

– The Heart and Soul group is about more than spirituality

– H&S group brings the community together, it is like glue (connection) and batteries (energy)

– H&S embodies the “Thriving” concept

– One role is to help all the other groups work.

First Aim:

To be a resource for deep spiritual exploration for our community,

in a way that compassionately and creatively brings greater inner peace and connectivity,

so that we will more effectively transition together.

New work on the Aim:

To be a resource for our transitioning community,

to/through/that compassionately and creatively brings/bringing greater connectivity (and inclusivity) to ourselves/people and others/groups,

so that we work more effectively together to Thrive/become a Thriving community.

We are going to continue to think about it and come prepared to work on it again next meeting. We want to encourage attendance at the next meeting so more input will be generated.

Development Session

There was a discussion of the webinar with Starhawk about how to sustain collaborative groups. Eva gave a recap. Summation of Starhawk’s “Mandala of Group Roles”:

– Building awareness of necessary roles in groups, issues of inclusivity, and social power (earned vs not earned)

– Group members need to develop awareness of and capacity to take on roles of energy and enthusiasm boosters, boundary keeping, responsibility, fostering transparency and accountability, providing clear vision and sensitivity to group process and individuals.

– Successful groups achieve a balance between all roles

– Successful groups develop their ability to engage in constructive critiques. Learning and using the techniques of Non Violent Communication can be very valuable.

At this point we discussed the importance of writing a set of principles by which the H&S group will operate, and Sequoia mentioned using the “4 Agreements”.

The group members present represent much valuable life experience, knowledge and understanding of group process, which will be an important resource for our group and other groups. Sequoia suggested that one of the ways we can be a resource for other groups is by offering a mediation process.

More New Business:

– Next agenda will have last month’s Action Items at the beginning. The minutes will list the coming month’s Action Items at the end of the minutes, so everyone can be thinking about them.

– Events discussion: We discussed putting more alerts on the website. It is important to host events and to identify the appropriate audience for each event.

– The facilitator of each meeting will incorporate 5 minutes of centering at the beginning of each meeting and 5 minutes of reflection time at the end.

Action Items

· All – think about the Aim and come to the next meeting with your thoughts.

· Jill – draw the Group Roles Mandala.

· Eva – type up the minutes and send them out

· Susan – take on the development portion on the next meeting.

Next Meeting:

The next meeting will be Dec 6, at Eva’s house

Heart and Soul TJT Group Meeting Notes – Oct 3, 2012

Present:, Karen T, Kathy J, Buck B, Susan J, Eva M, Steve F

Location: Eva’s / Facilitator: Eva

We had a meeting on October 3 – yeah! Four of us were present for the Transition Heart-Mind-Circle webinar, and 2 more people came afterwards for the potluck and business meeting.

We found the webinar very informative and useful. The topic was essentially how to maintain healthy groups. I was shocked to learn that 90% of intentional communities fail, so it seems even more important that one of the roles of our Heart and Soul group would be as a resource to help sustain our Transition Joshua Tree community as a whole.

Those at the meeting would like to invite you all to listen to the webinar online at the link below, and then join us for our next meeting on November 1, to share our reflections and discuss where we go from here. Please come and share your thoughts!

Agenda:

5:00 Transition Heart-Mind-Circle webinar

6:30 Potluck, agenda modified, check-in

Old Business: none

New Business:

– We will consider whether to suspend meetings next summer due to people leaving for those months. It was a factor in the lack of attendance during August and September this year.

– A motion was made and passed to change the meeting date to the first Thursday of the month to avoid conflicts with other Transition meetings.

– It was agreed that the personal development portion of our H&S meeting is an important part of the meeting. Next meeting it will center on ways of maintaining healthy groups, especially at they apply right now to our H&S group. Eva will extend the invitation to group members to listen to the Webinar prior to next meeting so we can discuss it and where we want to go from here. There was a consensus that we do see our group as a resource for TJT, but that we need to better clarify who we are and what our role is.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday, November 1, from 6 pm to 9 pm at Eva’s House, with the potluck being at 6 pm and the meeting starting at 6:30, and Development at 7pm.

9:00 End

Heart and Soul TJT Group Meeting Notes – Oct 3, 2012

Present:, Karen T, Kathy J, Buck B, Susan J, Eva M, Steve F

Location: Eva’s / Facilitator: Eva

Agenda:

5:00 Transition Heart-Mind-Circle webinar

6:30 Potluck, agenda modified, check-in

Old Business: none

New Business: – We will consider whether to suspend meetings next summer due to people leaving for those months. It was a factor in the lack of attendance during August and September this year.

– A motion was made and passed to change the meeting date to the first Thursday of the month to avoid conflicts with other Transition meetings.

– Our next meeting will be on Thursday, November 1, from 6 pm to 9 pm at Eva’s House, with the potluck being at 6 pm and the meeting starting at 6:30. Proposed Agenda 6:00 Potluck 6:30 Check-in 7:00 Business 7:00 Development – Sustaining a healthy group and discussion on who we are, what our role is, and where we go from here.

9:00 End

Heart and Soul TJT Group Meeting Notes – July 3, 2012

Present: Bernard, Beth, Katie, Klaus, Jill G, China, Eva, Karen S, Laura H

Location: Boxo House / Facilitator: Bernard

Agenda:

6:00 Pot-luck

6:30 Read H&S Aim

Check-in – themes:

– Grounded, now that I’m here

– The sense of community here is a real treat

– Up and down, aware of saying “get over it” to self

– Been reflecting on Cynthia’s exercise since then

– Going through inner transitions and felt I needed some Heart and Soul work

– Am going through a big shift – just moved here

– Have come out of a difficult space and am feeling really great now

– I feel buzzed on gratitude – my vision is really happening

Minutes were approved

Old Business:

– Our kitty had $31 in it prior to tonight’s donations

– Eva brought Joanna Macy’s book, “Active Hope” and recommended it as something to read and suggested we might do some exercises from it at future meetings.

– Eva had checked out some other H&S groups on the internet and found some material which she will send out, along with some links to a couple of webinars (one which Jill had forwarded to her). She mentioned that some groups had adopted guidelines for meetings, such as what is considered confidential or not at an H&S meeting. Jill talked about the importance of developing guiding documents/principles for the operation of a group.

– Eva talked with the minister of the United Methodist Church in Joshua Tree with regard to reaching out to interfaith groups in the area. There are a couple we could contact, but they are on hiatus till the fall. We discussed the importance of connecting with those with whom we disagree – that sometimes we learn the most from the most difficult encounters we have.

New Business:

– Eva asked if we wanted to keep all the people on our email list, even if they don’t attend meetings. We decided that we did and that we would add an “opt out” phrase at the bottom of our emails.

Next Meeting:

The next meeting will be Aug 7, at Laura Hamilton’s house (see directions in email). Laura will facilitate and will share a tape with the English version of the Japji, a universal song of God composed by Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh faith.

Development Session

Bernard and China, the artist-in-residence who has been doing the research on meditation and the creation of energy fields at Bernard’s, discussed their experiences with us and then lead a group meditation with a similar aim of creating an energy field.

Bernard – Feels that his residencies are being informed by the community and vice versa. He was very attracted by China’s proposal – moving toward non-material based artwork and attempting to create energy fields. The original idea was to get together twice daily with a group of people and observe the results.

China – I have felt an increasing difficulty in dealing with material – I see such waste everywhere. I believe we can harness energy and introduce it into the context of art – make it more accessible to a wider audience. It feels like the last frontier to me. Some questions I have are: What does this mean in terms of community and what we think of as a creative medium – human energy as an art medium? Our culture is competitive and separating, but I have found greater strength when working in community with others.

Bernard – It was challenging getting 10 people together to meditate that often and we ended up with Susan, David and Klaus. We met 2 evenings and we had some powerful breakthroughs in creating energy that we all felt. We created an energy field and I learned there are specific things we can do to amp it up

Klaus – talked about “Constellation” work and how they work with people to perceive the energy of others. It is an interesting question to explore – what to those who enter an energy field experience when they enter?

We then meditated for 30 minutes on bringing awareness down to our hearts and finding a simple association with an experience that is specifically joyful for us, and allowing ourselves to fully connect with that joy. In this way our group could became a container for joy. Several people reflected afterward on an awareness they had of expansion and even feeling heat.

Heart and Soul TJT Group Meeting Notes – June 5, 2012

Present: Cynthia H, Eva M, Karen S, Karen T, , Laura H, Steve F

Location: Laura’s home Facilitator: Cynthia Agenda:

6:00 Pot-luck

6:30 Read our H&S Aim and then did a guided meditation for healing our pain for the planet. Reflections on meditation: − Similarity to other meditations for healing − There has to be a way to stay hopeful in the face of all the fear and pain about what is happening in the world – but how? − How can I possibly have an effect? − The “Serenity Prayer” helps − Karen S invited us to join in a Qui Kong exercise that brought both the positive and negative energies together in the heart, so all becomes one. The experience was moving and raised the vibration level of the group.

Check-in – themes: − Have been feeling like a checker board – up and down and all over the place since last meeting − Fatigued and constantly on the go, but feeling grounded right now − I’m happier than I’ve been in 20 years – lots of changes, feel like new things are coming. − Feel deeply comforted to be here − Long days, never ending obligations − Challenges with others’ behaviors − Lots of opportunities to do my own personal work.

Minutes were approved and the Agenda modified, so we could do our development session first Development of Ourselves as Resources: (continued from last meeting – Cynthia facilitated)

Cynthia started with the 3 Lines of Work framework and we discussed what fit in each circle – ended up with “self” in the center, the Heart and Soul TJT group in the next circle out and TJT and the Transition Movement in the outermost circle. The First Line of work is the process of engaging in growth activities aimed at understanding one’s self. Generally, First Line work is only sustainable and meaningful through the connection with some overarching (Third Line) aim. The Second Line of work entails joining with others to improve our ability to do work and to develop ourselves as persons while working. It is most successful when we are involved in a common endeavor. The Third Line of work is about serving the values and aspirations of a “greater whole”, e.g. a larger community, organization or region. The Third Line of work calls on individuals to discover/develop an appropriate aim for their own growth in regard to the work at hand, as well as to focus on the purposes of the greater whole. This aim provides a means of nourishing the health and growth of themselves, those they work with, and the larger community being served by their efforts. The Third Line of work constitutes an ongoing and overarching aim for the First and Second Lines of work. In bringing about a change process in any system these three lines of work must be engaged simultaneously. We can only move the whole system to the degree we as human beings can move ourselves collectively and individually. We than went back to the 3 Questions Cynthia had left with us at the last meeting: 1. What is this group’s purpose and whom does it serve? 2. What capacities as a group do we need to develop to best support this purpose? 3. What do I need to develop in order to make a contribution to this group’s efforts to achieve its purpose?

There were 3 main points that came out of our discussion: 1. Our Aim Statement answers question #1: To be a resource for deep spiritual exploration for our community; In a way that compassionately and creatively brings greater inner peace and connectivity; So that we will more effectively transition together. 2. We need a more specific Action Plan for our group, and when we have that it will inform our answers to question #2. 3. Our own inner work supports our group work and our group work supports our own inner work.

Old Business: − Our kitty had $23 in it prior to tonight’s donations

− Group Belly Laugh movie nights – will be regularly occurring, but unscheduled. Movie criteria: popular, joyous, funny, uplifting. We will start them in the fall.

New Business: − Eva reported on the Working Groups meeting that the IG put together on June 3rd, and Karen T went over the Strategic Plan with us. We discussed which aspects of the plan were applicable to the H&S Working Group, particularly in the areas of the offering of events, opportunities for personal growth and community outreach. Please see the attached document “TJT Strategic Goal and operating Plan – draft”.

− Everything seems to be slowing down for the summer and we will too, as a number of us will be absent at various times over the summer.

− Eva recommended Joanna Macy’s book :Active Hope” and will bring it next meeting

− The Desert Congregational Church has a monthly music night and one of their members has invited the H&S group to attend and have a member give a small talk about the Transition movement and the H&S group. Eva will follow up on this in the fall also.

− We will plan another full moon drumming and OMing Circle at Garth’s in the fall. − Eva will check out other H&S web sites before next meeting.

− Need to invite others to our meetings and recruit more members

The next meeting will be July 3, at Bernard’s house. Bernard and China, the artist-in-residence who has been doing the meditation work at Bernard’s, will discuss their findings with us and lead a group meditation with a similar aim of creating an energy field. Proposed Agenda (after checking in with Bernard): Potluck Check-in Business Development (meditation session)

9:00 End

Heart and Soul TJT Group Meeting Notes – May 1, 2012

Present: Bernard L, Cynthia H, Eva M, Karen S, Karen T, Kristen L, Laura H, Tim

Location: Laura’s home / Facilitator: Cynthia

Loose agenda:

6:00 Pot-luck

6:30 Started with our H&S Aim

Check-in themes:

– Glad, curious, eager

– Relaxed and happy to be with “my people”, this is my community

– Frazzled, good to let go of it all for a while

– Looking forward to being nourished spiritually

– Our Aim is not hypothetical

Minutes and Agenda approved

Old Business:

– Full Moon Drum Circle: Like to be better organized next time. Could have used more greeters. Karen S will contact the photographer and ask him to send pictures to Karen T. Want to do a better presentation about Transition at future events. All donations went to Garth.

New Business:

– Ideas for Future events:

Vipasana for kids
Connecting with other spiritual communities in our area
Check out other H&S web sites
Group Belly Laugh movie nights – focus on just getting together to have a good time and see great films and old favorites that make us laugh. Laura offered her home and will pursue with the help of Kristen L.
Body Mapping – Bernard will present it for one of our meetings and then we will decide if we offer it as an H&S event.

– Whoever facilitates a meeting will contact Eva to create the agenda for posting on our web page prior to the next meeting.

– Important to clarify whom we are targeting when we are thinking of an event.

– Had a discussion about our identity – we are a resource for the community as well as a group working on our own spiritual growth. No one owns the group.

Eva’s note – Check out our last minutes, because this came up then too: “We see ourselves as a resource and an umbrella for spiritual activities and events in our Transition community. And our meetings are a place for us as a group and as individuals to develop. It is important to set aside enough time in each meeting for that personal development. We needed to stay connected to our AIM/Purpose and revisit it regularly to see if it needs to evolve.”

Development of Ourselves as Resources:

Cynthia lead us in a guided meditation, then shared her aim in designing this session: To create an experiential design process for the H&S meeting; in a way that fully engages my creative essence; so that a positive contribution is made toward expanding our capacity for personal & community development. She then asked us to reflect for 15 minutes on the following question: What is the nature of personal development and how is it important for the Transition movement?

Reflections:

– Confusion about the question

– We need a basis of solid people who are on the same page in times of stress

– The essence of personal development has the aim of bringing a person into deeper alignment

– The nature of personal development is one of conscious evolution, which is also inherent in nature and vital to the process of transition – resilience and adapting to change

– The word “and” in that question is a fulcrum point. Are we being changed because of this movement or has this movement begun because people have changed? – it is both/and…

– Personal development is complex, multi-leveled, multi-dimensional. It is a life force system, a spiral of evolution

– This question has been on my mind for over a month – it is fascinating to see it on my wall

– What does transformation take – it means giving up a fixed point of view

– I can’t see myself being an effective resource for Transition if I stay in my present state of being. I am trying to evolve me so I can be a vehicle for greater evolvement.

Cynthia then gave an introduction to the use of “Living Frameworks”. They are not models, but evolutionary, dynamic structures that help us build consciousness and enable us to hold complex ideas in our minds. Applying a framework to a situation or activity can help me get enough distance when I might otherwise get hooked. She then presented 4 frameworks as tools for personal development, which are based in the work of Gurdjieff and some of his pupils, M. Nicoll, J.G. Bennett, and P.D. Ouspenski. Eva will type these up as a handout and email it to those who attended this meeting.

There wasn’t enough time to finish, so it was decided to continue at next month’s meeting. Cynthia will facilitate again and it will again be at Laura’s house. Cynthia asked us to think about the following questions before the next meeting:

1. What is this group’s purpose and whom does it serve?

2. What capacities as a group do we need to develop to best support this purpose?

3. What do I need to develop in order to make a contribution to this group’s efforts to achieve its purpose?

Reflections on the evening’s process:

– Great, gave me different ways to think

– I applied it to my life

– It triggered lots of things and activated some processes I had forgotten.

The next meeting will be June 5, at Laura’s house.

We will meditate first next time.

Bernard will hold the July 3^rd meeting at his house and will facilitate the Body Mapping experience.

9:00 End

Heart and Soul TJT Group Meeting Notes – April 3, 2012

Present: Bernard Liebov, Carolyn, Cynthia Heaton, Eva Montville, Karen Soriano, Laura Hamilton, Stephanie Dashiell, Steve Fuji

Location: Karen Soriano’s house in Morongo Valley

Facilitator: Karen Soriano

Loose agenda:

6:00 Pot-luck

6:30 Meditation: Lead by Karan S – Quigong movments focusing on white light driving out negativity

7:45 Check-in themes:

Be careful what you ask for – wanted community and now experiencing almost an overload!

The importance of keeping up my practice in the midst of life. Realizing there are lots of different ways to practice.

Realize I want a balanced life and that I have choices.

The manifestations I am experiencing are both big and small.

Seeing a psychic surgeon and opening my mind to a new healing process

Overwhelmed by reading “The Long Emergency”.

Conflict provides possibilities.

Announcements: Event at the Retreat Center – Spring Insight Meditation Retreat with Jack Kornfield, Trudy Goodman and others, April 18-27. Locals are welcome to join the dharma talks in the evenings, around 5 pm in the Sanctuary.

Old Business: Preparations for Full Moon Drum Circle at Garths on Friday

Signs- Cynthia and Eva will make. Karen and Eva will meet at 2 pm and put up signs.

Send out an announcement about car pooling and bring chairs and instruments

Eva bring sign-in sheets and donation box, Karen will do the sign-in

Will see how much we take in and then decide on a % for H&S, if there is enough for a decent donation to Garth

Karen will conduct a one-hour OM circle at 4 pm and will send out an announcement with a reminder of the event to everyone.

New Business:

Decided to have the H&S meeting on the first Tuesday of every month. The next meeting will be May 1st, at Laura Hamilton’s place. She will send directions to Eva. Need to bring chairs. Eva has a bunch of “Crazy Creek” chairs and will bring them. Cynthia will facilitate.

Attendees at our meetings will put one dollar in the kitty at each meeting, as they are able. Laura will be our Treasurer.

Eva will take the meeting notes and send them and other H&S announcements and information to Karen Tracy for posting on our TJT web page.

Steve talked about the Networking Group and how they want to have a festival linking all groups. We talked about the “Great Unleashing” being a vehicle for that.

Steve also talked about the Kid’s Group, how he would like to see each group do something for kids.

We then talked about ideas for other events and activities that our group might like to do, eg. Body Mapping, using the wilderness setting for an event, a Valery Eagle Heart workshop, the Whole Being Weekend in Idlewilde, chanting.

We see ourselves as a resource and an umbrella for spiritual activities and events in our Transition community. And our meetings are a place for us as a group and as individuals to develop. It is important to set aside enough time in each meeting for that personal development. We needed to stay connected to our AIM/Purpose and revisit it regularly to see if it needs to evolve.

Development of Ourselves as Resources:

Karen Soriano lead us in 15 minutes of OM chanting, with reflections after.

9:00End

H&S Minutes 3.12.12

Present: Cynthia Heaton, Eva Montville, Karen Soriano, Karen Tracy, Savia Lee, Stephanie Dashiell, Susan Jordan

Location: Susan Jordan / Facilitator: Eva Montville

6:00 Pot-luck

6:30 Meditation and OM

7:00 Forming a Transition Working Group

Setting an Aim for our group

Next Steps and next meeting

9:00End

We enjoyed our potluck, and then opened the meeting with a meditation guided by Susan Jordan, ending by chanting 3 OM’s lead by Karen Soriano.

We talked about becoming a Transition group and concluded that we did want to do that, and that Eva would follow the procedure for communicating that to the TJT Initiating Group.

Eva asked how we wanted to proceed with the proposed agenda and we decided that first order of business was to get clear about our purpose.

Eva facilitated a process for setting an Aim using a framework (Function / Will / and Being) for ensuring that our purpose was holistic in nature. The result was the following: (and we understand that, like all living things, this Aim is an evolving statement)

To be a resource for deep spiritual exploration for our community,

In a way that compassionately and creatively brings greater inner peace and connectivity,

So that we will more effectively transition together.

Savia contributed some guiding principles that she cares about. Here are the ones we all thought would well serve the H&SG:

Meditating, Journaling, and Smiling are important
Hug from the heart
Allow people to be themselves
Follow the law of loving allowance
Don’t try to change people – it doesn’t work
Be free, be open
See the humor in things and know that everything passes
Send out love

Meeting format and logistical decisions made:

Meet approximately once a month from 6-9 pm
Have the pot-luck from 6pm to 6:30 pm, at which time the meeting will begin
Have the meeting place shift among member’s homes who are able and want to host
Have a member facilitate each time and send out “loose agenda”
Have a member design the personal/spiritual development segment of each meeting
Have a member take notes/minutes at each meeting

For now, Eva will be the contact person with the TJT IG.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, April 3rd, at Karen Soriano’s home in Morongo Valley. Karen S will design the personal/spiritual development segment and will facilitate the meeting. She will send a reminder with directions and agenda.

Announcements:

Cosmology Group – meeting Monday, March 19th at Susan Jordan’s home, at 6 pm with a vegetarian potluck. Susan will be sharing the movie “Quantum Activist”.
Sitting Group – meets Wednesdays at Susan Jordan’s at 10 am. They usually listen to a Pema Chodron tape and then meditate.
Drum Circle – April 6th at Garth’s in Pioneer Town. Karen Soriano will send out a flyer with further information. Suggested donation – $5 – $10. Carpooling is important.

We ended with chanting the sound “OM” together.