IS: Wow (digesting DPS enthusiasm)
Upcoming events:
- Sunday July 13: Community Hub Call 19.2 for members
- Developmental Practice Series sessions will not be noted here; a weekly reminder will go to course participants
- Friday July 25: public IS Connection Call
Last week's newsletter was "Season 19!" and the Community Hub session was titled "Intentions and ISness".
The sign-ups just didn't slow down! There were 20 people by the end of June, and the initial surge seemed to have run its course. But as the July days ticked by, every day another few-to-several names appeared. 30, 40, 50, and I started doing airline-style overbooking. Over 60 sign-ups, minus a few cancellations, multiplied by a 70% follow-through rate (right in line with our historical rate for free no-friction registrations) turned into 40 beautiful faces lookin' at each other as we kicked off our Developmental Practice Series this morning.
Not gonna hide it: I felt a little nervous as we began. Only at Limicon have I held (online, heartfelt) space for larger groups. But it didn't take long to find the field of purposeful alignment. Constructing a social container, seeding presence and trust, practicing, reflecting, everything flowed (with support from Ola) smoothly and many good vibes were reported.
You know what's sinking in this evening, as I sit and write to you? Not what these numbers mean to my ego (you may chuckle, but I have quite an allergy to this mode of validation after being a numbers-go-up achiever in a prior stage of life). But yes, it's what these numbers signal as a response to the energy and the invitations being radiated out by Intentional Society as a relational entity.
Two components seem relevant: a resonant invitation, and ripples of trust. A well-defined offering with clear value and bounded commitment does still spur responses. (Our 2024 series kicked off with about the same number of people.) The trust, though — that people have "heard good things" from their friends or "been following for a while" — that feels like some far-flowing energy circling back around! I and we have been putting out that energy for 4.5 years now, and to hear how reputation and trust have been spreading person-to-person outside of my visibility... it means something wonderful to me that I had never heard of half these names. What we put out into the world travels farther than we can see.
It's a joy to me, to thicken our network — to see dark matter in our space turn into new stars densifying our galaxy. Playmates to play with, souls to resonate with, hands to support one another and build together... people are the magic of life, and wise relating the superpower.
Cheers,
James