Council or Circle Process
Council is a circle of communication that draws on the practice of story telling. Its roots lie in Quaker and Native traditions. It’s a process based on the appreciation of diversity rather than consensus; inviting the expression of individual experience as a means to deepen and clarify collective understanding.In Council we’re encouraged to listen to ourselves & others with open minded attention, free of the need to respond or create judgments about each other’s comments. We practice listening and speaking from a place that honors each person’s experience; creating an atmosphere of appreciation that increases the potential for creatively exploring issues and allows us to hear the arising of group wisdom.
In Council the total is greater than the sum of the parts.
Council offers a way to:
- explore a topic from many perspectives
- make group decisions based on a deeper understanding of the elements involve
- share life experience
- touch into untapped resource
- renew and illuminate individual hopes, dreams and goal
- bring vitality to a group’s vision, intention & commitmen
- place individual experience within the context of community
- address change, resistance, conflict and challenges
Basic guidelines:
1. Speak freely, trusting that what you have to offer is useful to the whole. Speak from a place that is real and alive in the moment.
2. Listen attentively. Allow yourself to receive the words of the circle the way earth receives rain, without prejudice. Let your whole body do the listening.
3. Speak spontaneously. If you are planning your words you aren’t listening to others.
4. Be lean of expression. Say enough to express yourself and trust that you will be understood.
5. Don’t share another’s story without their express permission.
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