At the beginning of the Pandemic, we were told to stay away from each other, to socially distance ourselves from others and to stay home. This was an extremely challenging time for humans all over the planet. We are wired to need social connections for our health and well-being.
As the Provibers gathered ourselves digitally together but physically separate for our 6th Annual General Meeting in late 2020, someone suggested that we were in a grave conundrum: for an organization that prides itself on community connection, it felt morally wrong to take a back seat during such an important time.
Coming out of this meeting, a committee of Provibers put their intelligent heads and their beautiful big hearts together to come up with a solution. With the absence of physical presence and mounting feelings of isolation could we find a way to actually improve our ability to feel connected to others?
Together with the help of a facilitator and Social Architect, Garrett Rokosh, we designed and hosted a Revealing Withholds workshop. Withholds are unspoken thoughts or feelings between you and another person that become a barrier to having a deeper connection. Any thought, emotion, sensation, or fact that you are aware of and choose not to share with someone that impacts the quality of the connection, integrity, aliveness, or personal growth. When you pay attention to your inner dialogue, it turns out we all have a lot of withholds!
On June 17th and 27th, from the comfort of our own living rooms, 20 Provibers tuned in to learn how to artfully express withholds with someone else with the sole purpose of deepening the quality of that connection. We had the opportunity to practice and see our fellow Provibers in action. Our hope is that if we can do this well amongst ourselves, we can then inspire others to have more impactful conversations and intimate connections in their lives too.
If this kind of work appeals to you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly to learn more!
