CONNECT
building our social webs with intention, curiosity, and courage.
Mondays, 7-8:15 pm, EST
September 19th - October 24th
How do we reconnect and reengage as we ease out of the social disconnection and isolation of the pandemic?
What does it look like to build meaningful friendships in mid-life with work, family, and a million other demands on our time and energy?
How do we go beyond introductions to create deep connection and belonging — to create the social bonds that make us happier and healthier?
Let’s find out.
CONNECT
You’re invited to
a six-week workshop on building our social webs with intention, curiosity, and courage.
How the Course Works
CONNECT is centered around six 75-minute online gatherings hosted via Zoom —
real people, real conversation, in real time.
Each week you’ll be offered a rich selection of resources, carefully chosen to jump-start your thinking before we meet, generating questions and sparking conversation.
Our gatherings will be designed to facilitate learning, discovery, and reflection as we explore the single greatest factor in our collective flourishing: the social connections that make us happier, healthier, and more deeply fulfilled.
You’ll also be introduced to a handful of simple, concrete actions you can take each week
to bring the themes of our inquiry into daily life.
You’ll come away with new ideas, a supportive community, and fresh motivation to build meaningful connections.
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A Well of Resources
Carefully curated articles, podcasts and more to spark new ideas about what’s possible.
Read. Watch. Listen.
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Six 75-minute Gatherings
Meaningful conversation and gentle coaching to help you build the social connections you’ve been longing for with renewed intention, curiosity, and courage.
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Field Work
From journaling prompts to conversation starters, daily habits to big ideas — we’ll be on the lookout for ways to keep the momentum going and cultivate the conditions for connection to thrive.
“We can create the conditions for our own thriving. We were made for it.”
— Jennifer Garvey Berger
Schedule of Topics
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Week 1: INTENTION
Week 1 is all about getting clear about what you want and why you’re here. What are your wildest dreams for friendship; for social support; for meaningful connection? What are you willing to put into it? What are you not?
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Week 2: IDENTITY
This week we’re focusing on self-awareness — not the kind that teaches you to be self-conscious, but the kind that makes it possible to see others for who they really are. Who are you, and how are you showing up?
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Week 3: CURIOSITY
This week we explore curiosity as the foundation for finding common ground. What is curiosity, and what does it do? How does it show up in everyday life? Can we cultivate it—and are there limits to its usefulness?
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Week 4: COMMUNICATION
Communication is all about skillfully navigating the distance between us, whether it’s through words, body language, tone of voice and facial expression, or the even more subtle cues of attitude and intention.
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Week 5: COURAGE
Taking concrete steps to build connection — to invite others into our lives, or ask to be a part of theirs — is inherently risky. As we shift our attention to some of the actions we can and want to take, we’re going to need to tap into courage.
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Week 6: CONNECTION
So, what now? This week we’ll reflect on where we’ve been as we shift our focus to what’s next. What questions are still lingering? What ideas do you have? What are you going to put into action?
FAQs
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75 minutes. Enough time to settle in and dive deep; not enough to waste on fluff and bio breaks.
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Yes! I know you won’t miss a minute unless it’s absolutely necessary — the course is designed to build a sense of group cohesion and continuity from week to week — but if something unavoidable comes up you’ll have access to course resources and recordings for three months after the last session.
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Six consecutive Mondays from 7:00-8:15 pm EST, beginning September 19th, 2022.
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Sure. We want to see your face since this is an interactive, live-streamed course, but if you need to dial in from your phone Zoom can handle it.
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Absolutely! Each guest will need to complete a separate registration, but if have a friend you’d like to have in the group you’re welcome to invite them.
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In the post-Enlightenment 18th century, the French salon was a key institution in which women played a central role. Frequently hosted by noblewomen in private homes, salons were cultural hubs for intellectual discourse that helped break down social barriers and disseminate ideas.
In that spirit, the Salon is a series of themed gatherings for women serious about creating the conditions for our own thriving. We explore a wide range of topics, grounding our conversation in inspiring resources and guiding it toward the development of generative practices to support collective flourishing.
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Let’s chat — I’m happy to help.
(Wondering what’s up with the aspen theme? They’re more than a pretty face: each tree is a genetically identical offshoot of a single, massive aspen tree root. Pando, expressing 47,000 separate trees spread out over 106 acres in Utah, is believed to be the world’s largest living organism. See where I’m going with this?)