Falling Through Our Stories: A Circle with Jolanda van den Berg
Dear Friends,

We are delighted to invite you to join another 90-minute 'Falling Through Our Stories' Circle, with Jolanda van den Berg this Saturday, Jan 8th at 7:30AM PST! [Remember to convert to your time zone if needed :)]

The theme of this upcoming circle?
How Do I Respond to the Suffering of Loved Ones?

Loss, grief, hardship and suffering are universal aspects of the human experience. For many, witnessing a dear one in difficulty is often harder to endure than one's own challenges. Our love and fear can often seem inextricably bound up, and our capacity to make a difference can sometimes seem painfully limited. How do we open our hearts in compassion without losing ourselves in the overwhelm of another's pain? How do we navigate our own anxieties? Where does our true response-ability lie?

Participants will have the chance to reflect on these questions  and send in their responses ahead of time here. As with the last gathering, there will be an opportunity for a pre-selected participant to dialog with Jolanda during the circle around particular challenges or questions that are alive for them, while the rest of us hold space as silent witnesses. There will also be time at the close for shared reflections and questions from the circle.

About Jolanda
Jolanda van den Berg is a mother, entrepreneur, community-weaver, and friend to the world, who lives in life's creative flow and inspires others to do the same. Over the last 25 years, the organization she founded, Ninos Unidos Peruanos Foundation—has transformed the lives of thousands of street children in Peru. Its work is supported by a series of boutique hotels that Jolanda runs in Cusco, staffed by community members and former students from the foundation.

A few years ago, a traumatic experience catalyzed a profound experience for Jolanda. It left her with a felt-sense of the illusion of a separate self, and drove home the reality that, "We are each other." Since then, while continuing to be engaged in her foundation and hotels, Jolanda has sat in hundreds of deep listening sessions with people, 1:1. During these sessions she tunes into their stories, and mirrors back to them places where she intuits stuckness, in ways that can facilitate access to greater possibility and freedom.

If you'd like to join the circle RSVP below. And should you wish to share your reflections in advance, you can do that through this short form. Please note, this circle will not be recorded. You will be emailed login details for the circle a couple days in advance. 

We look forward to the possibility of having you with us!