​The Gathering 2024

​Personal & Collective Integration session #2

​Thursday 3 October | 17:00-18:30 WEST (Portugal time)

​​We invite all the co-creators of the 2024 Gathering to gather, this time in an online session to support the integration of all that happened, all that was born, all that was left behind us in this magical container.

​​This 90mn session was co-designed to support not only the closure of the container that was opened on September 11th, but also the meaningful integration of our learnings, our connections and our challenges into the wider ecosystem.

​​This session is based on the Dragon Dreaming principle of conscious celebration and harvesting at the end of any project. By taking time to celebrate, grief, and extract deep learning we get ready for even more meaningful co-creative experiments in future gatherings. All will have the opportunity to explore and speak both in small groups as well as in our collective.

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​​Excerpt from the Dragon Dreaming booklet https://dragondreaming.org/

"Community building is encouraged through Celebration. Community is a safe space where emotions can be shared. Western culture teaches us that we should not show our emotions. It also teaches us to reject negative feelings. When we do that, however, we are suppressing our positive emotions along with the negative. We are afraid of showing our true self, our shadows as well as our light – and so enter an emotional flatland. However – Dragon Dreaming is about recognizing that we are all one, we are all connected and we are all part of what is happening around us. And that not only are we doing others a favor in voicing what they also might be feeling, but we actually contribute to the depth and honesty of our project.

​​Once the doing stage of your project is finished, make sure you have a big celebration. It is only after you have done that, that your project is actually finished. And so the circle is complete and can start all over again... And the last step to your celebration requires analyzing the transformative results. This needs the following tasks.

​​Firstly, now that we have finished, what would we change if we had to do the project again? This creates the learning upon which true personal development is based. Secondly, what in this project have we enjoyed the most, so as to ensure we build this into any future project we may do? In what ways has the project truly led to our personal growth, the strengthening of our communities, and contributed to the ongoing flourishing and well-being of all life?

​​The world is running out of the ability to give any more, and in this way Dragon Dreaming projects are based upon the principle of leaving the Earth a place better than it was when we found it. Cleaning or clearing a space is part of the final celebration of any Dragon Dreaming activity."