Conditions of Connection
Conditions of Connection
A 90-minute community inquiry | Pay what you can
Many of us have experienced moments where we felt deeply connected, to ourselves, to other people, to nature, or to life itself. Perhaps it was during a retreat, while traveling, around a shared meal, through music, or simply in a conversation where we felt truly seen.
These experiences often remind us that another way of living is possible. Yet when we return home, something begins to shift. The pace of everyday life takes over, the feeling slowly fades, and before long we find ourselves longing for the next retreat, the next workshop, or the next place where we can reconnect.
I've been wondering if retreats are offering us more than transformation. Perhaps they are revealing something much deeper: the conditions that allow human beings to reconnect and flourish. If that's true, then the question is no longer how we create more extraordinary experiences, but how we cultivate more of those conditions within our everyday lives.
This question feels even more important when we consider the many people who don't have the time, financial resources, or opportunity to step away. If connection is something we can only access by leaving our lives behind, then it remains a privilege. But if it emerges from conditions that can be intentionally cultivated in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities, then perhaps connection becomes something we can collectively design rather than occasionally experience.
This workshop is an invitation into a collective inquiry exploring the environments we inhabit every day and how they shape our capacity for connection. Together, we'll begin mapping the conditions that consistently separate us, chronic stress, urgency, fear, isolation, constant stimulation, and those that help us reconnect, such as slowing down, beauty, shared rituals, meaningful conversation, nature, psychological safety, and contribution.
Rather than leaving with another list of practices to maintain, we'll explore how we might begin designing the conditions that support belonging, creativity, and wellbeing in our everyday lives. Instead of asking how we can hold on to a retreat experience, we'll ask what it would mean to create lives and communities where those qualities no longer feel exceptional.
This workshop is also part of an ongoing research inquiry. Every participant brings experiences and observations that deepen our collective understanding of the conditions that consistently help human beings reconnect across different cultures, communities, and contexts.
If you've ever returned from a meaningful experience wondering why it felt so different, or how to carry that way of being into your everyday life, I hope you'll join us.
About the Facilitator:
Hadil El-Baba is a Lebanese-Canadian architect, systems thinker, and community designer exploring the conditions that allow people and communities to flourish. Through Harmonia, her work bridges architecture, systems thinking, and participatory research to understand how we cultivate belonging, trust, and healthier ways of living together.