Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well! Last week I hosted Lisbon’s first Substack Writer Meetup. It’s the second time I’ve hung out with a group of writers in the last couple of months and it’s fast becoming one of my favourite things to do. When I started writing this Substack I knew I wanted to build a community of system changers and connect you all to each other, but I didn’t imagine finding and building a community around my writing practice and how impactful this would be for my work, my sense of self and fulfilment. In my recent piece
My favourite community is Foundrs (www.foundrs.co), which I've been part of for most of the last decade. It offers a magical combination of online and offline events, social and business connections. It's a big part of my life. What I'm missing is a community of friends where I live in the Algarve, but then I'm not making much of an effort to build one, hand on heart :)
Communities I'm grateful for: the new poets, writers, photographers and artists I meet, collaborate and share with. The climbing community that gives me a home away from home, and those that when you're travelling give you instant kinship. Those friends that stick over the years - the ones with kindred spirits.
Communities I'm missing... maybe more longterm stability and what deeper familiar friendships look like over time. But it's currently not urgent.
Thanks for your reflections Gen - you're such an inspiration for me x
Communities I'm really grateful for: my new friends in Portugal, the House of Beautiful Business community I've met since moving to Lisbon, the old friends I can have deep and real chats with despite being so far away from each other most of the time, the people practitioners I've learned and collaborated with over the years, the coaches I've trained and connected with, friends and clients I catch up with when I'm in London, people I've met through writing, and of course all of you joining me here!
Communities I'm missing: I think it would be helpful to build more relationships with one-person businesses as I look to grow next year. Now that I'm more settled in my work and new home, I'd like to put more effort into building community here in Lisbon. I'd also like to deepen my links and connections with system changers in various fields, perhaps by picking three to focus on initially. Next year I'd love to build a more active community here on Substack and perhaps diversify my coaching offering to work with more people. Lots of ideas and planning to do :)
Communities I am grateful for: the magical global mycelium of Fellows from the Bio Leadership Project (www.bio-leadership.org) who remind me every day that another world is possible. The Huddlecraft community which has flown in & out of my life in different forms for the last 5+ years, but always feels like home. An endless community of teachers whose thinking, intentions and creativity inspire me, many of whom I have never and will likely never meet - Joanna Macy, Roshi Joan Halifax, Elena Bower, adrienne maree brown, and many more. My new trainee psychotherapist friends at Karuna Institute, crossing a threshold into a 5 year journey which we know will bring so many unexpected turns and learnings for us all. All my friends, the ones I speak to every day, the ones who have known me longer than I really knew myself, the ones I am yet to meet.
What am I missing? A deeper level of relationship, especially with friends who actually live near me. A friend said recently all she wanted was a 'gang' - the type you have when you're a teenager, where you just hang out, it's both surface level and deeply intimate all at the same time.
My favourite community is Foundrs (www.foundrs.co), which I've been part of for most of the last decade. It offers a magical combination of online and offline events, social and business connections. It's a big part of my life. What I'm missing is a community of friends where I live in the Algarve, but then I'm not making much of an effort to build one, hand on heart :)
Communities I'm grateful for: the new poets, writers, photographers and artists I meet, collaborate and share with. The climbing community that gives me a home away from home, and those that when you're travelling give you instant kinship. Those friends that stick over the years - the ones with kindred spirits.
Communities I'm missing... maybe more longterm stability and what deeper familiar friendships look like over time. But it's currently not urgent.
Thanks for your reflections Gen - you're such an inspiration for me x
Communities I'm really grateful for: my new friends in Portugal, the House of Beautiful Business community I've met since moving to Lisbon, the old friends I can have deep and real chats with despite being so far away from each other most of the time, the people practitioners I've learned and collaborated with over the years, the coaches I've trained and connected with, friends and clients I catch up with when I'm in London, people I've met through writing, and of course all of you joining me here!
Communities I'm missing: I think it would be helpful to build more relationships with one-person businesses as I look to grow next year. Now that I'm more settled in my work and new home, I'd like to put more effort into building community here in Lisbon. I'd also like to deepen my links and connections with system changers in various fields, perhaps by picking three to focus on initially. Next year I'd love to build a more active community here on Substack and perhaps diversify my coaching offering to work with more people. Lots of ideas and planning to do :)
Communities I am grateful for: the magical global mycelium of Fellows from the Bio Leadership Project (www.bio-leadership.org) who remind me every day that another world is possible. The Huddlecraft community which has flown in & out of my life in different forms for the last 5+ years, but always feels like home. An endless community of teachers whose thinking, intentions and creativity inspire me, many of whom I have never and will likely never meet - Joanna Macy, Roshi Joan Halifax, Elena Bower, adrienne maree brown, and many more. My new trainee psychotherapist friends at Karuna Institute, crossing a threshold into a 5 year journey which we know will bring so many unexpected turns and learnings for us all. All my friends, the ones I speak to every day, the ones who have known me longer than I really knew myself, the ones I am yet to meet.
What am I missing? A deeper level of relationship, especially with friends who actually live near me. A friend said recently all she wanted was a 'gang' - the type you have when you're a teenager, where you just hang out, it's both surface level and deeply intimate all at the same time.