I spent the better part of this weekend at a retreat called Sacred Earth at beautiful Camp Fircom on Gambier Island just a 15 minute water taxi away from Vancouver.
My daughter is part creator of Community Catalysts and they believe we all have knowledge worth sharing and we don’t have to be a professional speaker to share that knowledge.
When my daughter asked me to share my story of Fairy Lane I was very hesitant. I have a difficult time speaking in front of adults unless they have a child in front of them. But through her coaching and encouragement I agreed to present.
I’m really glad I did. The process allowed me to really reflect on each step of the creation of Fairy Lane. How did it start? How did the families react? Participate? Share what was happening? What motivated each chapter in our Fairy Lane story? And how did Fairy Lane connect families with nature and together as a community?
I shared the story through pictures and words and felt comfortable doing it. I knew this story so well that I didn’t stumble or search for words as I normally would when speaking to a group.
After telling the story we headed outside to find items to decorate our doors. I brought the Nature Bags for the participants to use to collect their nature items but to also help them remember what children like to feel.
As we walked we enjoyed the wonderful setting, the sights and sounds. We also shared our stories of fairies or other wee folk. One family (two sisters and their mom) shared a childhood memory of gnomes. The oldest daughter had created gnome homes on their property and that they spent countless hours outside creating and the younger siblings would write letters to the gnome and it would write back.
Back inside each participant went to work designing their door. I floated around the room to get to know each better and learn what brought them to this retreat. Also asking what they wanted to do with their door.
Some are planning on taking their door home and finding a special place for it somewhere in the city. Some want to create more doors with the people they work with and place them around for others to find.
Others decided that they wanted to leave their door there at Camp Fircom.
No matter their plans this retreat brought us together as a community that was willing to open up and share what we know. To learn from each other and have a feeling of belonging.
By being a presenter I was also a participant and learned more about myself from attending this retreat.
I have to thank my daughter for being such a wonderful supporter of what I do and of who I am. We can always learn from our children if we open our hearts and minds to it. And most important believe in ourselves.
Yes I can be a presenter! Yes I'm a catalyst!