As we close the structure of this small and heart-y non-profit, we affirm the many seeds planted and spread, the many voices raised, connections cultivated and ways of knowing explored.
We share this collective Poetry of People and Place as a final organizational acknowledgement and an open invitation to keep living by the wisdom of our hearts.
Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer served as featured guest of WholeHeart’s recent Poetry As Portal event online. She and Holly Wilkinson conversed about poetry as “companion” or a “living presence” that can accompany us through our most challenging days, providing passageway into our own hearts and souls. Enjoy this recap of the June event!
Dru Roessle, of Danville, Vermont, brings deep insight to the WholeHeart board of directors and beyond. She works as a facilitator of groups and teams problem-solving some of society’s most intractable problems. Dru centers relational justice in the spaces she engages in, believing that we already have what we need to create just systems that are designed for care, reciprocity, and collective well-being. Enjoy this provocative, inspiring interview!
On the eve of a full moon, WholeHeart launched its newest program series, Poetry As Portal, featuring Julie Cadwallader Staub, a poet from South Burlington, Vt. More than 40 participants gathered on Zoom, March 25th, to participate in the event, part-poetry reading, part-conversation with the poet, and part-listening exercise for attendees to reflect upon their own lives.
What does it mean to live one’s life like a prayer? Heather Omand, of Huntington, Vt., is pioneering a different human way of being in the world as a Queer person, mother, partner, and caretaker of agricultural lands. Read about their insightful journey. Listen to their prose, “What Queerness Means to Me.”
As the ground shifts under us, so many of us are looking for connection at the heart level. WholeHeart offers space to nourish humanity in community. It is in finding ways to cultivate relational trust that we remember what we stand for and what we stand with.
Be + longing = belonging.
Here are some voices from the WholeHeart community that speak to the journey of weaving a sense of belonging in these divisive times.
With the murder of George Floyd, white Americans are waking up to systemic racism that is a part of our country’s history and landscape. Making space to understand how racism is embedded in our lives, organizational systems, and perspectives requires a commitment to listen and learn.
During the 2019-2020 school year, the Vermont Principals Association piloted a new initiative, the Equity Practitioner’s Network for 28 school leaders from around Vermont. WholeHeart was invited to provide equity coaching from a listening lens to provide space for the inner reflection and learning required to understand inequities in education.
Weekly, WholeHeart opens our doors to gather in service of listening, wellness and community with our Weekly Wellness Circles. We have discovered over the past two months that it is not about being 'virtual' or ZOOMing or responding to sheltering in place. It is about extending welcome with wider arms beyond the boundaries of in-person gatherings in Vermont & the Northeast. And what we are learning from listening in a wide circle of community that stretches across the country, across borders and continents is that listening is a gift we can offer ourselves and one another.
Last weekend when our first event - our monthly Art of Listening: Making Your Mark - had to move from in-person to virtual, facilitator Carol Eagan invited participants to practice at home. We invite you to join in too! Art is not about perfection, but about expression. May you play with making your mark.
