It can feel, at times, as though everything is pulling apart. Across our shared life—community, leadership, even our inner worlds—complexity deepens. What once held no longer holds in quite the same way.
We reach for solutions. Better strategies. Clearer plans. And yet, there is a quiet sense that something deeper is being asked.
Perhaps what we are meeting is not simply a set of problems to solve, but a shift in how we see. Beneath behavior is perception. Beneath perception… formation. We can notice how quickly we move to judgment, how easily we return to certainty or sides—even when we long for something different.
At times, disruption makes this visible. Moments when the usual responses no longer fit. When something pauses. These can feel like breakdown. The hidden gift: breakdown, if allowed, can lead to breakthrough.
What if, in such moments, the work is not first to fix—but to notice? To listen for what is already alive. To attend to what gives life, even now. This is the spirit of Appreciative Inquiry. Not a technique, but a reorientation from problem to possibility.
In the upcoming Community Summit, we’ll gather in this way using the Appreciative Inquiry. Not to arrive with answers. But to listen—together. To share stories of what is alive. To notice what is emerging. To wonder what might grow from here. If you feel that movement, you are already part of it.
Please mark your calendars for Saturday, May 16th from 9am-4pm. Our day will be facilitated by Anita Howard, whose research in Generative Engagement explores how relational, cross-boundary practices foster collaboration across difference and complexity. Her work attends to the interplay of generativity and inclusion—creating the conditions where people don’t simply participate, but become agents in shaping what emerges.
You can register by making a donation below.
Your contribution helps offset the costs of the event, and we are deeply grateful for your support!
Together we thrive,
