We all want to feel connected and that we belong. Many search for a group and adopt to their culture, whether ways of talking or dressing, eating or listening to music, but it can soon become a role we play, an imposed persona with which we don’t operate from an authentic place. A pressure to conform from the outside. If we instead, meet where diversity is celebrated, and center around a cause or topic, creating goals together, we can build relationships that truly nourish and support us. All sought from inside, to match our own values.

Sometimes, it’s nice to put aside all our commitments to others, our own history and any current dramas at home, and simply focus on something else, without baring our souls. This too, can be done with authenticity, as long as we remain truthful and honest about our own values and experiences. We can for example discuss equality in the workplace, without disclosing any private information, if we don’t feel like it, but still share our own examples from work, besides our own opinions and ideas.

To really connect on a deeper level, however, we must dare to share our own struggles and how we overcame them, our own journey, our own questions and concerns, our own hopes and dreams, so that others may recognize themselves with similarity. When we found our conversations through real-life examples, it becomes increasingly more easy to find and express empathy, through which we can truly support each other, to heal and grow. Together, we can create progress and safety. And form a sense of unity based on diversity.

The sacred circles, support groups, and coaching groups, at Telluselle Living Center, is thus about storytelling with a purpose, passing a talking stick.