Peer groups: Wiston autumn group – fourth morning
Last updated on 30th November 2008
Yesterday I was away from the group for most of the day. I started as usual - got up, wrote, met others, breakfast. Then we came together briefly as the full 37 standing in a big circle outside the house on the gravel. OK, we had already been the full 37 having breakfast, but coming together in the big circle helped me (and probably many others) feel part of the bigger group. The circle was used for practical housekeeping around timings during the day and other issues, but there also seemed to be another important function in physically creating the holding circle of the full group.
We'd agreed to have breakfast ½ hour earlier than usual at 8.30am, so having the circle for twenty minutes or so at 9.15am still allowed our small support groups of 4 to meet for well over an hour up to 11.00am. We'd agreed then to have a tea break and run the groups of 12-13 from 11.15 to lunch at 1.30. Then a post-lunch period which people use to walk, talk, play, rest, and also for optional special interest groups - with the themes being offered by various people who wanted a chance to explore various issues more deeply. We were then to meet again as the full group at 4.30.