In Intention Circles, we ask people to come with pen & paper and write their answer to the simple question: what is your intention? You have 4-5 minutes to do.
Then we breakout into smaller groups – no more than 3 per room, where a conversation ensues. You hear other people’s intentions and clarify your own, perhaps writing more on your intention paper along the way. Perhaps, you delete.
Then, at the end, we return to the Intention Tree, where we are again asked, “what is your intention”? We then post it into the tree.
Memories, Artifacts, Talismans
On paper, you leave with two things having happened.
- You’ve written on paper your own intentions, perhaps in a way you can return to it (but only you can).
- You’ve contributed to a collective tree, where others can come back and read your intentions. They can use it as motivation for their own thoughts, inspiration, and a thread of ongoingness.
Of course, there is a nameless-ness to the process in between. The feeling, if the process does well, might be one of heightened clarity or awareness of what you intend to do.
How might we improve our intention trees ability to a) help us remember our own intentions and b) share them in fruitful, prosocial, convivial ways with others?
James & I invited Alanah Lam, who in turn invited Jonny Ostrem, who made this beauty based on the forest of BC. The initial convo with James, Alanah, and Vivek brought out the following gems for exploration.
- What if we might use the video above for the intention forest, where you can spatially traverse the intentions people have posted?
- What if, on a given week, you decide to take upon someone else’s intention (i.e. “I haven’t thought about loving all with reckless abandon before, what would it look like if I tried that this week”)?
- How might the intentions serve as a living archive to oneself, without feeling consumptive?
- What would a communal artifact of a specific intention circle look like? Would that be something which helps create prosocial behavior or feeling around the intention? Is there a healthy responsibility fostered?
This line of questioning traverses well beyond Intention Circles, but we use this container to deepen our exploration of the use of artifacts in our digital practices, in peer-learning environments, and beyond.
Further References
truly incredible.
