Almost a month has passed since we asked ourselves the question on the 2nd of September with almost 180 guests at our conference for Engagement, New Work and Systemic change: Where does courage come from?
The entire bUm had been rearranged and after a hot, long summer with covid attacks, vacations and finally-again festivals, people were supposed to meet on the spot to trace the question of courage, which sometimes threatens to get lost in a time marked by crises, war and catastrophes.
We are talking in teams about all the things for which there was room and for which there was not, about what touched, what alienated, what impulses there were, how they were received, what caught on and what annoyed - within a process of reflection. And we would also like to let session givers, participants and team members have their say. We write down the thoughts, impressions, impulses and wishes and share them in the following weeks. This short outline with pictures, with which Vlad Melnyk captured moments of the conference photographically, serves as an opener for a series of contributions under the title: How Brave Were We?
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It started with the opening by the two moderators Sina Ural (bUm) and Katja Jäger (betterplace lab), during which the auditorium was nudged directly into an overdue reflection on the composition of events like this - middle-class, white, privileged.
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Allow uncomfortable mood. Realizing the comfort zone.
In the same place, the program ended in the evening with an open-mic session, giving space and expression to emotions that had spread throughout the day in the participants* ...
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Open Mic for emotions - anger, fear, joy
... during the interactive keynote by Joana Breidenbach,
... during the sessions in the first block that dealt with the ego and the question "How can I become more courageous?" - with the Radical Daughters and their courage muscle training, with Pasquale Virginie Rotter in the workshop "Empowerment in Movement", with Anjet Sekkat's preoccupation with futility and Joana Breidenbach's session on Inner Work,
... during the sessions in the second block that dealt with the collective, the we and becoming braver together - with Juliane Seumel, Patrizia Thamm and Astrid Salomon on safety in teams in times of exhaustion, with Jonas Gebauer on Inner Development Goals and Jacomo Fritzsche & Angela Giese in their workshop on Mindfulness-Based Gender Practices,
... during the sessions in the third block on how to lift courage in the system - with Bart Weetjens and his workshop on self-leadership, with Manfred Rosen and a Zen perspective on the question of courage, and with a conversation between Nicole Hartmann and Martha Dudzinski on how to make the new world of work fair for all,
... during the activities in the Community Space with Patrizia Podewin from the New Narratives and the Future Courage Card Set by Rike Bucher,
... while writing down their own courage story in the exhibition of the Museum of Values and looking at the objects and stories that had already accumulated there,
... during the many conversations at the buffet and on the sunny terrace,
... during the meditation with Manfred Rosen, of which there are no pictures, because filming and photography were not allowed in the quiet area during the sessions,
... while looking at the pictures that children from two daycare centers had made on the theme of courage,
... and those who wanted to linger after the program remained involved in conversation on the terrace or moved to the music.
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DJ Barbara Bös