“The Inner Life of Extension cohort experience was sometimes surprising, often challenging, and always rewarding! I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to cultivate more intentionality and authenticity in their work and workplace relationships. It is also a great opportunity to build meaningful relationships with colleagues that you might not get to know otherwise.”
“This work makes space for us to become whole, to make more of our whole selves. This is both absolutely necessary and largely unavailable in modern life.”
“I would describe the Inner Life approach to a colleague as a gift that we aren’t often intentional about giving ourselves but crave, and maybe grant ourselves permission to be a part of because it is coming from within the university.”
“The trouble with this approach is that through it, we come to value our innate kindness, generosity, creativity, and integrity…and then have to figure out how to make space for them in our complicated worlds. In this sense it is not only nourishing work but subversive, inviting us to bring our finest selves to creating rich, just, and generative communities.”
“The Inner Life approach recognizes that we are whole people, and that it is important to be mindful about our choices and priorities. We bring our lives to work, and our work into our lives, and this work is about feeling comfortable and true to ourselves in those intersections.”
Participants have also named the value of…
- Forming long-term trustworthy relationships with one another outside the usual meeting or workshop format, which can foster increased dignity, respect and fair-mindedness.
- Being a part of creating and benefiting from safe space for reflection and meaningful conversation aimed at learning to trust inner wisdom, and aligning this wisdom with our outer work in the world – offering the chance to encourage in one another ‘unpredicted lines of thinking’ and creativity which is often only tapped in spaces for reflection.
- Engaging in collegial conversations that form the foundation for the clarity and courage to re-connect with the longings and passions that brought us here in the first place.
- Learning principles and practices for deeper listening and wholehearted decision-making.
- Discovering an inner capacity to lead a more authentic, meaningful and resilient life, renewing the commitment to positive action and courage to act with integrity here at the university and beyond.
- Discerning deep change which comes not from an administrative mandate, but one that arises in the energized space between caring and thoughtful colleagues.
- Engaging in mutual attentiveness to the new and unexpected creative work and broad inquiry at the heart of our university mission.