Letter from Judy December 2023

Dear Friends,

Twelve years ago I invited a group of thoughtful friends to my home for the evening.  I have always liked bringing people together and I always enjoy interesting conversations with conscious people.  We explored the question ‘What is Consciousness?’.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and so I invited them back for another conversation the next month, along with any friends they wished to invite who might also enjoy similar discussions. 

And so it was that ConsciousCafe was launched. During the intervening years  thousands of similar conversations and events have taken place,  first in my home, then in cosy London venues and finally expanding out to different parts of the UK and abroad.  Several of the people who came to ConsciousCafe in the early years have formed their own local groups and other leaders have joined us later. Over the years wonderful close friendships have been made.  Yesterday I received an email from a longstanding ConsciousCafe member who shared that she had met both her current partner and her best friend through ConsciousCafe. 

In 2020, when lockdown happened, we created our ConsciousCafe Global Online series of interactive experiential events.  So nowadays, if you don’t have a group nearby, you can join our programe of events from wherever you are in the world. 

During this year we have worked with a range of excellent presenters.  We would like to thank Nick Haines, John Quill, Anne Jones, Mark Ballabon, Jessica Adams, Diana Cooper, Roger Green, Christa Mackinnon and Theresa Cheung for their generous contributions.  Huge thanks to Gina Lazenby who hosts all our online events with such joie de vivre and does so much behind the scenes to make sure everything flows smoothly on the night.  You can find the videos in the past events section of our website www.consciouscafe.org.

Enormous thanks also go to our fabulous local group leaders. As many of you already know, nothing is too much trouble for them.  All are volunteers who love to bring people together to meet and form friendships and enjoy soulful, nourishing experiences. They give so generously of their time.  Every event requires a lot of behind-the-scenes effort.  We so appreciate Cora, Debbie, Jackie, Gina, Anne, Ruth, Theresa, Dave, Emma, Marianne and Violet. 

We have always expressed our ConsciousCafe purpose as ‘raising consciousness one conversation at a time’ and never has that intention been more important and more necessary than during the extraordinary years we are living through.  The more we learn about ourselves and our place in the world around us, the more we are able to understand and manage our emotions better and be of service to others during these tumultuous and exciting times.

We are working on some fabulous events for 2024 and we look forward to meeting you all either in person or online.  When we come together to raise consciousness, we can never know how far the ripples may spread. Every one of you is making a contribution by your presence.  We thank you for your support and send you our heartfelt greetings for a joyful time over the holiday period and a happy healthy and conscious 2024.  

Judy