Happy New Year.
We want to send you New Year Greetings and to wish you all the best for 2023 from ConsciousCafe.
ConsciousCafe was launched eleven years ago to bring people together for conscious conversation and connection. We are a not-for-profit and our aim is to help raise consciousness, one conversation at a time. Over the years we have been told by different people in different places that ‘ConsciousCafe nurtures my soul’ and we love that description of what we provide. We offer a range of events, both online and in person locally where people can meet and connect. All our leaders are volunteers, giving their time very generously to create connection and to help expand your thinking about consciousness, the unseen and the beautiful mystery of the world we all inhabit together.
2022 has been an exciting year for ConsciousCafe. You have all gradually been coming out of lockdown and we have had the opportunity to meet with many of you in person again. We have enjoyed many lively reunion events with people greeting each other with great affection. ConsciousCafe friendships run deep.
At the same time we have continued to offer wonderful interactive presentations from excellent speakers during our online global zoom events. We have welcomed Nick Haines, Jan Day, Joanna Bristow-Watkins, Paul Fenton-Smith, Nick Williams, Dr Dina Glouberman, Dr Sharon Blackie, Christa Mackinnon, Roger Green and Jessica Adams during this year. You have responded to all of our events magnificently and if you missed any of them, all the recordings are on our website, together with many past recordings, for your continuing enjoyment.
At the end of November we held a Retreat for ConsciousCafe leaders. 6 of us were there in person and we were joined by 4 online. It was a fabulous occasion, offering us all the chance to talk about and share our experiences of ConsciousCafe during this remarkable year in human history. We see ConsciousCafe evolving as changes evolve in society. Our astrologer friend Jessica Adams tells us we will soon be moving into a very different energetic time. People will come together much more in groups to help and support one another. Community will become much more important to each one of us. We see ConsciousCafe offering new opportunities for people to develop together and support one another through the changes that are going on all around us. When you have a safe space to discuss and share your feelings, thoughts and ideas with likeminded friends, you are truly blessed. ConsciousCafe is offering you that opportunity with our online events and drop-ins and with our live events where you can greet old friends and make new ones.
During 2023 we launched a new ConsciousCafe group in Edinburgh and Perth which will be continuing next year. Thank you Violet Dalton and Moraig Henderson who are offering a wide range of talks, walks and events in both Edinburgh and Perth.
We also had to say very fond farewells to three of our lovely colleagues who have been leading groups for several years now, Anne Jones, Hanna Krasnodebska and Karen Brodie. Anne launched the ConsciousCafe New Forest group several years ago and it has been hugely popular bringing so many people together for exciting conversations, connections and events in the Burley area. Anne will be focusing her time and energy on other projects now but we know she will be staying deeply connected with ConsciousCafe and we aren’t saying a real goodbye to her just yet.
The New Forest group has now become the Totton (near Southampton) group under the leadership of the amazing and dynamic Jackie White and she is continuing to offer a wonderful range of events. Hanna has been leading our friendly Singapore group for several years now and is only discontinuing it because she is emigrating. Maybe she will launch our first Eastern European group. We are waiting to find out where she will eventually land. Massive thanks to Hanna for holding the space for so many wonderful conversations and events in Singapore where we have made many new friends.
We also very much miss Karen Brodie who took over our Oundle group just before lockdown and offered regular weekly online conversations on a variety of topics throughout the last three years. Karen’s generosity and creativity have become legendary and we really miss her enthusiasm and her wide knowledge.
We would also like to thank Sheila Steptoe and Chrissie Astell along with Simon Buckland all of whom led ConsciousCafe groups during this last twelve months. We are also missing our lovely friend Nadia Menichetti who led our lively group in Rome.
We continue to offer several very popular groups which will be growing during 2023. We offer a massive thank you to all our group leaders – Cora in Canterbury, Gina in Skipton, Ruth, Theresa and Dave in St Albans, Emma in Newbury, Debbie in Geneva and Marianne in Basel. I run the London group which has offered outside events this year and together with Gina, we have put together and hosted all the ConsciousCafe online Global events.
Finally thank you to Charlotte, Tess and Joyce for their administration skills and conscious care for all that we do. You are all shining stars and we are very grateful for your support.
The planet is going through a time of massive change and each one of us has a part to play. We send all of you New Year greetings for a very happy and healthy 2023 and we hope that life will become easier for you in 2023 and that you will find more love and more happiness in the next twelve months than you expect. We look forward to meeting you at our events and to raising your spirits alongside your consciousness at ConsciousCafe in 2023. For a glimpse of what is in store for the world in 2023 and for the opportunity to think about what you would like to create in 2023, do sign up now for our January events listed below. We will be posting more information about future events very soon. If you would like to launch and lead a ConsciousCafe group yourself please contact judy@consciouscafe.org
We hope 2023 will turn out to be one of your best years ever.
With love,
Judy and the ConsciousCafe Team
Survival is the most basic of human needs. Mikkel Juel Iversen is a film producer who runs a remarkable charity project, UnderOneSky which aims to support the homeless. He facilitated a very moving discussion at ConsciousCafe in London which was not just about being homeless but also about being human.
There are an estimated 8,000 people sleeping rough in London annually and many more who have no home but sleep as and where a friend or family can offer a bed. 85% of rough sleepers are men. And, in 2016, 270,000 people had a homelessness related case processed by their local council. For many of us, losing our home might be just one month and one pay-packet away.
90% of people who are sleeping rough have some form of mental health issue – including disorders which many of us will be familiar with such as depression, bi-polar or addiction. Aside from that, the message of the evening which came through loud and clear is that all of us are human beings. Homeless people are not ‘the other’. They are no different from any of us and are in that situation because of many different reasons which our society has been unable to help them with.
One of the group shared how she always carries some food – often fruit – to offer a homeless person when she is out and about. She likes to engage with people and will often speak with them. She might start the conversation by asking how they are, and then if they feel inclined to talk she will explore how they found themselves on the street and how they feel about that. One time she suggested a woman make contact with her father whom she had not seen for many years. Passing by a few weeks later, the woman told her she had been in touch with him and they were going to meet.
Sometimes a remark or a smile, nod or wink from a passing stranger can make all the different to a homeless person’s day.
Mikkel reminded us that everyone is an individual. Some days we want to talk to people and other days we don’t and so it is with all of us. If we walk with love, compassion and empathy, that is what we are bringing to the situation. If what we offer is not welcome, it is not about us.
Another group member shared that she had been homeless in her life. ‘It’s important for people who are homeless to know that they are not invisible’ she said.
Some of the people living on the streets have struggled with living in ‘chaotic’ households since they were very young. Some of them feel safer on the streets than in the homes they come from or in hostels where there can be no privacy and much drug-taking, drunkenness and abuse. It can be very hard for them to develop resilience and as soon as their lives improve a little, sometimes they self-destruct. Some people have had so much trauma in their lives, they simply can’t function.
Mikkel said that once a person becomes accustomed to sleeping rough, they develop a completely different set of survival skills to protect themselves. It is important not to measure people in that situation by the same yardstick that we might make judgments about our neighbours.
The most important thing to remember when engaging with people on the streets is to only do what feels right to us. We too need to be in touch with our gut instincts.
People who are homeless are on their own life journey in the same way that the rest of us are. When we meet them, we hold up a mirror very close to ourselves. This is an opportunity for each of us to reflect on how we are feeling when we engage or do not engage with strangers on the streets. We can question why we feel this way and what do we need to deal with in ourselves?
Living on the streets changes a person and all of us have to learn to let go of judgment.
This was such a powerful discussion with everyone contributing and listening. There was so much to reflect on and we continued talking over drinks afterwards. Each one of us left the evening feeling much more thoughtful and those of us who had not done so before resolved to take the first steps towards beginning to engage with people on the streets ‘when it feels right’.
Huge thanks to Mikkel for giving so generously of his time and for facilitating the discussion so gently. He started UnderOneSky six years ago as an initiative to offer support to homeless people sleeping rough particularly in winter when it is cold. His teams go out on the streets in groups with parcels containing a number of items including a small gift voucher which enables people to purchase everyday things which they might be acutely in need of.
If you would like to learn more and donate, please go to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/2017-18-winter-support-for-london-s-homeless#/
If you would like to take part in the work of UnderOneSky or observe what is going on, you are welcome to join the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/432122693577153/
JP
26.04.2018
ConsciousCafe founder Judy Piatkus was quoted in a recent piece published in The Guardian. Sales of mind, body and spirit books are booming this year. Judy thinks this is a reflection of how society is changing. She believes that people are questioning how we live, what is working and what is not working. Younger people are growing up with a different set of values and this is reflected in the growth of sales in this area of the book market.
This is all good news for people who come to ConsciousCafe and want to explore all these new ideas with one another, helping each other to raise consciousness and awareness of change as we journey forward together.
As I listen to news from around the world constantly filled with reports about people attacking others physically as well as verbally, it often seems surreal; even unbelievable. Open prejudice and violence, which causes injury and often death, are painful to witness for those of us who choose love over hate.
The majority of us – like myself - look on, horrified, from the sidelines, as events beyond our control make us feel powerless.
As a professional problem solver until recently, I found the powerlessness beyond frustrating because I couldn’t see a way for good to triumph over evil. I experienced huge relief when a feeling like a light went on in my head as I considered how different life on earth would be if we focus on that which is within our control. We should concentrate on mindfully loving more, hating less and doing random acts of kindness for each other because we can. Whilst that may seem a naïve concept, my attention remains with it. It made me wonder if the conscious ones amongst us could band together with love on the agenda, no matter what religion, and turn the tide on hate and fear.
I decided to discuss it with Judy Piatkus who several years ago set up a network, ConsciousCafe, which gives people the opportunity to engage in conscious conversations with likeminded others, to raise awareness of all that is meaningful in our lives.
Synchronistically, the very next day I received an invitation to a conference ConsciousCafe were holding in London on 27 November on the topic of Raising the Vibration of Love. It brought together leading-edge thinkers, opinion-makers, authors, therapists and respected senior executives to explore ways of reducing fear and increasing the expression of love in our lives with a common goal of making the world a better place. I bought a ticket in a heartbeat as it felt like a group I wanted to be part of.
The conference was opened by Elif Shafak, author of several non-fiction works and ‘mystical realism’ novels, whose bestseller Forty Rules of Love has sold a million copies and blew me away with joy when I first read it a few years ago. Elif highlighted the fact that knowledge and information are different from wisdom, which requires emotional intelligence. She emphasised that we should allow ourselves to be changed by love and that empathy is the key to positive change, promoting less violence.
On personal love Elif played with the idea that we may have unrealistic expectations that one person can fulfil all of our needs. Maybe validating our loved one for what he or she does bring to the relationship, and choosing wise friends to fulfil our other needs is the way forward for a successful loving relationship. Not surprisingly there were many questions after that which Elif responded to with great wisdom.
Elif’s thought-provoking words were followed by a panel discussion which focused on love in the workplace. Leading experts Oonagh Harpur, Norman Pickavance and Francis Briers, chaired by Judith Clegg reflected on how individuated many have become through technology. Yet through re-connectivity we can raise our consciousness and by doing so open ourselves up to empathy and learn more about meeting each other’s needs. The panel shared stories of initiatives connecting people worldwide and giving them a voice to generate ideas and collaborative action.
After a networking lunch I took part in a workshop facilitated by Dr Dina Glouberman on intimate relationships. Other people chose sessions about embodying love in everyday life or expressing love through art. These were followed by a World Café session where we moved from table to table, engaging with others at a very deep level as we considered how we could each and collectively raise the vibration of love in our own lives as well as in the world.
The day ended with a guided meditation from Tom Fortes Mayer accompanied by singing and music from Virginia Thorn who sounded like an angel.
I had arrived at the conference tired from a punishing week. I came away feeling energised and clear. I felt increased certainty about my own abilities and mindful of the positive outcomes resulting from likeminded group initiatives. I felt significantly increased optimism about the chance, if together we step up in the name of love, that we could ensure good will triumph over evil, enabling us to thrive together on our beautiful planet.
The power of the day was palpable. Apart from examining the power of raising the vibration of love, I made a number of connections with people I hope to collaborate with and learn from. I am already looking forward to my next encounter with ConsciousCafe.
Videos of Elif Shafak speaking at the ConsciousCafe Conference and of the business panel will be posted on Youtube and on the ConsciousCafe website shortly. Raising the Vibration of Love was ConsciousCafe’s first conference. www.consciouscafe.org
The US election is nearing its conclusion. Whatever happens now, November 2016 will be a landmark date in history. For the ugliness of this election has exposed the failure of the US democratic process in that two highly unsuitable and unpopular candidates have polarised views and torn the American nation apart.
During the next week many unprecedented events may happen and each time the whole world will be shaken up. The leadership of the American nation affects every single one of us.
It has taken me a while to realise that while I do not endorse either candidate, Donald Trump's significant role in this election and in the future of humanity has been to awaken millions of people all over the world to the failure of the democratic system. If he were not an outsider and the kind of person he has shown himself to be, he would never have had the thick skin to stand up to the vitriol directed at him (most of it of course, rightly) and would not have become this year's presidential candidate. Hillary has been supported throughout by the mainstream media. But it is Donald who pulls in the crowds because he is expressing what so many Americans feel - that their country and their media and their governmental structures are not working for them. For that reason millions of people are able to forgive his many character flaws because they have recognised that America needs to change and they only see Donald as offering that hopeful possibility to them.
We do not know what will happen during the next fortnight. Whatever the news may bring, it is important to stay centred and calm and not to give our energy over to fear or to anxiety. Instead we can choose to focus on a vision of love, kindness, tolerance, peace, joy and all the good things that every human being wants to have in their lives. We can focus on those things not just for ourselves but for everyone all over the world and especially all those who are struggling to survive and those who are living in war-torn nations.
Each time you find yourself giving way to a darker thoughts, remind yourself to focus on positive energy, rather than negative. Raise your energy as high as you can for that is the only way to create a better world for all of us. Whatever may happen during the next fortnight we need to focus on whatever comes to pass being in the best interests of all of humanity (even though we may not recognise it at the time) and we must set our intention and our hopes for that to be achieved.
ConsciousCafe is a not-for-profit organisation, a friendly and welcoming community, a place to live life consciously.