What did love look like in your family of origin? What lessons have your learned about self-love? Who is hard to love? What is your experience with tough love? What is your loving super-power (how you express love)?
What is neediness and how is that different than expressing needs? Were your parents or teachers good at expressing needs, attending to needs, the language of needs? Do you turn to different people for different needs? What needs do you get met in this group?
If happiness is a skill or practice, so is unhappiness. Describe the skills for navigating difficult, unhappy times. What resources (people, books, practices) have been helpful to you during a dark time? How would your life be different if you had permission to slow down during periods of angst or grief or depression? What practices make you happy?
We learn a lot about life during times of transition. How do we change on the inside when the sands of our comfortable familiar shifts ground? How do we handle uncertainty and prepare for the new?
Ah the joy of early summer. Choose a creative focus and location for your June meeting. Gather supplies; organize who will lead which parts of your outing or gathering; maybe hire an artist for a crafts project.
Approval and disapproval – ugh, such a tough part of adolescence. What shaped your sense of self as a teen? Whose approval or disapproval had an impact on you in early adulthood? What does self-acceptance mean to you today and how do you work with old triggers when they surface?
Where did bravery rank on your VIA assessment of strengths? What brave things have you done this year? How big was the risk and how big the reward? Are there certain types of risks you have outgrown? What risk would you take tomorrow, if you knew you couldn’t fail?
Late summer is a time to harvest. Reflect on your journey this year: What seeds of growth have taken root? What callings have you heard, what turning points have shown up on your path? Write a group poem about the harvest.
Relationship Power – why is this an important topic for women? What have you learned about power- struggles? How is power different than control? Think of power as an energy: Describe the balance of your feminine (relational) and masculine (rational) energies? Is your personal sense of power related to a higher power, and has that changed over time?
Body awareness, body image, body language, the body as a temple – so many ways to talk and think about your body. Begin with a body scan: invite someone in your group to lead a head-to-toe relaxation and scan your body.
Plan a group party for celebrating goodness and progress. What personal/group milestones will you celebrate? What will you wear? Who is bringing what – the playlist, nibbles, white elephant gifts, activity? Bring a pack of Flying Wish Paper (flyingwishpaper.com) and follow the directions on the pack. Take pictures!
Unfinished business can refer to your to-do list, a habit of procrastination, or thought-worms like worry, self-recrimination, or perseverating.