Day 1: Mama Alto

The day began with a Welcome to Country and ceremony from Uncle Colin, Wurundjeri Elder—and as Mary noted in opening the conference this morning, the generosity, resilience and spirit of a welcome at this difficult time in history is particularly powerful and meaningful. 

After this, Mary and Hew opened the conference and encompassed both the seriousness and the silliness —both vital and integral to transformative work and indeed to humanity. And at this point, I would also like to draw attention once more to the two key tenets Mary mentioned: 

• Compassion as a fulcrum, which as Archimedes said, upon which the world can change;
• Compassion as love in action, our motto for this year’s conference.

This year’s theme

With compassion as our framework to “make work beautiful”—this year’s theme—to transform work into meaningful community outcomes and in nurturing our wellbeing as the workers—we have heard from insightful and transformative speakers. 

Dr Sará King and tools for healing

Dr Sará King introduced us to powerful research and practice in combining the scientific, spiritual, social and biopsychosocial towards neuroscience and social justice, and gave us practical tools of ruminating on our ancestors, our heart offerings, on art and music, on the underpinning of embodied and epigenetic nervous system responses (and how these can be mapped as systems based awareness), all as tools for healing intergenerational traumas, cultivating collective nervous system connections through community care and self care, and self care to interrupt the urgent anxieties of contemporary life and what Sará usefully identified as “the crushing speed of capitalism.” 

These themes all recurred in many ways with our following speakers:

• Sally and Imogen opening a window into their work on combining compassion with “grief literacy education” to nurture wellbeing in the face of mourning,
• Andrew highlighting how pursuit of worth in perfection leads to overload, overwhelm and burnout, but that this can be counteracted by the compassionate ABC of Autonomy/Agency, Belonging & Connection, 
• Jane’s strong evidence-based advocacy for strategic, sector-wide systems change to create a new workplace culture prioritising wellbeing – and very importantly, highlighting the role antisexism and antiracism must play in that change, 
• and Laura’s astute dissection of how capitalist ideologies harm both individuals and the world with exploitative extractivism, burning out our bodies’ and planet’s finite resources, and that global system change (despite the current situation of toxic blame on individuals for systemic issues) may begin with self-care as a revolutionary act that divests from harmful systems. 

Workshop sessions

Following this, we had our break out workshop sessions. The beauty and the terror of multiple breakout sessions is that I cannot report on all of them, however I did want to highlight a quote from the #SpacesForListening session, where Meredith identified that “online spaces can be a den of trolls, but it doesn’t have to be that way”—highlighting compassion via ‘love in action’ to show how we can transform spaces to meet human need and kindness. 

We encompassed both the seriousness and the silliness—both vital and integral to transformative work and indeed to humanity.

The afternoon sessions were extraordinary and transformative. 

• In the Caring As Activism panel with Lekshmy, Victor and Mary, Victor highlighted that “to care is to notice and respond,” and Lekshmy identified that when we enact care properly to ourselves and others “care is a renewable resource.” One of the highlights of this session was its demonstration of the moving idea that “networks of networks” of care activists connecting with each other can create change, and in discussing the methods of activism to bring about “fundamental system change” to create environments that enable and empower care. 
• In the Boundaries session with Shannon and Cessalee, we had the illuminating experience of seeing two different perspectives on boundaries from two different roles—from the social facilitator perspective, and the perspective of an intimacy director in performing arts. Both enlightened us to how boundaries create possibilities to show up for each other expansively, and are best viewed and enacted as a beginning point, not the end of possibilities. In communicating boundaries in meaningful ways, we enable greater collaboration—not shutting it down. 

Tying it up in a nice neat bow…

And so throughout this enormous day, now to wrap up—in attempting to summarise the day, and tie a nice neat bow around it for us all—we have had some key emergent themes I can identify:

• The need for change: At levels that are personal and internal, that are systemic and organisational and societal, and in ways that are vast and paradigm shifting;
• The importance of connection: Of being seen and seeing each other, of listening, of holding space and resisting toxic urgency, and lastly:
• The importance of ritual: Reminding us that rituals are not just ‘peer pressure from long dead people,’ but that we have the power to create small rituals in our own daily practice, lives and work. The example of the psychological baggage cloakroom at this conference—such a beautiful concept—stands out as a major example of this ritual, but so do many of the exercises and practices we have been introduced to today. By turning our daily habits of self and community care into rituals, we can elevate their impact, their importance and our relationship to them. 

Day 2: Mary Freer

This coming together each year as a community is something truly inspirational. At the conclusion of our first day I felt my mind and body trying to pull threads of meaning from the experiences of being in the company of so many extraordinary humans.

There were clear themes that continued through into the second day: 

• The violent impact of capitalism.
• This more than human world we inhabit.
• The beauty of bringing our whole selves.
• The multiple layers of time and intergenerational connection.
• Intergenerational trauma and resilience.

As the Program Curator I have the special privilege of being the only person in the room who has met (often on numerous zoom calls or in cafes) with every single speaker. I have spent 8 months weaving the program together. Some nights I would dream about a session and then upon waking, I’d send a message to one of our speakers—“You came to me in a dream last night. Can we talk about a session I’d like for you to do?” One speaker told me (in relation to the program) “you could ask me to do anything and I would say yes.” It was from this place of courage and deep trust that we built the conference. I think this was evident.

Nartarsha Bamblett—Queen Acknowledgements

Day Two started with more energy and joy than I thought was possible in one room, thanks to Nartarsha Bamblett (Queen Acknowledgements) a proud First Nations woman living and learning on Naarm Country in Melbourne.  Nartarsha was joined by Ganga and the yidaki. We were invited into a deeply somatic acknowledgement of Country, calling on the energy from the highest source, the earth, the sun and the moon, and the waters, the lands, the mountains, the valleys and the plains. Summoning up the ancestors and the descendants—the room became a collective joyous dance. 

As Nartarsha beckoned the forces to join us she also brought messages from her ancestors to guide us: “what would it take for us to be free?” 

Selma says, “Post traumatic growth is when you bounce  beyond what was before the trauma, not in spite of it, but because of the struggle encountered in the aftermath of the trauma”.

Selma Quist Møller

With our spirits in flight and our hearts beating a little faster from drumming out the beat with our feet on the earth and our arms soaring through the air, we settled into a session with our next speaker, Selma Quist Møller.

Disturbance is a prayer, it’s a crossroad and it’s an invitation to become something different. Bayo Akomolafe

Selma brought a gentle encouragement to us in her thoughtful exploration of post-traumatic growth. We know about the negative and damaging consequences of trauma and crisis but more recently, research is exploring how trauma can disrupt us in such a way that wisdom may be revealed because the crisis or trauma has occurred. An example of trauma was found in Kinsugi (a Japanese practice of repairing pottery by adhering the broken pieces back together by using gold as a means of glue—the object becoming even more beautiful than it was previously before) — a metaphor for embracing your flaws and imperfection. How can a crack (a trauma) reveal insights that we might now realise?

Selma states, “Post traumatic growth is when you bounce beyond what was before the trauma, not in spite of it, but because of the struggle encountered in the aftermath of the trauma”.

Workshop Masterclass with Selma and Sará

Following morning tea, we returned for a Workshop Masterclass with Dr Sará King and Selma Quist Møller. This was the first time they presented together the work they had been developing alongside one another for a number of years. A special moment for us all.

When we talk about trauma we need to keep the powerful words of Resmaa Menaken close to us:

Trauma decontextualised in a person looks like personality.
Trauma decontextualised in a family looks like family traits.
Trauma decontextualised in people looks like culture.

Ways of understanding identity was a strong theme across this 90 minute session. As Sará reminded us, our identity is intergenerational and all of these identities are in conversation all the time. We were invited to think about our ancestors and to imagine for a moment which ancestor—be that human, animal, spirit or plant—we would invite to have with us in the room. Over and over again throughout the two days I was reminded that we live in a multi-dimensional world: a more than human world—a world where time is sloshy and moves back and forth and over and under us. It is a particular colonising system of thought that deems time to be a straight line where there is a past never to be revisited, and a future not yet in existence.

I see the damaging impact of burnout, perfectionism, not-enoughness and scarcity mindset in every Compassion Lab I hold. To hear Sará name this as the fruit of living at the speed of capitalism has really stayed with me. I felt these words imprint into my body.

KA McKercher

Many folks appreciated the call-out to the sole operators in the room , “the ones in the room that were done talking to people about their feelings”—a call to anyone who wanted to be ‘left alone’ for a moment. I loved this. It underscored our expectations of other humans; extroversion and neuronormative is always the first to get a gold star. Big respect here. “It’s okay to need space and to need time to reflect and process. It doesn’t mean we’re not interested or we’re being rude—it just means ‘let me come as I am’”.

“Come as you are!” was the refrain throughout the day. You don’t need to fit in, to shape yourself in any way. No masking or posturing needed in this space. This was a session about Careful (or full of care) Collaboration (aka ‘meetings don’t have to suck’).

Amy Milhinch

Amy, our very own Director of Design for Social Change at Compassion Revolution, gave us a peek into the process and love that accompanies all of the design work across the Compassion Revolution. KA in conversation with Amy helped me ground myself into the process of creation, the making and the shaping of the visual representation of this revolution. Beauty is a guiding value for Amy and it was apparent for all to see, She says, ‘beauty is a demand for attention, and is a gateway to love’.

Claire Wathen

Claire unpacked for us the title of her presentation, Future Leading is Collective and Collaborative, word by word.

Beginning with a moment of touching into this idea of Future. Throughout the previous two days, the harmony was always ‘networks’: neural networks; mycelium networks; tree root system networks; the networks of everyone in the room, including the strong-bonds and weak-ties. The future is not out there, it is already here. Claire recalled a quote that is one I have held close for the last 12 months.

The calling is the echo of the arrival. Thomas Hübl

When we ask ‘What is collectively needed here?’ we begin to open and extend rather than grip and compete. I wondered about the immediate benefits of collectivity in our fractured care systems. 

Claire shared with us the four network principles that have been developed by Jane Wei Skillern:

• Focus on mission before organisation.
• Manage through trust, not control.
• Promote others not yourself.
• Build constellations not stars.

Kate Bowles and Brigid Russell

Every time, I look forward to anything Kate is involved in. Their wisdom and care is embroidered across every conversation they have brought to all five of our conferences and it was Kate who had brought to Compassion Revolution’s attention #placesforlistening, an initiative of Brigid’s and her co-creator, Charlie Jones. Kate and Brigid had met for the first time in person only a week prior the conference. Brigid had flown in from Scotland and joined Kate on a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne. I imagined them driving, gently unfolding a new understanding of their respective worlds.

The conversation about the rush and the pull of work was felt across the room. We all know it, we all experience it. This was a conversation about listening, and here were two exquisite listeners telling us that it is really difficult to argue for listening as a form of work, in a world and workplace where talk and opinions are seen as currency. Listening is not time off or time out, this is the work that makes our organisations safe and caring. 

In closing

As the day was coming to a close, Shannon Weber, my dear radical friend (a term we’ve borrowed from Sará and Selma) joined me on stage to wrap up the day. We invited participants to take a simple luggage tag and write on it the seed that they were taking away from these two days to plant and care for and grow. We also invited everyone to join us to collectively dismantle the extraordinary two metre high floral display that adorned our stage. Sometimes beautiful things need to come apart and be composted. As our guests left the venue they took a piece of flora and placed it in the compost bin and silently acknowledged what they would like to compost. I’ve carried the contents of those compost containers home with me where they are now slowly breaking down, becoming new rich forms of nutrients. Soon we will take the composted flowers and they will feed a new Compassion Tree that we will plant in Adelaide. The whole cycle will start again.

I’m still metabolising everything I heard and felt and experienced over the two days in Naarm. It’s true that the person who went to Making Work Beautiful isn’t the person who came home. I was made anew and I’m so grateful that it happened with a community so full love and courage.