March Morning Mixer… metrics and meaning-making
On a beautiful morning in late March, a group of 20 local leaders living in the Banff, Canmore, Calgary corridor gathered around a fire for a mix’n’mingle.
The invitation was simple – grab a mug of your favourite warm beverage and just show up, disrupting your usual flow of activities. Wear warm boots, keep an open mind and bring your own mug.
As they arrived, people were asked to rate themselves on a scale of 0 – 10. A zero indicated nothing, nada, irrelevant. A ten meant 100% yes, over the top and exploding with that state of mind or emotin
Emotional States were:
Positive (excited, happy, joyful, content)
Negative (angry, sad, worried)
Feeling Stressed or Overwhelmed
At the close of the event, before heading back to the office, the city, and the rest of the day, attendees gave themselves a second score for each condition. The raw data, posted on a flip-chart looks like this:
Results – Data Summarized into Averages:
Yellow = Excited, Happy, Content, Joyful: Group Average rose by 1.1
Grey = Sad, Angry, Worried: Group Average fell by 1.7
Red = Stressed, Overwhelmed: Group Average fell by 2.0
Discussion of Results
Before the event, individual stress levels ranged from 0 – 10. After the event individual stress levels ranged from 0 – 6. On an individual basis, stress levels dropped from the danger zone to the zone of moderation.
At the level of the collective – on March 29, 2023 group levels of sadness, anxiety, worry, stress and overwhelm fell.
Summary
After 60 minutes of revelling in the company of others, soaking up feelings of positivity, mindfully noting our thoughts, listening to a spoken word artist and warmly conversing around a fire, the group’s positive affect rose, our negative affect dropped and the group became calmer and less stressed. The event had a calming and positive effect on the group, as a collective.
When we meet in an atmosphere of positivity and acceptance, our levels of comfort and joy rise. Clearly, when people gather in an atmosphere of trust, when we set ground rules related to acceptance and kindness, when we meet face-to-face – notably on a beautiful setting, inspired by poetry, with hot chocolate and corn bread on tap – we relax and return to our more gentle ways of being.
Conclusion
By talking to each other, in a spirit of kindness and empathy, we start to feel better. We become more trusting and feel friendlier. Building belonging and acceptance, rebuilding our social muscles, disrupting our routines and freshening our days in the company of people who are positive and energetic, are ways to rebuild our skills as citizens, thus strengthening the fabric of our relationships as individuals and as social beings.
On a lovely morning in early Spring, a group of 20 people met at the base of Cascade Mountain near Banff, Alberta. Will you join us next time?
Coming soon – Link to Shawayne Dunstan’s Poem: Closure for the Abundant Heart.
