Drawing your sword

Drawing your Sword is about engaging with your personal 'Heroes Journey' to realise your authentic masculinity .... within the infinite possibilities that this suggests. It is time to stand up and Walk your Talk. We are not referring to repeating the patterns we already know, either 1. the solitary Samurai against the world, or 2. joining a gang fighting for any cause. This is about taking your personal power out into the world, listening, being vulnerable, sharing, and supporting to build creative loving communities.
Drawing your sword you begin your heroes Journey
1. Explore yourself deeply..... down to your deepest strengths, fears, angers, loves, desires and vulnerabilities. To do this we have to 'get out of our head', to stop the neurotic limitations of the mind .... This means working with the body and our creativity. Activities incorporating Aikido, dance, bodywork, drama, arts, storytelling, singing and music, …. ecology and nature ...will all help us to step into our personal Heroes Journey. This self discovery will naturally take us out of our habitual (neurotic) comfort zone. Part of this exploration is about checking what is real, gaining wider perspectives, ... requires sharing ourselves. It requires making ourselves vulnerable. This is the warrior's path.
2. Negotiate, define, carry out and evaluate small and simple actions to implement change in your life.
3. Now we take this out to change the world. How might we apply the work from men's groups in a wider educational and social context?
There are plenty social issues that we might take our journey into, including:
Drawing your sword you begin your heroes Journey
1. Explore yourself deeply..... down to your deepest strengths, fears, angers, loves, desires and vulnerabilities. To do this we have to 'get out of our head', to stop the neurotic limitations of the mind .... This means working with the body and our creativity. Activities incorporating Aikido, dance, bodywork, drama, arts, storytelling, singing and music, …. ecology and nature ...will all help us to step into our personal Heroes Journey. This self discovery will naturally take us out of our habitual (neurotic) comfort zone. Part of this exploration is about checking what is real, gaining wider perspectives, ... requires sharing ourselves. It requires making ourselves vulnerable. This is the warrior's path.
2. Negotiate, define, carry out and evaluate small and simple actions to implement change in your life.
- This work in the men's group naturally extends to the daily life and relationships of the participants. We want to improve our lives.
- It is important not to try and make large changes. Like any new skill, we should go slowly and try it out in small steps – so as to build the skill and confidence.
- Negotiate and define actions to improve your coherence, authenticity and satisfaction in your life and relationships.
- Role play these new behaviours in the group
- Establish a new behaviour with other members of the group, in the group, then it will extend to other areas of your life in a natural way
- Negotiate follow up, support, evaluation of your progress, ..... allow yourself 'mistakes and failures' (you are human)
3. Now we take this out to change the world. How might we apply the work from men's groups in a wider educational and social context?
- work with our families, partners, parents, children, ...
- work with our local community, schools, ....
There are plenty social issues that we might take our journey into, including:
- pre-natal and early educational systems, including the social support for parents and families, to adequately develop the social, emotional and communicative capacities of our future citizens. Special training for men on parenthood
- education systems and methods which develop linguistic, empathic and social skills in boys, respecting their distinct needs and ways of learning
- criminal justice systems that take these realities into consideration, working to develop and rehabilitate rather than punish boys and men who have grown in environments that do not adequately equip them for modern social life
- What are the values and behaviours we would like to see in our society and relationships?
- What do we personally need to begin to live and apply these values? What do we need at the small personal level? It is of little value to us or anyone else (our boys) to propose that the politicians etc. must make changes. This kind of change must begin at the personal level.
- Only when we are authentically living some of our values (or to assume our impotence) can we go to our neighbour (school, politicians, ...) and ask them to change.
- When we are living it quietly and humbly, then we might have the authority to help others make the same changes. And our boys and client groups might believe us.