Toronto Summer Institute 2007

By Melanie Redman




Last week, thinkers, activists and practitioners of inclusion convened in Toronto from as far away as Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The Marsha Forest Centre and Inclusion Press hosted 140 people for 5 days of shared learning and exploration. You can check out the session notes, photos and resources here. There is so much to share from this spectacular experience, but one thread of the week stands out for me - John O'Brien set the tone of the conference with his thoughts concerning "gratitude."

"Gratitude is one of the practices that makes us strong and resilient. There is much that occasions suffering, lots to worry about, plenty of occasions that drive our fear and remind us of what is scarce, and plenty of excuses for grumpiness. If in the midst of all this, we purposely adopt the practice of noticing what we are grateful for, we'll have more energy and awareness of capacity for doing the hard work of building inclusive community. Our learning community this week will be stronger if a number of us decide to intentionaly practice gratefulness while we are together. Many spiritual traditions teach practices that encourage gratefulness. Lately some psychologists have turned the eye of research on its benefits. Robert Emmons' report can be found here."