Cadre Community Live

Hey, everyone. Hello. Welcome to our first Cadre community Live. I am Shannon. I am part of the Cadre team and I just want to welcome you in tonight. I am a fill in host tonight. We're supposed to have another amazing host and I am stepping in and helping out and so I just want to welcome everyone in tonight. I'm so glad to see everyone. This is our first time doing this and so I'm thrilled that you're here. I'm going to do something as I see everyone coming in tonight. Thank you for being here.

I'm just going to talk a little bit about what this is, but the other thing I'm going to do is I have this candle and I think many of you know this space is in response to everything that's happening in our world right now, both in Minnesota and certainly all over. But part of why we're here is. Oh, my gosh, you guys, all the hearts. Thank you. Part of why we're here is that we're just going to be together. Right? There's no right way to do this. There's no wrong way to do this. We are just going to be together.

So I, Jen Velli, who is one of our Cadre contributors, who I think a lot of you know, she does sober, not somber, talked about the idea of us lighting candle together. And so I'm going to do that. And if you are at home, here's my. Here's my lighter. If you are at home, everyone. Thank you all. I see you guys coming in. Hi, Luke. Hi, Carrie. Dr. Cherise Davis, junk food junkie. All of our friends are here. If you guys want to light a candle at home, do it. This is. This is something that we're doing together.

So it's my first time. It's your first time. But this is really just honoring all that's happening in our world. And I thought it was such a great idea from Jen Varali. So I'm gonna put it here in front of me and I just want to again, love it. Anna, lighting your candle. So this is amazing. Okay, you guys, I'm going to first say thank you to Dr. Charisse for helping us build this structure. And thank you. Speak wonder. Lighting a candle. Manifesting a candle. All right, so you guys, this is our first Cadre community live.

Again. There's no agenda. I'm just setting the ground rules. There's no pressure to share tonight. You don't have to say anything. You don't have to do anything. You can be 100 a lurker tonight. And that's okay. I'm putting on my do not disturb. There we go. Coming back. And there's no right way to participate. Okay, so you can type in the chat. You can watch and not say a word. You can explain why you feel the way you feel, or you can say nothing at all. You do not have to earn your place in this space.

I want to make sure this is still going. I'm hoping that it's going to rejoin. So I'm going to just hang on here for a second. Let's just make sure it is. So I'm going to wait one second for you guys to come back and hopefully you can rejoin. I'm going to take a deep grounding breath. That's something we're going to do here in a moment. But I do think. I do think I might have to rejoin this. And that's okay. Let me see. Okay, I'm gonna try this again, you guys, and hopefully this will help. You're still with me.

Okay, beautiful. All right, thank you. Thank you for telling me. Okay. Love you guys. Thank you for telling me that. Okay. All right, so setting the stage. This is my first time doing this, too. So just to say again, this is not therapy. This is not clinical care. It's just a moment of togetherness. All right? So the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna have a grounding moment together. Okay? So let's take one slow breath together just to help our bodies settle. Okay? In your car, if you're in your car, if you're sitting at home, wherever you are on the bus, just a very calm.

Just a really calm breath. Maybe if you have a candle, you can look at it, you can remember why it's here, you can remember why what brought you here tonight. I'm gonna slow my voice, slow my talking. Okay? So if anyone would like to share what brought them here tonight, you're absolutely welcome to do that. You can type it, you can stay quiet, and you can respond to. Or you could respond to what someone else says. All. All of those choices are good. And so I know everyone might be here for a different reason.

And so I would love for anyone to maybe say, like, how are you arriving in this moment right now? How. What does your body need right now with everything that's happening, with everything that's going on, what do you need? You need community support. Anna, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Yes. Arriving tired, Carrie says, feeling community as we go through this challenging time. Absolutely. You're present. That's awesome. Josh, I love that. Oh, you guys, this is so great. You're arriving. Speak wonder at peace.

Jennifer Ali says batting, battling a bit of hope. Hopelessness. Yeah. That is a lot to carry. And Jen and everyone. I'm really glad that you said that out loud. I think this is. This is such a challenging time, and I think being together is really important. What would feel. I guess another question is, what would feel supportive tonight for everyone as you think about hopelessness? Or if you're arriving at peace. Right. We're all in different places and joining together. What would feel supportive for wherever you're coming from?

Mo, thank you. Yes. Brokenhearted, yet feeling the love in our community so conflicting. Absolutely. I'm so glad that you said that, Mo. I think that is something that a lot of us are feeling. Silent solidarity. Yeah. I think it's, you know, being here in this community and then also knowing, you know, this Cadre community is. Is everywhere. Right. We're everywhere. And we're all experiencing different things in our own communities. And then also. And then also knowing what's going on in our own backyard.

And it is such a. It's such a complicated. It's complicated at times to be in community together with all of those different feelings. Jungfu Junkie says love loving the beauty of the snow. You got Hill in Maryland, but don't want to shovel the sidewalks. Absolutely. That's not ever a pleasant thing. I'm just gonna take another deep breath tonight. I think for me, sometimes my body tells me I'm tense before I realize, before I know I am. Intellectually, I don't know if that happens for you all. I think a lot of us can feel what's happening in our bodies right now.

What's something that you wish. Something that you wish that you had right now that you think would help you feel calmer or comforted. If there's things you can think about that would make you feel seen or heard, what might those things be we could talk about together? And again, I'm just trying to breathe in deeply. Yes. Oh, Rosie, I hear that all day long. The stress of this moment in your body. Yeah, my jaw. Your jaw is constantly clenched. I think our bodies manifest so much that we're not aware of.

And yes, Speak Wonder. You did Dr. Sharice's grounding practice. I saw that today. I think it was about putting our feet on the ground. Yes, you just said that. Junk food junkie. Perfect. Stand up and press your feet into the floor. Right. So I'm gonna do that right now. And don't look at my outfit, because I don't think it's good on the bottom, but. Okay, we're gonna stand up and I'm gonna press my feet in the floor. And. Yeah. Carrie, your jaw is always clenched. I know something. Yeah. Your shoulders are sore.

I know. There have been times in my life when I've gone through great grief that having. Having to get down to the ground has been something that my body really wants, which is such an interesting animal way of dealing with pain and fear or grief is. It's just like returning to the earth, I think in some way. What are words that you might. That you all might think that you all can think of that might help you tonight? I think sometimes when we're feeling. Or at least I'm speaking for myself, you know, when we're in a place of fear or sadness.

Jen. Yes. Your family checking on you would make you feel seen 100%. They don't like uncomfortable conversations. It's hard for them. Yes. This is so resonant. I think. I think some of the. Sometimes it's like. It's just those really simple things, right? Like. Like, how are you doing? But in a real way and just letting you get those words out, being seen, like you're saying someone acknowledging the things. And I think when it's hard to talk about things like the things that are happening in our community, sometimes it is easier for people to shut down.

And sometimes just saying it out loud and having a space like this is such a gift to. And honestly, I welcome you all. Say anything you want to say in this chat, get it out here. Right? There's nothing that you can say here that is not okay. There is nothing that you need to explain to be here. There is nothing you need to do to earn your voice here. So if it is valuable for you right now to say hard things, please feel free to chat them. Please feel free to say them out loud in your house, if that's where you're at.

And resilience. Speak. Wonder. Refuge. Yes. Those are really important words. Those are great words. Speak. Wonder. I think if there's anything else that's on anyone's mind or what brought you here tonight, You're welcome to share and carry. It's hard for you to talk with a certain family member. Yes. Yeah. All the hearts, you guys, I love when we can find these shared. I don't want to say find shared pain together, but that's kind of what we're here for, right? Is to have our pain or our emotions or a fear or whatever we're having.

Just be normalized and finding your inner peace. Junk food junkie harbor. Speak, wonder. Yeah, I think, you know, I kind of wish Dr. Charisse was on my shoulder here, because I feel like she would be able. She would really be able to, you know, give this the. Give this the lens of the. Of the, you know, the Dr. Shareese. So I'm going all peer, guys. This is just my lived experience. But I think, you know, Carrie and Anna both said talking about with certain family members, and Jen Barali, you also said, you know, wishing your family would check on you.

And I think when. When we're cut off from that, with people that we care about, when we're not able to be our true selves, it's very difficult, right? Whether that's just in pain, whether that's in being honest, whether it's just communicating, and so absolutely it is. It's hard when you have to keep that inside and then you are connected to families like we all are, and balancing those two things is really difficult. Speak, wonder. I love that so much suffering in community is powerful. It is. Junk food junkie said no sound.

I hope that is gonna come back in a minute. So I'm gonna keep talking and hope that it's gonna happen. Speak, wonder. Suffering in community is powerful. Is such a beautiful sentence. I love that we are suffering. Many of us here right now are suffering. And just the fact that we can do it together with one another is. Is everything good? You can hear, sound is on point. I love it. I think that's, like, the sentence of the night for me is suffering. Community is powerful because that's really what we're doing individually.

We're all sitting in our houses having these feelings. I've got my candle, and I'm feeling my feelings. And you all are in your homes feeling your feelings, and that's hard, and it's hard to be alone in those feelings. And just sitting together in that suffering is so meaningful. I'm gonna do a couple more breaths, you guys, If you want to do those two. I know. Gilbert. I'm sorry. Gilbert's barking. Thank you, Anna, for acknowledging him. I'm trying to ignore him also. You know, I think that's a difficult part of life.

With everything that is going on is we have to keep going. So with everything that's happening, with all the physical manifestations in our body of everything, with the suffering that we're going through and. And we still have to go on, right? We still have to pay the bills. We still have to go to work. We still have to show up and put our feet in front of each other and do all of those things. And I think that can also just be really tiring. Jen Varali just checked in with your daughter. She was feeling the same sense.

Yeah. Loss. And nothing was feeling meaningful. Absolutely. To do tonight. Absolutely. When there's so much happening with such deep repercussions, it is hard to ground in the day to day reality of things. And where do you put that, those feelings and where do you put all of that. Yeah. As you're getting through the grind of life. Right. Thank you for sharing that, Jen. Yeah. Anna, you're supposed to keep living and you have to. And we have to keep living. Right. And we have to rest. Right. We have to, we have to do both.

And I think that's why I appreciate this. I appreciate this reminder of, of, of rest. That's something Rosie's really good at talking about. She's here tonight is rest and the power of rest. And yeah, I think it's important that we do that. And we are supposed to keep going in all of the things. Right. Thank you for sharing that, Anna. They saw ICE arrest someone and they went to go witness. It is. Absolutely. Yeah. There's, there's a lot of complexity in everything that's happening right now on all the sides in every, in every situation.

And my guess is that there are feelings like your cousin. Right. When that it's being hard, that it's hard to do, that it's helpless. That's probably not something that was expected. Right. That's not something that any of us would expect to lived through. None of us even a month ago, four weeks ago, would have thought that this is a thing that we would be witnessing that would be unrolling, unraveling in front of us. And I think, you know, it is every day new feelings, new situations are presenting themselves, whether it's with family, whether it's with our bodies and how they're reacting, whether it's with fear or isolation or how to talk to our children.

You know, Jen, you're talking about your daughter. I don't know how to talk to my kids. I don't know how to direct them. And I don't think that there's a right answer today. I don't know that anyone has it. You know, when unprecedented things happen, we just have to make our way together. And I think that's what we're doing right now. And it doesn't make it easier. Right. Like you can hear my body, right? Now is like. It doesn't make it easier, but it makes it easier to at least be able to say out loud that it's difficult and say to each other that, yeah, we're feeling hopeless or we're feeling conflicted and know that we're not the only ones that are.

That are feeling that and that there isn't some. There's not somebody out there who gets it. There's not. There's no one. There's not one of us out there that is. Feels good about what's happening on any side. There's not one of us that is at rest. There's not one of us that is at peace. I don't believe. And so I think, again, it's just, how do we support each other through these feelings? How do we show up in these moments and just remind each other that there is hope, there is beauty? I think at the top of this, someone said, there's a lot of beautiful things that are happening.

There's a lot of love. And so focusing on that as much as we can. And I'm not giving advice. I'll speak only for myself. That's. That's something I really always seek to do. Otherwise, it's so easy to let anger take over. Yeah. Let's give it a couple more minutes. If anyone wants to share anything or, you know, wants a specific kind of support, we're here for it. We are here together. I appreciate you guys all being here for each other. It is exhausting. Staying angry is exhausting. It is. Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.

The really great folk must, I think, have great sadness on earth. Davis, thank you. Yeah. I think one of the hard parts of loving and being people who care is we're gonna care. We're gonna care, and we're gonna feel it. And that's hard. And then it's hard. And it's also who we all are, and that's why we're here on this call tonight, is because we care, which is beautiful, and it's hard. But I will say that sitting with you all tonight and seeing this love and seeing this care for one another, and frankly, just everything is heartening.

And so I really, deeply, deeply appreciate everyone who's showing up tonight. And I already feel less alone, because I think the other thing I know is that with this group that's here tonight, I do know most of you, some of you, and everyone's coming from different walks of life, and we're not all the same, and yet we are here together, sitting together, Seeing each other, just being together and knowing that this is hard. And so I hope that's what you all are feeling too. All right, I'm going to take one more breath.

And I'm just going to say a few closing thoughts. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for saying all the things that you all said out loud. Thank you for trusting us and you and each other with this space. And I want to just tell you that you're welcome anytime. We will be back again every night at 8pm it will not be me. It'll be different hosts every night. And we just want you to know that we are glad you're here. We want you to take care of each other and we will be here with you.

If you need anything at any time, please, please, please have our Cadre connectors. You can text or call anytime. If there's someone that needs help. 651-262-6015 and someone will get back to you right away. Anything, anything you need, give us a call or text or email supportadre IO and we will be there for you. But thank you guys for being a great part of my night tonight and thank you for joining me with your candles. All right everybody, we'll see you soon tomorrow night in the Cadre sphere. Bye everybody.