OUR COMMON LIFE
Resources
On this page you will find extra resources to support your community building journey.
Resources on this page include the following:
Book, podcast, article, and website recommendations from past program participants.
Reflections & journal prompts on various topics and themes.
Bonus homework and suggested practices for those that need that extra challenge and nudge to take action.
We’ll keep adding to this page throughout our time together.
If you have a resource you recommend, like a book, podcast episode, article, website etc. please drop it into our WhatsApp thread and we’ll add it to this page for all to access!
Table of Contents
Links and External Resources:
>> Book Recommendations from Past Participants
>> A bit about cohohousing
>> A bit about Intentional Communities
>> Podcast & article recommendations from Past Participants
>> Podcast interviews featuring Sarah
Reflection, Journal Prompts, and Suggested Practices from Sarah:
>> On remembering & sourcing inspiration
>> On visioning
>> On values & priorities
>> On mapping your relationship ecosystems
Book Recommendations from Past Participants
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The Art of Gathering: how we meet and why it matters - Priya Parker
I actually haven’t read this yet, but everyone tells me it aligns very much with everything I teach!
“In this book Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play.” -
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Loving Corrections - Adrienne Maree Brown
A book on building ongoing loving relationships with those that have radically different views than us on issues that matter to our values (think politics, religion, sexuality, race, etc).
I haven’t read it, but did listen to this podcast interview with the author and loved what she shared.
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Conscious Loving: The Journey to Co-Committment - Gay Henricks & Kathlyn Hendricks
One of our past participants highly recommended this book. Addressed primarily to couples but also individuals.
“You will learn how to: let go of power struggles and need for control; balance needs for closeness and separateness; increase intimacy by telling the microscopic truth; communicate in a positive way that stops arguments; make agreements you can keep; and allow more pleasure into your life.”
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Do You Still Talk to Grandma?: When the Problematic People in Our Lives Are the Ones We Love - Brit Barron
One of the Psychologists I follow on Instagram suggested this book below called 'do you still talk to grandma' - On reading the reviews, it sounds like it has a strong religious focus, so take that into consideration, as it may feel more relevant to some than others!
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The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do - Casper ter Kuile
This book looks at how we can weave ritual into our daily lives - using it to foster depth, meaning, and connection.
He provides a simple definition of ritual that simply includes doing anything with intention, attention, and repetition.
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Platonic: How the science of attachment can help you make, and keep, friends - Dr. Marisa G Franco
This book suggests that making new friends, and deepening longstanding relationships, is possible at any age—in fact, it’s essential. The good news: there are specific, research-based ways to improve the number and quality of your connections using the insights of attachment theory and the latest scientific research on friendship.
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The Serviceberry: An Economy of Gifts and Abundance - Robin Wall Kimmerer
I loved this short weekend read!
As indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most?
If you’re interested in cohousing…
Note that all the information found in this section comes from the Canadian Cohousing site.
Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing that attempts to overcome the alienation of modern housing, where there is little sense of community and few people know their neighbours.
Cohousing communities incorporate the following main features:
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The future residents are integral to the planning, design and development of the community, so that it directly responds to their needs.
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Cohousing combines the autonomy of compact self contained private dwellings with the benefits of shared, spacious community amenities that typically include a large dining room, kitchen, recreation spaces, meeting rooms, children’s play spaces, guest rooms, workshops and gardens. Although many multi-family developments include some amenity spaces, in cohousing the extensive common spaces not only make it possible to live in a smaller home, they also function as the heart of the community and offer many opportunities for social interaction. Although each home has its own private kitchen, shared meals are one of the many regular events that support relationships among neighbours.
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The physical design provides opportunities for spontaneous connection as well as maintaining the option for privacy. This can be achieved with a variety of building forms. Completed communities vary in size, but typically range from 20 to 30 homes. Some have a special focus (e.g., for seniors) but most are intergenerational with a mix of family types and ages. Building forms mirror the range found in the larger society: single-family, townhouses, duplexes and apartments. Cohousing neighbourhoods typically incorporate environmentally sensitive design with a pedestrian orientation and have documented lower vehicle use than conventional neighbourhoods.
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Community decision making is non-hierarchical and usually by consensus, however this does not impact the ownership form. Cohousing is not a particular legal form or means of holding interest in real property. The legal ownership form generally chosen for the completed community is the strata/condominium, however some communities have chosen to use the co-op/share structure. Regardless of the legal structure chosen, the community is ultimately bound by the rules and laws set out by the provincial acts governing stratas/condominiums or co-ops/share structures.
The development process does not of itself generate below market priced homes. Although that process does not include profit if the resident group is the developer, the homes are often of higher quality with more green-built features then conventional housing. This makes them less costly to maintain and operate, but does contribute to higher construction costs.
An aspect not often considered when looking at affordability is the cost of living. Because of the social structure and easy access to shared resources, cohousing homes provide opportunities for reducing living costs that are not available in conventional neighbourhoods. The homes can be smaller without negatively impacting lifestyle and the sharing reduces consumption. As a result, cohousing contributes to the affordable housing continuum.
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If you're looking for more links and resources on cohousing:
Here is the link to the Canadian cohousing site - there is a list here of Canadian cohousing initiatives as well as resources etc:
https://cohousing.ca/communities/
Here is the link to US cohousing site - it also includes a directory of UC cohousing initiatives and huge well of resources; https://www.cohousing.org/