Resiliency Workshop: Gratitude Discovery Session - Success!
Today was the end of the first week for my 7 week Resiliency Workshop. The first week, our group has worked on Gratitude every day. To close the first week, we had a non-mandatory casual Discovery Session on Zoom. I was happy to see 8 participants connecting from Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Austria who are originally from Japan, Korea, France, US, Austria, and Slovakia. It was also nice that I used zoom functions such as icons, chat, and breakout rooms. I also used Prezi video which made it fun.
During breakout sessions, I asked everyone to share how the past week had been. What they discovered about gratitude and themselves. I also asked the participants to discuss what they want to continue or start doing in terms of feeling gratitude everyday. Everyone had wonderful experiences and ideas and it was very inspiring to just listening to the group sharing with each other.
What surprised me the most was how everyone was appreciating this virtual group. All of them joined the group because they know me, but they did not know each other. It was a totally random group for them. The only common thing was that they were interested in Resiliency. However, after having our Kick-Off meeting last week, and seeing everyone’s post on our closed Facebook group, everyone had a very special feeling to each other, and the virtual zoom room has become as safe and comfortable as an actual physical room with trusted members.
I was happy to hear everyone saying that they were looking forward to seeing each other, that it feels like a magic to be in the virtual group space, and that they appreciated each other’s rapport. They said it’s Tomomi Magic, but I believe everyone’s vulnerability and authenticity make this possible. Yes, I set the room, the tone, the rules to make this space a safe and comfortable place, but it’s up to everyone if they want to share their true self or not.
Listening to how happy and energized everyone become by just talking to each other in breakout sessions, I felt grateful I started this workshop and everyone joined. Everybody’s positive energy inspired me very much. I decided I’ll do this Discovery Session at the end of every topic, so that the members can connect with each other and build deeper and stronger bonds with each other.
I’m so happy I can align with my mission: Connect, Learn, and Empower by offering this workshop, and the team has been a very meaningful existence for me.