Awaken Coach Institute Standards of Presence: Community Agreement
These Standards of Presence will form the essence of our commitment to one another as members of The Awaken Community.
Please read them & agree before signing up for Community Membership.
As a valued member of The Awaken Community, if there are principles of working together that you feel are missing for the community to be a brave space for you, please email communitycare@awaken.com.
These standards of presence will help us build and maintain trust within the community, which will enable us to share openly and experience the greatest amount of growth possible as our community grows and expands.
The Approach: Co-creating a Safe Environment
All communities that come together for the purpose of learning, creating, communicating, living or celebrating are served when the creation and maintenance of a brave space is established.
A truly brave community environment provides the basis for powerful transformation, empowering exploration, inspired collaboration, and vibrant living.
The use of the Standards of Presence, a clearly articulated and easy-to-understand set of guidelines, provides a proven container of safety in any community.
The Underlying Principle: Acceptance
The primary underlying principle of the Standards of Presence is acceptance. We are all in the same boat. It is important to recognize and affirm that everyone in the community is doing their best to learn, grow, respect, and follow these Standards.
It is also important to recognize that self-acceptance is particularly beneficial to experiencing a safe, empowering environment where it becomes possible to learn, create, communicate, and celebrate.
The Practice: “It is my intention to…”
Each person who joins the community agrees to practice these standards to the best of their ability.
The co-creation of this community’s safe space begins with “It is my intention to”
It is my intention to:
- Maintain confidentiality
- What I see and hear that is personal or specific to another within the community will stay here.
- When sharing the essence of someone else's story, without the names and specific details, I agree to share in an honoring manner that celebrates them.
- Have a beginner’s mind.
- I release evaluating or comparing what I am learning in the moment.
- Instead, I will allow myself to “try on” and wear the information for a while, as it stands.
- Practice a growth focus.
- I will focus on my strengths and my areas of growth.
- Even though some of the things I’m learning about myself may be painful, I am learning and I am growing and changing and that is exciting!
- I will endeavor to strengthen in myself all the strengths and growth I perceive in others in the community.
- Connect at a deep level.
- I commit to being fully anchored in the present as I connect with others.
- I will practice opening my heart to the essence of what is being conveyed.
- I will practice opening my creative and life-affirming mind.
- To the best of my ability, I will get out of my limiting and judgmental mind.
- In the moment, I release the need to evaluate and judge.
- Claim my experience as my own.
- I take responsibility for my own learning and growth.
- I will focus on the parts that are brilliant, particularly in myself and particularly when learning or exploring new areas.
- I will speak in “I” statements so I can claim my own experience.
- I release telling others what they should do, feel, or believe, how they should act, etc.
- Listen deeply and with honor as we come together in the community
- During community events and gatherings, I will be 100% engaged and focus my attention on the presenter or person sharing.
- I will refrain from side talk, cross talk, or interrupting when someone is sharing.
- I will wait to formulate a response until the person sharing is complete.
- I will refrain from making repetitive comments or drawing attention to myself.
- I commit to respect others and myself and will endeavor to look again at myself and others with new eyes.
- I will forgo anticipating what the person is going to share.
- I commit to being curious, and to seeing this as an opportunity to be fascinated by another.
- I anticipate and look for the gifts being shared – people’s courage, authenticity, brilliance, etc.
- I will wait for the person sharing to indicate that he or she is finished sharing.
- Give only authentic acknowledgement and support.
- I will endeavor to be authentic while giving only strength-based feedback.
- I will keep it simple and speak to the essence of what I experienced.
- I will maintain eye contact and/or heart contact with the person to whom I am giving support.
- I will notice when I want to give unsolicited advice, criticism, counseling, or consulting, then let it go without sharing it.
- Fully receive acknowledgment and support.
- I will receive acknowledgment – as the gift it is – and let it sink in.
- I will maintain eye and/or heart contact with the person acknowledging me while remaining fully present.
- I will respond with a simple “Thank you,” and refrain from “cross-talk” or comments back to the person acknowledging me.
- Practice self-care and self-responsibility and permit others to do the same.
- I commit to maintaining a safe space for myself and not sharing more than I’m able to comfortably share given the level of trust that’s been built up in the community.
- I will nurture and honor the wisdom of my heart, mind, and source of inspiration allowing them to guide me.
- When a judgment comes to mind as someone is speaking, I will say “Thank you for sharing,” to that thought, and then consciously will choose a more resourceful thought and focus.
- I recognize that others are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves and that I am not here to rescue anyone.
- Be fully present.
- I maintain these agreements in and out of our brave space of The Awaken Community.
- I value my intuition and diverse kinds of intelligence and will allow those to guide me.
Adapted from the Standards of Presence from the Inspired Learning Foundation. For more information, click here.
