Interfaith Book Group discussion

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Monthly book discussions > Closing the session

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message 1: by Tracy (new)

Tracy Marks (tracymar) | 94 comments Mod
Sounds good to me, Laurie. Or it may be that whoever leads the meditation could create their own closure, unless there are final announcements afterwards.


message 2: by Smith Jackson (last edited Jul 18, 2025 03:25AM) (new)

Smith Jackson | 5 comments Great idea, Laurie! A quote would be great, or we might give the membership an opportunity to post short quotes, poems, etc. in Goodreads from which you might select one to close the meeting. It seems the facilitators do a whole lot to prepare to lead their sessions, so this might mitigate adding more to their plates, unless they wish to do so. Tracy sure writes beautiful and meaningful poems, and was it Mary Tippelt who in yesterday's meeting read a poem she had written that was pertinent to "No Mud, No Lotus?"


message 3: by Laurie (new)

Laurie Pollack | 63 comments Smith I would like to be inspired by the book even if it is not a direct quote.
just so you know, in the monthly poetry circle I co-organize, I am the one who picks the monthly (optional) theme for the poems we write and share. and I try to listen to intuition on this and i enjoy doing this kind of listening within to select things.

and i think that sharing a brief quote to close the "circle" will also give us all a feeling of energetic closure. especially after the meditation.
I shared yesterday that I feel as if i am holding space for the facilitator ahd group and this would also help me release this.
or I could open with this and whoever leads the meditation could close with one. but I agree it is a lot to put on the facilitator or meditation leader unless they feel strongly led.
I am feeling for me it would be a labor of love.


message 4: by Laurie (new)

Laurie Pollack | 63 comments I just feel : I have taken part in a lot of earth based ceremonies/circles. and in these. there is an opening. and a close. to bring the energy together at start
and let it go at end.


message 5: by Smith Jackson (new)

Smith Jackson | 5 comments Hi again, Laurie, I think you are the perfect person to take on identifying and delivering a quote or other inspiring piece. It would improve the meeting and I appreciate your willingness to commit to doing this.

Out of respect for our most capable and experienced facilitators and how they wish to structure their book discussions, might I suggest they discuss whether the start or end of the meeting is better for your new part (you can see my background is academia, so I see the facilitator as the teacher and their discussion facilitation as their classroom).

The Book Selection Committee, which includes all the facilitators, is meeting in early August and could talk this over. How does that sound?

Thank you for continuing to make our meetings even better.
Smith

P.s. I do hope we can keep the meetings to approximately an hour and 15 minutes as the format solidifies.


message 6: by Tracy (new)

Tracy Marks (tracymar) | 94 comments Mod
Smith Jackson wrote: "Great idea, Laurie! A quote would be great, or we might give the membership an opportunity to post short quotes, poems, etc. in Goodreads from which you might select one to close the meeting. It se..."

Linda Champion shared her very moving poem.


message 7: by Tracy (new)

Tracy Marks (tracymar) | 94 comments Mod
Smith Jackson wrote: "Hi again, Laurie, I think you are the perfect person to take on identifying and delivering a quote or other inspiring piece. It would improve the meeting and I appreciate your willingness to commit..."

I noticed that we went over 1 1/4 hours and did almost 1 1/2 hours, which is fine with me. But Meditation Chapel has us booked for 1 1/4 hours. Is it problematic if we go by a few minutes? They schedule a lot of events but it's my guess they wouldn't be using our zoom room until 2:30. However, we don't want to overstay our welcome.


message 8: by Laurie (new)

Laurie Pollack | 63 comments Smith
I could do either. but in my opinion it does make sense for facilitator to close off the session. or maybe the meditation leader if someone different.
and will leave it up to the committee.


message 9: by Laurie (new)

Laurie Pollack | 63 comments Tracy, yes I see now we are listed as only there from 1 to 2:15. I agree we should try very hard not to over extend that.


message 10: by Smith Jackson (new)

Smith Jackson | 5 comments Tracy, you have a sharp eye for details. I saw the Meditation Chspel description fof the IFG in their calendar shows an end time of 1:15. The time for which we were approve in the MC system is until 2:45. But we do want any newcomers to know we may go until 2:30. I will circle back to the person who edits the calendar descriptions to request it be updated. I think there were so many people involved from the MC to process our application and get us set up that there were some communication gaps. They are a volunteer organization. Thank you


message 11: by Tracy (new)

Tracy Marks (tracymar) | 94 comments Mod
Good to know we have extra time, Smith, though we'll attempt not to overstay our welcome


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