Yesterday, I went to a dinner hosted by someone running a formation group. I came across it on luma. And I was pleasantly surprised how wonderful it turned out to be. I’d like to think that I am outgoing enough to try out such new experiences but the reality is I rarely venture into such unknowns. So, what’s a formation dinner? It’s a form of community building. Someone organizes a group that meets at some frequency and they get dinner, meditate and talk about their experiences. Or at least that was the format yesterday.
The event started at 7 and about 20 people showed up. It was a potluck so there were a variety of food options. I stuck to my Indian roots and bought a potato curry. On my way, I realized I had never ordered curry from this deli near my place in the UES so I have no idea what it tastes like. Fortunately, it turned out to be pretty good. Anyways, back to the dinner. The first 30 mins were allocated for dinner so we ate and mingled among ourselves. I talked to the adjacent folks at the makeshift dinner table. Everyone was easygoing and pretty open. I guess you have to be else you wouldn’t show up for dinner with strangers.
Dinner was fun but the next part was even more fun. The way the event was structured was
- Dinner
- A few minutes for meditation with music
- Reading a thought provoking short essay
- Journaling
- Sharing thoughts in small groups
- Takeaways in a larger group
- End with some meditation and music
I enjoyed the whole experience, especially journaling and sharing. Journaling was structured around some questions from the short essay. The topic was unlived lives. I found it to be really interesting and thought provoking. After journaling, it was time to share about our unlived lives. I was part of a group of 3 and each of us had 5 minutes for sharing our experience and for others to ask questions. The questions were intriguing and inspiring. I wasn’t looking to find any real answers through talking but I did. I learnt how people made their life choices and what was important to them. It made me reflect on my process and embrace the unknown. One person in the group asked me a profound question, Where’s home to you? I dabble with this from time to time but I don’t have a good answer yet. I learnt how she found her home. It was the perfect conversation at the perfect time. The timing is just so impeccable because I really need it right now. It’s been 17 years since I have had a home in a real sense. It’s high time I found one.
We ended with listening to music and some unstructured time for conversations, good byes and exchanging instagrams. I can’t imagine how instagram has now replaced the phone number.
I met some great people and had some introspection. It was a great way to spend a Friday evening. I am looking forward to the next one!