MENSWORK: BEING NOT DOING

The 27TH CHESAPEAKE MEN’S GATHERING is approaching on September 15-17, 2017 at the Prince William Forest Park near Triangle, Virginia.

This menswork gathering has been very important to me on my journey to a flourishing life. I started out with the notion that contributing to society was the primary goal of life and in return I would experience happiness or at least contentment. Little did I know that pursuing this goal would lead me down an increasingly boulder-strewn path where I was a successful human doing but an unhappy human being. In fact, I was a damn good human doing, but I felt increasingly hemmed in and isolated by society’s barriers. Finally and begrudgingly, I realized that society did not care whether I was happy or miserable, just as long as I kept on doing.

Furthermore, I realized that well-being was not an automatic perk of the social contract, and I was going to have to find it on my own. It was at this point that I discovered the Washington Men’s Council, my introduction to menswork which has played such an essential part on my path to well-being. At menswork gatherings, we move the barriers to friendship and brotherhood from between us and push them to the outside. Inside we open a safe space where we can freely experience beingness: sharing our joys, our challenges, and our motivations. Shoulder to shoulder we work, talk, play, sing and laugh while we forge true friendships with nature, ourselves and other genuine life-affirming men.

If these thoughts ring true for you, please join us at The 27TH CHESAPEAKE MEN’S GATHERING on September 15-17, 2017 at the Prince William Forest Park near Triangle, Virginia.