Now on Self-Growth.com

Self-Growth.com

Someone suggested this site to me and I checked it out. It seems to me that the truly hard work of becoming and remaining self-aware is something that men really don't spend much time thinking about or pursuing. Of all the resources on the site, much of what is geared toward men has to do with E.D. or with how to get women into bed. Sad, disturbing, not a very hopeful sign for our world. In fact, I think that most men consciously avoid self-awareness and connection. The fear and shame stirs when a man is faced with someone (man or woman) who speaks from a place of authentic awareness is not easy to overlook - so most men do their best to avoid it.

I know a lot of great men. And many of them suffer from isolation, depression, anxiety disorders, or chronic numbness (they just don't seem to feel much of anything). Most of them act happy. Most of them say that life is good. Many of them are quite successful in the world - and yet the things that seem to be missing are the conscious connection to self and connection to a purpose larger than the immediate day-to-day demands of living.

So this is what I stepped up for on Self-Growth. To offer more men the possibility of meaningful connection to themselves and to the wider community and world around them through the ManKind Project.

If you are living with self-awareness - SHARE IT - I believe that it is the responsibility of all awake beings right now to rebuild the connections of love, service and community that continue to be seriously damaged by our consumer media driven culture.

If you are looking to confront the emotions that stir below the surface when you catch a glimpse of your deeper self in the mirror - come sit with some other men who are willing to hold that mirror up for you. Call me for more information or visit www.openmen.org - the web site for the Springfield Open Men's Group.

Youtube Interview - the ManKind Project

This is an interview that I did last September in Keene, NH.
This provides a fairly broad overview of the ManKind Project. To learn More ... go to www.mkp.org or call 877-THE-NWTA.

All the best - Boysen

What is Men's Work? the ManKind Project

I have had several men ask me - what this is all about … what do you do?

We sit in a circle on chairs. We talk to each other about ourselves. We listen intently. We do not shame or criticize. We do not spend time giving advice. We use processes to ‘dig in’ to those parts of ourselves that we find confusing, upsetting and STUCK. We resolve conflicts, both internal and external, by taking responsibility for ourselves.

A men’s group is a place to figure out what you want in your life, take steps to making it happen and continually look at what is getting in the way of you being fully alive and empowered.

Do you want better relationships?
Do you want to learn how to better handle situations that stump you over and over?
Do you want to break out of a rut that you have been living in for years?
Do you want to sit with men actively working to make the world a better place?

Here’s an even harder question … do you instinctively NOT trust men (or women or yourself)? You learned this somewhere. Not only is it bad for your physical health, but it is probably preventing you from living fully.

WE ALL HAVE FEELINGS.
As men, we all share a lot of common understandings, feelings and experiences that we rarely share.

About 90% of what is happening in our daily interactions is UNCONSCIOUS. Our bodies are constantly feeding us a stream of information that we may or may not have thoughts about. Many of the reactions we experience with people on a day to day basis have little or nothing to do with the present, and everything to do with the psychological patterns that started being created in our brains from the earliest days of our lives.

As Men, it is culturally acceptable to deny, repress and shut down the emotions.
But the interesting thing is - those emotions that we shut down tend to pop up in other ways and other places, many of them counter-productive to what we actually want in our lives. Addiction, violence, depression, lack of close relationships, anger, uncontrollable sadness, apathy, lack of motivation, chronic fear, chronic shame, anxiety, feelings of powerlessness. These are all related to repressed emotional states. Learning to connect to these emotions opens a huge array of new possibilities - for your family, your work and the world.

What choices do you need to make? What skills do you need to build? What boundaries do you need to set?
And WHO is going to be there to support you and offer you an honest look at who you are?

Many of us rely heavily on the women and intimate partners in our lives to meet our emotional needs.
And that is great, but it is not their job - and they have probably let you know that.
Many of the blocks you experience in your relationship are probably related to over-dependence. You can learn new ways of relating.

It is up to us to deal with our own internal landscape, to clean up our messes and to create the world that we want to leave behind for the next seven generations.

THAT is what a Men’s Group is for.

In order to show up, you will have to take a risk. You will have to show up at a place you’ve never been.
This may feel scary. That’s good. It means you are open to learning.

Hope to see you.