Bright Moments Community

Mission: Primary to our community focus is a proactive approach to mental health and personal growth and the establishment of high functioning relationships based upon what we call dynamic connection. Generally, we're looking to join with others to create a safe, connected, healthy, multi-generational, and sustainable community.

From www.ic.org/directory/bright-moments-community/:

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” Pericles

In A Nutshell…
We are looking for others interested in discussing the creation of an intentional cooperative community. What follows is intended to give those who may be interested in joining us a little background on our perspectives, interests, and values.

A Sad State of Affairs…
Unfortunately, it is our opinion that we live in a society that is very sick. Politically, we are divided and seemingly incapable of sane governance by and for the people; Economically, the wealthiest 1% of Americans own more than 40% of the nation’s wealth, while the vast majority— around 80%, only own 7% of the wealth; Socially, we are increasingly intolerant of other cultural traditions, racial diversity, as well as gender and sexuality identifications, while hate speech, hate crimes, and mass killings are at an all-time high. Society is diseased and dysfunctional… and society is us.

Meanwhile, recent studies have revealed that approximately half of Americans are lonely or isolated, with many feeling that their relationships lack meaning. It’s interesting to consider that throughout human history we have lived in groups—clans, tribes, and extended families—and there are many cultures in the world that still live this way today. But, somehow, over time and generations, we got caught up in the American dream, with our nuclear families in homogenous neighborhoods and, generally, isolated lifestyles with all the consumer trappings we could ever imagine.

Now, it seems that many of us experience life as casualties of the so-called American dream: more socially isolated; devoting most of our lives to toil and drudgery in unfulfilling jobs; politically frustrated and disconnected; finding that all the technology, electronics, and things we work so hard to afford don’t really make us happy; and feeling stuck. American dream? Or nightmare!

We are also faced with extremely serious environmental challenges at this time, especially with many of our so-called leaders’ willingness to foolishly trash our natural heritage and trade in our ultimate survival for the short-sighted gains of industry and more short-term wealth for the top one percent! With everything from global warming to pollution and threats to our food supply, clean water, and clean air, how can we turn a blind eye and not be examples of the change that is needed?

Whether it’s the foods we eat, the products we use, the cars we drive, or the practices we support, we can make choices that support healthy ecosystems, environmental balance, and sustainability. The Earth is our home. We need to take care of it for our children and future generations. It is beyond irresponsible, like completely crazy, to do otherwise.

Why Intentional Community?
If any of this is ever going to get better, we will need to make some changes! Can we overcome our addictions to uncontrolled consumerism and learn to work together with mutual respect, love, and kindness for each other’s well-being and the greater good? Yes we can!

By joining together and sharing skills and resources, we can be part of the change that this world needs in order to survive. We can dramatically lessen our environmental footprint by sharing, everything from vehicles to washing machines! We can also collaborate and work together to create innovative new sources of income, allowing participants to pursue work that is creative and meaningful.

More About Us…
We are two people (female and male) looking for individuals, couples, or small family groups to join us. We would eventually like to be a group of at least ten to twelve members. Our preferred age-range for co-founders is 30’s to 60’s. We would like to connect with those who are generally positive, focused, energetic, fun-loving, and who share similar values and interests to ours.

Things We Value…

• Proactive, open, inclusive communication

• Building meaningful relationships based upon transparency and dynamic connection

• Physically active and healthy lifestyle

• Mental/emotional health advocacy

• Natural, non-GMO, organic, sustainable food production

• Sustainable/ecological decision-making

• Freedom to pursue creative and educational interests

• Equality, tolerance, diversity, respect, kindness

• Positive attitudes towards personal expression and sexuality

• Enjoying music, dancing, food, companionship, seizing the day, and celebrating life

• Living with creative intention, mindfulness, and self-responsibility

• Seeing life as a journey and an ongoing opportunity for exploration, experience, and understanding

Things that interest us…

• Establishing an intentional community with shared and separate living spaces, as well as shared facilities, common areas, gardens, etc.

• Establishing collective business ventures that add value to the lives of those involved, the community, and the community-at-large

• Creating a safe, connected, healthy, multi-generational, and sustainable community

• The ability for (eventual) elderly members to age-in-place and remain full and active participants in the community as much as possible

• Extended/alternative family structures

Regarding Mental/Emotional Health Advocacy…
It is estimated that 1 in 4 of us have immediate mental health conditions requiring treatment of some kind. But what about the other 75% of us? Just because we are able to function in our daily lives doesn’t mean we don’t have issues! We all need help at times dealing with relationships and communication issues, habits, behaviors, attitudes, making healthy choices, resolving conflicts, as well as things like self-esteem, confidence, and self-empowerment.

Mental and emotional health counseling and therapy, as well as other self-help and empowerment practices, is what healthy people do! We are not only a part of this crazy human drama, we have steeped in it for many years, unconsciously absorbing whatever attitudes, beliefs, perspectives, assumptions, and behaviors were around us or were psychologically convenient. What’s wrong with acknowledging the craziness and dysfunction and accepting that we all have issues and we can all do better?

Attending counseling or therapy sessions still has negative connotations for many people. We may see ourselves doing as well or even better than people we know, and overall, we are functioning fairly well in our day-to-day lives, so why do we need help? There is usually an assumption that something has to be very wrong to require seeing a mental health professional. Unfortunately, this type of attitude prevents many of us from engaging in a process that can lead to increased self-awareness, better communication, higher functioning relationships, and happier, more expansive lives.

We are all, potentially, extraordinary people, capable of extraordinary things. Why not be proactive in dealing with our psycho/social/emotional functions when it will only benefit us (and those around us)? Why not take a closer look at our behaviors and attitudes and understand in a deeper way how they directly influence our own lives and affect others? Why not learn how to improve the ways we communicate? Why not learn how to be better listeners and be more emotionally supportive of the people we love? Why not learn how to be better partners in our primary relationships?

We believe that transparency is important in relationships, in general. We think that transparency is especially important when it comes to building a trusting high-functioning group of multiple adults, from many different cultures and backgrounds, with no previous connections to each other. How can we be transparent with each other if we’re not able to be transparent with ourselves?

We think that building a successful intentional community requires interpersonal skills far beyond what is considered “normal.” We need to become very good at listening, questioning, taking turns, understanding each other, supporting each other, resolving conflicts, solving problems, focusing and following through on tasks, saying what we mean and meaning what we say, being accountable and self-responsible, and being able to work towards something beyond our own wants and needs.

Some Basic Assumptions?
• We can accomplish much more by working together, than we can alone
• We can experience a higher quality of life by sharing resources and engaging in activities that contribute to the greater good
• We can all make a difference
• We are much happier when we experience connection and develop relationships that have depth and meaning, based on transparency and trust
• We are more fulfilled when we connect in meaningful ways
• Time is an illusion; time is of the essence; there’s no time like the present
• This life is a tremendous and brief opportunity for us to seize
• We each have tremendous creative potential
• This life is ours to explore, understand, creatively define, and celebrate
• Once we learn to be connected to ourselves, we can be more effective
• Many of us need help to understand and heal our fragmented psyches and behaviors
• There is no shame in needing a little help

“Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute
What you can do, or dream you can, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power, magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin and then the work will be completed.”
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Recommended Reading…
We have found this article (link below) very helpful in understanding the “pathology of normalcy,” which illustrates and details the societal pathology (sickness/disease briefly mentioned earlier) and its origins that is pervasive and normal in our society today. We think it is extremely important to share this understanding and perspective with anyone who may be interested in developing healthier alternatives to the current societal model.

Changing the way things are at the macro level will, likely, take a very long time and many generations of us. But, we have the opportunity to start now and get the ball rolling to create something better! A new paradigm is needed and there are people like us all over the world working to make it happen.

Some may find this article a little challenging, as it is longish (equivalent of about 22 typed pages of about 500 words each) and written by an academic. However, once you get started it reads very well and though one might want to look one or two things up, it really isn’t too bad! We encourage you to set a little time aside and check it out…
http://www.sonic.net/~cr2/Normal%20Pathology.pdf

Some Quotes…
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” (Jane Goodall)

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” (Lao Tzu)

“In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.” (Lewis Carrol)

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

“Happiness is a direction, not a place.” (Sydney J. Harris)

A service of the Data Commons Co-op. The project has been supported by Equal Exchange, the Cooperative Charitable Trust, the USDA, and many others - thank you! Tech volunteers over the years include: Benjamin Bradley with support from GAIA Host. Ben Mauer with support from Quilted. Paul Fitzpatrick. Ronin Tech Collective, Brattleboro Tech Collective, Sligo Computer Services. Jason Lemieux. Default map tiles courtesy of MapQuest. Default map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA.