Guiding Principles of a Men’s Group – and of Being a Man

My men’s group recently updated our principles that we the group organize around. After seven years we went back and looked all our principles and protocols that we developed over the years to see what was or wasn’t serving us any longer. We kept most of what we had.

Below are the core principles we base the group on. You could say each man strives to embody these principles in their daily life. I attempt to live my life at this level, there are times when I falter, and when I do I have a focus to get me back on track.

Circle of Brothers

We live a new vision of being a man. Through ceremony and practice, we initiate each man deeper into full maturity. Going beyond friends, we develop the intimacy that only comes from integrity. The wholeness that occurs from each man being a leader connecting to something beyond himself creates a group of sustaining success in all aspects of life.

Fierce Love

We challenge and support each other, often in the same breath.  The energy created is palpable, able to penetrate deflection.  We care and feel “sweetly held” by each other.  We are willing to give our love freely.  We offer each other our compassionate truth.  We name the unspoken and are willing to put relationships at risk for the sake of truth and growth.  We create the energy necessary to constantly become superior men.

Our Container

In the sanctuary of the group, we maintain safety and complete confidentiality – which raises the bar to be free in the circle.  We hold ourselves, and each other, to our individual and collective commitments.  We ask for what we want.  We honor and value each other, often with laughter and tears.  We ‘let it rip’ with purpose and vision.  With our intuition and love, we sense the dissonance and deflect the deflection. Through our ability to be present with others and ourselves, we accept that we sit in a ‘circle of mirrors’ feeling how truth resonates through the circle.

Bringing Our Full Self

We share from our gut, heart, and full body.  We are willing to go “all in”.  We are open to the moment, with unguarded humbleness.  We move into our bodies, bringing a willingness to reveal and express our feelings.  We surrender into feeling, owning our emotions.  We tap the richness of our unconscious and our dark side and manifest that energy into positive awareness and action.  We value depth over breadth.  We step into our fear, risk vulnerability and move forward without collapsing. We notice and appreciate what is working in our lives. We courageously bring our unguarded optimism and affirm our ability to manifest our intentions.

What We Bring Into the World

We gain energy in our time together, each carrying this energy back into his life.  We feel deep gratitude and see more beauty in the world.  We feel a stronger connection to ourselves, to our surroundings, and to our environment.  We accelerate change in our lives and step clear of victimhood.  We feel a stronger connection to ourselves, our family and community, and a deeper connection to our sexuality.  Our lives are improved and we stand in stronger service to the world. We offer this love to our planet as the seed for the change we model.

You too could have you own rocking men’s group… just go to Men Corps and give us your email and you will be able to down load what you need to start and run a kickass group. Really, you can do it. Men Corps will help.

Photo By daily sunny