A Letter from the Incoming GAINS President
As the incoming President I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year and to share with you the vision and hope the board has for GAINS.
These are certainly challenging times across our irreplaceable planet. It is difficult to embrace the New Year with enthusiastic openness and full-hearted hope without also being aware of fear and a collective uncertainty impacting us all. The 2019 IPNB conference Timeless Wisdom, Timely Action: Interconnection, Awareness and Identity in the Cultivation of Compassion and Well-being deeply inspired the GAINS board and awakened our creative energy and determination to bring the heart of IPNB into the world. Calling for embodied leadership, this conference sparked an imperative within us to recognize the interconnectedness of all living beings on this precious planet; and by doing so we can only be called to act.
Since returning to our different corners of the world, the board has met and, holding the inspiration and invitation that IPNB brings to transform our way of seeing, being and doing, we talked about our vision for GAINS. Who are we? What are we doing? How are we doing it? Our passion to bring the teachings and heart of IPNB to the world is now stronger.
As we move into 2020, we will develop our activities across a triad of interconnected themes: hub, community, and networking.
Our goal is to continue to develop GAINS as a hub of information about all things IPNB. As part of this, we will continue to add to our library of resources, which carries our archived journals, Living Journal recordings, and blogs. We will also continue to share information via social media. We will develop links to other IPNB related workshops, conferences, seminars, and published materials. We would like all of you, our members, to share any information you have with us regarding IPNB happenings from across the globe.
Relationships are central to IPNB and the well-being of living beings. Therefore, we wish to focus our efforts on building a global IPNB community. We at GAINS want you to feel a part of a community that is dedicated to disseminating information about IPNB at local, organizational, community, and global levels. In the months to come, we hope to encourage all of you to join us the development of purpose and taking action that moves us all in ways that support the betterment of our shared world.
In doing so, we wish to honor the spirit of IPNB. We recognize the essentialness of our differences while finding ways to connect that promote greater flexibility, adaptability, coherence, energy and stability. In doing so, we will grow networks that facilitate complexity as well as our capacities and resilience in facing the challenges that are always a part of any worthy endeavor. At GAINS, we hope to assist members in networking with each other, whether in your local communities or across the globe.
In keeping with our vision, we have also made a change to our membership fees and what they represent. In the past, the fees were linked to member benefits. While these same benefits will continue, we lowered our fees and created options for individuals and groups to donate to support GAINS work. You are a part of a nonprofit organization that is committed to bringing science, compassion, and connection into a world that so desperately needs it. We want you to join us and feel like you belong. You are bringing IPNB’s transformative power to families, schools, communities, and organizations.
Never before have the principles of IPNB been more relevant and the capacities it facilitates more needed. However, we cannot do this alone, and so as a non-profit organization we wish to develop our purpose beyond the borders of our membership, to be a hub, the promoters of community, and a space for networking with IPNB-inspired others.
So, as we enter into this new year, I wish to extend an invitation to you all to come join us in growing the GAINS vision. Here are some ways you can contribute:
- Share about an IPNB event that we can pass along
- Send us a book review, a poem, or a blog post
- Submit a proposal to do a Living Journal
- Tell us how you are taking IPNB-inspired action in your community to address the climate crisis, political or social issues
- Have you found a way to connect with youth in developing a safer and more sustainable world? Let us tell others!
- Share creative ideas about growing community and finding ways to network
- Forward our social media posts with your colleagues and friends
- Spread the word about GAINS invite participation in our organization’s vision and actions
We want to hear from you! Let us join our energy, our courage, and our determination to bring courage, kindness, and compassion to the world.
Lynn Redenbach, RPN, MA, PhD (cand.), RCC
President of GAINS