Welcome to Life Talk. Our new group is dedicated to sharing personal thoughts and feelings about a range of subjects affecting us all, for instance health, marriage, friendship, forgiveness, and gratitude.

We meet on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 2:00-3:30 p.m. in Rooms 109-110.

Here are a few guidelines to help us make this a successful experience.

Familiarity — Some of you already know each other well; others not so much (like me). With that in mind, at our first meeting please introduce yourself, briefly (Hint:  What you are passionate about/care about is more important than what you’ve done or do, career-wise.)

Business solicitation – Per YsMen policy, we’ll avoid soliciting business from one another.

Confidentiality – It’s likely that we’ll get into conversations about sensitive matters. With that in mind, our discussions are strictly confidential. i.e., what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

I, not we – It’s easy to start to talk in generalities about the things that matter to us. (e.g., We do this, or we usually …) But it’s more powerful if we speak from personal experience (e.g., I did this, or I felt that.)

Off limits! – Let’s avoid talking about politics, religion, or complaining about personal ailments.

Topics – I will suggest topics but welcome your ideas too. If a couple of you would like to officially help me pick the following month’s topic, please let me know.

Criteria — In picking topics, please make sure they are emotionally and universally relevant to all us men. They can be challenging and provocative, or deceptively simple (I once was in a group that focused on pets and how they affected our lives. It was a surprisingly powerful meeting.)

Sharing – Be considerate of time. Leave room for others to contribute (I’ll try and make sure everyone gets their turn.) Everyone gets to speak, but there is no requirement that you do so. You can just listen if you prefer.

Showing up – If you like Life Talk, please make an effort to attend as many meetings as possible, since we will develop relationships over time that affect the quality of our conversations.

Time and place … Stay tuned. I’m working on it!

Larry