2024 Dabrowski Congress Recap
Thank you for joining us!
This week, I shared a post on Facebook about the 2024 Dabrowski Congress with some thoughts and reflections. I’m the kind of person who’s slow with this stuff. But in middle age, I can honor about myself that it takes me longer to recover than I’d like. My processing of experiences is deep and takes seemingly forever.
How to convey how special this year’s Congress was for me?
For the past few months, it has occupied so much of my mental space. I was constantly thinking about the details. Waking up in the middle of the night recalling things that still needed to be done. Well, now I can see that the preparation and care paid off.
We had such a solid team. It started with me,
, Tina Harlow, and Joi Lin. Here’s a shot of three of us from the final dinner last Saturday.
My cousin, Stephanie Ghio, helped with graphic design and social posts. There were times in the final days leading up to the conference when I told my family that Stef was saving me by handling the details that I had no more capacity for dealing with, such as social posts for sponsors or designing name tags.
Sergej van Middendorp (from Episode 59, see also our sponsor,
) joined us in supporting Emma as a virtual host. It made me happy to receive a message from Emma after the first day saying that she and Sergej were making a great team.Behind the Scenes
You may not know this about me, but I’m an avowed introvert. I typically don’t choose to stay with other people at conferences. I tend to need my alone time, and I protect it carefully.
But this time, I decided to stay with friends at an Airbnb down the street from the University of Denver. Since I was presenting a workshop with Emma at the end of Day 1, I thought it would be better to be at a house. Running a virtual workshop from a hotel room doesn’t sound like fun.
Staying with other people was a way of challenging myself, and I’m so glad I did.
My housemates were also supportive members of the DC2024 team. I appreciated that they gave me the air-conditioned bedroom amid a heat wave. They tread lightly in the part of the house I occupied, knowing that I am a little reclusive and might want space. I’m making myself sound like a hermit here, but it’s pretty accurate.
made us breakfast each morning and kept everything together in the house. On the morning of Day 3, we watched Joy Lawson Davis present her virtual session with my laptop, and I got to see Emma and Sergej in action as hosts. I loved listening to Joy discuss the overexcitabilities through a cultural lens. It was a perfect way to start the day before heading to campus for the in-person sessions.
While I was working on this post, Bee let me know she created a Spotify playlist of all the Positive Disintegration podcast episodes featuring presenters or people mentioned, such as Frank Falk. It’s worth sharing here because it’s cool to see how many presenters have shared their work with us on the podcast.
Pam, the Voodoodler, set up a table with art supplies for everyone’s doodling pleasure. Her eldest son also stayed with us at the house and joined us for DC2024. It was so much fun to stay with them.
This year, I joined Pam’s Facebook group called Voodoodleydoers, which inspired me to start doodling and coloring in my spare time. It was fun to bring that activity to the Congress. Pam kicked us off by doodling this magnificent piece while listening to Dabrowski 101. Click here for the time-lapse video of her process.
There’s so much to share from the keynotes and presentations. I haven’t had a chance to go through all the photos yet or properly write out my thoughts. Each day, I’ve found myself still tired and recovering, but it’s getting better.
We had three amazing days in person and virtually, and it exceeded my expectations.
One of my primary goals this time was to honor the virtual audience. It’s thanks to Emma that we improved because she has opened my eyes to the importance of worldwide inclusion.
We had international presenters here in Denver, too. In 2020, early on during COVID, Tina started a weekly meditation group that met via Zoom. That’s how I got to know Fiona Smith from Sydney, Australia, and invited her to the podcast as one of our first guests in Episode 7: Gifted Minds and Empathy. It was a pleasure to finally meet Fiona and her son, Dominic Westbrook, in person. They presented together on death, and I can’t wait to show you their poignant, wonderful session on video.
Here’s a photo from our final dinner with Linda Silverman, Fiona, and Dominic.
It was wonderful to finally meet Lotte van Lith (Episode 9) and Laura Stavinoha (Episode 52), who traveled from the Netherlands to join us. Lotte’s keynote address was deeply personal and ended with thoughts on how we might move forward with the theory.
Laura’s presentation, “The Sound of Multilevel Development,” was fun because I enjoyed listening to audio clips that brought her ideas and work to life. It was amazing to finally spend time with people I’ve gotten to know online or through their work.
On our final day together, before I brought them to the airport, we took a long drive, and I showed them some of my favorite spots in Colorado. Here’s a selfie of us from Deckers, Colorado, along the South Platte River.
This year, we also had in-person presenters from Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. In my opening, I noted that we had presenters from eight nations on four continents this year, which still blows my mind. Once we've edited and shared the videos, I plan to write more posts with clips and quotes.
I realize that it’ll take time to process my impressions of all the sessions. I’m still too tired to do them justice this week.
When it was time to introduce Emma’s keynote, “Light at the End of the Disintegration Tunnel,” following Fiona and Dominic’s session, I did my best to express how life-changing and amazing it’s been to work with Emma. Here’s a shot of me trying to find the words.
We received the recordings from DU’s AV team yesterday, and we’re working on making them available. I’ll send another message soon with information on how to access the conference sessions online. If you’ve already registered, you’ll receive a coupon code for access. If not, we’re charging $30 for the first six months in order to build a fund for the next event. After that time, they’ll be freely available. We appreciate the support of everyone willing to purchase the recordings. Thank you!
Here’s our group photo from Denver.
Thank you to everyone who attended, presented, and supported this effort. Please don’t forget to check out our sponsor page and check out their work.
Also, it’s not too late to get your own Positive Disintegration t-shirt. Proceeds go to the Dabrowski Center, and we appreciate everyone who’s already ordered one. The other design is Own Your Authenticity.
So much to process! Just started peeping my notes and the (positive) eruptions the different presenters inspired! You all did a magnificent job and I'm so excited to see what's next! 🤸🏼 Meanwhile, enjoying reflections, laughter, energies and nourishing moments... metabolizing 😁
So much to process indeed! We sometimes fall victim to our own self-imposed expectations vis-à-vis what needs to be accomplished and when it “should” be done (I’m a frequent victim of my own overblown expectations here! 😹). So much that is compelling and thought-provoking came through this conference… we are grateful for your diligent and loving efforts!
That said, rest is essential to health. You did so much to get to this point. Let your body, mind, and soul rest. There is no rush. There is much that needs processing time. The fruit of a tree may take three seasons to be ready. We are no different.
What matters, we shall do, all in time. Take your slow time in following up. You have already given massively to this community. It’s already good enough. Thank you!