CANC2: Happyjoy Circle, August 29

This circle was about what each of us did well, what we learned on the ride.

1. Moz
   • good organisation to get the ride started.
   • activism effective for the people we met
   • riding 100km/day as a group
   • good effort into meetings
   (self)
   • I built the trike and it worked
2. Bindi
   • (me) learned to laugh at self more
3. Jonas
   • Meeting effort, everyone tried
   • Broome and Meekatharra actions
4. Erin
   • all came together really well.
   • good trust environment - nude swimming etc
   • positive space
   • going into communities without a real agenda or demands, went to show and not take, listening
   • sense of community in the group
   • honesty over politeness
   • (me) rode well
   • (me) networking, people skills
5. Sarah
   • see CANC as a person
   • willing to try to keep going, not wimping out
   • daily routine good - pack up, ride, camp
   • problems are opportunities, not final
   • mechanical assistance with bikes good
   • feels empowered as a woman, especially mechanical stuff, expected to (be able to) do stuff
   • grow through or out of racism, comfortable dealing with Aboriginals
   • positive examples from people around us
6. Moz
7. Evan
   • was grumpy very well
   • great poo conversations
   • learnt a lot, especially about letting go
8. Jean
   • meeting so many people
9. Beth
   • taking responsibility for her own survival
   • new skills - facilitation, mechanical etc
   • joy of cycling
10. Jedda
    • impressed by everyone's determination to go all the way
    • big group for the day-in, day-out living together
    • overall excitement every day
    • supporting each other
    • didn't think she could ride the distances, great to be doing it
11. John
    • See comments before
    • inspiring
12. Tanya
    • liked people taking the time to cook her special meals
    • food in general
    • new communication corridors, especially the "how was your day" circle
    • people on support
    • generosity, people doing favours for each other when asked
    • media interviews and talking to the public
    • wants more active listening, people babbling on means they're not feeling listened to.
    • wants to let control go more, have faith in the group
    • learn to be more confident during radio interviews
    • impressed that we got through the Gibb River Road without any information on road conditions, food or water.
13. Anna
    • bread making!
    • community - loving, supporting, trusting
    • weekly structure worked really well
    • (me) learned new skills - group skills, patience, listening, media, van loading
    • (me) stronger, more determined
14. Charlotte
    • cycling is more meditative than walking
    • taking activism to places that haven't seen it before
    • beneficial that it's so fluid, learned more
    • attempt to deal with issues
    • generosity inside the group
15. Sunny
    • learning, good that the group values that
    • activism, affect on others
    • ending the ride still having energy
    • being able to let go and leave the ride for a while
    • safe space to experiment and be forgiven
    • try to work through things
    • liked the women-dominated nature of the ride
16. Naima
    • liked how everyone pulled their weight (Moz: note that Naima didn't do support)
    • we carried people who couldn't do "their bit", everything got done anyway
    • attempted to address issues
    • fit in everyone's needs, especially changing needs
    • exposure was very good, little negative comment and that not generated by us
    • patience
    • group is more challenging, more regarding as a result (cf travelling alone)
    • her round Oz ride grew from this ride
17. Chris
    • laugh smile dance very good
    • food
    • fitting all the stuff in the van, unpack and repacking so often.
    • met lots of people, all different but got on with them
    • camp sites cleaned up really well afterwards. Hard to tell we'd camped most places.
    • mutual support
18. Aunty
    • did everything well given the circumstances
    • friendships
    • expected to feel drained and sick of it all, but feel surprisingly good.
    • expected it to be hard in ways that it wasn't, difficulties were in unexpected places
    • feels more independent, more capable than before.
    • expected this to be an aberration, but it's become normal
    • change in attitude and values, doco no longer critical (the reason she came along was to film a doco)
19. Leo
    • still alive! no-one got eaten by crocodiles
    • learn to compromise, at least most people did
    • impact
    • respect for personal space, got more over time
    • adaptability, new space every night, people changing too
    • breaking down barriers between greenie (and ferals) and other people
    • still like each other
    • new respect for, confidence in the land
    self
    • appreciate naked bodies
    • let go of inhibitions, fights
    • respect own space
    • apologise less
20. Tali
    • rode well, long distances, lots of time taken
    • dealing with van - mechanical problems, fuel
    • support
    • vibes master worked well
    • how was your day circle good
    • no huge factionalisation or group friction, no breakup
    • relating to outside people, getting rapport
    • networking on short notice
    • food - disguising leftovers, bread
    • friendships
    • learning from people, eg plants with Chris

The group then did a "what I like about you" circle, which I decided to miss. I went for a walk and sat looking over a pond meditating for a while. Unfortunately the cold and wet drove me inside before they finished so I got hit by it.

Overall the closing was very positive, and I felt quite good afterwards. For about 30 seconds, anyway. Really I have quite mixed feelings, I'm still not even slightly happy about how things have been, but I know more about how other people feel. There's a lot of false positive stuff happening, the number of happyjoy points that went "this is shit, but it's better than I expected", or "it's really good how well we're dealing with this stupid problem we've created" was a bit scary. And some of it was just silly "it was good that the sun came up most mornings".

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