Autumn is a season that invites us into paradox. Growth fades and the abundance of the year is harvested while the seeds of new beginnings are released. Within our lives and in the realm of our work as leaders, activists, or change-makers, we are regularly asked to hold the tensions of paradox.
When confronted with paradox – the challenge of contradictions, conflicting needs or circumstances, opposing viewpoints that are difficult to reconcile – we have an opportunity to respond with curiosity, compassion, courage and presence, rather than react with some variation of fight, flight, or freeze.
-What qualities of the self are needed to hold the tension that paradox can generate?
How might we remain open to receiving the gifts hidden within conflicting circumstances?
What can embracing paradox show us about our wholeness?
When experiencing fear, overwhelm or uncertainty, what resources can we lean into for clarity and resilience?
This Courage to Lead retreat is an opportunity to explore where you are in this season. We invite you to pause and disconnect from the fast pace and distractions of daily life, and join alongside other change-makers who dare to engage their work with presence and compassion.
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Participants in this retreat will:
- Access imagination, artistic expression, and other contemplative practices to envision and embody the wholeness of a future we long to call home
- Build a trustworthy space for accessing and telling our truths and listening to the truths of others
- Explore our inner sources of leadership
- Learn practices for holding the complexities we encounter in our personal and professional communities
Kevin Bacon is a seasoned educator who has dedicated his career to student outcomes and community engagement. He is a retired Portland Public Schools administrator that taught and administrated at all three levels, elementary, middle and high.
In retirement, he continues to support schools by substituting for principals and consulting as needed. He recently completed a three year term as the president of the nonprofit, Oregon Alliance of Black School Educators and served two years on the board of the nonprofit Reading Results. He is proud of his accumulative 38 years of service to nearly every student demographic in most sectors of Portland. He has been a teacher, student management specialist, biotech education coordinator, coach, vice principal, and principal.
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Matsya Siosal is an experienced leader having held roles with for-profit corporations, small and large, mission-driven consumer goods companies, in higher education, and as a consultant and entrepreneur. She has served as director of the Center for Community Engagement at Lewis & Clark for nearly ten years, after joining the department in 2010 and working in marketing and program management. Matsya is also co-founder and managing partner of Sea-O-Salt Bath Company. She is a certified Courage & Renewal® facilitator, and has facilitated Circle of Trust, Courage to Lead, and Leading Together workshops and retreats since 2019. As a facilitator and coach, Matsya supports mission-driven leaders in accessing their authentic voice, and finding clarity and self-trust so they can show up with wholeheartedness and sustainability in their lives and work.
