Elevate Autumn 2023: Integrate

About this initiative

Elevate is a co-created, sober, and community-focused gathering on a unique private archipelago island where everyone creates experiences, meals, and activities for each other. Meaning there are no producers and consumers. You are not buying an adventure; you are invited to create it together with everyone else who will be attending. During the work week, we focus on our individual work, and in the evenings and weekends, we come together to host activities and experiences for each other.

The ambition is to create an open, brave, and inclusive communal space where we can relax and be ourselves as part of the group, connect to nature, and get perspective on the life we are living and the world we are part of creating. Based on the belief that when we are in complete relaxation, connection, and presence within ourselves, we open up and make room for new ideas and perspectives to take root and be expressed. We make room not only to grow but shift and elevate the way we relate to ourselves, to each other, and to life itself, which not only elevates our well-being but ripples on to elevate the world around us.

The Elevate Values

To create this open, brave, and inclusive space, a few values are at the core of this experience, which serve as a compass for how we wish to come together on the island. 

Co-creation - “You are not a consumer” - We are all hosts at this event. We expect everyone to be an active event co-creator and contribute in their way. You are part of creating the experience for yourself and everybody else. 

Self-reliance - “Only you know your needs" - You are responsible for being aware of, honoring, and caring for your own needs. This may mean asking for help when you need it, resting when needed, saying yes, or saying no. Only you will know.

Inclusion - “Everyone is welcome” - You will not know everyone there but are expected to meet and welcome everyone with kindness. We help each other feel part of the bigger group by inviting and including others. Have a group conversation and see someone on the side. Invite them in! 

Responsibility - "Leave a better trace" - means not only cleaning up after yourself but also a mindset of always considering how you can leave things/places/situations/people better than how you found them, for the good of the whole. Here you are a caretaker of both the island and the group.

Costs

This independent event is supported and sponsored by the Ekskäret Foundation. To participate, you only need to cover your share of the running cost of being on the island. This is a non-profit event.

• Membership fee 2 400 SEK per person to cover the essential cost of the facilities, including a bunk bed in a double room for all the days.
• You will also be part of a team that will cook once, where the team will decide and buy the food as a gift to the group (ca 300-350 SEK per person).
• Transportation (boats, 200-300 SEK per person)

Please indicate in the interest signup if you want to join but don't have the financial ability to cover the membership fee.

Background

Being in contact with ourselves, each other and with nature

The world is changing rapidly all around us. Conflicts, climate threats, automation, the overwhelming influence of social media, the list can go on and on, making it challenging to find our way in life. To achieve balance and direction, it is increasingly important to be connected to our inner self and to be grounded in the relationship to the self, to others, our communities, and to nature. Inner Development Goals is a framework that, through five dimensions, describes 23 different skills and qualities essential to our inner development - and down the line to reach the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. At Elevate, we aim to give special attention and focus to the first dimension of the framework. It is called 'Being - Relationship to Self'. It is described as: "Cultivating our inner life and developing and deepening our relationship to our thoughts, feelings, and body help us be present, intentional and non-reactive when we face complexity."

Being consists of;

• Presence - Ability to be in the here and now, without judgment and in a state of open-ended presence
• Inner compass - Having a deeply felt sense of responsibility and commitment to values and purposes relating to the good of the whole
• Self-awareness - Ability to be in reflective contact with own thoughts, feelings, and desires; having a realistic self-image and ability to regulate oneself
• Authenticity & Integrity - A commitment and ability to act with sincerity, honesty, and integrity
• Openness & learning mindset - Having a fundamental mindset of curiosity and a willingness to be vulnerable and embrace change and grow

These skills will all be central to the week we'll share and co-create at Elevate. We wish for them to shine through in the activities on the island. It is through these essential skills we develop a relationship to the self. And when we elevate ourselves, we can elevate the world around us ✨