Sharing & Listening Guidelines
These community-created guidelines help us care for one another as we share and listen. They’re here to support the spirit of Third Space Sundays, rooted in belonging, reciprocity, and real community connection.
For Sharing
If you’re sharing at Third Space Sundays, please keep these sharing guidelines in mind.
To help you prepare, ask yourself:
Is this story mine to tell?
Do speak from your lived experience.
Don’t offer general advice or try to persuade others toward a belief.
How does this connect to the core themes of reciprocity and belonging?
Do name the “thread” in your story: where belonging shows up, where care is exchanged, or what the moment reveals about how we relate to one another as community members.
Could this feel too graphic, triggering, partisan, or preachy?
Do remove details that might be better suited for therapy or private reflection.
Don’t share something actively painful or unresolved. Share the scar, not the wound.
When you share, please:
Introduce yourself with just your name (and pronouns, if comfortable)!
Share your story
End with “Thank you for letting me share.”
Sharing & Listening Structure
Our time is precious. We use a visible timer to help:
Honor each person’s full time to share
Keep reflections contained
Protect space for everyone to be heard
The timer will be visible to all. If you’re still speaking when the time ends, a host will remind you to wrap up.
When the sharer ends their story, please respond with, “Thanks for sharing, NAME.”
For Listening & Responding
As you listen, please give the sharers your attention by keeping your phone tucked away. Fidget and sensory tools are welcome!
Listen with curiosity.
Respond with kindness and introduce yourself.
Refrain from general “feedback,” and instead focus on offering affirmations/compliments or asking a question.
Affirmation/compliment examples:
“What you said about ___ made my heart happy.”
“I loved the part about ___. That stretched me in a good way.”
Question examples:
“What tips would you give someone who wants to try ____ but is nervous?”
“What do you think you’ll remember about your story a year from now?”
“I could picture your story as a children's book! If it were a book, what would the title be?”
When you leave
To help people feel comfortable sharing at Third Space Sundays, we don’t repeat each other’s details outside of this space. In other words, “stories stay, lessons leave.”
About The Sharing Prompts
Each week at Third Space Sundays, a few community members are invited to share short reflections rooted in their lived experiences. These prompts are here to help spark ideas, not to limit or prescribe how you show up. You’re welcome to tell a story, read a poem, or bring in an object that helps you ‘show and tell.”
The prompts are organized into 8 domains of wellness: social, intellectual, environmental, occupational, spiritual, financial, physical, and emotional.
Social & Relationships
A time you felt welcomed.
A moment when someone or a community showed up for you in a way you didn’t expect.
An experience that challenged what you thought belonging or reciprocity meant.
A time you felt connected in a place or a group.
When someone gave you something “just because?”
A seemingly small gesture that felt meaningful to receive or a seemingly small favor you did for someone that they said was meaningful to receive.
When saying “no” made a relationship/job/experience more reciprocal or balanced.
Tell us about a time you made someone feel included, or someone made you feel included.
Have you ever helped someone and felt good afterward?
A time you were worried about getting help or support.
What’s something small a friend, teacher, or neighbor did that made you feel like you mattered?
When do you feel most “at home” with other people? Tell us about a time that happened
The best gift you received
The best gift you gave someone
A social challenge you learned from
When do you feel most “yourself” with other people? What’s different in those moments?
What’s a “made-up” rule or tradition you have with someone you care about?
What’s something your past self believed about relationships that you don’t anymore?
Who taught you how to be a good friend? What did they do or say?
What’s your “friendship love language?”
What’s a quality you admire in a friend?
What would a friend/friends say they admire about you?
What’s the most recent generous or kind thing someone did for you?
A time you met someone and “clicked” right away
Intellectual & Creative
What do you believe but cannot prove?
Do you strive to learn new things and exercise your brain?
Do you engage in mentally stimulating activities?
Do you learn new skills?
Do you have positive thoughts?
Do you spend time on personal and professional development?
What’s a fact that you loved learning? Or something you learned that completely surprised you?
What made you change your mind?
What’s a song that always transports you to a certain moment of your life?
Most impactful educational experience or a lesson you vividly remember
What are you unlearning? Or something you’re glad you unlearned?
How do you give yourself breaks?
What’s a trivial fact you find yourself repeating often?
Do you have hobbies?
Do you consider yourself an artist?
How are you proud of yourself this week?
How do you face your fears/challenges?
Environment & Community
Do you love where you live?
Where’s the best place you’ve visited?
What you want to ask the previous tenants of your apartment/home
How do you divide household responsibilities?
What’s your favorite household chore?
How do you prepare for different seasons?
Favorite thing about spring/summer/winter/fall?
How do you give back to your community?
Best hike you’ve ever been on
Worst hike you’ve ever been on
How do you like to be in nature?
Experience with a space/architecture that moved you
Your favorite outdoor space within a 5-minute walk of your home
What’s your favorite “tiny routine” in your neighborhood? (The shortcut you always take, the way you say hi to the same tree, the shop you always peek into...)
What’s one thing in your community you’d love to change?
What’s one thing you hope never changes?
If your block/street/building had a group chat, what would people post in it?
Have you ever fallen in love with a place unexpectedly? What made it click?
What’s the weirdest, funniest, or most “only in this town” thing you’ve experienced where you live?
What tiny thing gives you joy about where you live?
Something you’ll be nostalgic for in 30 years
If you could wave a magic wand and transport something from where you live to everywhere you visit, what would it be?
Talk about the best meal/drink/dessert that your town offers.
Occupational (for kids: school)
What tasks at work or school do you enjoy?
Adults: What did you want to be when you grew up? How close or far are you from that?
Kids & Teens: What do you want to be when you grow up? Why?
What tasks do you dislike at work or school?
Do you communicate well with co-workers or other students?
Have you set realistic career goals?
Are you making progress toward your career goals?
How did you get your current job?
How did you get your first job?
What are the qualities you love about a teacher/boss?
What are the traits that make someone a good classmate/coworker?
What are your thoughts about ‘hard work’
What job would you choose if money were no object?
What’s the biggest misconception about your job?
How do you separate work/school from other areas of your life?
What’s a job you’d never want to do?
Spiritual
What do you believe but cannot prove?
A time/place where you feel connected with others in a spiritual way.
Do you have a sense of meaning and purpose in life?
Do you trust other people?
Are you able to forgive yourself?
What’s a time when you forgave someone or others, even though it was hard?
Do you have values and beliefs that you base your life around?
Do you experience inner peace?
What makes you feel at peace?
How do you practice sprituality
What helped you accept an imperfection
Rituals you have around a holiday
A time you felt connected to nature in a spiritual way
A time you felt a spiritual awakening.
What’s a ritual that helped you connect to someone who passed away?
Financial
Does your behavior reflect your beliefs and values about money?
Are you using your money wisely?
Do you have financial goals and plans for the future?
What makes you feel financially secure?
Something you bought under $25 that has made a positive difference in your life
Something you wasted money on
A financial lesson you learned the hard way
A financial lesson you’re grateful you were taught
The biggest lesson about money you learned as a child/student/young adult
What’s something you refuse to spend money on?
The strangest place you’ve stored money
What expensive thing is definitely worth it?
What’s a place in the community where you’re happy to spend your money?
What do you love to “treat” others to?
What small thing have you bought that you are irrationally attached to?
Physical
The routine that helps you feel strong
The routine that helps you feel relaxed
What’s your relationship with your phone like?
Best sleep hack you swear by
A time you had the best sleep of your life
The time you felt the strongest
Time you were grateful for/to your body
Your current morning routine/a time you had a great morning routine
How you like to physically rest
Something you learned from someone else about movement
Something you learned from someone else about rest
What you wish people knew about a loved one's/your illness
The best place you took a nap
Your nighttime routine or ritual
What do you wear when you want to feel strong/powerful/brave?
What you wear when you want to feel safe/soft/protected
Emotional
The best sacrifice you’ve made
The pettiest thing you’ve done and what you learned from it
Are you able to express and communicate your feelings?
Do you have control over your emotions?
Are you able to adapt to change?
How do you imagine life in 10 years?
How do you want to age?
What’s easy for you, but hard for others? Or, what’s hard for you but seems easy for others?
What’s the fastest way to make you mad?
What always makes you smile?