Exploration Garden: Relaunch!
The Exploration Garden has been live for 2 years now! This powerful space has helped us focus on exploring our feelings and experiences using questions for exploration apart from support. This room fosters deeper connections and thinking amongst our participants and is an upgrade/bridge from the Sharing Circle, wherein no questions or exploration occurs.
In light of changes including moderator/facilitator availability and the need/requests of more coverage of having this space open, we have decided to convert the room into a closed group.
Closed groups on 7 Cups are private, 24/7 badge-locked rooms that foster a culture of safety and support. Our admins as well as interested hosts/listeners/and leaders are invited to help maintain oversight of this shared space.
Here is how everyone can continue to access and benefit from this space:
Apply for the “Growth Explorer” badge HERE. All regular users of the Exploration Garden will receive this badge for access to the group. In addition, anyone interested can apply for this badge after reviewing the Guide
Please note that users who do not adhere to the Exploration Garden rules will lose access to this space. We will roll out a report form to help with any concerns about user behavior.
You can still sign up to lead sessions by filling up this form
In addition to the above access levels, everyone who enrolls into a Growth Circle will automatically be awarded access to the Exploration Garden. Growth Circles will help participants build skills, improve well-being, and form peer support connections through a structured but flexible process involving different therapeutic features on 7 Cups. They will be launched soon during June 2025.
To optimize the Exploration Garden space and build opportunities for further exploration we will be posting (and welcome others to help post):
Weekly/Daily Exploration Prompts
Themed Exploration Days or Topics
An Exploration Library with exploration questions/prompts to help users explore certain areas
Occasional Check-In Circles which could happen “live” in between/just like hosted hours.
To launch this new structure, we are hosting a live launch event/Exploration Circle on Wednesday, 11th of June 2025 at 12 PM EDT (New York) time. Please join us and fill the above form to gain access to the event if interested.
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We welcome feedback and ideas for continued exploration and growth. Please feel welcome to reach out to @SoulfullyAButterfly, @Heather225 and @ASilentObserver for any questions or concerns.
FWIW, I think the relaunch is going quite well! We've got a regular session at 10pm Eastern US time every day that attracts a regular userbase, and I know people have been sporadically hosting sessions at other times. The hard part is getting enough people in there to explore with you when you want to explore at a time that isn't 10pm-11pm Eastern US time.
Hopefully soon my own life will have relaxed a bit, so I'll have some time to host sessions at other times of day, just need to... advertise them? I'm not sure how to get that ball rolling, but I'd like to help!
@StoicSteamStoker what's been really helpful at the 10pm EG is having multiple people who can host any given night. There's usually someone who will pick it up. That keeps it going.
So, EG is pretty dead lately. Even our usual 10pm session has really dropped off. I want to help bring it back to life (partially because I really need some EG in my life right now) but I don't know how to help it.
@StoicSteamStoker thank you for sharing this. I will look into helping with this, this week. You can always PM me too.
it's kind of annoying talking to an empty room. Especially when i have things to vent. I have no idea how i can help with bringing it back from the dead. Maybe there could be a couple of days where's there's some kind of theme like there used to be back when it was private chat we had to be invited too?
There is some talk in other rooms of reviving EG. There is at least one user who needs to be granted access to the room, and they are willing to help facilitate sessions. I also want to help facilitate sessions, as do one or two other people. Let's bring it back!
