Thinking outside the box regarding Community...and Relationship as Tom and I navigate the Relationship River together. And I look where Community already exists in my life!
And Source...so funny...whispers to me...read the book off your bookshelf The Community of Kindness from beginning to end. Read a story each day.
And so I started a few weeks ago. The book is a collection of one page stories about community. All Good! To remind that I choose to look with my 'abundance' glasses on. Or my 'scarcity' glasses on. Not just with community...with all things!
The voices inside me are so creative and imaginative...in taking me into 'stories' which either build myself up and infuse joy. Or take me down and keep me from being with feelings I do not want to be with. All Good...to notice. To practice. To make different choices. To have patience with my self. All Good!
Community is all around me. Waiting for me...yes, me to reach out to it. I smile. And am grateful. As I think of many friends near and far. My group of five, including me who gather to eat, drink, laugh every so often. My spontaneous friend two blocks away who might be available for a mindless game of cards to get me out of listening to those creative storytellers inside me :-). The Dancing with Source village--still with me in spirit. The ORSC community--also with me in spirit. Gaia, Mother Earth, Father Sky...ever with me as I take daily walks outside and marvel at Their awesome beauty around me!
I am grateful for the support that crosses my path precisely when I need it..as I continue to clear out things in my home (the local community college continuing education is offering a six week class on hoarding in April). As I navigate the Relationship River with Tom (Gottman Institute's blog and all of John Gottman's books are great reminders of how I want to be in any relationship). As I move through feelings and emotions triggered along the way (Sobonfu's grief ritual from her native Dagara Tribe of the country Burkina Faso, Africa, came in Divine time to help me release feelings stored in my field). And now taking a Managing Anger 8 week series through Kaiser Permanente to help me understand what brings me to anger. So I can learn to de-escalate.
All Good! All the while, remembering to HAVE FUN!
HAVE FUN!
Friday, March 8, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Grief...
It is 2 March 2013...7:22 am...I awake to get ready to head out and participate in an African grief ritual led by an African woman Sobonfu Some. She is from the Dagara Tribe of Burkina Faso.
And I realized that is what I am missing...the on-going safe container and receptacle for all the emotions I have. As Sobonfu noted in her talk last night...in her village, emotions around grief are shared within the village, so that healing can occur for not just the person, also the village--for it is their belief that one affects the other. I am missing the Camino and its on-going safe container for all my emotions, made up of Source, the land, nature, the path, the albergues, the pilgrims themselves, the people along the path, me.
Here....I live alone. And my village mates are not physically within reach. Or so I believe. Time for me to think outside the box on what people constitutes my village...my community. I live in a city where there are lots of people who cross my path. Up to me to ensure my presence is beneficial.
And Sobonfu's work is beautiful and powerful...a fabulous opportunity to be witnessed and supported as one releases the many sounds and voices and states of grief.
Now it is 7 March...I appreciated that one participant shared that one time she went to the grief altar and was exhausted. She tried to get up yet the village said no, stay, there is more. A new perspective--to see exhaustion as a face of grieving.
When she answered a question about what to do when one is in constant physical pain, the response about arthritis resonated with me. Constant physical pain means one is carrying a lot of unresolved grief. Same holds true for those with arthritis. As Dr. Cantwell told me years ago...'your experience will be your evidence' and so it has been the case for me. As I have let go of a lot of unresolved grief over the years and allowed my emotions to flow versus suppress, it has definitely helped my well-being.
I feel lighter after this weekend. And my range of motion in my left wrist is much more. Validation that what is affecting the wrist is beyond a physical cause!
Grateful for the resources that are crossing my path now.
And I realized that is what I am missing...the on-going safe container and receptacle for all the emotions I have. As Sobonfu noted in her talk last night...in her village, emotions around grief are shared within the village, so that healing can occur for not just the person, also the village--for it is their belief that one affects the other. I am missing the Camino and its on-going safe container for all my emotions, made up of Source, the land, nature, the path, the albergues, the pilgrims themselves, the people along the path, me.
Here....I live alone. And my village mates are not physically within reach. Or so I believe. Time for me to think outside the box on what people constitutes my village...my community. I live in a city where there are lots of people who cross my path. Up to me to ensure my presence is beneficial.
And Sobonfu's work is beautiful and powerful...a fabulous opportunity to be witnessed and supported as one releases the many sounds and voices and states of grief.
Now it is 7 March...I appreciated that one participant shared that one time she went to the grief altar and was exhausted. She tried to get up yet the village said no, stay, there is more. A new perspective--to see exhaustion as a face of grieving.
When she answered a question about what to do when one is in constant physical pain, the response about arthritis resonated with me. Constant physical pain means one is carrying a lot of unresolved grief. Same holds true for those with arthritis. As Dr. Cantwell told me years ago...'your experience will be your evidence' and so it has been the case for me. As I have let go of a lot of unresolved grief over the years and allowed my emotions to flow versus suppress, it has definitely helped my well-being.
I feel lighter after this weekend. And my range of motion in my left wrist is much more. Validation that what is affecting the wrist is beyond a physical cause!
Grateful for the resources that are crossing my path now.
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