I’m at a retreat as I write this, it’s centered around releasing the past and it involves a number of journey and regression sessions. There are 5 of us in this temporary community for the next several days and we’re in a forest cabin where the silence inside is a welcome change from my more sound filled home base.
I’ve known the two presenters for some time now and they are a part of my community, but the other two individuals in attendance are new to me and it’s been pleasurable getting to know them. It’s made me appreciate the steps that I took to make it possible to be away for a time and creating another connection in community.
Which leads me to the activity today that I’ll share with you now. Is there a community that you have wanted to explore for a while but haven’t? If so, what do you need to do in order to make that happen? Can you do what’s needed to reach out, offer something to it as a gesture of your curiosity and desire to get to know it more?
If you can’t think of a community that you’re interested in getting to know more about then ask yourself now why that is. This brings to mind the entry on loneliness in the David Whyte work titled Consolations and this particular part: To allow ourselves to feel fully alone is to allow ourselves to understand the particular nature of our solitary incarnation; to make aloneness a friend is to apprentice ourselves to the foundation from which we make our invitation to others. To feel alone is to face the truth of our irremediable and unutterable singularity, but a singularity that can kiss, create a conversation, make a vow or forge a shared life. In the world or community, this essential singularity joins with others through vision, intellect and ideas to make a society.
Communities can be big or small, intentional or spontaneous, scattered and coming together only online or right outside your door. They’re everywhere and have something to offer most of the time to anyone who makes their way to them.
So go explore today, stretch your community minded muscles and see what you find!
TimeSpaceOne 