Three kinds of connection
My friend Terry said something a while ago that really hooked me. We were on a warrior weekend in a beautiful place called Rancho El Chorro, outside of St Louis de Obispo, in northern California.
Twilight was falling and the evening was filled with the sounds of beautiful birdsong that echoed in the canyons of the surrounding countryside.
He invited me and the 40 or so men in the room to consider three kinds of awareness as we prepared ourselves to greet men who would arrive the next day to begin their "hero's journey" -- the journey of initiation.
He said the first kind of awareness was self-awareness -- the act of consciously tuning-in and observing the jumble of thoughts and feelings that fill the hemispheres of our (my) brain.
The act of becoming aware of the judgements I make of myself and others, and the consequent feelings that flow from these judgements. He invited us to check-in, to become more alive to this head and heart stuff, and to see how it shapes our (my) inner terrain.
Next, he invited us to become more open to the men around us -- of what they were were doing, saying and feeling. As staff men on the warior weekend it would be our job to serve the initiates and this would require us to perform that generous act of waking up to them and their world.
Finally, he invited us to consider a kind of over-arching awareness of the place that we occupied and the surrounding environment -- the sky, the earth, the hills, the river, the flora and the fauna -- the entire milieu, and everything in it.
Suddenly, I was re-awakened to the bigness of life and how small I allow me and my life to be. Connection to me. Connection to others. Connection to life.
Big!
Twilight was falling and the evening was filled with the sounds of beautiful birdsong that echoed in the canyons of the surrounding countryside.
He invited me and the 40 or so men in the room to consider three kinds of awareness as we prepared ourselves to greet men who would arrive the next day to begin their "hero's journey" -- the journey of initiation.
He said the first kind of awareness was self-awareness -- the act of consciously tuning-in and observing the jumble of thoughts and feelings that fill the hemispheres of our (my) brain.
The act of becoming aware of the judgements I make of myself and others, and the consequent feelings that flow from these judgements. He invited us to check-in, to become more alive to this head and heart stuff, and to see how it shapes our (my) inner terrain.
Next, he invited us to become more open to the men around us -- of what they were were doing, saying and feeling. As staff men on the warior weekend it would be our job to serve the initiates and this would require us to perform that generous act of waking up to them and their world.
Finally, he invited us to consider a kind of over-arching awareness of the place that we occupied and the surrounding environment -- the sky, the earth, the hills, the river, the flora and the fauna -- the entire milieu, and everything in it.
Suddenly, I was re-awakened to the bigness of life and how small I allow me and my life to be. Connection to me. Connection to others. Connection to life.
Big!
posted by everyman at 4:13 PM
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