What We Forget About Relationships
If you expect a relation (or relationship) to be there for you, you have to cultivate it and be there for it... you have to give time, space, presence, and make it a priority.
This goes for one-on-one relationships and family & groups of course, and also pertains to the relationships we have with ourselves and aspects of our inner world - such as spirituality, self-belonging, inner peace, creative practice, and honoring our dreams.
Trusting that you can show up, as is, and be present for another (or your self), as is... and that you can go from there.
We learn about our inner world not just by personal reflection, but through relating with others mindfully. And we learn about others by both compassionately observing our own inner world AND showing up with an open mind and non-judgmental posture to those we engage with, as best we can.
We have to be present for our relations, conscious to them - if we hope for them to maintain or grow as a gift and support in our lives. If we hope to experience them at all.
Presence - and communion - is not just a way of thinking, or even just an intention, it is an experience.
It makes sense, right? But it can be the thing we so often forget in our busy lives.
Our relationships - and developing how we relate - so often take a back-burner to the daily tasks at hand. We take our people and our selves and our world for granted... forgetting the very core values and instincts that draw us toward uniting with those aspects of life to begin with.
And it is in the exchange of action, gesture, and intentional connection that our most cherished values become not just concepts, but expressed virtues of who we hope to be and the type of energy we hope to create in this world.
So often, though, we forget to slow down and just simply be kind or considerate. I know I certainly do.
And I am ever grateful for my creative practice to help me center and re-group when I get off course with my own values and that personal north star of how to relate as a decent human being, with the intentions that are true to my essence.
For the past three years, I have held the online RELATE Creative Women's Circle at this time of year - it always seems right with the changing seasons.
This year will be the FINAL round of this online program that is so very special to my heart - where we combine a journey about personal relationship values & intentions with our creative practice.
Every time I reflect on what we explore in RELATE - The Seven Sacred Teachings - I receive new insight and clarity.
It centers me, often course corrects my attention and worries, and always deepens the connection in my relationships, helping me release barriers I've built to love, loving or living my truth.
Taking the ideas into an intentional, personalized creative practice makes the experience of the teachings richer, more integrated, more practical and relative to real life.
This year, we will be doing our 21 day practice just before the holiday season.
It seems a good time to center on some relational values before all the family and social functions, or maybe even as a medicine for the grief that can sometimes surface this time of year, don't you think?
The program will run from November 1 - 29, 2016 this year, with extended access for you to choose a pace with the content that suits your life and schedule.
Previous participants and my mailing list subscribers have already started signing up - and seats are limited for this round.
So if you'd like to learn more about RELATE CLICK HERE.
HERE is a beloved photo and note about one of the elders - Grandpa Francis - that taught many of us much of what I share about in RELATE. This year, a portion of the registrations will go toward supporting the Water Protectors at Standing Rock.
We begin November 1, and seats are filling up. Hope to circle up with you to share this special practice and reflection.
