Day 1 reflections
Today was the first day of a six day intensive on the Work That Reconnects with Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone at Findhorn.
We began by introducing ourselves and sharing one thing in the world that we would like to protect. Obviously we all have many things we would like to protect but we choose just one of them. And with the round of about 100 people the growing list of things we would like to protect was rich in imagination and compassion.
We want to protect the oceans, trees and air we breathe. We want to protect the sea beds and coastlines. We want to protect truth, laughter and smiles. We want to protect our curiosity, creativity, courage, and compassion. We want to protect our brothers and sisters, our children’s futures, our unborn grandchildren and future generations. We want to protect our awe of nature, our sense of possibility, our belief we can create change and our deep desires to make a difference.
When we share these things a deep gratitude awakens in us that these things exist in life, it shows our profound love for the world. This is the first stage of the Work That Reconnects spiral.
Alongside this there is fear, despair and anger that they might be lost, eroded or polluted. We want to protect them because we care. We hurt because we care. It is a healthy response to be sensitive and to feel the pain for the world and what is happening. Honouring our pain for the world is the second stage of the spiral.
When we can reconnect to our gratitude and our pain we come face to face with our undeniable interconnectedness. Seeing with new eyes is the third stage of the spiral.
Going forth and becoming active for a purpose bigger than ourselves is the forth stage of the spiral.
Over the coming week we will be exploring each stage in depth in an experiential way. I will post more about my learnings from each day.