A friend of mine contacted me asking for ideas on how to meet people that know how to communicate compassionately and are interested in developing a friendship. And I realized, he’s voicing something of a universal longing— that I also want, and guessing that you do too — because it’s related to our search for “home”, a mythical place where all our are needs are met without our having to do much because of the compassionate eco-connected culture in which we are born into.
AN IDEAL HOME
My ideal home is a sheltered safe place to rest, share meals, celebrate and mourn life’s challenges, and to be supported and guided toward a healthier life to the full, where everyone is encouraged to find their unique voice, their soul identity. It has a vegetable garden that takes care of itself, fruits trees and animals that are happy that we’re around. It has initiated adults that have healed all generational traumas, because their parents did their inner work, and they are able to be beacons of love, wholeness, adventure and play, contributing to the sustainability of the community while choosing strategies that consider the needs of the Earth, their children and their own personal needs because they live within a compassionate village with other initiated adults that value collaboration, community and love — they feel like extended members of a family that loves taking turns in the care of the younger ones, while other parents take turns in self-care or having private date nights.
There are no regional or global conflicts because people all over are given autonomy to live fully, so long as the needs as voiced by others are considered, and agreements are crafted which consider everyone’s needs. The culture is adept and flexible around strategies to meet needs because that distinction is taught to children at an early age…
SELF-EMPATHY
Slow down, take a breath. Look inside. How do you feel at reading that imagined reality?
A part of me — wants to immediately start thinking about the limitations, is making judgments, and simultaneously trying to solve the many problems.
I'm acknowledging the stories and analysis of my inner-protectors that are doing their best to keep me safe.
The other parts of me which are more connected to my heart, as I consider the idealized home, feel elated because life is flowing through community, collaboration, connection, while also honoring sustainability of nature, autonomy, honest expression, and each person’s development into self-actualized humans.
FOCUSING OUR ATTENTION
Given that our time and resources are limited in the current reality in which we live, why not focus our energies in pursuing the longings in our heart that impacts not only our current personal situation but also the many generations into the future?
In my previous post, I pondered the biggest questions I could ask of myself:
- “What consciousness and associated practices can I undertake to get me closer to satisfying the longings in my heart?"
- "What is my unique role, my niche in my idealized nature-connected beloved community that would bring me most alive?"
- “What is the intersection of what brings me most alive and what the Earth needs most?”
The answers that resonate most deeply for me at this stage of my life are the following:
- The two most consequential modalities of consciousness and associated practices are inspired by Nonviolent Communication (NVC) by Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D. extended with the nature-based depth psychology of Wild Mind by Bill Plotkin, Ph.D. to connect with inner longings of the heart, facilitate self-healing while cultivating wholeness on your personal journey of self-actualization and transcendence.
- Leverage existing support communities to complement self-healing: 12-Step Recovery groups, Men’s inner-work through MKP, Illuman; Women’s inner-work through Women Within, HER
- Get involved in the modality above that resonates the most for your own personal work, preferably in your local region. If it doesn’t exist, then do whatever you can to bring it into your communities.
- Support your local NVC trainers and Animas Valley Guides by attending their offerings, tending to the local community and helping them to market the learning opportunities — invite your friends to attend — which can help to grow the community organically.
- If local offerings do not exist, then look into virtual or travel-required growth opportunities through CNVC.org and Animas.org
- I have three online and in-person offerings this year that focus on three areas of the NVC Tree of life extending NVC through Wild Mind — for Connection, Liberation and Wholeness:
- Conversational Connection - Practical Skills for Communicating Compassionately
- Free Yourself From Reactivity - journey of emotional liberation
- Wild Heart - Cultivating Wholeness for the Self you always wanted
My offerings framed by the NVC Tree of Life support the preparation for a journey of soul initiation, through the development of connection, self-empathy skills, cultivating wholeness, and self-healing practices. Once you've got a foundational connected Self, and you hear your soul calling, you may want to check out the soul-centric offerings at Animas Valley Institute.
FINDING BELOVED FRIENDS
And as you are following the strategies inspired by longings of your heart, you will see other humans around you that are walking and interacting in a consciousness that resonates with yours. You will have ample opportunities to invite them to do things together. And perhaps, you will even find someone whose soul is aligned in a way that is attracted to yours, and vice-versa. This invitation is a “glorious opportunity not to be missed.” **
** Excerpt from Clive Scott’s Translation of the Book of John 1-14.