What guides you in times of trouble?
When things get challenging, how do you respond?
In a world of seemingly endless inner and outer conflict, how do make meaning and form an integrated perspective?
Easy to pose such questions, a lot harder I find to answer and live into them.
Two things I have come to learn and depend on are these.
—Firstly, I turn towards the most faithful thing I know. Mother nature. To literally touch stone. As I am here in this picture. To feel the earth breathe and resettle into a more natural rhythm.
—But in the heat of the moment, it is not always possible to do that. So then what? Well, one of the most important things I have learned from my time preparing to be a facilitator with the Center for Courage & Renewal, is the 11 Touchstones that guide our work. They are simple in their construction and yet hard to practice at times. These Touchstones guide the work we do in Circles of Trust, and, I have come to turn them in everyday life too.
One example is very much alive for me right now. I have come away from the past weekend, where I spent time with Dr Martin Shaw, making a personal commitment to myself.
A commitment which is not so much an instruction from Martin, but a gentle invitation.
It is to simply sit with the experience as long as is necessary for it to start making sense. To resist the temptation to talk all about it. To weigh it down too early with empty words and bold intentions.
It simply isn’t ready yet.
As Martin would say, there is some necessary “incubation” needed.
Or in my mind, integration.
So, I am revisiting the urge to draw conclusions and make a plan.
And instead this morning, I am reflecting on two Courage & Renewal Touchstones in particular.
“Attend to your own inner teacher
We learn from others, of course. But as we explore poems, stories, questions and silence in a circle of trust, we have a special opportunity to learn from within. So pay close attention to your own reactions and responses, to your most important teacher.”
And.
“Trust and learn from the silence
Silence is a gift in our noisy world and a way of knowing in itself. Treat silence as a member of the group. After someone has spoken, take time to reflect without immediately filling the space with words”
So here I am, attending and trusting. Learning and sense-making.
I’ll leave you with a few words from the late John O’Donohue, from the chapter “Stone” in his book The Four Elements, reflections on nature:
“There is the silence underneath and between words. This silence is the condition of the possibility of language. Without this generous silence, no word could ever be said or heard”.
So silence, now that could be the most important thing.
#courage
#poetry
#accountant
For the original post on my top 25 things I have learned from my Courage & Renewal journey, follow this link.
You can find the complete Courage & Renewal Circle of Trust Touchstones document here:
CCR_Touchstones_V5.pdf (couragerenewal.org)
Photo: May 2022, Ards Peninsular, Donegal