Reflections is basically my Blog space, and randomly displays most of my posts. Some of these posts will also appear organizationally under other menu headings.
The drop down menu below are categories for the primary themes of A CoCreative Path. The posts contain reflections, agreements, and practices related to the values of Authenticity, Purpose, Connection, and CoCreation, in support of personal, relational, and cultural transformation.
The Circle has been the essential structure of most indigenous cultures. The circle council has been the structure for a governance that listens to the collective voice, and is foundational for personal growth and community building. They are where the rubber meets the road, providing a mirror and sounding board as we share our journey. Circles provide the container for A CoCreative Path to support ongoing transformation in authenticity, connection, purpose, and co-creation.
There are many structures for Circles, designed to support the being, learning, and doing of our lives, focused to meet the needs and interests of participants.
I like the Heart Circle described in Waking Up by Tej Steiner as a primary structure for any Circle Work. Additional resources for circle structure and agreement are The Circle Way by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea, A Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer, Wisdom Circles by Charles Garfield and Cindy Spring, and The CoCreators Handbook by Carolyn Anderson and Katharine Roske
The Heart Circle provides a foundation for nurturing a heart culture through small groups gathered for mutual support for awakening and empowerment, embracing the values of Authenticity, Purpose, Connection, and CoCreation.
The “Heart Circle”, as described by Tej Steiners in his book Waking Up with everyone around us., resinates with my experience with circles over the past 35 years . The circle provides the environment for mutual support as we explore a deeper connection with ourselves and others through the five Ways of Being Tej articulates.
The Five Ways of Being provide a framework and agreements to explore the values and reflections of A CoCreative Path.
The Heart Circle encourages and supports personal Inquiry around the following questions:
The structure of a Heart Circle is flexible, and includes the following elements:
For a bit more of an intro to Heart Circles, check out this excerpt from Tej’s book Waking Up. Contact me if you are interested in joining, or would like support in forming, a virtual or in-person Heart Circle
A CoCreative Path begins with Authenticity, a personal journey to connect and align with our most authentic sense of self. As in most contemplative paths of spirituality, cultivating alignment with our heart is how we drop our ego driven identity to embrace the essence of our authentic self. It is the foundation for connecting authentically with others, the earth, and with All that is beyond.
We often struggle with our mood, decisions, life direction, or relationships, wondering if we should follow the intuition from our heart or the logic and practicality of our head. We know intuitively that our heart offers answers that are not always compatible with what seems to be our best interests. We are often afraid of letting our heart lead.
There are many misconceptions about the heart, and we certainly aren’t taught to cultivate the empowerment that comes from heart alignment. Many people connect the heart to unstable emotion, and tend to give predominance to the logic of our brain. Most of us understand little about the function of the heart / brain connection, or how to cultivate and harness its energy.
In western culture, we are taught to make decisions based on fear, competition, and scarcity. We are taught to measure success by our position and wealth. We are not given the education or tools to understand the working of our brain, and certainly not the connection of our heart
We live mostly in an illusion, the story in our head shaped by the perceptions, judgments and beliefs formed through family and cultural conditioning. Neuroscience has now provided much insight to how the various parts of our brain interact, and how neural pathways become well worn ruts from our experiences and conditioned reactions to life..
In addition, the study of heart intelligence has brought insight into the path to personal and collective coherence, connecting our mind with the energetic field of the heart through a focus on heart values like gratitude and compassion. It has qualified what contemplative religions have taught through the ages, connecting us to a path of personal, relational, and social transformation.
We need practices that increase our awareness of the filters that shape our perspective and the limiting beliefs that hold us back from hearing and following our heart. We need commitment to radical responsibility, to creating a new story, and to clear intention for the life we wish to create.
Mindfulness and Heartfulness practices help us to increase our emotional and social intelligence, and physically change our brain patterns. Contemplative spiritual practices focus our mindfulness on the qualities of the heart. Together, these practices help facilitate the empowerment of heart alignment. In the uthenticity of heart alignment, we are empowered to embrace Purpose, Connection, and CoCreation.
With the empowerment that begins in the cultivation of Authenticity, we are able to pursue the direction of Purpose that arises from an ever deepening sense of self and passion rather than the conditioning of our family and culture.
As our identity and sense of security is greatly influenced by family values and social pressure, we too often make choices related to our life direction based on ego satisfaction, social acceptance, and/or financial considerations. Passion and creativity is often ignored, or a secondary consideration at best.
As a young man, I decided I could live for weekends and retirement or follow the direction of my heart. With little understanding of what that meant or where that might lead, I pursued evolving interests in creative and healthy home building, holistic sustainability, spirituality, emotional healing, conscious relationships and community building.
I have looked at major life events and new decades as a crossroads, and an opportunity to evaluate where I have been and where I want to head. Along the way, I have learned some of the keys to living from the heart, aligned with authenticity and the “calling” that comes out or the pain and joy of life.
The satisfaction of being directed from the heart involves risk and uncertainty, a willingness to find and go with the flow of life. It involves pursuing the wisdom of intuition and clarifying intention. It requires growing awareness of the filters and blocks that hold us back. It also requires evolving awareness of our strengths, gifts, needs, and longings.
Our Purpose solidifies and expands as we deepen our sense of “why” or mission, pursuing opportunities that comes from an evolving vision. It continues toward connection, as we embrace our gifts in service to the need for others and the planet.
I began to imagine A CoCreative Path about 15 years ago, as I was moving toward my sixtieth birthday. Over the years I have learned to look at life as a Journey of the Heart, an exploration of authenticity and purpose. I have appreciated the many transitions of life as opportunities to reflect on where I am, where I have been, and where I hope to go. As I often did, I was looking at the new decade as a major threshold. I was also on my way to entering my third thirties, and had no interest in conventional retirement. I wanted to pursue the next chapter of life as an opportunity to refine and redefine my life direction.
I started to look at the threads of continuity in my life. I looked at my sense of self and worldview, the healing of life’s hurts and the areas I still struggled with, what was important to me and what was left to let go of. I considered my accomplishments, failures, and ongoing ambitions.
I never considered a career but, rather, was committed early to following my evolving interests and passion. I had started my adult life with an interest in working with my hands as well as a strong interest in spirituality and the human condition. I was a hippie drawn to the movement of social change, became a builder influenced by the “back to the land movement of the 70’s and the beginnings of green building, and explored spirituality, with eastern and western influences.
By mid life, my growing focus on spirituality, emotional healing, and cultural change took me to studies at a Mennonite seminary. With no background in that tradition, I was interested in their view of the bible centered on Jesus’ teachings, as well as their commitment to community and nonviolence. I spent the time in seminary focused on Christian history (I really wanted to understand how we got from the teachings of Jesus to the current chaos called Christianity), counseling, spiritual direction, and conflict resolution. From there, I spent about 15 years in related stipend based work and pursued my interest in intentional community.
I returned to building in my mid 50’s and was now ready to consider a new chapter. I wanted to bring the threads together to develop a green built and community oriented neighborhood. I also wanted to bring my thoughts and experience with personal growth, interpersonal relationships, and community building into focus, and a plan for sharing. Developing the physical aspects of the neighborhood took the bulk of my energy and effort, with only enough energy to in that part of the plan.
Well, the nearing completion of the neighborhood and continued growth in my own inner work and understanding of the human condition is providing the opportunity to refocus and prioritize my passion for a heart centered approach to personal, relational, and social transformation. A CoCreative Path is my attempt to focus and share my journey. My hope is to encourage and support you on an evolving Journey of the Heart.
Our longing for Connection drives our relationships, consciously or subconsciously. The authenticity and depth of our connection and intimacy with others is correlated to the authenticity and depth of our connection with ourselves. From an authentic place of Be-ing, we are able to relate to the Be-ing of another.
There are many ways to pursue Connection, but in essence it is holding space, sacred space where respect and honor is held with mutual intention and commitment. It is relating to the feelings, needs, and values of others. It is where we support and encourage others.
Connection starts and ends with communication, and communication starts with listening. Compassionate Listening, with understanding and empathy, then empowers us to speak our truth with authenticity and compassion.
In authentic and empathic relationships, we are then empowered to deepen our connection with ourselves, letting go of our ego identity and defense mechanisms to further grow into the authenticity of our true self, a purpose-full direction for our life, and deeper connection with others.
As a starting place to pursue deeper Connection, ask yourself the following questions.
Are you approachable? Do you express vulnerability? Do you invite authenticity?
How do you listen? Do you hear with the intention of understanding what is said and meant, or are you quick to interpret and make up our own story? Do you hear beyond the words to the feelings, needs, and values that are being expressed? Do you listen from the heart?
How do you speak? Do you say what you mean or couch your words in socially acceptable terms? Do you speak with care and compassion or are you harsh and judgemental? Do you speak from the heart?