A few years ago I was having a conversation with my fellow instructor, Cheryl Kinney Matheson, about that year’s new cohort of students. We were reviewing applications and there were quite a few students who mentioned how they were coming to Prairie Jubilee in need of healing.
At first I was surprised how “healing” was named as one of the draws to this two-year experience, but then I began to reflect on my own two year experience with Prairie Jubilee and realized that I was drawn for many reasons, but yes, one of the reasons was healing.
Leisure is not a privilege but a virtue. Leisure is not the privilege of a few who can afford to take time, but the virtue of all who are willing to give time to what take time.
A few years back, my partner and I purchased a few boxes of odd candles at a close-out sale, and we were quite excited about the bargain. Sure there were no real sets of candles, but each one was interesting and, as some of you know, nothing warms a dinner table like a few lovely candles.
For a long time I have attended enneagram groups and am often asked “where are all the men?”. Please know that men do attend these groups, but in much smaller numbers than women.
Over the years I have been supported by variety of men’s groups and read many books on men’s studies, But recently I have been reading a book called Men’s Work. The author, Connor Beaton, shares honest insights on his life and the feeling of isolation that he says is inherent in the culture of men today.
Recently I attended a retreat day with a small Gurdjieff Movements group. This day of reflection focused on a lecture by John G. Bennett, a student of George Gurdjieff.
In the lecture recap, Bennett spoke about “Intention” and the struggle we humans have with setting, understanding, and following through with actual Intention. He said we often mistake “making decisions” with actual Intention and to achieve our true Intentions, we may have to suffer and give something up, and, yes, we will actually have to make an effort.
Too often we get caught in the typology of the enneagram. We worry only about our number and how to live through that lens. We start to only see a limited number of compulsions when there are so many places we can grow from.
The Domains of the Enneagram takes a step back from how we look at ourselves and moves us to a place where we can look at how we live in the world.
I have just finished a workshop called Working with the Karma’s of the Enneagram. The workshop introduces us to word puzzles that challenge and move us toward the clearing of karmic debt. The karmic work in the TWO space continues to stay with me as the week draws to a close. The karma in TWO is “Resist Discomfort” and it reminds me of how our culture is one that seeks out the most comfortable way of living.
As 2021 draws to a close many of us pictured something a bit different going into 2022.
A friend of mine has a tradition each time he rings in the new year. He opens the back door of the house to allow the old year to leave and opens the front door to usher in the new one. Simple, but I found it so meaningful in the way we look at turning over of the year.
As we all say good-bye to 2021, what needs to be let out the back door?
This week I received an email from one of the websites I subscribe to. It was titled: “While we watch the world going down the tubes, the key question is whether you are going with it!”. I had to pause, firstly at the jarring statement, and secondly because it drove home a point I have been pondering…that is how easily we can become numb to actions that are disconcerting and how quickly we can come to label those actions as “normal”.
When a ONE does not express their anger, it is held. This held anger is called resentment. With a sense of always needing to be “good", ONEs can hold their anger (because being angry is not “good”) and one day, when you least expect it, they blast it all on some unsuspecting target. This is not a healthy way for a ONE to live.
Many of us have come to know our enneagram spaces or types. These energies affect everything on this plane of existence, and therefore affect us at different times as we move about the world. Can we use how we are affected to live differently?
Just 15 more days to take advantage of Early Bird Pricing on this awesome Enneagram retreat!
If you are looking to push the pause button on your life and allow yourself to settle into a beautiful setting of openness and growth we have a get-a-way to share with you. Using the ancient wisdom of the enneagram, we invite you to spend seven days learning how to break free of the patterns that keep us from change and living in a more complete way.
Each of the spaces of the enneagram has their own set of dualistic behaviors that keep us from finding an inner calm. The calm comes when a third force is brought into our dualistic two-pronged approach to living. This third force acts as a “midpoint” between the two dualistic thoughts or ways of living.
The answers we seek about our true wholeness cannot be realized by simple head knowledge, Internet or otherwise. As we have learned by working with the enneagram, we have three brains, not just the one in our head. We also have a Heart brain as well as our Body brain. All must be engaged to live a full life.
So often in our lives we get so busy that we are swept away in a state of inertia. This state of “doing” enlivens us for a while. We have been exposed to it countless years of our parents and friends implying that we are only valuable in what we “do”.
