Unfolding Meaning Together
I have of late been hankering for a co-creative conversation in which the purpose in coming together is to find and unfold meaning, both personally and collectively.
I have been hankering for a chance to share, listen, reflect and invite insight to arise. I know this can be done alone …. However there is, in my experience, a particular kind of synergistic blossoming possible when two or more come together for this purpose. Particularly when those involved have done enough inner work to be able to be present with what is, or at least have the willingness to notice and name what may be interfering with it.
This may sound simple. It isn’t. It requires awareness, skill, the ability to listen as well as the willingness to share, receive and, when invited, mirror the experience of another.
It requires the willingness to be honest as we explore and deepen into what is, with all its confusion, pain, vulnerability, knowing and beauty. It requires the willingness of all concerned to help create a safe space, or container, in which to do this.
This is not an arena for shaming, blaming or demanding. It is not about competing opinions, being right, or trying to fix ourselves and each other. It is about feeling, insight, experience and deepening into the unfolding wisdom of the moment.
Akin to the tradition of passing a talking stick, with the stick representing a tender light of awareness, it invites being present with whoever is holding it. The idea is that they feel invited and safe to share what’s in their heart and the listener invited and safe to understand. Thus a greater whole may be illuminated.
This is a conversation beyond the ordinary.
This is a conversation beyond the ordinary. It’s beyond social chit – chat, story telling, and reporting about what we have done. It’s about connecting with what is alive for us in the moment and moving beyond ego affirmation. Though the process can be healing, it is not the same as therapy which according to the dictionary is “treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder or emotional wound”. This is about mutual awakening. As Marianne Williamson recently said, “I don’t want to be shallow with you. I want you to be deep with me”.
Yes I am hankering for a deeper conversation. I find myself wondering if you are hankering too?
This poem in ”The Touch of Nordic Light” describes the process …
In A Small Circle: Delving for gold
From ”The Touch of Nordic Light” by Nanna Aida Svendsen.
A group of women gather
in a small circle.
Choosing to practice Deep Dialogue
rather than chatting or going into debate
they sip tea, talk a while
then change awareness
by being still.
When moved to speak,
they seek to voice
the depths of experience.
To tap in
to current life unfolding.
They listen deeply
and receive
their own, and each others, worlds.
They hold them with compassion
as best they can.
And do not try to fix or to change things.
Extending a gentle invitation
for awareness
they give space
for differing views
and for their own view to evolve.
In the act of speaking,
when there is sanctuary
for soul,
they hear themselves saying
things previously unknown
and their natural intelligence
is given a chance
to be revealed .
They are together in moments
of soundless presence too.
New meaning or support often comes
as they delve for the gold at the heart of any matter.
When genuine insight, knowledge or questioning is offered
rather than opinion, story, hype or spin
their humanity has a chance
of being recognized
there is a chance to open co creatively
and self organize
personally and collectively
into the next
evolutionary step.
From ”The Touch of Nordic Light” by Nanna Aida Svendsen.
With love and more love
as ever Nanna
Nanna Aida is an explorer and mapmaker for inner realms a writer and a poet. Her passion is linking consciousness with the heart and naming where consciousness want to evolve, along with what might be getting in the way.
