Tag: #quiet

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Still and Quiet

I’ve been with great people the last ten days. In very powerful connection and learning. In a way that has been very life-giving, affirming, satisfying, and generative. I feel like my brain and heart have been finely enhanced to be able to see and feel more. It’s an open and awed feeling, a bit, perhaps,  like realizing the library just doubled in size (and I have easy ability to read and access all of the extra).

I continue to learn that that’s what deliberate circle practice and circled way of being does. It enhances and amplifies us. I’m glad for that.

Today, however, points me to another fulfillment that also is quite affirming, satisfying, and generative. Today points me to a more introverted and quiet space. Or, to more internal, rather than the external. I continue to learn that there is great power and necessity to return to the still and quiet.

This morning, I wrote these words:

Still and Quiet

Though I appreciate
a certain high
that comes from juggling much,
or being efficient,
or accomplishment,
with many people,

I also need,
in well-placed moments,
and stretches,
to be with self,
still and quiet.

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Emptiness — A Freedom That Changes Freedom

Yup, I suppose it is true that the moment one seeks emptiness, one misses it. I suppose it is true that it isn’t to be sought. Rather, emptiness is to be encountered, like this layered waterfall (near Sundance, UT from a recent hike) revealed after turn in the hiking path, visual caught up with sounds that began several trail bends before.

And then, perhaps, also, this emptiness is a practice, to cultivate. There is a todo in it. Emptiness a feeling to lead with, that life itself celebrates and can arrive within. What if…, nothing were known? What if there were only the space of listening life into being so as to be with it for a moment? What if that were what we cultivated more of?

This kind of emptiness, encountered or cultivated or both, is deep hunger in me. And deep hunch. And has everything to do with self. And team. And community.

Yesterday, before boarding a plane, I typed with thumbs an essence of this for me. It’s a desire. A freedom that changes freedom. For me. Others might have a different version or a different need to pursue that aligns with their gifts.

Yet this emptiness, is one that is in me, that centers it all.

 

There is nothing, but emptiness.
I seek this.

In that is found
flow with life itself.

In that is
everything.

The rest
are just ways
to draw us near.

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Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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asd
Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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