Tuesday, 28 March 2017

Drinks@ the well

Over the last few months, we have started a new group as part of Deep Water Dwelling. This group meets on the first Tuesday of each month at a local café or restaurant. Our first meeting began with a little hesitation as people gathered in the unknown. I shared a little about why the image of the well is important for me. Others then began to share about places they have had significant experiences. People tentatively shared stories or pulled a poem they had written from their handbag. The discussion circled from places of pilgrimage, to 'thin places', to the vastness and mystery of the Australian outback.

At our second meeting, we began with the theme 'Symbols that speak'. We discovered that some of us were more comfortable than others in thinking of our spiritual lives in symbolic terms. One person shared an image of a bowl where the crack were filled with gold. This created a great discussion about how we engage our failings and weaknesses in life. It was more obvious at our second meeting that as a group we held a diversity of understandings about life and its meaning. With our 'listen to learn' rule, however, each person was heard and their experiences valued.

Our third meeting will be held next week. Our theme for this month is 'the power of positivity'. How do we stay positive in life? What spiritual practices assist us? How do you see positivity in a spiritual way? The meeting will be held at Good Fellas Café on Bussell Highway, Margaret River at 7.30pm.

The principles of our meetings are:
* Listen to learn  - not to reply.
* Share stories and experiences to engage in the group - not to convert.
* If you think differently to someone, say "I have a different way of seeing that" - not "You're wrong"
* The group is open to all explorers - none of us have all the answers or the wisdom.

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