Everything is connected. If I ever doubted that, the few experiences I have had with Joanna Macy's "Work That Re-Connects", has left no doubt in my mind. You can check out Joanna's work at http://www.joannamacy.net/. She is an amazing teacher, now in her 80th year, who continues to travel and teach intensive workshops.
On Sat. Dec. 19, 2009, I attended a full day workshop based on The Work That Re-Connects, facilitated by Jeannette McCullough (http://www.shamansong.ca/). I was deeply touched and amazed by some of the unexpected gifts and the sense of "knowing" that I received throughout the day. For me, the most remarkable and the most profound exercise that we did involved Jeannette first offering us a prayer of gratitude towards various beings and then we, in partners, each had a chance to speak our own memories, feelings and offer gratitude towards the various beings that were mentioned. First was a prayer and then our offerings of gratitude towards Mother Earth. Then we offered prayers and gratitude towards the trees, and then the animals and the birds and the flowers and the fish. With each sharing with my partner, I found memories of my growing up days just flooding back to me, but I found those memories coming back in a very different way than they ever had before. Instead of seeing the "difficulties" or the challenges of my growing up years, I suddenly began to recognize all of the incredible gifts that I had been given throughout my childhood and teenage years. I was very fortunate to
grow up in a little village (Port McNicoll) near the shores of Georgian Bay. I was surrounded by the abundance and beauty of nature. I grew up with clean, fresh air to breathe, water that was ideal for swimming, birds of all kinds. I grew up surrounded by "tree friends" who welcomed me into their arms. How I loved climbing trees. When I wasn't "up a tree" I was swimming. Or riding my bicycle through quiet, safe streets. Or riding horses at my friend's farm. Or I was rescuing stray animals. Or I was feeding the birds. At times our backyard would be a mass of big white fluttering wings as I threw bread (day old from my father's grocery store) out to the seagulls. And of course we had many beautiful birds of every colour enjoying the birdbath and bird feeder that my mother kept well filled for our feathered friends. There were so many gifts in my growing up years, I can't even begin to name them all here. Through that exercise of sharing my memories, I totally re-connected with my past in beautiful, positive, happy way. I felt the beauty and the power and the strength of my foundation, my upbringing, in a way I never had before.
grow up in a little village (Port McNicoll) near the shores of Georgian Bay. I was surrounded by the abundance and beauty of nature. I grew up with clean, fresh air to breathe, water that was ideal for swimming, birds of all kinds. I grew up surrounded by "tree friends" who welcomed me into their arms. How I loved climbing trees. When I wasn't "up a tree" I was swimming. Or riding my bicycle through quiet, safe streets. Or riding horses at my friend's farm. Or I was rescuing stray animals. Or I was feeding the birds. At times our backyard would be a mass of big white fluttering wings as I threw bread (day old from my father's grocery store) out to the seagulls. And of course we had many beautiful birds of every colour enjoying the birdbath and bird feeder that my mother kept well filled for our feathered friends. There were so many gifts in my growing up years, I can't even begin to name them all here. Through that exercise of sharing my memories, I totally re-connected with my past in beautiful, positive, happy way. I felt the beauty and the power and the strength of my foundation, my upbringing, in a way I never had before.It is amazing how connected everything is. Just a couple of days before that workshop, I had "re-connected"with all of my photographs, from my infancy up to 1994. When I left to live in Mexico in 1994, I had stored my photos in my cousins dark, dusty basement in my hometown. For almost 16 years I had not seen any of these treasures. In "rescuing" these treasured photos from the basement of my cousins house, I felt like I had rescued a part of myself from the dark and dusty basement! After the workshop, I knew that the only thing that I really wanted to do on Christmas Day was to go through all of these photos and to remember and to receive fully, all of the gifts that I was given through each stage of my life. With my Beloved Spirit Guide (Sweet Wisdom) at my side, I explored those photos one by one, remembering the gifts and showering my young self and all of those around me in those precious pictures, with Love.
Just one final thought on the work of re-connecting -- I see now how, even though I haven't experienced very much of Joanna's work (this was only my second exposure to it), re-connecting has been a theme in many of my recent endeavors. In my ongoing work with the Chakras, the whole focus is on re-connecting the various aspects of ourselves as we re-connect with SOURCE. In my current vocal training, the entire focus right now is re-connecting my deep rich chest voice with my head voice and learning to transition smoothly through my full vocal range.
It is very exciting to see and experience many aspects of myself and my life and my voice coming together, re-connecting at the deepest levels.
Thank you Jeannette for this enlightening work that you are offering us. It is a gift.
And thank you to all of the Beings -- Human, Animal, Plant, Rock .... and of course to all of the Beloved Spirits who guide our way.
I wish you all a Wondrous New Year. Thank You for allowing me to share my story.
Barbara
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