Happy Spring to all of you Gardeners - in the northern hemisphere!
This is indeed a very meaningful time of the year; a time full of promises and potential for creation.
As Judy said the other day, "the seeds of peace are awakening."
Happy gardening!
Gilles
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Gardeners February 17 phone council harvest
Opened 10 minutes early for silence
Piano music of Michael Jones – Touch – in the background
Gardeners:
Tenneson
Holly
Lenore
Judy
Junahli
Sheri
Laurel
Elizabeth
Gilles
Introduction Ten with Meg Wheatley quote:
“Who we are together is always different and more than who we are alone.”
Reading Jan 13 phone council quote:
“Human beings need and want to be in authentic connection with each other. It helps all of us to respond to the challenges and opportunities of our times – in self, team, community, and society.”
Purpose of Gardeners
Seeds of peace planted deeply in the heart – in everyone’s heart.
Mentioned letter from Gardener the night before + Gilles’ response
Acknowledged Terry from Paris and Peter from Sydney
Introduction: Candle, talking piece (bracelet of wooden beads from many circles) and some guidelines for speaking on the call
-listen with attention
-speak with intention
-tend to the well-being of the group
Planning of the council:
-15 minute check-in: What gardening is alive in you?
- 30-45 minutes: pop corn questions (3 questions from the invitation) and what’s next
-10 minutes: closing space
Guardian: Explains her role as the guardian to be in this virtual room, to notice the natural shifts, to ring the pottery bell.
Check-in: What gardening is alive in you?
Inner gardening practice alive on a sunny afternoon in Utah viewing through the window the snow-covered school yard
Religious practice of the family – energy was off
My daughter left behind that morning on the way to church – but it is a walkable distance
Need to reground today after experiencing some scattered energy
Walked around the house with bells, put Michael’s music on and sat on the floor
Shift of energy, from grumpy to more harmonious - “I am ready to listen” space.
Easy to get lost in ‘bad’ energy – simple breathing and steps that reground, shift the pattern, reach emptiness and openness
First time on the call - exceptional place today: yoga in the morning and massage in the afternoon, feels spoiled
Anticipation re continuation of the day: “I have a body”
Gardening – body centered. Bring from within to without.
Spread from self to trickle outwards.
Gardeners’ concept: small and large ways for ourselves and others
Job – few gardeners in the area: my job is art and healing practice
Offer the earth, painter, educator – focus into that practice
Group connections and tendrils around the globe are important – all attached with gardening
As the blossom popping up out of the pavement, how do we continue to find the soil?
Relate to the metaphor: “Blossoming out of the pavement”
Living in Florida, 3rd floor balcony apartment
Creek below, river, low tide, mud and even smell
Gardening: grieving other people’s sediments. Is this a healthy practice?
I have not dealt with sediments, and I wonder
Feel in tune with these layers of mud that have been left around.
Coming into that place – not only me – my space
Listen and not get stuck in the mud
In Burlington, Ontario
At my desk; freezing rain
15 morning doves outside: sense of the feminine, eternity, peace
Monday – family day – holiday in Canada
Am on my own today, getting a breather from one another
Attracted to the call. I feel more like myself in community.
Our garden – women’s leadership circle.
Building on Christina and Meg’s authenticity and richness of conversation.
Gardening very alive in me.
What am I going to get out of this council?
Feel more like myself – this type of community, even a virtual community
Love the talking piece – tool; it’s enormous, allows you to speak from the heart
Will I think of what to say or allow the flow to carry me?
Found it in the previous contribution.
Where I want to go (in my life) – sense of direction
Body of water near me – tide ½ way up; lots of ducks
Alive in me: desire for human connection, authenticity
Words can mean so much
Went to the Shambhala Institute (Halifax) 3 years ago (July 05) and enjoyed the rich diversity of the Global Village Square – 80 people all together, maybe 3-4 US Americans
Felt lonely back home – didn’t want to leave the room
Opened a portal, inner calling to look within and then to connect with those around the world to bring meaning and hope to others. Not something we do alone.
Zig zag path: never losing sight of my inner calling
More Check-ins Limit to one minute (Ten instruction)
In Santa Fe
Wonderful morning. Intense times.
Buddha Belly plant – seed pods bursting, 1 pod each night. Germinate during the day.
Friend from Madagascar – gave me the plant for my birthday
Waiting for the right moment to germinate – it is growing
Today is the right day – germination – turn around
Inner gardening inspiration – risk – circles - new ventures – I have my own
Gardening alive in me – part of who I am – sense of Collective Self
Emergence: reconnection to the sacred
Exploring the sacred feminine and wholeness of knowing
Interested in astrology – exploring that part of my inner garden again
Not well for the past 10 days.
Something is alive in my body. Is there a message that I need to listen to?
Much travel – Asia, France for the past two months
Now home and need to slow down
I am listening to that message
In New York city
Gardening and nurturing go together
Peace is nurturing me and I am nurturing peace – sense of mutual relationships – needs to nurture it
Essence of the conversation – looking into the questions from the invitation and also what’s next
What comes into the room – energy
Extension of stories shared so far; lots of beauty in sharing stories
What is possible with the Gardeners?
What wants to be born?
What are the connections with others? With other groups?
Why not another group?
What shape might want to be born here?
What is your thinking, what are your desires?
Need to back up
First time phone council for me
Am curious
- who wants to be with this community?
- people who are working / gardening?
I want to be with like-spirited people where inner gardening is a priority
Am not sure others can’t connect as well
True for others who are also first timers on the call
Community of people who have like-minded hearts
See where that thread goes
Is it about being or doing?
Idea of a circle, virtual circle – sitting around together – it’s about ‘being’
Then perhaps we each are active locally
With this group, hear the bell, check into the group’s energy.
Check in with other groups for local activities in Santa Fe
Gardening activities have a ‘being’ part and a face-to-face part
Maybe I could express inner and outer gardening with the green sustainable school garden.
I am noticing how my body feels being here.
My body feels different when my family goes to church – feel that maybe I should be with them. Feels so obligatory
I want to feel a different spirit this morning
Different kind of breathing, inner peace, inner gardening. It feels great.
Church transition story for me – inner peace
Gardeners of Peace: it is about a call, an energy that you are invited to, know it is there.
In person gathering: January was too early so shifted into phone council format.
Need to listen to people’s feelings and words
In the now / value – “where you are”
Obliged to go to church as a child (grew up in Ohio)
Looking forward to this call – to coming together
It feels a bit like going to church, a new form of church
Respectful ways of listening – of communicating
Deep questions for reflect on – this is the ‘being’ part
Exploration together
Would value the opportunity to get together and
Also value the very present and silent space of these calls.
Yoga as worship – substitute for church
Thought for this group: phone call
Image of beads and phone call – can join from anywhere
Different ways to start the germination / seeds
Scatter and see which land or plant correctly with many in one place. Graft one strong plant to another existing plant.
We can plant in a different number of holes – same intention in different places
Each gardener has different skills
Would like to see the group stay expansive
Seed in a pot this morning – needs the right conditions
No demand that we show up the same way
We show up the way we are – abundant blessings, gifts
Stay open, not judge it to be this or that
Fertilizer
Spaciousness in our lives, both being and doing
Landscaping work too
How do people relate to church, if not Christian? – do we have any non-Christians here?
Yes, Jewish
Yes, Buddhist
This reminds me of the Buddhist concept of human revolution – revolutionizing oneself from within
Want to talk about Being and Doing
Being: Tending self and earth as gardens
Read from previous invitation:
“Human beings need and want to be in authentic connection with each other.
It helps all of us to respond to the challenges and opportunities of our times – in self, team, community, and society.”
We need to be in “authentic connection” with our selves as well
To come into connection with others means to be in connection with oneself
Experience searching the Hollyhock website – trying to find out about a workshop
Christina Baldwin circle practicum (first possibility)
Also Donald Walsh and Conversations with God (second possibility)
Then Maria and Sarah and community in Greece – Axladitsa (yet another possibility)
I finally realized that I kept looking outside (for a workshop of some sort), not realizing the answers are within
Talk to others and then tend my own garden.
Balance connection with others and connection to self
Doing – getting together still a possibility
Sufi retreat center in New York state (in New Lebanon)
Also could come together locally and harvest locally and then share with larger group.
There are several people in Mass. and several in New Jersey.
See what seeds germinate
What’s next? What is being created?
We are different people in different ways
I need to understand what the Gardeners are before thinking about what is next.
Do I want to do this? This is when I feel most myself.
This is what church could be.
That is what people are connecting to.
Sacred space, sanctuary, people aren’t going to find that elsewhere.
Connection to the “sacred space” – outer vs. inner
Is it a new expression of what ‘church wants to be’?
What is it? What is next?
Typical questions I find in circles.
Culture-bound Western reaction: we are ‘doing’ beings
We need action, activity
Is it doing or being? I can’t decide?
Being – doing
Sensing a new way of being active, of being alive
Holding space / grace into the circle, the silence, stillness, presence
Still feel very active, very alive
Learning to be active in a different, new way
Would like to do these kinds of conversations / calls more
What wants to be next is more of this
Space where people feel nurtured, appreciated, can be anywhere
Spiritual church
A way of coming in and out of space / place
Ducks coming and going – similar ways of coming in and out of ourselves
Part of the beauty of what it is
One of the questions in the invitation has a “what’s next?” feel.
I feel myself clamp up a bit.
Need meaning, this circle is a practice in the ‘now’
I like the question of what it means to ‘do’ or to ‘be.’
Delighted by the call. Not too much in my head
There are people I know / people I don’t know
I like what I hear and how I am feeling.
Very much feeling the joy of the moment of ‘now’
Shift in pattern in my own body.
Meg Wheatley’s quote:
“Who we are together is always different and more than who we are alone.”
At energetic level and doing level, sensing energetics.
What are the outcomes? Deliberate outcomes?
Energy of friendship, of being together, of what’s in the middle is the strongest takeaway.
Periodic calls to drop into.
Come back with some good questions.
Metaphor of pearl divers
Usually in pairs, rope around the waist, one counts breaths, the other searches for the treasure.
Rope connection gives trust.
Opportunities when we explore together.
Know someone else is there.
Explore, take turns.
On the call we can be there for each other.
Definition of Gardeners?
Are we struggling to define who we are – it’s elusive
Open space that is evolving
“What’s next?” is maybe “What’s now?”
Closing Space
What’s now? Any voice, any image coming to mind?
Image of the ground in winter
The soil, we can’t see what’s alive in there,
But we hope vegetables will grow down the road.
What’s now? Keep nurturing, keep nurturing
Ducks in their school together
Together – in and out, up and down.
Now – continue collectively, in and out
Can we use peace as a verb? Can you please peace?
Happy to join
Feeling of peace
Feeling stretched – piece of glass
Graft – raw edge not fully connected
Feeling in touch, connected
Yearning – yearning for authentic connection
Peace – peace is a way to respond to the yearning for authentic connection
Here / now: two cats purring and cleaning one another.
Picture for peace – connection
Holds the beads
I have a sense of appreciation for having learned and felt a lot, for being at peace.
I have a sense of welcoming the next part in the day and to share some of this with the gang.
Sacred space – grateful – Presence
Closed with silence and Michael Jones piano
Piano music of Michael Jones – Touch – in the background
Gardeners:
Tenneson
Holly
Lenore
Judy
Junahli
Sheri
Laurel
Elizabeth
Gilles
Introduction Ten with Meg Wheatley quote:
“Who we are together is always different and more than who we are alone.”
Reading Jan 13 phone council quote:
“Human beings need and want to be in authentic connection with each other. It helps all of us to respond to the challenges and opportunities of our times – in self, team, community, and society.”
Purpose of Gardeners
Seeds of peace planted deeply in the heart – in everyone’s heart.
Mentioned letter from Gardener the night before + Gilles’ response
Acknowledged Terry from Paris and Peter from Sydney
Introduction: Candle, talking piece (bracelet of wooden beads from many circles) and some guidelines for speaking on the call
-listen with attention
-speak with intention
-tend to the well-being of the group
Planning of the council:
-15 minute check-in: What gardening is alive in you?
- 30-45 minutes: pop corn questions (3 questions from the invitation) and what’s next
-10 minutes: closing space
Guardian: Explains her role as the guardian to be in this virtual room, to notice the natural shifts, to ring the pottery bell.
Check-in: What gardening is alive in you?
Inner gardening practice alive on a sunny afternoon in Utah viewing through the window the snow-covered school yard
Religious practice of the family – energy was off
My daughter left behind that morning on the way to church – but it is a walkable distance
Need to reground today after experiencing some scattered energy
Walked around the house with bells, put Michael’s music on and sat on the floor
Shift of energy, from grumpy to more harmonious - “I am ready to listen” space.
Easy to get lost in ‘bad’ energy – simple breathing and steps that reground, shift the pattern, reach emptiness and openness
First time on the call - exceptional place today: yoga in the morning and massage in the afternoon, feels spoiled
Anticipation re continuation of the day: “I have a body”
Gardening – body centered. Bring from within to without.
Spread from self to trickle outwards.
Gardeners’ concept: small and large ways for ourselves and others
Job – few gardeners in the area: my job is art and healing practice
Offer the earth, painter, educator – focus into that practice
Group connections and tendrils around the globe are important – all attached with gardening
As the blossom popping up out of the pavement, how do we continue to find the soil?
Relate to the metaphor: “Blossoming out of the pavement”
Living in Florida, 3rd floor balcony apartment
Creek below, river, low tide, mud and even smell
Gardening: grieving other people’s sediments. Is this a healthy practice?
I have not dealt with sediments, and I wonder
Feel in tune with these layers of mud that have been left around.
Coming into that place – not only me – my space
Listen and not get stuck in the mud
In Burlington, Ontario
At my desk; freezing rain
15 morning doves outside: sense of the feminine, eternity, peace
Monday – family day – holiday in Canada
Am on my own today, getting a breather from one another
Attracted to the call. I feel more like myself in community.
Our garden – women’s leadership circle.
Building on Christina and Meg’s authenticity and richness of conversation.
Gardening very alive in me.
What am I going to get out of this council?
Feel more like myself – this type of community, even a virtual community
Love the talking piece – tool; it’s enormous, allows you to speak from the heart
Will I think of what to say or allow the flow to carry me?
Found it in the previous contribution.
Where I want to go (in my life) – sense of direction
Body of water near me – tide ½ way up; lots of ducks
Alive in me: desire for human connection, authenticity
Words can mean so much
Went to the Shambhala Institute (Halifax) 3 years ago (July 05) and enjoyed the rich diversity of the Global Village Square – 80 people all together, maybe 3-4 US Americans
Felt lonely back home – didn’t want to leave the room
Opened a portal, inner calling to look within and then to connect with those around the world to bring meaning and hope to others. Not something we do alone.
Zig zag path: never losing sight of my inner calling
More Check-ins Limit to one minute (Ten instruction)
In Santa Fe
Wonderful morning. Intense times.
Buddha Belly plant – seed pods bursting, 1 pod each night. Germinate during the day.
Friend from Madagascar – gave me the plant for my birthday
Waiting for the right moment to germinate – it is growing
Today is the right day – germination – turn around
Inner gardening inspiration – risk – circles - new ventures – I have my own
Gardening alive in me – part of who I am – sense of Collective Self
Emergence: reconnection to the sacred
Exploring the sacred feminine and wholeness of knowing
Interested in astrology – exploring that part of my inner garden again
Not well for the past 10 days.
Something is alive in my body. Is there a message that I need to listen to?
Much travel – Asia, France for the past two months
Now home and need to slow down
I am listening to that message
In New York city
Gardening and nurturing go together
Peace is nurturing me and I am nurturing peace – sense of mutual relationships – needs to nurture it
Essence of the conversation – looking into the questions from the invitation and also what’s next
What comes into the room – energy
Extension of stories shared so far; lots of beauty in sharing stories
What is possible with the Gardeners?
What wants to be born?
What are the connections with others? With other groups?
Why not another group?
What shape might want to be born here?
What is your thinking, what are your desires?
Need to back up
First time phone council for me
Am curious
- who wants to be with this community?
- people who are working / gardening?
I want to be with like-spirited people where inner gardening is a priority
Am not sure others can’t connect as well
True for others who are also first timers on the call
Community of people who have like-minded hearts
See where that thread goes
Is it about being or doing?
Idea of a circle, virtual circle – sitting around together – it’s about ‘being’
Then perhaps we each are active locally
With this group, hear the bell, check into the group’s energy.
Check in with other groups for local activities in Santa Fe
Gardening activities have a ‘being’ part and a face-to-face part
Maybe I could express inner and outer gardening with the green sustainable school garden.
I am noticing how my body feels being here.
My body feels different when my family goes to church – feel that maybe I should be with them. Feels so obligatory
I want to feel a different spirit this morning
Different kind of breathing, inner peace, inner gardening. It feels great.
Church transition story for me – inner peace
Gardeners of Peace: it is about a call, an energy that you are invited to, know it is there.
In person gathering: January was too early so shifted into phone council format.
Need to listen to people’s feelings and words
In the now / value – “where you are”
Obliged to go to church as a child (grew up in Ohio)
Looking forward to this call – to coming together
It feels a bit like going to church, a new form of church
Respectful ways of listening – of communicating
Deep questions for reflect on – this is the ‘being’ part
Exploration together
Would value the opportunity to get together and
Also value the very present and silent space of these calls.
Yoga as worship – substitute for church
Thought for this group: phone call
Image of beads and phone call – can join from anywhere
Different ways to start the germination / seeds
Scatter and see which land or plant correctly with many in one place. Graft one strong plant to another existing plant.
We can plant in a different number of holes – same intention in different places
Each gardener has different skills
Would like to see the group stay expansive
Seed in a pot this morning – needs the right conditions
No demand that we show up the same way
We show up the way we are – abundant blessings, gifts
Stay open, not judge it to be this or that
Fertilizer
Spaciousness in our lives, both being and doing
Landscaping work too
How do people relate to church, if not Christian? – do we have any non-Christians here?
Yes, Jewish
Yes, Buddhist
This reminds me of the Buddhist concept of human revolution – revolutionizing oneself from within
Want to talk about Being and Doing
Being: Tending self and earth as gardens
Read from previous invitation:
“Human beings need and want to be in authentic connection with each other.
It helps all of us to respond to the challenges and opportunities of our times – in self, team, community, and society.”
We need to be in “authentic connection” with our selves as well
To come into connection with others means to be in connection with oneself
Experience searching the Hollyhock website – trying to find out about a workshop
Christina Baldwin circle practicum (first possibility)
Also Donald Walsh and Conversations with God (second possibility)
Then Maria and Sarah and community in Greece – Axladitsa (yet another possibility)
I finally realized that I kept looking outside (for a workshop of some sort), not realizing the answers are within
Talk to others and then tend my own garden.
Balance connection with others and connection to self
Doing – getting together still a possibility
Sufi retreat center in New York state (in New Lebanon)
Also could come together locally and harvest locally and then share with larger group.
There are several people in Mass. and several in New Jersey.
See what seeds germinate
What’s next? What is being created?
We are different people in different ways
I need to understand what the Gardeners are before thinking about what is next.
Do I want to do this? This is when I feel most myself.
This is what church could be.
That is what people are connecting to.
Sacred space, sanctuary, people aren’t going to find that elsewhere.
Connection to the “sacred space” – outer vs. inner
Is it a new expression of what ‘church wants to be’?
What is it? What is next?
Typical questions I find in circles.
Culture-bound Western reaction: we are ‘doing’ beings
We need action, activity
Is it doing or being? I can’t decide?
Being – doing
Sensing a new way of being active, of being alive
Holding space / grace into the circle, the silence, stillness, presence
Still feel very active, very alive
Learning to be active in a different, new way
Would like to do these kinds of conversations / calls more
What wants to be next is more of this
Space where people feel nurtured, appreciated, can be anywhere
Spiritual church
A way of coming in and out of space / place
Ducks coming and going – similar ways of coming in and out of ourselves
Part of the beauty of what it is
One of the questions in the invitation has a “what’s next?” feel.
I feel myself clamp up a bit.
Need meaning, this circle is a practice in the ‘now’
I like the question of what it means to ‘do’ or to ‘be.’
Delighted by the call. Not too much in my head
There are people I know / people I don’t know
I like what I hear and how I am feeling.
Very much feeling the joy of the moment of ‘now’
Shift in pattern in my own body.
Meg Wheatley’s quote:
“Who we are together is always different and more than who we are alone.”
At energetic level and doing level, sensing energetics.
What are the outcomes? Deliberate outcomes?
Energy of friendship, of being together, of what’s in the middle is the strongest takeaway.
Periodic calls to drop into.
Come back with some good questions.
Metaphor of pearl divers
Usually in pairs, rope around the waist, one counts breaths, the other searches for the treasure.
Rope connection gives trust.
Opportunities when we explore together.
Know someone else is there.
Explore, take turns.
On the call we can be there for each other.
Definition of Gardeners?
Are we struggling to define who we are – it’s elusive
Open space that is evolving
“What’s next?” is maybe “What’s now?”
Closing Space
What’s now? Any voice, any image coming to mind?
Image of the ground in winter
The soil, we can’t see what’s alive in there,
But we hope vegetables will grow down the road.
What’s now? Keep nurturing, keep nurturing
Ducks in their school together
Together – in and out, up and down.
Now – continue collectively, in and out
Can we use peace as a verb? Can you please peace?
Happy to join
Feeling of peace
Feeling stretched – piece of glass
Graft – raw edge not fully connected
Feeling in touch, connected
Yearning – yearning for authentic connection
Peace – peace is a way to respond to the yearning for authentic connection
Here / now: two cats purring and cleaning one another.
Picture for peace – connection
Holds the beads
I have a sense of appreciation for having learned and felt a lot, for being at peace.
I have a sense of welcoming the next part in the day and to share some of this with the gang.
Sacred space – grateful – Presence
Closed with silence and Michael Jones piano
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