Connection in community

There’s much to be said for working in community, living in community, and connecting in community. It’s being and operating in this way that drives human connection, enables people to talk more openly, and in many cases sparks our imagination, unearthing ideas that would never have materialied and seen the light of day, if that creative practice that we’d been invited to participate in, never came about.

Tap into your imagination

You’d be forgiven for wondering what I’m going on about, so let me explain… ‘Connection in community’ was the theme for day 5 of the retreat I went on in Ireland in the first week of October, hosted along the Wild Atlantic Way, in the depths of county Donegal, Ireland. The overarching theme for the retreat was ‘From Word to World’, and each day had a specific focus, with many practices to experience and experiment with having started the day in silent meditation and set our intention.

Experiencing ceremonies influenced by traditional healing tribal practices, playing with movement inspired by QOYA known as a compass for navigating an embodied life that is wise, wild and free, sounding to experience how sound resonates in our bodies and sounds when expressed, to writing practices led by meditation and responding intuitively to a series of questions, designed to encourage us to step into our creativity and feel inspired to unleash our imagination.

Here’s some of the questions that were asked during our warm-up writes, where we have 60 seconds to write down and capture what we creatively, intuitively get, before our logical, analytical brain kicks in and says “that’s rubbish, what does that even mean?”.

• Right now, what do I want to say to my body?
• What does my body want to say to me?
• What do I want to say to my voice?
• What does my voice want to say to me?
• What do I want to say to my heart?
• What does my heart want to say to me?

Courageous conversations

Every day on the retreat, between 5-6pm, we had a ‘Courageous Conversations’ circle. The purpose being to share what is landing for us and to share this with the group, the intention to be of service to everyone. During these vulnerable, challenging and most often extremely insightful sessions, we were invited to observe and follow some rules that enabled everyone to speak freely, with no judgement or interruption. In the Courageous Conversations session on day 5, we were invited to speak and present to the group what we had written in response to our writing practice earlier that day.

It was surprising the intrigue I felt about putting my voice to my words and sharing them openly with the group. There was also a lot of resistance as I felt vulnerable and exposed, some questions and mind games coming into play… “Would it resonate? Would it make sense? Will they think I’m odd? Perhaps it’s best not to share?”. So, in the interests authenticity, sharing and bringing the premise of the retreat ‘From Word to World” to life, here’s what I wrote…

Burn, let your spirit soar

Your voice is beautiful, it’s rich and mellow,

Deep and strong, from pitch to shallow,

Your voice will say what needs to be spoke,

Let it burn like a fire, until it needs to be poked,

Poked with a pole, rod or piece of wood,

Encouraged to talk until it’s understood,

No need to hide, no need to stay quiet,

In this place my voice… my voice,

My voice can be booming, mild and weak,

But here I’m seeking a 10-pin bowling streak,

To leave nothing unsaid, leaving nothing misunderstood,

Releasing what’s worrying me from under my hood,

Like a car has an engine, our brains and bodies need juice,

Petrol, diesel and mindfulness, to feel fully present where we stood,

We stood at the beach, at the rocks, and the shore,

With a question bubbling “Will there always be more?”

More to learn,

More to seek,

More to enjoy,

More to peak?

To peak my interests when the day gets dark,

And I begin to feel like I’m losing my spark,

Sparks come in November for fireworks galore,

Guy Fawkes, now that was a man who wanted more!

He set fire to London city, in a blaze, in a flame,

Many people and things never to be seen again,

We’re all on a big journey, and over mountains I’ll soar,

Spotting pigs, geese and chickens, and probably wild boar,

I like it smoked, dried or sliced, to celebrate the flavour is stores,

Completely unlike a digestive and marsh mellow smores,

I don’t like them, they’re too sweet, no flavour to savour,

Where will this journey take me, what will be my next endeavour,

I’ll endeavour to be strong, wise, kind and smart,

Much like a baby born at the start,

All innocence and joy, a tight bundle of fun,

For them life on earth has just begun.

The Heroine’s Journey

Whilst in Ireland, at the location of our Heroine’s Journey retreat, I was amongst the most amazing group of women. All from different cultures, having a range of backgrounds, a spectrum of ages, and a huge depth of life experiences – our week together has been challenging, joyful, reflective and transformational, so to my sisters who were called to join this journey together, I have the upmost respect, warmth and heartfelt thanks. Together, in our community, we created something very special.

If you would like to listen to me speak my poem, ‘Burn, let your spirit soar’, check out Colourful Conversations on TikTok – here.

Photo by Eric Sanman, Pexels.