Native American Bearing Witness Retreat 2022

Praying for Sacred Harmony and Worldwide Peace | Day 8

"To Bear Witness is to have a strong glimpse into the truth that the life of the other is actually our own life itself, that we are, indeed, one body. Our Bearing Witness retreats take place in places where deep human trauma occurred and where healing is endlessly needed. With our retreats we intend to contribute to this healing."

Time passes so quickly these days. Indeed, as some of my friends and I have joked throughout the pandemic, "What is time anymore?"

That notion of time seems particularly salient now. And, it's hard to believe that just a week ago, my bearing witness journey was beginning.

I am slowly reintegrating and transitioning into my routine and life here in the Bay Area. Right now, it's past midnight. I'm home comfy in my bed with my two little furries burrowed under the covers. One is stretched out like he owns the place and the other is snuggled up beside my feet like the good little cuddlebug she has always been. Earlier today, I journaled & prayed, went for a run, unpacked my luggage, took a walk in nature, and connected with a few friends either by phone or in-person.

It's not lost on me that for the past week, my time was spent differently from how I have been spending it this year (i.e. working & busying myself with just about everything under the sun and building my business).

Participating in this retreat which gave me time in the quantitative sense. But it also made me look closely at the quality of how I spend my time.

Each day was spent:

• In connection with community and remembering my/our interconnectedness
• In dialogue with each other and something bigger & sacred. Sometimes it was through observing silence or meditation and other times it was through prayer.
• Being in relationship with the Earth. Honoring it and learning from it. Most importantly, respecting that everything's aliveness, not just humans but also the sun, moon, sky as as the plants & animals. This aliveness and respect of it are what made my/our journey what it was/is.
• Practicing deep listening & bearing witness to the living, breathing, walking, talking, and loving miracles that WE ARE. Not turning away from miraculous ME and miraculous YOU in all of our pain & triumphs or imposing our will on each other to gain power or control but turning towards our joy and our suffering. Doing so allows us to create a stronger container & solution for us all.

It was a breath of fresh air. I can't tell you how much I miss the feeling of the earth on my bare feet, seeing my chest and belly rise and fall in total harmony because I'd created a space where I could actually take deep breaths, hearing the elders of our makeshift week-long community praying, and having the smell of sage purify my nooks and crannies.

If you ask me that is time well spent on Planet Earth and I personally would do it again in a heartbeat.

By anchoring my/our time in those four pillars, I/we began to co-create new ways of being and relating to myself/ourselves and each other.

As I think about where do I/we go from here and what do I/we do next, it's organizing myself (i.e. thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, ways of being, my approach to DEI, my writing, my art, my interactions, etc.) and my life around those 4 pillars.

Knowing what the old ways & systems of being have produced, I'm tired of it. And, according to all the stats around "The Great Resignation" and how the pandemic has changed us, so are you & probably others reading this post.

The Erika that began this retreat did so thinking it would be interesting at the very least. The Erika that is leaving the retreat is leaving with a new North Star.

All I/we have is time until I/we don't have it anymore. None of us know how long we have left individually or collectively

And since 2020, especially when I look at all that is going on in the world and the way things are trending, I fear that we're running out of time. If time doesn't end, then it's about to really hold our feet to the fire and force our hand so that we have the hard conversations that are long overdue and make changes that will uplift & be in highest service of all not just the select few.

I'm not naive to think that the retreat buzz will last forever or that this will be easy. But what I do know to be true is that those 4 things are worth holding onto and living for because they make way for new possibilities and ways of being together.

With heavy sleep eyelids and a tired body, I wonder:

How can I/we bring these pillars forth in every last precious drop of life?

And because none of this can ever be done alone, who will join me?

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P.S. If you've made it this far, thank you for bearing witness to my journey. Please consider making a donation to support my retreat costs. South Dakota and Wyoming are surprisingly expensive and retreat organizers encourage us to fundraise our costs as part of the bearing witness process. Venmo is best and you can donate to @Erika-Powell-3. Grateful in advance to and for YOU.

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