Summer 2005

GREETINGS FOR THE SUMMER SOLISTICE & ABORIGINAL DAY!

As the warm summer days lengthen, enjoying the beauty & lusciousness of the trees & plants coming into the fullness of their blooming time, I am about to go on another healing journey. Tomorrow I will be having surgery that will give me a new hip and assist me in regaining much of the range & strength in my weight bearing activities that have been curtailed for three and a half years. Arriving at this decision has not been an easy one and I have processed and run through fear, despair, hope, and even shame & failure. “If only I had taken care of myself better, done more Continuum, been more faithful to the arthritis diet, etc., etc.” You know the drill. Then last week, there was a switch from feelings of anxiety and dread to my feeling ready and prepared to enter into this unknown situation. I don’t know for sure what will happen and all I can do is prepare myself with the inner resources and support that I have in my community. According to Emilie Conrad, preparation is so very important. I am also grateful that there is this alternative available. In my Winter/Spring Newsletter, I referred to the interview with Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Symphony who spoke on The Art of Possibility. I was very taken with his ideas, especially with the one in which the conductor receives his power by enabling and assisting each member of the orchestra to come to his/her full potential. This spoke to me of my teaching of the Continuum process as well as the work of Somatic Experiencing in my Counselling practice. It also confirmed my sense of true intelligence and spirituality in which decisions are made for the benefit of oneself and of all beings.

Recently, I read the book by Benjamin and Rosamund Zander on “The Art of Possibility” and was able to more clearly understand their ideas. We live in a culture which they entitle, the world of measurement, where survival thinking is rampant and competition and comparing reign. In this way of thinking, you have to be calculating and look out for Number 1 because there is scarcity and you may not get your share. However, if one takes the stance that the world is invented and the above thinking may be an illusion, then it opens up the world of possibility which is based on abundance and connectedness. In this way of attending and perceiving the world, I create a context and let life unfold.(Sound familiar to those of you who have taken Continuum!) It allows one to accept feelings like fear, frustration, sadness, anger and let them move through you. Then, one moves into “And what else?” Herein there is expansiveness and unthoughtofbeforepossibilities emerge. Practically speaking, this means that I will not be able to teach Continuum this summer. My plans are to resume my Continuum classes & workshops in late September or early October. I intend to hold workshops in Kelowna & Victoria later in the fall. Penny Allport holds classes and workshops throughout the summer in Steveston and on the Sunshine Coast at her retreat place so please contact her for more information: penny@swarainspiritations.ca.

Please pray for me and hold me in your thoughts and prayers during this time. My friends and family have been wonderful and supportive and I am learning so much about receiving and asking. I feel so touched and held by my community and the many circles of which I am a part. “I” truly becomes a “We.” In closing, I want to offer you some words from “Divine Mother—The Matrix” which has inspired me in the past. I wish for you to feel the abundance and wisdom of the cosmos within yourselves.

I am the intelligence from which the universe emanates And in which it abides. The ignorant believe that I am merely nature But the wise experience me as the true Self within themselves. They glimpse me in their own hearts When their minds become as still and clear as an ocean without waves. With love & blessings, DorisJune 20^th, 2005