What does abundance mean for you?
With summer nearly over we are slowly entering the autumn season, September brings a reminder of harvest and gathering in our abundance. Abundance comes in many ways and often the simplest ways carry the most beauty and wealth.
It’s been a difficult year for many in our world and uncertainty is never very far away. Challenges and difficulties can often come thick and fast with rarely any let up. So, I connect here with you all to remind you to look inside yourself for the strength and the connexion you seek. Taking a few minutes each day for yourself brings abundance. Sitting in a safe and familiar place to reach inside and breath brings peace, and with that inner peace brings growth, and we can all do with a little extra inner peace and growth for sure.
September for Held and Honoured - Inside
The coming month for Held and Honoured sees a time of connecting – connecting both inside and outside. Inside for me means connecting deeper to my inner self, learning about my own growth and my abundance and having gratitude for my blessings. But what do my blessings look like? First, and the most important blessing for me is my health, I’m strong and fit with little or no ailments. I have spent most of my working life supporting folks with both physical and mental illnesses and I recognise my fortitude of good health. So, my health is my greatest blessing.
I have gratitude for the home that keeps me safe and warm and the abundance of my friends and family who oftentimes pass through my doors. I have gratitude for my ability to recognise the depths of myself, so I can share my harvest with others, those who may need to take a sip from my cup. There are many souls like me who share their time and space with others, right across the globe most people help one another, as this is our true essence, the meaning of our lives. For me sharing my gifts and my bounty in the world brings more abundance and more growth. And I do not mean money.
September for Held and Honoured - Outside
Outside, I am looking forward this September to meeting Stuart from Development Plus at the Zenfest day retreat were all things mindful will be the order of the day. Being outside is my favourite place to be. Which brings me to holding space for Laura down on the allotment with the social group that meet twice a week. If they have a fire pit too, they will be hard pressed to get rid of me!
September is also a time for me to connect with the wider world, which means for me social media, my nemesis! I am a face-to-face type of being so something I must adapt to if I want Held and Honoured to grow and thrive.
Here at Held and Honoured growth through empowerment is at the heart of everything I do. I hold space for others to allow themselves to take a step back, to allow just a little bit of ‘time out’, from the hurly burly of life. To go deep within, to see and connect with yourself.
What is Circle work?
Folks keep asking me ‘what is circle work’? So, if you’re unsure let me unpick this for you.
Sitting in my circle means feeling safe and heard. It’s for anyone and everyone in all walks of life. Sitting in In Circle is a stress release, an anxiety buster, a mind cleaner. It can be used in business, in groups that already meet, in teams in the workplace or for the solitary souls just wanting to connect. It’s a total break form the normal. I like to say that In Circle is the ‘new yoga for the Heart and Mind’.
How does it work?
I introduce my circle and set down some basic safety elements for everyone to follow. Such as, in circle we listen, we do not fix. We use positive regard throughout our sessions, and this helps us to respect one another. I discuss confidentiality and after care.
I first ask everyone to choose 2 or 3 words to describe how they are landing in the circle at that exact time. This helps us all to clarify feelings and the energy of the circle. I then ask for everyone to lower their gaze or close their eyes and I use breath work and grounding techniques and take the group on a 20-minute guided meditation. Afterwards the circle becomes open for anyone who wishes to give voice to anything they need to give voice to, without interruption, judgement or fixing.
Often when we have something deep inside us that has no outlet all we need is for the space to be heard, this is what In Circle provides. It doesn’t have to be anything radical you give voice to; it could be an everyday frustration. For other folk in a committed regular circle, it is a way to release past trauma, to develop mindful skills and technics.
In circle provides a safe space to give voice to whatever is needed to be said. And very often what you came into circle to say is not what you do give voice to. The meditation prior is the necessary component to the process. The grounding meditation is the key that enables the heart to speak. To release into to the circle, to let go through your voice whilst being held in love, kindness and compassion.
When everyone who wishes to speak has done so we may do a journaling exercise we may just sit together for a few moments to respect one another’s voice. I may read a poem or tell a short story. I give an opportunity to laugh and smile at our human selves. Finally, we take a few more minutes in meditation to release energy and we go around the circle one last time and in 2 or 3 words we best describe how we are leaving circle. Circle is then closed.
Circle is Human Connexion
Most importantly my circle is for human connection without judgement, a safe space to meet either in person or online it doesn’t matter how or where, what matters is presence and connection. Human connection is a blessing and one many have forgotten or lost the value and its worth, the abundance human connection can bring for each one of us is a blessing and one we should never forget and always treasure.
What are you gathering in for September’s harvest?
What are your blessings?
What does human connexion look like for you?
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