gathering
by Kelly Penrod, LCDC and Creativity Coach
I know that life gets busy with THINGS. From the moment we enter this world we are consumers. Consumers of knowledge, of nutrients, seeking attention to what makes us feel comfortable. Yet most of our time on this earth we are not informed of how things work; we learn about it on the journey. What I love about We Practice Life (WPL) is the companionship of learning the little nuances in life, like how to connect with others through empathy, the quality of listening or of being heard. THINGS are what we thought would make us happy; a new house, a new car, new toys. As we grow older with these THINGS we make judgments about how we are doing in our life, comparing ourselves to others, especially to others who have money and nicer THINGS, and all those nicer things it brings to them.
Most people in life are lonely. THINGS are unable to bring compassion or companionship. WPL offers both.
When I lived in Alaska, we would occasionally in the summertime go fishing with 6 couples we knew from our military housing area. It was not an easy trip to make as we had to portage into an area about 5 miles, backpacking, and carrying our 110 pound aluminium canoe over land to the next lake area. Hardly ever was there another person within 200 miles. We were young married couples excited to all be away from work and the kids and have time to fish, sit around the campfire and listen to our stories. We were able to make wonderful dinners without the convenience of our home appliances. Once we got to our camp, made our dinner, we would talk about our children, how we missed them.
It was at that moment in life about 40 years ago, when I realized it was not the THINGS anymore, but deep connecting relationships that I longed for. Don't get me wrong, I still have THINGS in my life, more art supplies than anyone would ever have. I made it a conscious decision to work on relationships, and empathy and essential communication skills.
Recognizing all of the survival skills I can easily use when I need to, WPL offers thriving skills that we don't necessarily know about or how to use. Never in a million years would I have portaged over 7 lakes into a remote area in Alaska all by myself to have the wonderful experience of being in the presence of an eagle, or the beauty of nature. It was the safety with others, through that experience that helped me gain insight to what mattered for me.
WPL is similar. It is with the safety of others, gaining thriving skills, that makes this journey in life transformative.