“Awakening from the Dark” – an Inner Transition workshop featuring the Truth Mandala - a simple and deep process where we can feel all the things we normally push to one side as we get on with what’s right in front of us. When we can express our natural feelings, whatever they are, and hear the response of others, we free up all the energy that we spend on keeping these feelings inside and create a sense of connection, well being and aliveness. On Sunday 5th February, 1-5pm at Studio 4 in Dartington. See TTT calendar or email mail@suzannedennis.net for full details.
We hear a lot about “austerity measures” these days. It might be about Greece or Portugal being required to make massive cuts to public spending, or hardship in this country as many jobs are lost and services cut. At the same time as public sector pay freezes we hear of bankers’ salaries rising by huge percentages, of annual bonuses that exceed the lifetime earnings for most households.
What do you feel when you hear these things? And what do you do with those feelings?
I find myself switching off the radio in disgust when I hear people defending this gross inequality. I feel my frustration, my powerlessness to change the situation. Sometimes I feel a deep sadness – thinking of the damaging effects of gas fracking, of the Deep Horizon oil spill, of the people living in fear or division as resources wars continue. Sometimes I get annoyed. Sometimes I’m scared – I don’t have kids but I worry what kind of world my teenage nieces will be facing in 10 or 20 years’ time.
I do what I can – I sign more on line petitions, write to MPs and councillors, keep contributing to the Transition movement. But often I put the feelings away – what to do with them? – and keep going with what is in front of me to do.
I understand emotions as a natural flow of information, which helps us to stay in connection with the people and life around us. We’ve evolved to feel sad when natural beauty is destroyed, or when other creatures are suffering. And the healthy thing to do with feelings is to express them – so there is a flow of what’s arising, our response, our expression. The experience is helped by sharing feelings with others – I’ve found it to be one of the deepest forms of human connection, to know that others are also feeling something in response to a situation.
I see it as part of healthy human culture to create spaces where our feelings can be given space and attention, and shared with others. These spaces are hard to find in our western way of life. Some of us share feelings in our one to one relationships, or with friends. Others seek professional help through groups or one to one support. Occasionally there is a great public outpouring of grief – after Diana died, or the tsunami. But all too often we are left to deal with our feelings on our own. And sometimes they end up as destructive forces, coming out at the wrong time and with the wrong person, damaging relationships at home or at work and making stressful times even more difficult to handle.
Joanna Macy is one of the great teachers who recognised the importance of expressing feelings together as a way of maintaining health and a sense of aliveness. She developed many simple practices for honouring what we feel – particularly in relation to what’s happening in the world around us, but also with the understanding that our personal pain is always part of a larger picture, because our lives are so shaped and intermingled with the large scale systems for living. So we might be mourning a lost relationship, but some of the stress leading to the break up may be due to financial pressures, family expectations and so on. Her book describing many of these processes is called “Coming Back to Life” and in that she talks of the numbing that happens when we don’t’ have spaces to feel.
It’s been an ongoing commitment of the Inner Transition group to offer Joanna’s work, and on February 5th two great facilitators are offering one of her most powerful processes, the Truth Mandala, in a workshop called “Awakening from the Dark”. In this we are invited to share some of the feelings of outrage, grief, anxiety, frustration, not knowing, numbness or hopelessness that arise naturally as we hear of difficult situations beyond our control.
I’ve experienced the Truth Mandala process in a variety of settings and each time have found it to be beautiful, moving and ultimately deeply empowering. Some kind of magic happens when I see that others are also feeling things about what’s happening – and that my tears, fears or outrage are also valued. Instead of feeling alone, weird, unwanted in part of my being, I feel invigorated and connected.
On April 14th we will be offering another workshop, this time focusing on the connection with nature and the living world of which we are a part. The Council of All Beings is a creative, enjoyable, enlivening process which will be facilitated by Annie Leymarie, with Isabel Carlisle offering a space for young people.
If you would like to be kept informed of similar workshops that we run in the future please contact innertransition@transitiontowntotnes.org and join our mailing list.
