*delayed with a tech glitch Day Nineteen Circles of Trust (and your invitation into mine this week)
White space ... that’s what this image reminds me of. And we need more of it in our lives. Waiting. Listening.
Space and time to still. To listen to our own souls speak. The essence of who we are and the excess of who we are needs a meeting place so truth can form here.
I have been exploring something called a Circle of Trust. A place where leaders can be their most authentic self.
Holy listening—to “listen” another’s soul into life, into a condition of disclosure and discovery, may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.
And it’s not easy to listen and ask spirit-led questions of one another. But when we do, we hear of legacy being contended for. Bold steps to stand strong in voice even when people don’t understand. We hear of grief, loss, decades of pain. We hear of inheritance. We hear of the unknown feeling wide open and scary. We hear of things never spoke out loud before.
And those five women have never connected before in their life as a group. It’s felt like the five of us where those Daughters of Z! Those sisters, so unique, but so connected by their pursuit of legacy.
How does a circle of trust work?
A circle of trust has no agenda except to help people listen to their own souls and discern their own truths…Its singular purpose is to support the inner journey of each person in the group, to make each soul feel safe enough to show up and speak its truth, to help each person listen to his or her own inner teacher.
In our society we make spaces for our intellect, our emotions, our will and our ego to show up, but we know very little about creating spaces that invite the soul to make itself known…
Spaces designed to welcome the soul and support the inner journey are rare. But the principles and practices that shape such spaces are neither new nor untested. Some are embedded in monastic tradition…Some emerged over 400 years of Quaker faith and practice. Some are embedded in the processes of spiritual formation that can be found at the heart of most of the world’s great wisdom traditions.
Like a wild animal,, the soul is tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy and self-sufficient: it knows how to survive in hard places…Yet despite its toughness, the soul is also shy…A circle of trust is a group of people who know how to sit quietly “in the woods” with each other and wait for the shy soul to show up. The relationships in such a group are not pushy but patient; they are not confrontational but compassionate; they are filled not with expectations and demands but with abiding faith in the reality of the inner teacher and in each person’s capacity to learn from it.
The soul will show up only if we approach each other with no other motive than the desire to welcome it. When we “protect and border and salute” each other’s solitude, we break our manipulative habits and make it safe for the soul to emerge.
In a circle of trust we are governed by a simple rule: “No fixing, no saving, no advising, no setting each other straight.”
And my circles of trust will grow. And on this bold breakthrough journey I am learning what I was born for. Facilitating these moments are part of my ‘why’.
I would love to engage you like this. Maybe you showing up online is your bold step?
So I will host two this week....
One on the True Conversations FB for the women of Canada and another for my Resurgent Soul Sisterhood. Be on either of those Facebook Groups for more information.
You are loved.