Relaxing days ...
Dear <<First Name>>,
Well we're now past mid-summer here in the northern hemisphere ... and summer for most is typically a stepping back from the more hectic pace that we set for ourselves during the rest of the year. It's time to relax, take holidays, get in the water, swim, kayak, go camping, attend music festivals, fire up the BBQ, visit family, etc. I hope you've been enjoying some of the sweet leisures of summer.
That being said, most people are less inclined to look ahead to fall and winter activities. I encourage you to look ahead though if you're considering attending any of my upcoming courses. The early bird registration for my Victoria Sept training ends Sept 6th while the early bird for my Oct training in Golden Lake ONT ends Aug 31st. Please take advantage of these dates if you plan on studying with me.
Also to consider is A Call To Live Deeply in Feb 2020 in Mexico. The early bird is Nov 1st but the first 5 to register receive an additional $100 off. This will be a deep dive into what sustains us in challenging times.
These events probably seem like a long way off while you're applying sunscreen and heading for the beach but September will be here before you know it.
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Loneliness ...
Despite the fact that we have 7.7 billion people on the planet, and that we can connect more easily through technology than ever before, there seems to an equal rise in the numbers of people reporting loneliness. Do you ever feel lonely? Most of us do.
I believe that a great deal of our loneliness is symptomatic of the living in growing isolation and too much technology, I think it's also important to make the distinction between the loneliness caused by living in a diseased society and the loneliness that is inherent in being a human being separate from other human beings. They are distinctly different and both of these require a skillfulness. Poet David Whyte speaks more to the latter and yet I believe there is something in what he says that can also help ease the former.
"One of the desperate parts of loneliness is you become numb and you stop paying attention so the first step is just to start feeling more, even if it’s feeling the raw vulnerability not being where you want to be and starting to pay attention. ... You’re not alone actually, you’re just not paying attention to all of these other thousands of qualities that we’ve actually co-evolved with over the thousands of years .. so one of the reasons we’re lonely is we’ve forgotten that we have a friendship with the sky, we have a friendship with the ground, we have a friendship with our bodies, we have a friendship with the way our bodies respond to the natural world."
Listen >>
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The lies our culture tells us about what matters --- and a better way to live | David Brooks
Click on the image below to hear this very moving talk by author David Brooks, which also touches on the theme of loneliness ..
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Expectations ...
Recently author, speaker and couples therapist Esther Perel was interviewed on CBC radio. In the interview she says the following, "We really have this idea that one person today will give us what once an entire village used to provide. I can't say more concretely: [there are] such unprecedented expectations for our romantic relationships. They have become the new religion".
I couldn't agree more! When you think of it, it's really unfair to burden another person with the expectation, usually an unconscious one, to make up for what is tragically missing from our lives elsewhere. The truth is, most people don't know what's missing because anyone born into a nuclear family or single parent situation can't know what is being missed. It's not the kind of missing that derives from having something and then not having it. How do you miss what you've never had? Well it turns out people can and do miss what they've never had but not in the way they miss something they've come to know. In the case of something you haven't had, you can sense on some level that something isn't quite right but it's hard to recognize exactly what it is. And tragically it's all too easy to think it's our partner in the relationship.
Tune into the interview and send me an email letting me know what you think .. >>
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Prayer
I went to the sun and I asked
I went to the moon and I asked
I went to the ocean and I asked
I went to the mountain and I asked
I went to the forest and I asked
I knelt at my mother's tombstone and I asked
They all answered one by one ..
The cobweb shimmered in the light
The jasmin sweetened the night air
The loon showed me her necklace
The wind lifted my hair into her hands
The raven darted between the branches
A busker sang an Irish lament on the street corner
That this world is more than
The small things I want
That kneeling is better than shouting
That heartbreak is life giving
That grief must be granted a place
That being human requires deep labour
That being human requires deep labour
© Rachelle Lamb
Art: Eleasah Ridley 
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Wondering how to take NVC to the next level? Please consider my mentorship program: an effective way to deepen your practice and possibly become a reliable source others can turn to in times of need.
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Thank you for reading. Until the next time, may you and your kin be well ..
For information about what an in-house training can do for you and your group, simply email me.
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