We have a family text thread that includes my husband and me, our son, Colin, who is away at college, and our daughter who is at home. Last night we received a text from Colin that said “word is going around that Paul H. passed away today.” Paul is the younger brother of one of Colin’s close friends. Sadly, we soon learned that it was true. Paul had indeed died by taking his own life. In our grief, we struggle to understand how this can be true. Paul was a senior in high school who did well in school, went to church, played sports, had a loving family, yet here we are with this tragic truth. Paul is no longer with us.
Many of us are throwing up our hands in dismay these days. How can we move through this time? How can we make our interconnection visible? Some say that conversation is the answer, yet civil conversation seems to be a thing of the past. Conversation is defined as “the informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken words.” I don’t know about you, but I’m noticing that very little information actually gets exchanged in the divisive climate we are in.
In her program On Being on National Public Radio, Krista Tippett asks the question “Can conversation make any difference at a moment like this?” She deepens the definition of “conversation” by stating “...[It] is not just about words passing between mouths and ears. It’s about shared life. Listening is about bringing our lives into conversation.” But how do we do that?
Mutual Awakening may be the solution we are looking for. The Mutual Awakening Practice develops our capacity to move beyond conversation with one another to communing as one another. We literally come together from the deepest core of ourselves, what we call our Origination Point - and what Daniel Siegel calls the “plane of possibility” - and we become one. In the Mutual Awakening Practice, the intersubjective space that we create and enter together is so safe and trustworthy that words are drawn from us that we didn’t even know we knew. We are met and heard by our partner because they are in our experience with us, not separate from us. They are no longer witnessing us, but being us. The Mutual Awakening Practice brings us into a new realm where our interconnection is visible, and our care for one another is the reality we live in.
In this world where loneliness is epidemic, where suicide happens even in the small towns that are touted for their close-knittedness, and where so many victims of sexual abuse are disregarded, it is time that we all learn to come together in a way that visibilizes our interconnection and pops us into a new way of being together.
After over a decade of practice, experience, and results, it is clear that the Mutual Awakening Practice is the next, and deeply needed, “mindfulness” practice that will do just that.
To learn more about Mutual Awakening, please stay tuned for information about my 5-Session Live Course to be hosted in Shelburne, VT beginning on January 15th, 2019. To learn more now, download a free eBook here.