ChangeAbility by Sharon Weil

Author:Sharon Weil
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Published: 2018-07-26T23:11:50+00:00

3: Find Community

Tribe, family, neighborhood, village, society, relation, relationship, support, connection, cooperation, alliance, partnership, organization, affinity, affiliation

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

—Mother Teresa

This chapter on principle #3 Find Community can be short and simple: get help for everything you do!

It’s a radical thought, because though we know this to be true, it seems to come hard for so many people. I’m shy, I’m embarrassed, I’m fiercely independent, I’ve been let down by others and disappointed, I don’t know who to ask, I can do it better myself, I think I have to do it myself, I can’t afford it, I don’t deserve it, or I don’t need help—these are the excuses I tell myself.

None of us ask for help nearly enough, and we need to! If you were to look at any change in your life right now that is not moving well I would ask you, do you have enough assistance? Is there room for more?

“Human beings, for the most part, are herd animals and pack animals. We don’t end here. We exist in relationship and the give and take on every single level from energy, to touch, to community.”

—Deena Metzger

It is our nature to belong to one another. In order to navigate change or even tolerate change, I need to Find Community. By Find Community, I mean find support. Find whatever ground, strength, expertise, or companionship that joins me with others to lighten my load and ease my way. Find the thoughts, feelings, and feedback from my environment to allow me to remain whole within myself. Find like-minded compadres, dedicated coworkers, numbers of supporters, playful cocreators, and sympathetic hearts. There are so many ways that I can find and offer support. The movement of change has less resistance and more joy when I share with others. We are social creatures; the unknown, as well as the known, is best not faced alone.

BELONGING

“Harmony and unity are deep principles of shamanic practice. It’s not just about being nice, it actually is about what can you contribute in a situation with others that creates harmony and unity? Can you operate from that place? We understand now that the heart, in its resonant field, is most expanded when people are happy and appreciative. That’s when people are harmonizing and making that kind of an effort to harmonize.”

—Amanda Foulger

Our greatest joy comes from communion, be it with another, with the energies of nature, with a universal spirit, or with a sense of self. Though Deena Metzger often works alone in her writing, all her activities involve creating community, nurturing community, holding community, and using community as the most nourishing way for creativity and healing to emerge. Deena’s sense of community not only includes individuals, but extends to all creatures of the earth, the earth itself, the ancestors, and the helpful spirits that guide us.

Deena Metzger: There’s no separation. The native people of this country, the first people—in this instance the

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