Distinctions

And of course, our environment has been calling our attention, as natural disasters have been many in the past year and our climate challenges continue to accelerate.

All of this has triggered a primal survival instinct. Our livelihood, our family, our beliefs, our health, our safety have felt threatened, and we have had to turn to ourselves and to each other to find new ways of responding to what life is asking of us in this moment. Unfortunately, it is also our survival instinct that sometimes leads to division and tension within us and against each other, creating a polarity that both unifies and divides.

The essence of our integral work is to unify, to find what feels split in ourselves and welcome it all, embracing it with love, and allowing it to transform us. The Latin root of “integral” means whole, complete. As we learn to fully embrace ourselves, we become whole, and in our wholeness we are more able to fully embrace each other. This, from my perspective, is what the world most needs now. A loving kindness that holds all that is here with wisdom and compassion—starting with ourselves.

To be able to embrace ourselves and others — including both the pleasant and the unwelcome parts — we need to experience a container of love: a love that comes in many forms in our everyday human experience. The way in which you care for yourself and those around you. The way that you connect with beauty in all the simplest forms in your life. Your kids, your garden, your practices, your tea, your favorite pillow… all good sources for finding beauty and love right here.

The more that your heart opens, the more that you will be able to feel all that is here. As we feel the fullness of life we can also begin to feel the cracks in it. It is through our loving holding of these cracks that we become whole—that our world becomes whole. What creates the division is our pushing away that which is unwelcome in ourselves. Let us bring unity to our world by first bringing unity to ourselves through love.

Please take a moment now and place a hand on your heart and another on your belly. Take a couple of breaths sensing the tender care of your hands on your heart and belly. Take one more breath and tell yourself, “All of me is welcome here.” Rest in this knowing.

Love,

• Sit or lay down in a comfortable position. Take a few breaths until you feel you have established contact with yourself. Now place one hand on your heart, and the other on your belly. Take a few breaths, sensing the tender care of your hands and the warmth of their holding of your heart and belly.
• Pause for a moment to notice what emotions or sensations are here? Allow them to be here without pushing them down or trying to ignore them. You can say to yourself, “however I am is welcome here.” If the emotion becomes too overwhelming, open your eyes if they are closed, feel the ground with your hands and feet, and look for signs of safety in your space. Sometimes, when we start welcoming ourselves fully, it can bring somatic memories of trauma. Please be kind to yourself and don’t force anything. Love is at the center of this practice.
• At the end of the practice say, “All of me is welcome here.” Rest in this knowing.

Whole Collage

Once per week for the next couple of months take a moment to be with yourself and your emotional landscape. This is not a practice to understand your emotions, but just to discover what is here underneath the surface for you as you create a collage following the instructions below. The intention is to do as little thinking as possible and just go with the flow.

• Gather some old magazines or images that you can cut for your collage, a piece of paper or cardboard where you can glue the images, scissors, and glue.
• Look through the images that you have, and select a few that call your attention. Don’t try to rationalize why you are selecting the images, just follow your heart and body.
• Cut the images and place them on the paper in whatever configuration feels right for you. You can keep shifting them until it feels right.
• Glue them in place when you are ready.
• Spend a moment with your finished collage and reflect on the following questions:
  • What parts of me are showing up in these images?
  • If the images could speak, what would they tell me in this moment?
  • How do I feel impacted by the collage and the messages?

This practice is an adaptation from a much deeper process created by Seena B. Frost and Soul Collage®—you can learn more about it here.

Self-Reflection: Love and Beauty

For the next month, stop twice per day to reflect on the love and the beauty available to you in your everyday life by responding to the following questions.

• During this period of time, in what ways has beauty and love shown up in my life? Remember to look for it in its most simple forms: they way in which the light comes into your room, the warmth of your morning tea, the smile of your children, the food that you taste, the flower that just bloomed and surprised you, the dance of the leaves as the wind touched them, etc.
• How do I feel impacted as I reflect on the beauty and love that I encounter in my life? Notice what effect it has in your heart and in your body.

All You Need is Love

The Beatles

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung
Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game
It’s easy

Nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown
There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

The Guest House

Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

2021 Community Gatherings

Bring your voice and help shape what is to come. These events are designed to update you on what has been happening with NVW programs, the business, and what we’ve been up to in the wider community; to hear from you on what you’ve been experiencing and how we can support you; and to re-connect as a global community. You are welcome to attend any or all of the 2021 gatherings, happening on:

• March 16
• July 13
• October 13

All meetings are at 4pm Pacific. Convert to local time.

REGISTER HERE

Graduate goings on

Rosslyn Chay (2019) has published a book of exquisite poetry, called The Weight of My Soul. You can order the book through her website or on Amazon. It is an invitation into deep reflection and vulnerability, and can be a lovely resource for coaching clients. Congratulations, Rosslyn!

Bea Boccalandro (1999) has also joined the ranks of NVW graduate authors with her book Do Good at Work: How Simple Acts of Social Purpose Drive Success and Wellbeing. Bea brings her decades of experience of coaching in large organizations to this delightful, do-it-yourself guide to igniting meaning in any job and, consequently, becoming more successful, fulfilled, and happy. Thanks for putting this wonderful guide into the world, Bea, and congrats!

What are you up to?

New arrival? New job? New city? Have you launched a new practice or project? Been published? Performed? We adore hearing—and sharing!—what our graduates are up to. Email [email protected] with your news and photos.