A Fresh Start: An Invitation to Reflect

by Courage & Renewal Facilitator Lisa Sankowski

For so many of us—as educators, as students, as parents, or by the calendars of our faith traditions—autumn marks the start of a new year and speaks to us of beginnings.  Paradoxically in our contemporary culture, as the natural world enters a period of decline and rest, our human world begins to gear up!

For me, fall always feels like a fresh start, and a feeling of anticipation that was part of my life as a school child on the cusp of learning or trying something new has become a deep body-memory, returning each year as soon as I notice the evening air turn cool and the first hint of autumn color appear on the hillsides.

In honor of this particular quality of the season, we are going to try something new together.  As with all new beginnings, I experience anticipation, excitement, curiosity, as well as a hint of my all-too-human resistance to change and the inevitable anxiety that joins me on every foray into unfamiliar territory.

In the first issue of Words of EnCOURAGEment, we expressed our desire to create a “virtual circle of trust,” a community that sustains and challenges each of us on our journey toward an undivided life.  In pursuit of this goal, we made a commitment to keep faith with our Courage & Renewal touchstones, in particular to “extend and receive welcome,” setting the tone for the kind of generous space we are trying to create together.

And beginning with our second issue, most newsletters have included an invitation from a Courage & Renewal facilitator to go on-retreat in the midst of our off-retreat lives, offering a meditation on the season, a poem, and questions to consider for personal reflection.  For many of us who have experienced circles of trust in the “real world,” this “virtual world” experience has been a welcome gift of mindfulness and inspiration.  But at the same time, it has lacked the tangible experience of being “alone together” that comes when we are invited to speak to the center of a circle of fellow travelers.

Now with the introduction of our new blog, we have an opportunity not only to go on-retreat ourselves, but also to benefit from speaking into and listening deeply to the online circle of trust we can now share together.