Stepping Stones

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Process

 

Reflection: Write a few notes in your Joyality Journal in answer to these questions:

• What is on the other side of your river?
• Practically speaking, what might your first couple of stepping stones be? (Think about how you can use or apply what you’ve gained from the Joyality Program.)
• What or who could help you take your first few steps across the river? (Remember, you already have access to everything you need.)
• Any other thoughts or feelings?

[Download MP3 Stepping Stones, then do the Reflection above. Or use the transcripts below to guide others.]

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[Transcript Stepping Stones]

Process: Closing your eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths, settling back into your body and your feelings.

With your eyes closed, activate your imagination.

We invite you to imagine a beautiful river in front of you. Sparkling with the light and the cool breeze. Making little ripples on its surface, the current flowing down. This is the river that the three streams have formed into. It is a beautiful early morning and you see the sun rising on the other side of the river.

Stretching out in the pathway along this beautiful golden light between you and the sun on the surface of the water, you suddenly see a whole series of beautiful stepping stones. They are round, they’re solid, they’re stable. And on the other side of the river we invite you to imagine the positive future that you see for the world, or you passion action or your passion project, in as much detail as you can.

So that future on the other side of the river that you can see, it might be you living your own life in a new way, or it could be you finding an existing project or a group of people to work along side to co-create with, or it might be something that you have initiated and gathered a group of people together to co-create with. It doesn’t really matter, just imagine something that makes sense to you on the other side of this beautiful river.

Just spend a minute or so focusing on that….

Now have a look at those stepping stones in your minds eye…. And notice all of the beautiful clear shining water flowing past those stones and know that this river contains all of your experiences, connection with nature and other people. It contains your ability to stay awake and hold all of the “good” and the “bad” things that are happening in the world. It contains all of your experiences and insights about acting, creating positive action, yourself and with others. Know that as you walk along those stepping stones, you are able to access all of those experiences, all of those insights, all of those abilities and ways of being, so that as you walk along those stepping stones you have access to everything you need to reach the other side, to reach the vision for your life and your passion action.

Imagine yourself taking one step after another across this beautiful river to the other side. Just allow yourself to walk towards the sun… how does that feel? Just see yourself walking slowly, confidently, beautifully, across this flowing river. Knowing that you have everything that you need.

Reflection: Write a few notes in your Joyality Journal in answer to these questions:

• What is on the other side of your river?
• Practically speaking, what might your first couple of stepping stones be? (Think about how you can use or apply what you’ve gained from the Joyality Program.)
• What or who could help you take your first few steps across the river? (Remember, you already have access to everything you need.)
• Any other thoughts or feelings?

Source: Dr Eshana Bragg

 

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Celebrating the Journey

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This guided meditation brings you into the here and now to relax into each moment of your Joyality journey … wherever you are, right now.

Process

 

Reflection: Write a few notes in your Joyality Journey about what you have to celebrate, without taking any further steps than where you are right now:

• your vision for the world and your “passion action” or “passion project”
• your fellow travellers
• your self
• your connection with the Earth and all existence

[Download MP3 : Celebrating the Journey, remember to do the reflection above  or use the transcript below to guide others.]

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[Celebrating the Journey Transcript]:

Taking a couple of deep breaths.

Just allowing yourself to rest down in to your body. Feeling the natural world around you and within you. Bring your attention to your heart area. Imagine a beautiful small golden light starting to glow in your heart. Imagine that golden glow getting bigger and bigger until it envelops your whole being.

Now bring your attention to your own journey through the Joyality Program. Just recalling your own journey travelling from the very start of the program until now. And just appreciate where you are right now. No need to achieve, no need to strive, just resting in this very moment. In this moment as you breath in a really relaxed way. See if you can bring into your attention your vision of a positive future for the world, imagining it in as much detail as you can. Now bring into your mind your vision of your passion action or your particular project that you feel inspired by. Imagine that passion action or project coming to fruition, imagining as much detail as you can. With both of these visions, feel the reality of these visions as if they are already happening, as if they are already true. Just allow yourself to rest in that space. Allowing some time away from the voices of doubt or cynicism, just resting in the realm of possibility and positive intention.

Now bring your attention to your fellow travelers, the other participants in your joyality group, the joyality team, the J-team and really revel in these other people who you have been travelling with. What is it that you appreciate about them. Allow yourself to rest in those feelings of joy and appreciation of other like minded souls, allies, collaborators, co-creating a positive future with you.

Now bring your attention to yourself. See if you can really revel in and appreciate yourself. No need to be perfect, just offering what you have, who you are, in celebration, humility and strength. And just for a moment, in your heart, see if you can celebrate who you are.

Now bringing your attention your connection with the Earth and all life and just resting in the shear amazingness of existence. Realising that you cant actually fall out of this interconnected web of life. In this space you are actually always connected to everything. See if you can just feel that experience in your heart. Appreciating your self, appreciating this moment, exactly as it is, just as much as you are able to right now in this moment, connecting with the feeling of appreciation for all of life. No need for things to be different in any way, with a sense of integrity and wholeness.

See if you can bring all these experiences together. Focusing on that light in your heart, allow it to grow, see if you can breath it into every cell in your body… Just sitting for another couple of minutes, breathing in… and out..seeing if you can feel that light… with every in breath and out breath, glowing through your whole being and radiating out into the world…. Nothing to do…. No one to be… just resting in this beautiful light…

When you’re ready.. and ONLY when you’re ready opening up your eyes.

Reflection: Write a few notes in your Joyality Journey about what you have to celebrate, without taking any further steps than where you are right now:

• your vision for the world and your “passion action” or “passion project”
• your fellow travellers
• your self
• your connection with the Earth and all existence

Source: Dr Eshana Bragg

 

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Who Am I Now?

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Process: Take a new page in your Joyality Journal and answer this question:

“Who am I?”

Write whatever comes to your mind. It can be simple free association single words or phrases, or it can be full sentences – whatever comes to you. Just make sure you start a new line for each new thought, maybe using a dot point or a star each time. Start each line with “I am…”. Do you remember doing this the first time? (Don’t peak, just do this as if it was the first time …)

For the full instructions, you can go back to Who Am I?, or simply write in your journal now.

Reflection: After you’re done writing, take a deep breath. How do you feel? Energized? Exhausted? Excited? Scared? Notice what feelings come up and try not to get attached to them. Simply let yourself feel them and breathe, letting them pass through you.

Now look back at what you have written. Try not to pass any judgment about your writing or about the impressions you get of the person you have created through this exercise. Simply notice the kinds of things you have written down. What have you focused on about yourself? Physical appearance? Relationships to others? Roles you play in life? Mental and emotional characteristics? Your place in nature? Is there a balance between these aspects or are some much further developed than others? Notice what parts of yourself you know well and what parts of yourself you don’t have much to say about. You may notice, looking back over it, that there are aspects of your person you have left out completely. That is fine. Just notice.

Also take notice of how you feel about all of that.

Just like the first time we did it, the purpose of this exercise is not to pass judgment or assign value, but simply to familiarise and connect you with who you perceive yourself to be …

However, the next part of this process is beautiful.  Look at your list a choose three things you’ve written that make you feel really great, things about yourself which radiate a sense of specialness and joy. Write them out again in a different colour, perhaps on a separate page, and decorate them with colour and drawings or symbols.

This is a page worth revisiting from time to time.

Feedback: The very last part of this process is to compare your first Who Am I? with this one! Look back at both sets of notes in your journal and compare them.  Do this in whatever way works for you …

Notice the things that have changed, the things that have stayed the same. Notice how you feel about this “new you” …

Now, even though we told you “no one else will read this”, we would be really interested in finding out how you have transformed through the Joyality Program.  So … if you feel comfortable about this, could you take a photo of each of your Who Am I’s, label one as “before” and the other as “after” and email them to the Joyality Team? (Just reply to one of the emails we sent you.) Your words will remain totally anonymous, but will form part of our research and evaluation of the program.

We also ask you to fill in our feedback survey, which will help us improve the Joyality processes and circles, as well as give you your end-of-program Joyality Score!

 

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3 Streams

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Ecopsychology tells us that, like three streams converging into a larger river, by cultivating our abilities to connect, stay awake and act, they can converge into an experience of joyality … creating psychological and planetary health.

If you go back through your Joyality Journal, try tracking your journey along each of these streams. You might like to grab some crayons, textas or highlighter pens and colour code each process according to the stream it’s on.

This table might help you colour code and track your journeys.

Process: When you’ve tracked your 3 streams, read through and reflect upon each journey … one stream at a time. We suggest you spend about half an hour doing this (that will keep you inside the 2 hour session, but if you feel to, go right ahead and spend more time reading!). So, you could spend 10 minutes on each journey, at least to start with.

1. Starting with your journey of connection, consider your experiences connecting with nature around you; the parts of nature you feel drawn to; what it is like to feel the nature within you, etc … right through to the challenge of connecting with nature in the middle of a busy soul-less city environment. You might want to use your colours to highlight particular things you wrote along the way … Add to the Harvesting the Gifts notes in your Joyality Journal as you feel drawn to.
2. Now do the same thing reading through your journey of awakening, of staying awake to the “good” and the “bad” things happening in the world. Consider what it is like for you to seek out the positive sides to the disturbing stories you are confronted with; to delve more deeply into the investigation of topics you want to shy away from; to discover and transform some of your limiting beliefs about who you are and what is happening in the world, etc. … Again, use colours to highlight your original journal notes, and add to your notes in Harvesting the Gifts.
3. And finally, consider your journey of action, or activation, of discovering and refining your “passion action”. Consider what you discovered about communication; about how social change happens; and how you feel about organising as a community and stepping up to create systemic change on a larger scale. Reflect on how your “passion action” evolved through the program, if it did at all. Again, use colours and add to your notes in Harvesting the Gifts.

Reflection (optional): Taking a new page in your Joyality Journal, consider each journey separately and write or draw where you started and where you are right now … and possibly where you would like to be in the future on this journey. What is your trajectory, your personal vision??

Source: Dr Eshana Bragg.

 

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Harvesting the Gifts

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Tune into yourself, your body and emotions, for a few moments … Perhaps you’d like to listen to the Focusing audio, or Elemental Being … just to drop down into a deep, whole place. Or, go for a walk and find yourself a beautiful natural place to be. Or, simply take a few deep breaths and pay attention to where your body is interacting with the environment around you.

Cast your mind back over your journey through the Joyality Program, and ask yourself these questions:

1. What were the highlights for me? Perhaps these are your biggest “ah hah” moments, realisations, learnings… or positive experiences and sensations … or discovering some things about yourself that you love or appreciate.  Whatever they are, start a new page in your Joyality Journal with the heading HIGHLIGHTS at the top, and write a few dot-points on that page (you don’t need to fill the page though).
2. What were the hardest parts … the challenges for me? These could be the difficult realisations … painful experiences … the struggles, the inner resistances that you encountered along the way. Whatever they are, start a new page in your Joyality Journal with the heading CHALLENGES at the top, and write a few dot-points on that page (again, you don’t need to fill the page just make a start with whatever flows).
3. Are there any gifts hidden within these experiences? The gifts you’ve received from the program are probably fairly obvious when you look at your “Highlights” page, but let’s focus on your “Challenges” page  instead for some hidden gifts. Start a third page with HIDDEN GIFTS at the top, divide the page into FOR ME and FOR JOYALITY TEAM. Ask yourself:
   1. Do the challenges I’ve listed show me something about myself? Perhaps they give you insight into what you need and want .. or they might inspire you to feel compassion and loving care for yourself.
   2. Do I have any suggestions for the program? Perhaps things could be made easier by some changes to the online processes or Joyality circles.

Source: Dr Eshana Bragg.

 

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Best Things in Life

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\joy• al• i• tee/

noun

the quality or state of feeling deep and encompassing joy; a feeling of wholeness, oneness and exuberance for life

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Joyality is that feeling you get when every cell of your being is joyful, peaceful, and alive. It is that feeling that you can’t quite put words to, because they could never do it justice. It is deeply related to beauty, love, and the pure exuberance for being alive, but exactly what it is will always be something of a mystery.

Joyality is different for everyone as we are all unique individuals whose souls are sparked by a diversity of people, places, and activities.

Process: Consider for a few moments … “What brings me joyality?”

Write a list or draw a mind-map in your Joyality Journal of the people, places and activities that give you this experience … they are likely to be simple things, and perhaps sensory experiences (sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touch).

This is your very own treasure map! It will remind you how to find joy in the moment … and leave yourself with an ‘afterglow’ you carry with you. No matter what else is going on in your life.

Even looking at your list can make you feel good!

Reflection (optional): Ask yourself:

• How can I integrate these experiences into my daily life? (Notice how many of these are free, and how many are nature-based).
• How can I integrate these experiences into my change-making?

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“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you’ll look back and realise they were the big things.”

– Robert Brault

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Source: Dr Eshana Bragg, inspired by the nature guided therapy of ecopsychologist George W. Burns.

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Attitude of Gratitude

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Purpose: By focusing on beauty, we transform the way we see the world. What we search for, we tend to find … so try this experiment.

Process:

1. Look around you right now and search for beauty … what makes your heart sing when you look at it?

Switching to your other senses and doing a bit of scan … beautiful sounds, beautiful smells, beautiful tastes, beautiful textures?

Jot a few notes down in your Joyality Journal … sensory pleasures!

2. Now think about people in your life. What about them is beautiful, what makes your heart warm when you think of them? A quality, an event, something they’ve done or do regularly, just the person as a whole … whatever comes to mind. Write a few notes about some key people in your life. (If other feelings come up, just acknowledge them, let them be, and focus back on the beauty!)

3 (optional). If you are enjoying this process, keep going … focusing on experiences, activities or places …

4. Always end with yourself. This beauty you see around you is, of course, also inside you … although sometimes it’s the hardest to see! What about you is beautiful, what makes your heart warm when you think about you? A quality, an event, something you’ve done or do regularly, just “you” as a whole … whatever comes to mind. Write a few notes. (If other feelings come up, just let them be, acknowledge them, and focus back on the beauty!)

5. Focus on your heart, then do a body scan for emotions and sensations (Focusing), and notice: how do you feel? Draw or write to express this feeling.

Reflection: Take an attitude of gratitude. You can “turbo-charge” this experience of beauty and joy by acknowledging your appreciation for each of these experiences or elements in your life. Inwardly or outwardly. Try it. 😀

Notice that this is something you can do wherever you are … waiting in doctor’s surgery, on the beach, walking along a city street, at a family gathering, during a political demonstration… It’s like exercising a muscle, the more you practice this, the more beauty you will experience in your life. So over the next week, try practicing this in a few different places.

By searching for beauty, you are also answering the question “What brings me pleasure and joy?”. At any one moment in time, see how much pleasure and joy you can experience by focusing on the beauty in each moment.

(If you’re finding this process interesting, ask yourself: Are any common themes emerging? How many of these things are free? How many are nature-based?)

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“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

            – Melody Beattie

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Source: Dr Eshana Bragg, based on the many gratitude practises currently circulating through online media including the Attitude of Gratitude communities on Facebook.

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5 Tips for Effective Communication

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Purpose: Here are some tips for authentic, compassionate/respectful and persuasive communication. These practises are particularly useful when our intention is to inspire change in others towards the protection or care of things we care deeply about.

Preparation: Read the tips and try to remember the “taglines”:

1.Head = “I know what I know”. You do understand things about this topic that others may not, especially if you’ve been doing a bit of exploration of the issue (like in the Get the Whole Story process). So prepare, research, even try to remember a few facts and figures, as they can come in handy. 🙂 Remember also, you don’t have to know everything in order to share what you do know.

2. Heart = “I dare to care”. The other form of knowing that is important is the “heart knowing”. Being in contact with what you really care about, knowing why you care, feeling your emotions and being prepared to share them, is an important part of effective communication. This doesn’t mean you necessarily collapse into your emotions and dissolve in a bucket of tears (although this may happen and it’s okay). It does mean being able to identify, acknowledge and share those feelings with the person you are talking with.  Classic “I statements” are really good for that: “I feel …. about [the issue I am concerned about]. I feel ….. when I see [action being taken to address this issue].”

3. Solar plexus = “I am not alone”. You can build your confidence by recognising that you are speaking with, and for, many others. Think about who your allies are… like-minded and like-hearted others, who agree with you and would be standing with you if they could.  Imagine these people actually standing beside you, on both sides, there may be many of them. Feel that support. You could even quote inspiring statements from well-known allies (collect few quotable quotes as they can be as useful as facts and figures). Now think about the people and other beings (plants, animals, ecosystems) who you are speaking on behalf of.  Who are you protecting, advocating for? Imagine them all behind you, supporting you from behind. Feel the Earth beneath your feet, and remember any of the nature connection processes, reminding you of your profound interconnection with all life.

4. Hands = “I respect and connect”. Understanding and connecting with the person you are talking with is a vital part of communication.  After all, communication is a two-way process, actively involving at least two people (think about that for a moment). For someone to really hear what it is you’re saying, you need to connect to things they understand, value and are interested in … otherwise they will ‘”turn off”, or at least won’t deeply engage with you. In your conversation, ask sincere questions and try to listen to their answers without judgement.  This way, you get to understand their values, concerns and learn the language they use to talk about the issue that you care about. Then, you can use these tools to actively engage with them to explore the topic … both the issue/challenge and the solutions/opportunities.

5. Feet = “I inspire action but don’t expect it”. Be clear about what you would like to see happen, not necessarily what you would like them to do (don’t point the finger at them!). Share what actions you’re taking.  Share stories about what others are doing, and what positive impacts those actions are having. If it feels right, make a clear invitation or “call to action”.  “Would you be interested in ….?” If their answer is negative, try not to be disappointed, but listen with respect and genuine interest to their reasons why not (this is useful information, so keep an open mind!). If their answer is positive, drink that feeling in, whether or not you think their commitment will come to fruition.

Each of these 5 tips can be symbolised by a different part of our body, which makes it an easy way to remember them. Try repeating each “tagline” while focussing on each part of your body, so they become second nature to you.

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Process: In your Joyality Journal, follow these 5 pointers and write down some notes (either dot-points or free-writing) about the issue you care deeply about. Then have a 10 minute conversation with someone who is “easy” to talk to, or close to you … perhaps a family member or trusted friend. Reach out and dare to communicate with this person about what you care about, and the changes you’d like to see.

The notes you just wrote will have prepared you, so you might read them before your conversation, then just let them go (no, you don’t need to remember each point word for word!). If it feels helpful, just before you talk, you can scan your body and use your head, heart, solar plexus, hands and feet to remind you of the five tips.

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Reflection: How did this go? What happened? What feelings came up for you? Anything you didn’t expect? Write about this in your journal too, or share these experiences with a supportive friend or Joyality buddy.

Think about communicating with another person, practising these tips again, perhaps with someone slightly less close to you, or with different opinions to you.  How might you change what you say in order to connect with them?

Source: This process was developed by Eshana Bragg, based on a synthesis of the theories and practises of non-violent communication and social action; persuasive communication; and the input of Rita Bee and Peter Gringinger. Symbols (except Joyality sun) by Stewart Edmondson.

 

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Background Sources

Bragg, E. (2014). Activist Ecopsychology. Ecopsychology, 6 (1), 16-17.

Bragg, E. & Reser, J. (2012). Ecopsychology in the Antipodes: Perspectives from  Australia and New Zealand. Ecopsychology, 4 (4), 253-262.

Edwards, S. A. & Buzzel, L. (2009). The Waking Up Syndrome. In Buzzell, L. & Chalquist, C. (Eds.), Ecotherapy (pp. 30-36). San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.

Fisher, A. (2009). Ecopsychology as Radical Praxis. In Buzzell, L. & Chalquist, C. (Eds.), Ecotherapy (pp. 30-36). San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.

Macy, J., & Johnstone, C. (2012). Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In Without Going Crazy. Novato, CA: New World Library.

Priestly, D. (2010). Become A Key Person of Influence: The Five-Step Sequence to Becoming One of the Most Highly Valued and Highly Paid People in Your Industry. St. Albans: Ecademy Press.

Michael Meade: The Need for the Ecstatic- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0dlM6Ii3ww

Michael Meade: Why The World Doesn’t End- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM19mO-hqRw

 

Voice Dialogue (Community of Selves)

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Preparation: Like many of the tools in Joyality, this exercise is not something you can do once and be “done” with. It is a constant process of growth that we hope you will use in many situations in your life, but particularly when you meet with a conflict or difficulty. Try Part 1 now, and if there is a personal or interpersonal difficulty you are facing, try using these concepts and questions to reframe it in Part 2. 

Society presents us with a model of the Self, but it is often a one-dimensional, atomized model that does not fit our true experience or serve our growth. The emphasis is on the individual, our separateness from others and from the world around us, particularly the natural world. Separateness is not unimportant – we must know our separateness to know our power, we must explore our own personal uniqueness in order to discover our passions, our path, and our self-realization. But we must not forget that while we are individuals we are also part of a deeply interrelated and co-creative universe. We are active participants in the evolution of this world, and while it is important to honor our personal truth and become empowered in our uniqueness, it is also important not to let that stand in the way of our connection to all people and things and our creative and collaborative participation in the world.

In this exercise, think of your own Self as an ecosystem. You have your own unique personality, but within that personality are many “mini personalities” or “mini selves”. We all have a self that is critical (most of us probably know this self too well), we all have a self that is a pleaser, a self that is a judge, a self that is a thinker … we may have a self that is a beach bum, a self that is quiet and careful, and a self that is adventurous and wild. Some of these selves are very strong, we know them well and experience them often, and others are less developed, some we may not even be aware are present inside of us.

Process Part 1: In your Joyality Journal, begin brainstorming all the different “selves” you have that you can think of. Once you have done that, spend a little time with each one of those selves, getting to know them.

• When do each of these selves come out?
• How do they express themselves?

Perhaps even experiment with giving each of them names to make it more tangible and in order to help you explore and develop your relationship with that part of yourself. Try writing a discussion between two of the different ‘selves’ in your journal, and see what they have to say to each other!

Reflection Part 1: Exploring and getting to know our many selves is crucial to our evolution, both personally and collectively. It is a way not only of getting to know oneself more intimately, but also of experiencing how the world is working with us, inviting us to be all that we can be, constantly presenting us with opportunities for growth and expansion and connection to all that is.

This can be seen especially in situations of conflict or difficulty. When a difficulty arises, try to use it as an opportunity to understand and get to know yourself more deeply.

Process Part 2: Think of a conflict or difficulty, either with yourself or others, you are experiencing right now. Use this situation as a way to further explore your many selves and their expressions in your life.

• What self is reacting to or coming out most in the situation?
• Why do you think that is? We often react most strongly and negatively to things in others that we struggle with ourselves. Our frustration with others is often a projection of something we are frustrated with ourselves about (this is, of course, not always true).
• Are these selves helping you be the best (most enjoyable) version of yourself that you want to be?
• Are some of our selves over-functioning? Are some under-functioning?
• Does this difficulty or conflict represent a pattern? Is it a pattern that you enjoy or one you would like to break?
• Might choosing to embody, and therefore strengthen, another self in this situation lead to a more desirable, more joyful outcome for you?

Try thinking of yourself (the one sitting here doing this exercise) as separate from the selves you are identifying as reactors to this situation at hand … kind of like a facilitator in a community meeting, helping each voice be heard, and creating an atmosphere of respect and harmony. This can be helpful in mentally and emotionally stepping “out” of one self and “into” another. Once you have identified what self or selves you would like to oversee and resolve the conflict you are facing, spend some time acquainting yourself with this new persona. How does this version of your Self act, talk, question, think? It’s helpful to get as specific as you possibly can.

Maybe try re-playing conversations or situations that have already occurred in regards to this conflict as this new self you are embodying. What would this new self have said in that situation? How would that have changed the course, and perhaps the outcome, of it?

Reflection Part 2: Once you feel comfortable in this new self, keep it in the front of your consciousness when dealing with the conflict you are facing. As you feel yourself begin to react in the old way, pause, remember your goals for the resolution of the situation, and remember the self you embodied through this exercise that you believe will be most effective in helping you achieve that goal.

You might come back to this process many times throughout a single situation as breaking psychological and behavioural patterns can take time, discipline, effective strategies, or sometimes simple inspiration/insight. However, breaking free of patterns that are not serving your goals and desires or bringing you joy is an incredibly exciting and satisfying experience. It allows us to know, to feel on a cellular level, that we have some power over who we are and how we live, and that this in turn influences the course of our lives.

Also, as we begin to look at conflicts as the universe presenting us with opportunities to grow and develop, our relationship with the co-creative forces of the world is strengthened, and we begin to see these opportunities everywhere in our lives and feel more and more like an active, creative participant.

Sources: This process was developed based on material provided by Dr Caresse Cranwell, and inspired by the original Voice Dialogue work of Drs Hal and Sidra Stone. For more on the “eco-systemic self”, read Caresse’s paper ‘From Ego to Eco‘.

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