Pre-meditation
Please bring two things to our opening session on Friday night, plus something to cook.
One beautiful question
Bring one question for the group. Something you're living with right now and would love to hear each of us answer. It doesn't need to be polished. A few to spark your thinking:
- How do you celebrate personal achievement?
- What are you proud of?
- What do you do when you feel stuck?
Three to five of your values
Give yourself 15 quiet minutes with a pen. The pre-reading on values may help first.
- Go back. Picture yourself as a child, somewhere around 7 to 10, completely absorbed in something. What were you doing? What quality was alive in you? Joy, strength, peace, realness, a sense of space? The list of qualities may help.
- Come forward. Recall a recent moment when you felt most like yourself. What was present then?
- Notice the sting. Think of a time something made you angry or hurt out of proportion. What did it violate? Strong reactions often point to a value.
- Name three to five. For each one, write a sentence on where it shows up in your life now, or where you've drifted from it.
- Test each one. Would you still hold it if no one saw it and no one rewarded it? If yes, keep it.
Preparing for ceremony
The week before ceremony is part of the ceremony. The cleaner and quieter you arrive, the more room there is for what wants to come. Do what you can. This is an invitation, and no one is keeping score.
Eat
- Simple, whole foods: vegetables, fruit, rice and other grains, beans, lentils
- Lighter proteins such as fish, chicken, or eggs, if you eat them
- Meals cooked at home, gently seasoned
Set aside
- Alcohol and cannabis
- Processed and fried food, refined sugar, and red meat and pork
- Heavy salt and spice
- Caffeine: taper down through the week so you don't arrive with a headache
Drink
- Plenty of water
- Herbal tea
Live
- Sleep well and go to bed early
- Spend time outside every day
- Sit quietly for a few minutes each morning
- Turn down the news, screens, and social media
- Notice what's alive in you and write it down. Let your intention form.
Setting your intention
Come with humility. Less "I want," more "I offer this, and I am open to what comes." Many people ask once at the start and then let go.
Good asks:
- Healing, for yourself, your family, your line
- Teaching. Show me what I need to see. Teach me what I'm ready to learn.
- Strength to stay with what's hard, rather than to have it removed
- Help with one specific pattern
- Protection for the people you love
- To be of use. Show me how to serve.
- Clarity on a real question, willing to be surprised
Be careful asking for specific outcomes, powers, confirmation of what you already believe, or information about other people. If you wouldn't ask a respected elder face to face, don't ask here.
On Saturday: breakfast is at 8:00 am and is our last food. We stop eating by 10 am, at least three hours before ceremony begins around 1 pm. Water and herbal tea are fine.
Something to cook
Each person cooks one meal for the group. Find yours on the meal roster and bring what you need for it.