The Power of Community
Anadi, my husband and I, are sitting working in a hotel lounge…
It is a little like being ghosts…
Not only do we not speak the language, but we are the only two people not part of the events that have been going on around us…
There has been an exam, crowds of young people flooded out of a hall earlier today; they sat about for a bit exchanging a few words with each other, and then they were gone…
Barcelona women’s football team arrived back from their game… They drank some celebratory drinks and ate the pintxo served alongside them; they posed for a team photo, hugged one another and left…
A wedding party… That is still going on, arrived, and we have witnessed the pre drinks, the arrival of the bride and groom; and now there is music, children racing about, people scattered and in amongst all of this there was a convention for blind people, who arrived with either their guide dogs or a person to lead them….
‘That’s a thing to be working on this life journey’ Anadi commented as we watched the group start to disperse…
And all of this has played out throughout our Saturday in Spanish…!
However, it seems that gathering together of people is the same the world over… Today we have witnessed many different groups of people all united in their endeavours or their celebrations…
We exist in relationship… And in any group of people, there will always be something that is occurring for each and every individual there; then there will be all the different dynamics within the group, and the group dynamic and synergy as a whole…
Ideally if the synergy is working well, then the sum of all the energies will have a greater effect than the sum of adding their individual effects together…
And finally there is the higher purpose…
What is the higher purpose of these encounters, these gatherings?
Whether they be a football match or a wedding or an exam or a convention for people who cannot see well or at all…
Some may believe it is about winning the football match, or passing the exam, or being witness to the joy of a marriage, or connecting because of a shared experience and so meeting to be together and learn or be supported through the seminar…
But there will also be something greater happening…
If we allow it and listen deeply, we will understand that it is about the growth and possibility that can emerge from the energetic exchange…
From the meetings and the recognition of one another, inner work to be done, inner work not yet completed, something to be investigated, things to be let go of, to be understood, seen and heard…
In any group of people, whatever the ‘reason’ ostensibly that we have gathered together, there is always more than we thought
I have been running all of my life – it feels I was born to run. In the running step I experienced freedom and my true expression. I came to see that I needed to ‘get out of the way of myself’ and let my energy flow through the running step; allow it to express itself in the dance and the motion of running. I ran for England and GB for some years. My first international was in 1979, a three mile cross country race; and I continued to run at international level until 1993. Two of my best results were first place in the Dublin City Marathon in 1985 and 7th place woman, 3rd British woman in the 1986 London Marathon in a time of 2.36.31, which gained me selection for the Commonwealth Games.
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