In this post, and as new year’s purposes ask for some serious attention, I’d like to bring your attention to the containers in your life. Here’s an excerpt of my book Gatherings – available at the Contact section of this site – about this topic:
“Container is the context, physical and psychological, that offers the required conditions for our intentions and the group’s to flourish and become real. It is an energetic field where we can experiment all possibilities safely. It is a supportive space.
A container can take different shapes:
– People: could be our team, family, life partner, a friend or a mentor. A wider group of people such as a social movement. The author of a book that resonates with us, a world leader or a relative that passed away and we still feel connected to.
– Places: museums, a childhood home, mountains, the sea, airplanes or our car, old buildings… any place that makes us feel safe, calm, serene.
– Practices: prayer, physical practice or an intense hobby.
– Virtual spaces: our culture, our spirituality, our country’s history… “
Now, as you consider your containers for your intentions of this year, you can ask yourself:
What containers do you already have to hold you in this effort?
What containers do you need to create to be successful? Of what type? What conversations do you need to have to activate them?
How are you going to nurture them?
In the same vein, I also invite you to ask yourself, who are you going to hold this year? What projects, what initiatives? How?
“Having a lover/friend who regards you as a living growing criatura, being, just as much as the tree from the ground, or a ficus in the house, or a rose garden out in the side yard… having a lover and friends who look at you as a true living breathing entity, one that is human but made of very fine and moist and magical things as well… a lover and friends who support the ciatura in you… these are the people you are looking for. They will be the friends of your soul for life. Mindful choosing of friends and lovers, not to mention teachers, is critical to remaining conscious, remaining intuitive, remaining in charge of the fiery light that sees and knows.” ― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
