A healthy community is central to joy. Community is a place to call home, a safe havenwhere people reach out thier arms, draw you in, comfort you, cheer for your awakening power, and cherish you just the way you are--fears, tears, humor, and all. Community is a group of people commited tio individuals and to the whole, a place where your voice is heard and valued, a place where you can drop the mask.
People have a natural need to attatch and bond with others. Without a healthy community to embrace us, we fill in the empty places with dependent relationships, hoping they will provide the security we long for. But no one person can be an island of safety for of us, and there is no all-wise person who can give us the answers. When we lack community, our longing for connection gets turned into a longing for chocolate, sugar, sex, caffiene, drugs, work-- something to fill up a nameless restlessness that churns away inside. But a cookie can never replace a hug. We need to realize that we area tribal people, meant to live togeather, learning from eachother, savoring the journey.
Our concept of community expands as we grow. When we are very young, it includesour family and then it includes our neighbors, our religious institutions, our schools, our workplace, and the town we live in. For many, it stops there. But on the path toword joy there is a constant expansion of community untill it includes all people on the planet as well as the planet itself. We internalize the awareness that that we come from one and the same Creator--we live on one earth, in one ecosystem, with one people, who are on one journey.
Schiller in his "Ode to Joy," wrote, "Millions in our arms we gather, to the world our kiss be sent." Imagine a love inside of you so expansive that you feel an invincible cord of light connecting you to all people. Imagine diverse groups of people all over the world gathering in small groups to take turns telling the story of their lives to each other. Imagine knowing that you are not alone with your hopes, dreams, fears, and joys. So reach out, listen, learn, be gentle with yourself. Remember that ultimately your personal joy is tied to the joy of all people and all life on the earth
Peace and joy in abundance to you and your loved ones...and to all people.
From Finding Joy; 101 Ways to Free Your Spirit and Dance with Life
By Charlotte Davis Kasl, PH.D.
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