“RC Morning First Aid”
At the recent Southern U.S. Teachers’ and Leaders’ Workshop, Tim[1] spoke of how nearly universal it is that we feel that we are not worthy and like we are truly alone. It goes back to the original hurt many of us experienced when we were not fully met with delight when we were tiny. We laughed when he described and illustrated with body language the “determined but unhappy” stance we take against the discouragement, persisting in moving ahead as best we can in almost everything in spite of our distress.
He reminded us that since this distress is nearly universal, it’s clearly not our fault. But the question is, what could we each be like without it?
The first contradiction[2] is to not hold on to any limitation to or condition for our goodness. Instead just be pleased to exist, no matter what. No worry, no thinking about it, no long-range plans, no performance required. What if each of us woke up that way every morning, remembering to use our mind to simply delight in our existence?
The second contradiction is to help each other, to cultivate a network of good, delighted minds and ongoing human contact. We can be creative with simple strategies, make excuses for contact, keep our Communities alive and broad so that none of us needs to pin all our needs for help on just a few relationships.
My inspiration on return from the workshop was to set up a regular mini-session every morning, in support of remembering how delightful it is simply to be my alive self and discharging whatever might be in the way that particular morning. I’m calling it “RC Morning First Aid,” and setting it up with seven Co-Counselors—some from my local Community and some who are geographically distant with whom I want to stay connected.
It seems like a simple framework to repeatedly decide to be as pleased and delighted to exist as young ones are, and to have two good minds working together to remember and discharge. I am excited to see what comes out of this over time.
Carol Wilburn
Chapel Hill, North Carolina,
and Sandpoint, Idaho, USA
[1] Tim Jackins
[2] Contradiction to the distress