Last weekend we had a beautiful blessed time of being in retreat with our beloved teacher, Nura Laird. One of the highlights of the retreat was the opportunity it afforded us to gather from near and far and be in community – learning, growing, eating, working and sharing together. This beautiful experience caused me to reflect on what “community” is about.

Sidi writes in “He Who Knows Himself Knows HIs Lord”, “Know that the levels of this way are well known to its family. The traveler on the path (as-salik) must walk through these levels, one after the other, until he arrives at the end. . . . The state of the salik is like that of the traveler who passes by stations on his way to Allah. Just as the traveler needs a guide who knows the way, provision for the way, a vehicle in which to travel, and a companion, the traveler on the path needs the guide who know the way – its goodness and danger. His provision is consciousness of Allah and guarding his self from evil (taqwa); the vehicle in which he travels is ardent effort (al-himmmah), and he needs companions that become his brethren who pursue the same way.”

“Community” is a very important part of the Sufi way. Being in community and community-building activities have always been a part of my life. But this is not the “norm” in our culture of pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps individualism.

As I’ve been reflecting on why people hold back from community, it feels to me like we have learned to be afraid of one another. There has been so much breakdown of relationships in our society, even within our own families, and it has broken our hearts. Even if you have not experienced this directly, it permeates the consciousness of our culture. In the broken place, we have learned to fear being hurt, we have learned distrust and to guard and protect ourselves.

To be in community means having a level of vulnerability to risk the ways you’ll bump up against others. This friction is an essential and necessary part of growth. A seed does not lie passively in the ground until all of a sudden there is a plant. It takes a great force, a destructive effort to break through the shell and allow the roots and stem to emerge.

To experience spiritual and personal growth, we need community – that is, we need to be in relationship with others, especially the ones who will challenge our status quo. But we are afraid because conflict and discomfort and the aches and pains of growth are inherent in real, true, intimate relationships with those we care about most. We are afraid of the pain because we don’t have the skill to know how to be in relationship without either being a door mat and getting hurt, or being aggressive and hurting others. We don’t know how to love one another. We expect another person to be the source of our need for love, and when we don’t get love the way we want it, when we want it, we feel like the relationship is broken, and all too often we leave.

We need to be in relationship with one another because the way we bump up against each other is what teaches us love. It helps us see our humanity and our weakness – and that need, that vulnerability is what turns us to God. God IS the Source of Love. We are so needy for love. The Source magnetizes our need and turns our heart to where the love is – God. We simply cannot experience this level and depth of spiritual growth without one another.

In relationship – in community – we see where our inner work lies, we see the beauty of our holy creation, we uplift and support one another to keep going when the walking is challenging, we are there to celebrate, love and care for one other though all of life experiences. In our homes, and in the world, we need one another to know ourselves and to know God.

If you are one who has been holding back from joining community, I encourage you to be brave, reach out, go to dhikr, make a coffee date with someone you would like to know better, stretch your comfort zone and experience the growth of your spirit! Look at the beauty of spring unfolding around you and know that it is a blessing to grow – even when it is hard work.

Last Chance To Register

True Heart of the Divine Feminine Spiritual Retreat, with Nura Laird, M.Ed

April 26 (Fri): 7:30-9:30 pm; April 27 & 28 (Sat & Sun) 9:30-5:30.

TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE.

If we could fully embrace and live from unconditional love, can you imagine what life would be like?

From Fear To Love

When I embraced the Sufi path, my teacher told me I would make spiritual progress by finding my safety in God. This has certainly been the core of my journey. There were experiences in my young childhood that made me feel unsafe and afraid. My journey has been a lot about learning not to listen to the voice of fear, but instead to find the truth in the voice of Love. For Sufis, the Highest Pure Unconditional Love IS what God is.

What I value from the Sufi teachings is finding the safety to take a look at what I’m afraid of. My experience has been that is more the “fear of the fear” than the actual fear itself that feels the most scary. What I have learned is that LOVE is the spiritual medicine for fear. We simply cannot hold both fear and love at the same time. With the light of love, the fear becomes rather flimsy and doesn’t stand up.

Learning to find the truth through the light of Love, learning how to listen to Love, rather than fear, has completely revolutionized and transformed my life. From fear, I wanted to be in control of everything because it made me feel safer to have control and know what is going on. From love, I find freedom in letting go and allowing, in being surprised and delighted in how easy and beautiful everything turns out when I’m not so stressed out over it.

You’ve probably heard it said that we use only about 10% of the capacity of our brains. I believe we use only about 10% of our capacity to be loved and loving. If we could fully embrace and live from unconditional love, can you imagine what life would be like?

This is why I’m excited to bring my Sufi teacher, Nura Laird M.Ed to Seattle!

REGISTER for the weekend workshop and join Nura for  a FREE bonus teleclass on April 10th.

Nura has a beautiful way of helping everyone - women and men – gain access to and live from the Love that is the true essence of our human nature.

I extend a personal and heartfelt invitation to join Nura for a weekend of spiritual retreat, April 26-28 - because I know that what Nura brings will take you to a richer, deeper, more unique experience that anything you’ve previously encountered in your life.

In The True Heart of the Divine Feminine weekend retreat with Nura Laird, we will learn together how to find the safety and trust to relax into experiences of love, healing and nurturing that we never thought we could experience. We will learn how to be the women we ARE, not based on some thought or belief, but on the reality of knowing our holy essence. We will learn how to live in love and how to bring our gifts to our families and to the world.

No matter who you are or where you are on your spiritual journey – women and men - the teachings that Nura will share are sure to take you to a deeper place of exploration that you have previously experienced.

Listen to the recording of the call to discover more about what the weekend retreat with Nura can do for you. Listen to the call by CLICKING HERE.

Find out more about the weekend retreat and REGISTER by CLICKING HERE.