As I was lying in bed the other night still trying to find a promise that felt true to me I couldn't help but laugh when I thought of what promises were like growing up. Do you remember when a promise was a pact sealed as if you would give your life (swear on your life! or better yet how about your mother's?!?) or required you to maim yourself (cross your heart, hope do die, stick a needle in your eye!). How many of us remember making these pacts with childhood friends or siblings? You could feel the depth of these promises deep inside and you knew these words, this pact had real meaning, it always felt a little risky, but yet exciting. Now maybe these seem extreme, but they held real power for me, they held me to a deeper connection, they tested boundaries and offered integrity. In essence, I believe they really helped me to grow. I realized a promise fore me is more about the relationship, binding myself to something and what it creates within me rather than what it is. This first week for me has been about the experiences that we create together, the pact of making a commitment to ourselves with the support of a loving community or friend giving it real substance (fleshing it out, if you will). So after the first week of this collective journey, I have realized it is less about making the promise and more about keeping it. The importance of this pact is having all of you reflect back to me the strength of my desire and sharing in something sacred together. So, I have finally made my promise thanks to all of you. "I promise to draw upon the inspiration of my teachers/students (which can be one in the same), to share in this beautiful collective energy of the promiseland and I promise to hold space for all of you to experience the depths of your promise" Cross my heart!
In love and light,
Vicky