Growing into Community
I’m feeling shy. This isn’t new – on the Meyers-Brigg scale I teeter just beyond the big I for introvert. I thrive with lots of alone time and in small groups, and struggle with larger groups. Yet here I am, with a business that demands engagement, a blog that invites self-reflection and vulnerable sharing, and an ever expanding community of women who are sharing in this journey.
Our Virtual Mama Renew Retreat at the end of May was wildly successful – we received over 500 comments in response to posts that invited reflection and intention-setting. Our community of facebook page members also doubled in just a two week period. Amazing! I am so overwhelmed by the response, and more than ever, excited by the potential for Mama Renew to create an authentic community of mothers.
Ok, overwhelmed – and shy.
I find myself not knowing where to begin with so many new women
(which is why I’m starting here…).
The sharing we enjoyed during the Virtual Retreat was exactly what I have been envisioning for Mama Renew. I want this to be something we all feel a part of.
Please, please, please share your experience on these pages. Your comment helps each of us feel a part of something larger.
Your words may just spark something in another woman, serving as a reminder or an inspiration. I look forward to learning from you 
p.s. We’re in the running for SavvyMom Entrepreneur of the Year Award! If you like what we do, please vote for us – we have big dreams & the support this award offers will make all the difference. You can VOTE FOR US HERE - each and every vote makes a difference. We want to win this thing!
**************
click here to comment!
Subscribe to RENEW • Follow us on Twitter • Join our Facebook Page
I LOVED the virtual retreat, too! I’d also love to see more of your wonderful thoughts and questions in my Facebook feed.
And IRL (in real life) a 1 day Mama Renew retreat in Vancouver would be heavenly for moms who have not yet night-weaned and don’t have a hollyhock-sized budget!
[Reply]
admin Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 10:13 PM
Thanks, Janette! In real life I think that would be a wonderful idea – consider the seed planted. See you there…
[Reply]
I’ve had a hard time taking time for me. Nope. Clarification: I feel like I’m having a hard time taking the time I “should” take.
I have been taking time. I’ve enjoyed many long soaks in the tub, I’ve taken time to watch the wind in the leaves of the trees, I even went out in a downpour and spun around with my hands and face up to the sky (got SOAKED!).
I feel like I “should” be going on hikes, and sitting at the shore, or taking myself out to dinner. Never mind the lovely dinners (and breakfasts!) I’ve created for myself.
So when I read The Prelude by Oriah Mountain Dreamer today, I smiled and thought…it’s just right!!
“What if it truly doesn’t matter what you do but how you do whatever you do?
How would this change what you choose to do with your life?
What if you could be more present and open-hearted with each person you encounter working as a cashier in the corner store, a parking lot attendant or filing clerk than you could if you were striving to do something you think is more important?
How would this change how you want to spend your precious time on this earth?
What if your contribution to the world and the fulfillment of you own happiness is not dependent upon discovering a better method of prayer or technique of meditation, not dependent upon reading the right book or attending the right seminar, but upon really seeing and deeply appreciating yourself and the world as they are right now?
How would this effect your search for spiritual development?
What if there is no need to change, no need to try and transform yourself into someone who is more compassionate, more present, more loving or wise?
How would this effect all the places in your life where you are endlessly trying to be better?
What if the task is simply to unfold, to become who you already are in your essential nature – gentle, compassionate and capable of living fully and passionately present?
How would this effect how you feel when you wake up in the morning?
What if who you essentially are right now is all that you are ever going to be?
How would this effect how you feel about your future?
What if the essence of who you are and always have been is enough?
How would this effect how you see and feel about your past?
What if the question is not why am I so infrequently the person I really want to be, but why do I so infrequently want to be the person I really am?
How would this change what you think you have to learn?
What if becoming who and what we truly are happens not through striving and trying but by recognizing and receiving the people and places and practises that offer us the warmth of encouragement we need to unfold?
How would this shape the choices you have to make about how to spend today?
What if you knew that the impulse to move in a way that creates beauty in the world will arise from deep within and guide you every time you simply pay attention and wait?
How would this shape your stillness, your movement, your willingness to follow this impulse, to just let go and dance?”
[Reply]
admin Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 10:12 PM
Each of these questions should be framed all over my home. Thank you:)
Most of us get into trouble with the “Shoulds” – first step is recognizing them.
[Reply]
I think that shyness is a natural byproduct of growth – you are changing: who will you (and Mama Renew) become? It’s hard to own yourself when you’re not quite into your new skin yet! It’s that deliciously ticklish place where excitement teeters on the verge of fear, yet ironically is also the ideal spot to really open up for what’s next. You hold space for others to do this work in a wonderfully safe-yet-challenging way – it’s kind of fun to watch you dance there yourself
! As always, you are a brave and inspiring role model!
[Reply]
admin Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 10:09 PM
Thank you, Madeleine
Lots of transformation going on right now. Excitement, fear, opening… sounds like birth!
Glad to be in such good company.
[Reply]