Visioning Testimony from 2006
This past wintery Saturday I had the pleasure of preparing the path (via snowshoes) to welcome a delightful group of intrepid people into my home studio to do some reflecting, connecting and envisioning.
Leading workshops with small groups of interested and curious people, right here in my barn in Rupert, is my happy place. This is what I envisioned 30+ years ago when I first came to Rupert, the barn then about to disintegrate into the ground. I started offering this particular workshop in 2004, an amazing 20 years ago.
Mara, a participant envisioning a writing life, wrote this article about her experience in 2006. The couch may be upgraded, but I dare say this is a timeless account, right down to the grapes and almonds.
If you are curious for yourself, more information can be found HERE.
February 11, 2006
Written By: M. Munro
The path leads to Rupert!
I sit at one end of a warmly coloured couch, holding in my right hand a freshly pasted collage, the torn sides of the magazine images and words curling upwards with the hastily laid glue. My left hand waves and points sporadically over the quickly constructed yet deeply inspired piece, attempting to describe the subconscious significance of the work, which as I speak, becomes more clear to my mind.
There are eight people sitting in a circular formation on various chairs and couch-ends around me. Their eyes are bright and alert their mouths smiling or moving slowly with the iteration of thoughtfully delivered questions and comments. I speak without inhibition, unaware of my body, its appearance or posture. I am living purely in this moment of free expression derived from deep within my psyche. This moment was for me the apex of a daylong workshop I had the opportunity to participate in called ‘Visioning: Choosing your Life’.
One clear and sunny day in Rupert Quebec, we gathered, eight strangers, brought together to Linda Vanderlee’s newly renovated barn by an ad, the word of a friend perhaps, or the fortune of an azure flyer beckoning our eyes. Linda, a consultant, facilitator and coach, yet more aptly defined as an inspired woman walking her own path of success, greeted us all with a warm voice and hot coffee. Nestled at the back of her property, the barn felt fairly isolated, yet did not create a sense of fear or melancholy, but omitted comfort, peace and freedom with it’s rustic clean finish and view of the Gatineau hills. Thus, we embarked, collectively, on a journey that would bring us closer to the seat of our individual goal, desires, fears and successes, whilst addressing the beliefs and values within us that worked for or against these desires, and the support systems needed to realize them.
With a creative spontaneity and focused energy quite unlike anyone I had ever met, Linda skilfully guided us through various exercises, which ultimately broke down the walls erected by years of social training built of ‘I can’t’ and ‘I should’ until we reached our personal bridges with placards reading: “I dream’ and ‘I wish’. Between munching on slices of melon, grapes, cheese, chocolate and almonds we opened our hearts to the stranger beside us, we held glue and scissors and let our subconscious run rampant through magazines, we lay in silence, meditating on our ‘ideal week’ and, most rare to my experiences, we each had moments of speaking a truth so deep from within that we shocked ourselves.
Events like these usually transcend the social delineations of sex, race or age, and this was of no exception. It struck me at first that I was the youngest of the group and may be here ahead of my time, however, by the end of the day, I felt an overwhelming gratitude to my new friends for their open ears and their thoughtful and carefully reflected advice. I felt privileged to learn and draw from their experiences and accumulated wisdom, and that, in a time they had set aside to look towards their futures, they were happy to help someone who had fears and question that they had once overcome, in their pasts. Yet, even stronger than this difference, was the immense similarities I saw amongst the hopes and fears and desires for our lives.
Linda helped me find a way to articulate this sentiment: there is no magic age, no miraculous event, we are all always searching for our dreams, sometimes bumping blindly against walls of beliefs rooted in false values or seeing clearly in mirrors held by friends, and the visioning process is a truly effective method of finding them.
It then became clear that this visioning group, and the unforgettable day we had together, was not by chance. We all had one thing, of the upmost importance in common: we were all ready for it.
Someone once said that they have avoided taking this workshop because they were scared of what they might find, not around them, but within. This sentiment is of the utmost validity, and is the crux of my discovery brought forth by this workshop: the only answer you will get from a day like February 11th is that all the answers are within you. This for many may be reason enough to run in the opposite direction, and for others, whom ever is ready this is the most liberating, empowering and energizing answer in the world.
Just less than one month later I gathered with four of my new found friends one Saturday morning for coffee and catch-up. Within a month we all had undergone changes ranging from career moves to subtle shifts in daily routines and emotional and spiritual awakenings, but all were life changing. One common thread throughout our discussion was that the workshop had helped us to broaden the scope of what we believed was possible in terms of what we could do and have. Thus, despite the constant questioning and uncertainty that was repeated in each of our stories, underlying it was not fear, but optimism and hope towards the variety of choices we now allowed ourselves to envision. And with this perspective in place, I noticed that every one of us had developed a certain faith.
Linda had said that some things happen for a reason and once you get clear as to what you want, it will come to you. How sceptical I would once have been and misinterpreted this advice as idealistic thumb sitting. Yet now, my lens has changed. It seems as though coincidences are all around us, happening everyday to each of us and with clarity we now see them for what they are: the opportunities that are out there for us to realize our dreams. Once we get clear about what we want, as Linda said, we are able to see the opportunities that we need, make the connections we desire, and, inexplicably, draw the appropriate people and events into our range of vision. Thus, we all seemed to have a certain level of faith in the beautiful mystery that is life, and the co-incidences that allow us to reach towards the one we want. As we parted ways on another cold and sunny Saturday, I felt again energized with the power of support and inspiration that resonates through direct dialogue.
I am brought back to the essence and title of this workshop: vision. A word that to me connotes two important things: the inner clarity to define ourselves that enables the outer clarity to view the world as a place which accepts and supports us, in which we can be an active participant as agents of our desires and goals. For me personally, the proof is in the paper pudding, my dream is to write, and this vision has commenced through the strength and inspiration drawn from this workshop and the people in it.
If you are curious for yourself, more information can be found HERE.