SPIRITUAL GROWTH CIRCLE

When two or more come together, there am I in the midst of them

A Spiritual Growth Circle is a coming together of two or more persons to gain insights or personal guidance through meditation, meditative states and dreamwork.

You are encouraged to pull together in your own home a Spiritual Growth Circle of relatives and friends to come together once every week for meditation, sharing what is experienced during the meditation, then discussing what was shared with each other. This simple process is a powerful tool for learning greater trust in our own personal guidance, and to empower ourselves more in all our life activities.

Private meditations allow us to get more in touch with our own personal guidance, our inner forces. Group meditations tend to increase the experiences and understanding we can gain through meditation. The Spiritual Growth Circle insights carry over during the week to encourage and to enhance our personal meditations.

A Spiritual Growth Circle can start out with a simple, non-directed meditation of three to five minutes. This is often called a centering meditation. After each person has returned to full, waking consciousness after the centering meditation, then each person in turn can share what was experienced during the centering meditation. It is recommended there be no interruptions or questions from others during the sharing time.

The purpose for not interrupting during the sharing time is threefold. First, we honor the person who is willing to share an experience with us. Second, during the sharing a person retreats somewhat into the meditative state re-experiencing what is being shared. The third purpose is to discipline ourselves to truly listen to what another person is sharing with us. Too often when others are sharing with us, we are very busy thinking about what we want to say. Whatever you don't understand about what a person is sharing with you can be asked about during the general discussion time following the sharing.

After everyone has shared their meditative experiences, then there can be an open discussion on the meditative experiences just shared with each other. This discussion often brings out common threads of experiences and tends to add more meaning to the meditative experiences. This is also a time to ask for more clarity from others about their shared experiences during the meditative exercise. Try to keep the general discussion focused on the shared meditative experiences.

After the centering meditation discussion is complete, the people in the group can choose a specific focus for the next meditation. The focus can be a meditative exercise that someone in the group knows, or sensing energy flows in the body as might be used in energy healing. The exercise can be focusing on something that happened or was said during the sharing or discussion that just ended. Or someone might have a dream experience that the person would like more insight into the dream's meaning. Simple questions on a topic of interest to every one can be a focus for the meditative exercise.

Each meditative exercise follows the same pattern as the centering meditation. Three to five minutes of meditation. Then sharing without interruption from the group. And ending with a discussion about the information just shared about the meditation experience. It is strongly recommended that each person have a glass of water beside them during this time. Taking small sips of water during the evening enhances the flow of activity during the meditative times.

Whatever happens to any person during the meditative exercise is valid for that person and needs to be honored by the others in the group. However, every other person in the group must decide for themselves whether any experience shared is valid for them. We all have different focuses in our lives. A meditation experience might be specific to our focus of activity, and not for others.

A Spiritual Growth Circle can usually complete three or four meditative exercises with sharing and discussion during a two hour period. It is recommended that Spiritual Growth Circles limit their practice time to two hours or less, once each week. Daily personal meditations between group meditations are very important to gain trust in our own guidance. The group can not validate our experiences. Each person must do that for one's self.

Once you have a clear understanding of what you want to do in life, the Universe will bend its efforts toward that end. Be careful, however, not to expect the Universe to fall into your time frame for the accomplishment of your goal. To the Universal forces a word like 'soon' can mean the next instant or the next millennium.

LOVE YOURSELF ALWAYS! Love is the cornerstone of your being.

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