Accompanying her story, Bobbie Goodman shares some tips on circle as lived experience.
In taking the principles of The Circle Way practice out into the world (lived experience) a few points are useful in keeping grounded and being present.
Attentive listening to whomever I am with is important even if we are not sitting in a circle.
Remembering that everyone’s point of view is valid from that point of view.
One’s truth can be spoken with kindness.
Conscious self monitoring is a form of mindfulness which will support the practitioner’s awakening and foster connection with others in community building.
It is OK to ask for ‘time out’ to breathe, to consider the issue at hand, and to wait for inner guidance.
Bobbie Goodman is a lifelong seeker who began her professional career as a psychiatric nurse. She became a Gestalt therapist and group leader in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the Human Potential movement and Encounter groups were beginning and flourishing. She was a founding member of The Kachina Institute in Tucson AZ. The longing for deeper Truth led her to become a student of Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist spiritual teachers in the decades that followed. Led to a PeerSpirit circle, she saw the potential for integrating a variety of her past interests. This had much application over the twelve years when she and her husband took others on spiritual pilgrimages to Bali.