When Anger Stops Us Seeing A Friend
Its true, we may not have noticed.
These special people can pass us by if we want to hold onto our grief and pain, if we want to blame and be victims.
Be Real, Be Loved
Yesterday I talked about overlooking friendships. I said that not so long ago I’d asked myself:
“If I can’t see the love extended towards me from those around me, how can I know it and receive it from God?”
This question opened my eyes to many things.
When we live steeped in addictions and co-dependence true friendship doesn’t always stand out. It takes a growth in integrity to begin to recognise those that give without trying to getsomething from you. And often when we’ve been used to co-dependence it can feel vulnerable and strange to begin to enter relationships based on love and humility.
I often find myself feeling exposed or insecure or stupid when I can’t ‘control’ the way others will perceive me through projections or addictions in the way that I used to.
As I let the real me speak, the child in me identifies risk.
All of the times as a child that I was made fun of, or judged, or rejected, or just not approved of when being myself taught me to play it ‘safe’ and hide myself in gradually increasing increments. I replaced these ‘self-parts’, my ‘whole-heart’, my ‘true-ness’ with parts I thought would please everyone, until one day (not so long ago) I realised that my heart was closed off and I had lost the ability to sincerely love and to be loved.
It’s hard to let love into a heart that is walled off by fake parts. And as I tear down the barricade I often find myself overwhelmed with emotion. When love reaches behind the façade it is such a contrast to the loneliness my true self had grown accustomed to, that I often melt into tears.
So I’ve learnt that sometimes friendship requires bravery. Sometimes it means taking a step that feels risky. It means taking down the walls and opening up to the possibility of love once again. It means having the courage to grieve as well as be real.
I see the same thing reflected in my relationship with God.
Have you ever realised that you overlooked a true friend in favour of an addictive relationship?
The Fruits of Friendship
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Huge gratitude to these people who helped out on Wednesday.
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| Lena, Igor & AJ |
To Lena – who has learnt how to edit video files so that we can bring you the book group on youtube every week. She edits the video for upload each week and also operates a video camera and helps with set-up and pack-up.
To Igor & Vlad – who operate a camera and handle sound during presentations. Igor is our usual video editor and Vlad is learning the ropes. Igor uploads all files to youtube.
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| Joy & Cavil |
To Joy – who was the first to arrive and last to leave. I believe this made her stay at the Wondai Hall more than 10 hours!
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| Cavil |
My AJ – who has individually purchased every piece of sound and video equipment we use, he maintains all of it, and understands how each item works. He has trained all of us in how to use these things and is involved in and oversees every set-up and pack-up we do. He packs the van and unloads. He backs-up every piece of data we collect. He edits all of the audio files that appear on our website.
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| Diana, Jane, Joy & Laurleen |
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| Vlad & Igor |
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| Jane & Anto |
To Diana, Cavil, Anto & Jane– who handled hall logistics, and mucked in with technical support or whatever was needed at the minute.
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| You guys are awesome |
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| Some great guy who would probably rather be playing guitar! |
My special thanks to these wonderful people and many others who often show up and quietly add their hands to the task. (I think Joy calls you her ‘silent ninjas’!) Every one of them is led by their own passion in these areas and their desire to serve others.
A Friend Indeed
Have you experienced a friendship that has not only nourished you but also challenged you to be a better person?
And Still More Book Group Info..
More On The Book Group
Meeting previously published as April 4 should read April 3 at the Wondai Diggers Club
Also updated below
Thanks to everyone for your enthusiastic response to the book group idea. I have received some questions via email regarding participation in the group, forming your own groups and re-reading the book.
Mar 21, Wednesday, Wondai Town Hall Chapter 2
Mar 29, Thursday, Wondai Diggers Club Chapter 3
Apr 3, Tuesday, Wondai Diggers Club Chapter 4
Apr 12, Thursday, Wondai Diggers Club Chapter 5
Apr 18, Wednesday, Wondai Town Hall Chapter 6
Book Group
- Encourage participants to discover, reflect upon and appreciate more of God’s Truth and to practically examine how these Truths impact upon our lives and soul’s journey.
- Assist participants to develop self-reflection, an important quality in establishing a personal relationship with God.
- {Hopefully} create an online resource via You Tube, for people in other areas, or those unable to attend the group in person, to be able to follow-along with the book group and their reflections.
Participants & Attendance
Group Format & Participation
Creating an Online Resource
Details for the First Meeting
Book Study Group Questions
Each week, read the required chapter and write a response to the following questions:
Links
Greece + Your Guides & Guardians
- Stay Hydrated
Drink plenty of plain (non-carbonated, non-flavoured) water, at least three litres a day.
- Get Connected with Your Body and its Feelings
Feel your emotions and where they are stored in the body. We are close to you but can’t communicate with you as well when you are ‘in your head’ (dominated by your intellect) or more attuned to the feelings of others.
We recommend daily gentle exercise – heavy exertion can detune you as much as inactivity. Focus on movement while you stay connected to your breathe and physical sensations.
Also, take time each day to be still while you tune into your breath, your feelings and the sensations in your body.
We communicate with your spirit body and not always with words or thoughts – the more hydrated you are, the more in connection with your physical body’s sensations you are, the more sensitive you will become to your spirit body’s feelings.
- Eat mainly live, light food. Avoid stuffing yourself with starch and carbohydrates. These things dull your senses and encourage numbness. The more in touch with your feelings you are the more complete the message we will be able to give you will be.
- Foster imagination and creativity in your life, in whatever way you are drawn to. We can communicate inspiration to you better when you are open to new possibilities and ideas. Any type of creative pursuit encourages these qualities.
- Take action in your life in your passion and desires. We can give you clear and often immediate feedback when you are engaging your passions and desires in a certain direction. When you constantly sit in indecision or inaction and intellectually ponder issues we find it difficult to give clear guidance. Beware of trying to ‘figure everything out’, rather than being humble to the fact that you won’t have everything right immediately and no amount of intellectual pondering or planning will change that. We exist to lovingly guide you towards what is good, loving and true and for those who desire it, we would guide you to God.
- Feel yourself rather than the feelings of others. Beware of addictions and abdicating your will. Make time for prayer, quiet and feelings. Don’t fill every space in your day with noise and activity. Spend time away from the computer, TV, phone and music. Be in nature, be creative, and focus on feeling yourself and longing for God. Too often you are engaged with the feelings or others and pre-occupied with pleasing them.
Our focus is on your best welfare and growth; many of you do not share our focus! So this impedes our communication. By disengaging from pleasing others and beginning to make growth your priority we will find guiding you so much easier.
- Regard us as friends, not as far-off, impersonal beings. Each of you is a unique individual with specific interests, talents and passions. We too are all individuals. We have been allocated to you because we share common passions and personality traits with you. You may come to view us as friends for this is how we feel for you. We have much love and regard for you. We care deeply for your welfare but do not feel ourselves to be your superiors merely as your friends with and interest in your safety and well-being. When you regard us as lofty, dispassionate and without a life and personality of our own, you distance yourselves from us.
While it is true that many of us are now completely free from error, we have each lived a life on earth and we understand the trials and difficulties you face in your growth towards your true self and towards God. When you regard us as ‘pure’, you often feel we have always been chaste and uncorrupted. Many of you have the feeling or belief that we cannot directly relate to your experience or understand you. We wish to tell you that we do, many times we are more aware of exactly what you face than you are, and usually we have face similar things during our own life on earth. This is why we have become your guide.



























