In This Issue
Upcoming Programs
Read more about all of our workshops, retreats and resources on our website.
It is a difficult time. The world economy teeters from day to day as various governments seek to prevent further collapse, unemployment through cutbacks, restructuring, and business closings have hit record highs, and it is very difficult to stay centered in who you are.
I have found that is has been very easy to lose sight of what’s real and what’s Memorex----old recordings. Old fear, habitual patterns, and simple ungroundedness can knock one from the center and as a result down a rabbit hole. Often the rabbit holes are irritability with family, becoming hyper vigilant to overcome a sense of failure by working way beyond the body and mind’s capacity, or to fall into a sense of despair.
To overcome these natural inclinations, I have found that it supports my centeredness to read the following prayer, or if you prefer, statement of my soul’s intent for the day. Reading it aloud tends to remind ourselves that the instability of the world is an enticing adventure that tends to derail us from how to function well in the world. I encourage you to have the courage to read it daily for the next 30 days. I believe it will result in a renewed sense of self and a deeper strength of whom you are. Over the course of the last several years, many men have found solace in it.
As a quick reminder, the 2009 Natural Passages program starts in April. Details are below. In addition, graduates of the program can attend the return program set for July of 2009.
Bountiful blessings
Herb Stevenson
Acknowledging Your Soul Intention
Opening
I am grateful to those who went before me for guidance to travel this day’s path.
I am grateful to those who are yet to come for what this day holds for me.
I am grateful for the courage of my ancestors that fills my veins.
I am grateful for the love of all mankind that rests in my heart.
Of Great Spirit and Man is what I seek.
I ask for the Great Spirit to be at one with the Man and for the Man to walk as one with Great Spirit.
Acknowledging—the phantoms of fear
Grandfather Fear, I thank you for helping me to show-up in my life by teaching me about the four phantoms of fear—fight, flight, freeze and fawn and the alchemical phantom fighter—facing—that leads to the Four Chambered Heart. I acknowledge that in times of true danger, each phantom serves me well and that in imaginative forms of danger from my past, each phantom does not serve my ability to live my life, yet has faithfully responded to my need to hide behind it. I acknowledge that it is only when I assume full responsibility for my life and face the imaginative fears that they will subside and the four phantoms will finally be able to rest.
Honoring—the shadows and stating intentions
Inferiority and the Need to feel victimized, I thank you for helping me find the courage to live my life. I ask to Show up and be present without preconceived notions, while having the Ability to Take Action and Enforce Boundaries.
Envy and the urge to feel entitled, I thank you for helping me to understand how to respect myself and others. I ask for The Ability to Assess, Analyze and Contain, while saying what is so when it is so, without blame or judgment.
Resentment and the need to be rescued, I thank you for helping to me to find the love for myself and for others. I ask for The Ability to Connect and Feel, while paying attention to what has heart and meaning.
Apathy and the urge to blame, I thank you for helping to find the generosity within myself and towards others. I ask for The Ability to Initiate, Support and Create Order while being open to outcome.
I am grateful for the teaching of the four shadows and how they have acted to protect me when I was not strong enough to fully be myself.
Facing—Claiming One’s Soul Right
Now, I ask all four phantoms—fight, flight, freeze, fawn—to reveal themselves as appropriate to my surviving in dangerous situations and as reminders of how to thrive in my daily life by choosing to consciously live it to the fullest, instead of through the imaginative ghosts from my past.
I ask all shadow behavior—inferiority and victimization, envy and entitlement, resentment and the need to be rescued, apathy and the need to blame—to transform into memories of how I can choose to behave or not, while I seek to live each moment based on the internal authority of whom I am and not what the external world thinks I should be.
Closing
I offer this prayer to the Great Spirit above and within and humbly ask for divine support to live my life to the fullest and bring honor to myself and my people.
Upcoming Programs
Natural Passages
One-Year Initiation Program for Men
Starting in Spring, April 16, 2009
4 Seasons, 4 Weekends:
April 16-19
June 25-28
Sept 10-13
Nov 12-15
Natural Passages one-year program is a 4-session male initiation. It is a program that enables the core integrity of the man to surface. It is designed to awaken, develop, and nurture the essence and fullness of being a man in today’s world. Our focus is developmental. We seek to invoke the unfoldment of mature masculine energies. Our goal is specific. We seek to assist each man to find his place in the world. Our hope is honorable. We seek to fill the void of mature men that can stay within the center of whom they are regardless of circumstances. Our dream is selfish. In helping you to find your place in the world, we envision your helping others to do the same. Therein, we can build community and make a difference in the world.
MoMen Return
July 23-26, 2009
The MoMen Return weekend is a return to where we started. It is an exploration into the four principles of presence. The focus is to delve deeply into the relational next steps of the four chambered heart, the four phantoms of fear and the resulting shadow behavior. Dynamic exercises will be provided to support an inward journey and then the opportunity to share these private stories with each other.
LISTEN to Falling Leaves - music and lyrics written and performed by Jeff Endemann, a participant in MoMen 2006. The song was inspired and written during a MoMen weekend.
WATCH our online slide presentation of the Natural Passages program.
If you are unable to view either of these from your email program, please visit the website at www.natural-passages.com and try again there. You will find them in the left-hand column of all pages.