Competencies of Belonging

What is my life's greatest longing at this moment?  

In class, we have been asking ourselves this question and outside of the classroom, we have been encouraged to tuck this question into our heart-minds as a living inquiry.   Our aim is not so much about working the answer, but rather, to cultivate curiosity and openness to living the unfolding question.  

To facilitate a courtship with our innate, inner life impulse, Toko-Pa Turner (author of Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home) suggests that we create a Longing or Dream Altar.  Dedicate a space in your home for objects (found or created) that symbolize aspects of your life's longing.  Even if you haven't found anything that symbolizes your longing, Toko-Pa recommends that you place a piece of cloth in a spot in your home to create space for the longing / dream to reveal itself.

Toko-Pa also believes that dreamwork offers a restorative path of true belonging to our lives and to the world.  In class, we have been cultivating a "courting relationship" with our dreams, freeing ourselves from figuring out what the dreams mean, and instead, practicing being open to the mysterious and symbolic nature of dreams.  

Dream recall & courtship tips:
- Remain still in bed upon waking and mentally rehearse the dream fragments before getting up.
- Journal the content and core feeling states of the dream.  
- Take an integrative walk in the woods with your dream to practice remaining open to the wisdom and    medicine offered in our symbolic sleeping life.