LIFE & WISDOM & INSPIRATION CIRCLE

Beginning October 3

Held Third Friday from 7:00 - 8:00 PM

Inspired donation given to local charity

The Longhouse - 2309 48th St. South in Gulfport

Opening Prayer and Gratitude

Grounding Breaths

Inspired Message

Silent Meditation

Wisdom Sharing

Moments of Silence

Closing Prayer
 

 To encourage and facilitate the use of circles, Wisdom Circles formulated a set of guidelines called the Ten Constants.  These constants have been inspired by councils of indigenous peoples, informed by support and dialogue groups, and drawn from their own experience.  The Ten Constants create a safe container that allows participants to tap their innate capacity to relate to each other in a context of wisdom and compassion.  For more information, go to www.wisdomcircle.org.

The constants below have been slightly adapted to support the format of the Wisdom & Inspiration Circle.

One: Honor the circle as sacred time and space by doing simple rituals to mark the beginning and end.  A ritual creates a shared sensory experience and a demarcation from ordinary life. Light a candle, for example, or take a moment to breathe deeply.  Share a brief period of silence or burn some incense or sage.  Listen to a selection of evocative music or to a guided meditation.  You can be as creative as you want with this.

Two: Create a collective center by with a topic or intention.  This might be visioning the future, healing wounds, going within to learn more about ourselves, making decision or planning actions that sustain and enrich life for ourselves and others.  The topic is chosen by the facilitator and delivered as an inspired message.  If guided, the facilitator will ask the participants for a topic. A question is often used to complete the message as we go into meditation.  Make a physical center in the middle of the circle.

Three: Ask to be informed by our highest human values such as compassion and truth, by the wisdom of those who have gone before us, and by the needs of those yet to be born.  You can also invoke mythical or historical figures who symbolize desired values.  One person may speak for the group, or each person can do a personal invocation.

Four: Express gratitude for the blessings and teachings of life.  Acknowledge and honor our interdependence with everything in the Web of Life.  In silence, or by taking turns, give thanks for those things great and small whose gifts enrich and nourish you.

Five: Create a container for full participation and deep truth-telling.  Allow each person to speak without interruption or cross-talk.  Use a talking stick (or any object that has symbolic significance).  The object may be passed around the circle or taken from and returned to the center.  Respect a member's right to silence.  Keep everything confidential.

Six: Listen from the heart and serve as compassionate witness for other people in the circle.  To be an effective witness requires paying attention to what's being said without interpreting, judging, or trying to "fix" or rescue the person speaking.  It also means a willingness to discover something about yourself in the stories of other people.

Seven: Speak from the heart and from direct experience.  When you are moved to speak, do so thoughtfully and with care.  Avoid abstract, conceptual language, and stay in touch as much as possible with your feelings.  As this capacity develops, you may be moved to share those feelings and to say difficult things without self-judgment and without blaming others.

Eight: Make room for silence to enter to allow for reflection, for meditation, for feelings to surface and for a sense of the sacred to emerge as the group proceeds.

Nine: Empower each member to be a co-facilitator of the process.  If possible, designate a different person to be the circle-maker each time.  This person readies the physical setting, initiates the opening and closing rituals.  Encourage each other to give voice to feelings of satisfaction or discomfort with the group's process.

Ten: Commit to a caring relationship with each person in the circle so as to engender trust and caring among members.  Extend that caring to other people, to the Earth and all her creatures by practicing capacities developed within the wisdom circle in daily life.