By Michael Mead

Don't know if it's so, but I suspect one of the big attractions to organized religion is the weekly community gathering.  There’s nothing like hanging with your peeps. Seems like we can rest the deepest and feel the most nourished when we are a part of a community.

Here are five keys to tapping into the grounding -- and expanding -- possibilities of community:

Key #1:  Pick your peeps carefully.  We are drawn to those who most reflect our attitudes, beliefs and values.  If you want to know what you value, look at what the 5 people with whom you spend the most time.  Or as Jim Rohn says, “You become the 5 people with whom you spend the most time.” 

Key #2:  Choose different peeps for different purposes and interests.  You may have peeps for as lofty an interest as spirituality, as practical as career or as trivial as recreation.  Each set of peeps brings a different quality to your life.

Key #3:  Consciously draw from and contribute to the collective energy and deep connection.  When you gather with your peeps you are nurtured, loved and, yes, even admired.  And you give that to others, too.  When it works, an alternating current is established that feeds everyone.

Key 4:  Create a structure for regular peep gatherings.  As already mentioned, weekly gatherings seems to support organized religion. Other than the courses, the stillness peeps have had little structure for gathering.

Now there is a new opportunity for a peep gathering—the Stillness Family Reunion.  And we are inventing other structures, too, that will keep you plugged into the creative and energizing power of stillness and the love that is naturally there when we allow our egos to take a back seat.

Key #5:  Gather with your peeps as often as possible.  When you are hanging with your peeps, it is like drinking from the Fountain of Youth—invigorating, renewing, revitalizing.  If you get too busy or find other excuses not to gather, you are truly missing one of the sweetest experiences of being human.  And the connection with your peeps makes the realization of your desires easier - like an external battery that powers everything up.

Join us at the Stillness Family Reunion July 25 and 26.  Experience the stillness.  Feel the love.

Categories: Stillness Practices  |  Technology of Stillness