Second in-person gathering March 4th 2023
Marian Neary Burke
A refreshing start to a cold March with our second in-person gathering in the beautiful Margaret Aylward centre. What would have been a larger number than fifteen, but due to various circumstances some of our friends could not attend.
Elaine Goggin led us into the day with her lovely gentle presence ensuring a guaranteed grounding for the day and reminders about “pausing” (backed up with wonderful quotes.) Elaine also got us to introduce ourselves in a fun way, which had us glued to her heart emblem, lest we introduce ourselves too soon!
Marie McGuigan, who was due to lead a poetry workshop, couldn’t make it, so Tom Larkin, stepped in and with his usual expertise and sack full of knowledge guided us through a morning of images. The first part prompted by a question about ourselves and then taking that deeper by selecting an image from his wonderful collection of pictures. This was enhanced more with our first session of Focusing. Part two was a question about how we viewed the world now with a guided exercise, which allowed us to create our own image and focus with this. By now we were well ready for lunch, which some people saying they were so hungry, they could hardly focus!
A refreshing walk in the grounds prepared us for a lovely afternoon on the Enneagram, presented by the knowledgeable Enneagram teacher Therese Ryan. She guided us through the nine personality types and cleverly got us to experience the different energies of head, heart and gut, in a walking exercise. No question was left unexplained in her limited time to explain the complex Enneagram (especially if one was new to it) followed by further time for some Focusing.
Kathleen and Mairead were remembered several times throughtout the day. Mary Rose Crowe took a photograph of the group to be included in a documentary, which is being made for the centenary of their order, in which Kathleen and Mairead will be remembered for their Focusing legacy. Also before lunch we had a smile as we paused and using their expression, checked, " What was the weather like inside.
And suddenly it was four forty-five and Mary Jennings in her relaxed calming voice closed the day and we were already talking about our next gathering! (Maybe September!?)
With grateful thanks to all the organisers.
