Reflections on the Group of Nine Experience # 1

There have been a number of new community based Groups of  Nine forming lately. We thought this new blog thread would be an opportunity to help give voice to the varied experiences people have as they do the Love, Loss, and Forgiveness Project practices. Here is a place to share with others who are already involved in groups and with those who are new to the Project and want to understand the project better (download the free Welcome Book by clicking on it to the right of this post).

If you read something here that inspires or moves you, please comment. If you are inspired to write a short piece about your own experience send it to llfproject@gmail.com and it will be posted. You can write anonomously or sign your work, as you please. The important thing is to realize that we are not alone on our quest for living a more loving life. Enjoy these stories.

The Group of Nine meeting that I attended for the first time this past Sunday was, without doubt, a singularly stellar inner experience for me.  

I am not new to this kind of work - I have been on 'the path'  for many years and have participated in any number of workshops, conferences, trainings and the like, all of which have contributed in positive ways to the person I have become. But Sunday something shifted within me that never occurred before.  

I got in touch with an inner compassion for myself that I've experienced before for others but never for myself.  It was alarming at first - when I see others pain, my first instinct is to want to hold them in my embrace and assure them that all is well, even though it might not feel that way at the moment. Suddenly, I wanted to do the same thing for myself in the gazing experience and by golly, I did!

The tears that have never come easily flowed with the grace of a gentle stream and the gracious compassion of my witnesses put me into a space I'm still in today as I write these words. I love the man I am becoming and I have such gratitude for that little kid who birthed this process so many heartfelt years ago. He is my new hero.

Thank you LLFP.

Bill Hirschen
Slingerlands, NY