Infinite YES integration 7/21/19
Participating in the next morning’s integration in my experience is one of the most valuable parts of the Journey-in-community experience and helps as you walk out the door and back into Life.
I regretted having to leave Saturday morning to get some sleep in my own Boulder bed trying to prepare for a 1pm competitive tennis match in the Broomfield Open. Playing competitive tennis less than 8 hours after the Journey is a story itself!
Exhausted, I did get a fairly good night’s sleep Saturday night, and on my regular early morning Sunday hike this song shuffled up twice!
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They’re really saying I love you
I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world
As I listened to Louis Armstrong sing “What a wonderful world” the second time, it struck me that his sentiments fit beautifully the description of an Infinite YES Journey experience. As the plant medicine does it’s magic in this space, filters, screens, personas, masks slip away which allows the inner love every one of us carry to arise becoming conscious. And we begin noticing everything and everyone around us with a new appreciation.
This integration is dedicated to Bismarck, who joined a few Journeys making friends and embodying a dog’s love for every person he met.
And also to Christine who was at her first Journey by invitation of Eric, her former colleague from USD Medical School. This then is dedicated to anyone who was once a first-timer at IY Journey.
In my time with Christine sitting around Daniel’s masterpiece of an outdoor fire, I noticed she positioned herself around the fire with her chair backed up close to the house where she could observe everyone around her, she seemed quite content in that chair! As is often the case with first-timers, she was fairly convinced that “nothing was happening” because she “wasn’t really feeling anything”.
Still just a couple hours later I noticed Brett (another first-timer) move over to the empty chair next to Christine and soon they were holding hands and connecting like old friends.
The medicine allows us to feel the experience of love — our capacity to feel love — inside every one of us, which is not the same as feeling romantic love and desire. Sometimes when we share that space with another person, they feel seen and appreciated (loved!) it’s a great/wondrous feeling! Sometimes touching, laying down together, cuddling, holding each other feels like the natural extension of sharing that feeling of love.
It’s easy to encourage someone who’s really feeling their internal capacity to love — to express and enjoy the naturally pleasurable physical sensations of touch and body contact. And it occurs to me that we have a special responsibility not to ‘rock someone’s world’ which could lead to a place of unanticipated/unplanned intimacy.
Our body has its own wisdom — the body responds — with a physically subconscious response which can feel like desire/excitement sexual energy. People with experience over many Journeys know about this (from experience or observation) which is one reason Cyd usually gives her ‘no hooking up’ talk during the welcoming circle. I believe this guideline is especially important when it comes to first-timers, ensuring that growth and sharing the benefits of Infinite YES is passed on. We are helping first-timers make sense of their experience and what they take away.
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These are my observations, not ‘the truth’. And I wanted to share them as I venture off to begin a new chapter in a new book of my life. I’ll close with this lyrical poem.
I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn.
And we are led to those who help us most of all
If we let them.
And we help them in return.
Well I don’t know if I believe that’s true
But I know I’m who I am today because I knew you.
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better,
well because I knew you?
Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.
Ken Toltz