The Wild Edge of Sorrow - Discussion Group & Book Study - Transform Your Life!

The mystic poet Khalil Gibran wrote, "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain."

Your Host, Benji Whitehurst, M.A.:
~Hosts hundreds of authentic relating & dream workshops in the Raleigh-Durham area since 2014
~M.A. in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at Naropa University
~ 1-on-1 coaching available!

How to RSVP:
Very simple: Pay via PayPal, RSVP here on Meetup.

Grief and Joy:
Heartache and heart-opening go hand in hand. The more we express our grief and sorrow, the more joy and vibrancy can show up in our lives.
In this weekly discussion group & book study, we will explore grief and the process of heart-opening. You will learn how to:
... gently touch the grief buried deep in your soul, for experiences of release, communion and joy
... improve your relationships by relaxing more fully into strong emotions
... transform dull or drama-filled relationships by transforming the root causes
If you are longing to feel fully alive and to have better relationships, come join us!
We plan to offer a separate, optional communal grief ritual at the end of the course.
The tuition is priced to encourage you to join us for our authentic relating or dream groups between discussion sessions. See below for membership options, to get the most out of this 3-month course in grief!

Logistics:
We begin on Tuesday, 9/19, closing the group on 9/26. We will meet for 10 weekly sessions, ending 11/21.

Tuition: $150
Cash in advance, or PayPal here to register.
For those who hold active 10-passes for our T-Group practice sessions and haven't yet switched to membership, the cost is $100 in advance.

What We're Studying & Why
To guide our conversations, we'll explore one chapter per week of the book The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief by Francis Weller. Find it here: Bookshop

Partial Book Description:
... "an essential guide for navigating the deep waters of sorrow and loss ... Describing how Western patterns of amnesia and anesthesia affect our capacity to cope with personal and collective sorrows, Weller reveals the new vitality we may encounter when we welcome, rather than fear, the pain of loss. Through moving personal stories, poetry, and insightful reflections he leads us into the central energy of sorrow, and to the profound healing and heightened communion with each other and our planet that reside alongside it.
... Those who work with people in grief, who have experienced the loss of a loved one, who mourn the ongoing destruction of our planet, or who suffer the accumulated traumas of a lifetime will appreciate the discussion of obstacles to successful grief work such as privatized pain, lack of communal rituals, a pervasive feeling of fear, and a culturally restrictive range of emotion. Weller highlights the intimate bond between grief and gratitude, sorrow and intimacy. In addition to showing us that the greatest gifts are often hidden in the things we avoid, he offers powerful tools and rituals and a list of resources to help us transform grief into a force that allows us to live and love more fully."

Arrival Logistics:
This study group will be in-person only in Durham.
Doors open at 6:15. We begin at 6:30pm and end at 8:00pm. No entry after 6:30pm. Since this is a home, we'll wrap up by ~8:45 each week.
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What We're About:
We invite you to join a 10-year-old community and experience not just the depth possible in an evening of authentic relating, but the sense of soul-enlivening community available for all who play, relate with us over the long term.

Calendar:
https://www.navigatechange.org/authentic-relating-events/

Your Host, Benji Whitehurst, M.A.:
~Hosts hundreds of authentic relating & dream workshops in the Raleigh-Durham area since 2014
~M.A. in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at Naropa University
~ 1-on-1 coaching available!