[Sarah Maybury]

Kent,
That’s a really great idea! Although, I might need to do a video meeting, before the video meeting, to learn how to set one up and send invites and such… I’m
I totally resonate with feeling more focused when I’m connecting with you all! I’m available on Monday. If anyone is available to chat, I’d love to see some of your faces and reconnect!

[Sarah Maybury]

Brian, Kent and David, reading your words brought me almost to tears. It has been a tough transition for me, coming back to life outside the magic world of the Starhouse. I could hear and feel each one of you as I read through your incredible thoughts and reflections. So much of what you all had to say resonated so much, like hit the nail on the dang head of how I have felt or am feeling. I appreciate you all being so authentic and open and honest and aware and wise.

(I haven’t gotten through everyone’s responses yet, but I promise I will! I’m excited to finally be getting to the reading and catching up on everyone’s beautiful words. Although I don’t show up here very often yet, I am so incredibly thankful to have this platform and to share it with all of you! Balance between work/fun/learning is proving to be a challenge for me for sure but every time I reconnect with you all, I feel rejuvenated!)

To be connected to nature is to be there, to be amongst it. Whether it be the trudging through the mountains, submerged in the woods, huddling by a waterfall, standing on the very edge of a cliff with the wind on your face – or driving your car, sitting at a desk for work, walking through the grocery store, or sitting at your computer right now.
Nature has always been an “escape” for me. A fantastic way to run away from the things that overwhelmed me, or upset me, or frustrated me, the things I didn’t understand, the things that scared me. It was like, at the top of that mountain or standing in the midst of that waterfall, none of those things could reach me – not even the thoughts or the possibilities of those anxieties. But, then, there was always the end of the adventure, the “back to reality”. Back to fear. Back to disconnection. Back to an overbearing craving for that feeling of having “little distinction between self and environment, between stimulus and response, or between past, present, and future.”
It wasn’t really until I discovered my yoga practice that I was gifted with a new sense of flow. A new sense of connection, that was really more like connection than escape. My yoga practice gave (and still gives and gives and gives) me a safe space to just be with and observe all of the things that came up in the silence with myself. It was the first time I really began to build a relationship with and a knowing of myself — but it didn’t go quite deep enough. There were still plenty of walls up, before I would even allow myself to see the gate to my truth or to my Soul. I’ve always felt a sort of peace, though, with calling it a “practice”. Always reminding myself, and my students that practice does not make perfect, it makes progress. So, it really resonated in reading “The Way of the Wilderness”, when Harper says that “practice implies process; no beginning or end, but a lifetime of engagement and discovery.”
Throughout the f2f, so many things came up for me. There was so much realization, release, forgiveness, understanding – so much discovery. I believe it is because I truly allowed myself to engage with nature and with my Soul, for the first time. On our first wander, I can’t even describe the safety I felt, sitting alone in the woods, at that little desk – that had been planted there just for me to find at just the right time – staring out into the immense beauty in front of me; the safety I felt in knowing my truth. It totally felt like a solid swing to those walls that had been “guarding” my Soul, and when I looked through the whole in that wall – I could see the mountains in myself, the trees in myself, the sky and the birds in myself – I could feel the wind blowing into me and then right through me.
Alan Watts totally did a number on me with this one, “You did not come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.” And, although I sometimes like to fight it or wish it away, there is more to this world than trees and clouds and birds and foxes and bunnies and beautifully clear mountain streams on crisp fall days. There are work days and there are paying bills and there are mundane moments and people whose opinions I can’t stand and memories I don’t really want to remember. But, “we are nature, we do not have nature” (John Miles, Wilderness as a Healing Place).
So, why do I need to run away? If I AM nature, I don’t need to escape from me. I can allow myself to be here. For myself and for my future clients. I am here for the process. To be amongst it. Amongst the beauty, but also the shadows. To be present and experience each moment, fully. I am here to be sturdy like the trees when someone I love doesn’t quite understand my vision, but flexible enough to see them and theirs – to stay solid for clients, but flow with them throughout their own discovery. I am here to be light and dance like the clouds across the sky, but be fully present to ride out the storms – to use humor when it’s called for, but to hold space for the sad, the angry, and the solemn moments. I am here to allow myself to feel. To be seen and to see. “I am here to be alive, to be aware, and to practice” (S. Harper, The Way of the Wilderness).

[Sarah Maybury]

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying being back home and had a nice, smooth transition back. I’m so bummed I’m missing out on the video calls right now!

I would love to hear how everyone is doing, reflections on readings or just observations of getting back to the every day.

[Sarah Maybury]

Gee, Whiz. I miss all of you so much, and can’t believe it’s taken me so long to FINALLY catch up on all of these messages!

I’m bummed that I’m unable to make it to the video calls on Wednesdays, right now. It’s impossible to get any type of reception at the summit and I’m up there all day long! But, I’m so thankful to have this platform (that I’m really going to work on checking more often!) and to be able to see all of these reflections and amazing pieces of writing! My heart is feeling so full. And, WOO, contact info!

I can totally resonate with Angela and Mandy, in the feeling of “newness”. Driving up to my apartment building and walking inside, on Saturday, it seemed like everything looked so different – but, it didn’t really LOOK different, it all just felt different – I felt different.
It is crazy though, how easily it’s been to get swept back up into life and the good ole daily routine (or lack thereof). I’m working on really using the “7 Breaths” tool,to continue building a deeper, more connected relationship with my soul and my self. I’m still very comforted by Rachel’s offering of the comparison between these two seemingly “separate” lives being like a pendulum – the swing from one to the other being larger at first and slowly, over time, settling somewhere in the middle.

Having all of you to connect with and reflect with is so comforting! Catching up on these messages made me feel like I swung right back to the Starhouse for just a bit! Looking forward to phone calls and emails and more smiles with all of you!

I’m in between addresses right now, so I’ll send out my PO box when I get one!

email: sarmaybury@gmail.com

Cell: (609)784-6737

For now, best way to get in touch is via text!

Cheers,
Sarah

[Sarah Maybury]

I wasn’t able to make it to November’s video call but was finally able to catch up on the recording last night! It totally helped me feel reconnected. This morning, listening to a podcast, I heard a quote that sums up what Michael was saying in the video and really resonated with me and might hit home for some of ya’ll!
Simple, but powerful:

“He who has a why, can bare any how.”

[Sarah Maybury]

Hey Ryan!

Thank you for breaking the ice and being the first one to post! I’m looking forward to connecting with everyone here!

Sarah