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The Paradox of Our Age

We have bigger houses but smaller families;

more conveniences, but less time;

We have more degrees, but less sense;

more knowledge, but less judgement;

more experts, but more problems;

more medicines, but less healthiness;

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.

We built more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever,

but have less communication;

We have become long on quantity but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;

Tall man but short character;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It’s a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room 

                        — His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

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I have recently felt a calling to write about a significant part of life in my hometown of Calgary. Although I can truly only speak of significance from my perspective, I am confident in stating that this part of life has had a lasting impact on many Calgarians. I should also mention that the following recapitulation is a reflection of my own personal experiences, and as with any story, there will be different interpretations depending upon who is telling the story. I have added a section at the end which is comprised of testimonials from the community in an attempt to add other perspectives to this story.

My intention with this piece is to share a functioning example of a new paradigm for urban community living. In addition to sharing the knowing that anyone can live in this way, even amidst our current system, I will inject various lessons we learned along the journey. This particular story will be about the growth and evolution of a community home in Calgary known as Eden’s Cove. My hope is to inspire and ignite the unlimited potential which resides deep within every human being on this beautiful planet. The potential to change the world exists in the hearts of all, and I believe humanity is beginning to wake up to this eternal truth.

 

Please know, you have my deepest gratitude for whatever part you are playing in this never ending journey. I am but a small part in this much larger coalescence of our time. As each of us finds the strength and courage within to step into our roles, we add to the snowballing momentum of change. I thank you for taking the time to read this story and sincerely hope you receive a piece to your puzzle of self-awakening.

 

One Love, one family, Namaste.

*****

Setting the Stage

Three years ago a series of efforts were set into motion to bring isolation tanks to Calgary. Isolation tanks are an incredible healing tool invented in the 1960’s and are available in many countries around the world. My friend Josh and I devoted the first half of the past three years developing the plans and attempting to start a business that offered floatation therapy to the Calgary community. This business, named The Tribe Connection, was designed to align with the second local group we started called Evolver Calgary. Evolver Calgary brought into the plan the community side of our overall idea. It began as a network of networks, aimed at bringing together the multitude of individuals and organizations working toward positive change within the city.

 

Our many hours of research, planning, writing, and meeting with countless people culminated into an evolving business plan, ready for implementation. However, despite much effort and dedication we found ourselves hitting one dead end after another. I have learned that the ‘dead ends’ are really choice points along the path of solutions that continuously unfold in front of you, always right when you need it most. Every choice point is a chance to reflect on your direction and dedication, a chance to practice remaining open to opportunities, and to determine whether adjustments need to be made. The major block we were hitting was in obtaining finances.

We quickly realized that two entrepreneurially inexperienced young males with an idealistic idea not many people in Calgary have ever heard of have a lot of scepticisms to overcome. The solution was to start smaller and to involve more of our closer relationships. I have realized that life will only present you with exactly what you can handle. Opening a centre the way we had intended, with larger financial support from investors and banks, would have restricted our freedom to implement our new economic paradigm – a gifting business model.

Thanks to some incredibly generous family, we were able to come up with the necessary funding to purchase an isolation tank and offer floatation therapy to our community. With the floatation tank in mind, Josh and I found a perfect home in Rosemont. As synchronicity would have it, my dear friend Christy needed a space to live right after we signed the lease and had set the intention to find another roommate. It is amazing how effective intention setting can be when it comes to the fruition of a dream that aligns with your path. The three of us moved in on January 1st, 2011 and immediately began to make our home something unique.

 

Following a New Path

During the first six months (before the arrival of the isolation tank – sometimes plans do not come together as quickly as initially intended) we found ourselves caught up in a celebration of freedom. For Josh and me, this was our first move out of our parents’ house and the first experience of having free reign of an entire house. It was during the course of our themed monthly parties that we named the home Eden’s Cove. Our all out attitude on decorations, themes, and invitations created events that were unlike any house party we had ever been to. Unfortunately, word about the events spread much quicker than we had anticipated and a change in direction was necessitated.

 

This monthly party pattern quickly climaxed, and after experiencing some major dark and light polarity extremes, we felt the need for more intentional community gatherings. Although the celebrations had a lot of love and laughter behind them, they also began to take on some chaos. The spring and summer leading up to August 2011 also involved preparing the home for the floatation tank. Our new outlook and upcoming installation of the floatation tank prompted a reflection period during which we collectively decided on what we wanted our community home to represent. We desired to create a space where people could come to heal, to relax, to converse, to be inspired, to be nurtured, to feel safe, to feel welcome, and most of all, to feel at home.

 

Completing the Four Directions

We have always believed in the unlimited and severely untapped potential of floatation therapy. This is why after discovering many people had never even heard of it, our fundamental goal became exposure and education. Despite isolation tanks being utilized extensively around the world, they had yet to gain ground in Alberta (or even Canada). Part of the education aspect meant educating ourselves. I have learned of the importance of communicating ideas and personal truths with as many people as possible. Each person with whom you share, has another perspective to offer you in return. With an open mind and humble attitude it is possible to use this feedback as a tool to grow your own understanding and truth about the world. This type of communication opens the flow for a continual receiving of different perspectives, which serve to expand the scope of your own knowledge, as people ask questions and contribute new information. Speaking about the benefits and potential of floatation therapy to people continually showed us areas of knowledge we needed to learn more about if our idea was going to be accepted and taken seriously.

 

After much dedication and patience the float tank was set up and operational during August of 2011, the same time Ashley was welcomed into Eden’s Cove as our fourth roommate. Over the course of the next year the evolution of Eden’s Cove took on an accelerated pace. The growth of the community happened through word of mouth and I attribute much of our ability to adapt to the changes due to this organic evolution. Rather than recapitulate the time line over this period, I am going to break it down into sections: Setting Our Intentions, Re-skilling Society, Creating Community, A New Paradigm for Living, and Conscious Collective Growth. These sections will cover many of the events, projects, lessons, and experiences at Eden’s Cove from the Fall of 2011 to the Fall of 2012.

 

Setting Our Intentions

As I mentioned earlier, we sought to create something unique at Eden’s Cove. The space was intended to be a healing sanctuary, a place where people could feel at home enough to fully be themselves and to feel safe opening up their hearts. It has always been a place where we encourage the exploration and sharing of our own unique ideas so that we can co-create and collaborate organically. Living spaces should reflect a creative extension of the dwellers own unique being. Too many homes today look like cookie cutter copies of every house next to it. Countless hours have been devoted to turning each and every room at Eden’s Cove into creative expressions. The decorations in each room are always open to changes should anyone feel called to re-create. Nothing in this universe is stagnant and our home reflects this ever-changing nature.

In addition to the decorations, the interior of Eden’s Cove is filled with eye-catching items. We have multiple book shelves filled with an expansive variety of books, covering topics from Eastern philosophy to economics, travel books to herbology, Indian cooking to ancient spirituality, and everything in between – all available to anyone who wishes to borrow them. A community board is hanging near the entrance which displays ideas, dreams, gifts, business cards, quotes, and items for sale or trade from community members, again available to all. Artwork, both personal and from local artists, is hung throughout the house in unique arrangements and decorative fashion. Plants and colourful fabrics are placed about in all rooms of the house and our Earth flag is prominently displayed as the first item that catches a visitor’s eye when they walk in. The Earth flag symbolizes the idea of our universal acceptance and love of all beings we share this beautiful world with. With all the decorations to look at and our inspirational quotes placed around the house, there is never a dull moment in conversation during our interactions.

The most important intentions in our lives and at Eden’s Cove operate ‘behind the scenes’. Since we wanted to create a calming space for healing, the energetic feel of the house had to be intentionally formed. There have been countless times we have had people come into the house and immediately say how calming, welcoming, and loving it feels. We take great care to make sure we quickly resolve tensions and dissipate energetic conflict through incense and smudging in order to maintain the positive vibes at Eden’s Cove. Encouraging personal reflection on our own love and positive creative energy helps us to stay grounded and move past limiting negativity.

The resources available at Eden’s Cove for personal healing and growth have also slowly expanded over the past year. What started with the floatation tank, grew to include a massage table/sound bed, relaxation massage, Reiki treatments, and various workshops focused on personal development and detoxification. Being able to participate in the facilitation of so much transformative healing has truly been a blessing and honour for all of us. The floatation tank alone has provided us with so many valuable lessons and experiences. It is important for each of us to realize that we are all here to learn, and in order to learn we must make mistakes. When paving the way with something new it helps tremendously to take an experimental attitude – being open to receive feedback and make adjustments – in order to stand back up again and keep walking on the path. As we were taught these lessons and understandings, we were able to develop compassion and love for all those around us who were also on their path of discovery. As a result, we really focused on creating a space where we would accept people as they are and love them even when they made mistakes.

By setting clear intentions right at the beginning and reminding each other to maintain clear, open, and honest communication, the four of us grew to create a new paradigm for urban living. Together with our growing, loving community, we have been writing a new story which shows people another way to be with each other – to care for each other. We have always believed that each and every individual is capable of unlimited potential; all we need is a space to be free to be ourselves.

Re-skilling Society

With the advent of the modern technological age, our society has been slowly forgetting how to do basic life skills. It is so easy to fall into a dependency on technology to meet all of our needs and find our answers and support, rather than build our own knowledge base and create relationships with people who still remember how to do things themselves. Re-learning useful skills, this trend toward “re-skilling” society, acknowledges the importance of the experiential knowledge and practices of our elders.

 

Everyone around us is a wealth of information; information gained from real life experience. When we receive this type of knowledge and wisdom from real people, in hands on settings, we build community and expand our own awareness in ways not possible simply from reading text. You can read all there is to read about community, yet it will never come close to the level of fulfillment and connection received when community is experienced. The most beautiful part of all the potential sharing of experiential knowledge is that the skills people have are most often what they are passionate about – and everyone jumps at the opportunity to share their passions. This basic idea, that people love to give their gifts and teach others, was the foundation for our openness to trade services as an alternative energetic exchange, without the use of money.

In exchange for use of our healing tools, people in the community have offered us reflexology, massage, cranial-sacral massage, incense making lessons, hot stone massage, yoga classes, ear candling, and permaculture lessons to name a few examples. We have also pursued our own projects and gifts at Eden’s Cove by learning canning, dehydrating, fermenting, wine making, vermicomposting, aquaponics, gardening (global buckets and permaculture), and holistic cooking (making soup stock, almond milk, condiments, jams, breads, etc.). All of the knowledge and lessons we have learned through our projects are available to the community through regular workshops, pot lucks, and open houses. We believe that information should be freely available and transparent to all if we truly desire to unlock our full collective potential and highest truth. Secrecy really serves no one, and as we continue to learn from one another’s experiences, we inspire and motivate, ultimately empowering resilient communities.

Even though we followed a collective mindset with the work at Eden’s Cove, each of us living at the house still maintained our own individual passions and projects. In fact, this was a major lesson we learned along the way. At one point all of our individual energy was focused on the collective efforts with none left for our individual pursuits. This resulted in inner animosity toward each other, slowly building up tension in the house. We learned the importance of also maintaining our own space for reflection as well as following our own passions amidst the flow of the community. These passions were openly supported and the appropriate space was given to host workshops for the community out of the home. Over the past year we have held yoga classes, weekend meditation/detoxification intensives, belief re-patterning courses, and facilitated chakra journeys. The profound growth, transformation, and personal connections that have manifested through these amazing gifts has had lasting impacts on everyone involved. Having a space to offer one’s gifts through one’s own creative design is truly an incredible opportunity we are deeply thankful for. We have so much gratitude for the beautiful community that has grown with us, who none of this would have been possible without.

 

Creating Community

Of all the wonderful outcomes through our time at Eden’s Cove, the most inspirational and heart warming is the coalescence of a loving, compassionate, and generous community. I am reminded each and every day how grateful I am to be a part of so many beautiful people. When we set out to create our home, we had no idea of the sense of community that would blossom. The incredible growth and sharing that has taken place has taught us so much about what it means to create local resilience and heartfelt relationships. We have learned that community cannot simply be an ‘add on’ to an otherwise entirely monetary society. We must truly need each other in order to strengthen bonds and develop intimacy.

 

Needing each other means that we depend each individual’s unique gifts within the community. When you can simply pay someone to do something for you, you don’t really need them, and you do not develop a strong relationship. This hidden assumption, that I can pay someone else and do not need you, simply was not true in rural communities. If you upset the only doctor in town, you had to repair the relationship if you wanted to receive healing. This is part of the reason lower income and less monetized parts of the world have stronger community – they rely on and need each other in meaningful ways. When we meet all of our needs through money, we miss out on opportunities to freely give our gifts within a community context, and many of our deeper needs go unmet.

Creating a space for the full realization and expression of each individual’s gifts has been an underlying goal for us at Eden’s Cove. We believe everyone has something unique and beautiful to offer, and that those gifts and talents are no more or less valuable than anyone else’s. Our goal progressed by continually remaining open to receive any form of return for our services, whether it was through the exchange of time, tangible items (house products, food, etc.), or money. Some other ways we created a space for gifts was by hosting workshops, hanging art, offering a variety of events with different topics of interest, creating a facebook group for open collaboration and discussion, facilitating community gifting circles, and creating story sharing/discussion circles. These opportunities gave people inspiration to step into a role of giving by offering a space for them to contribute to something they were passionate about. One of the most beautiful expressions of the amazing diversity of gifts offered from the community was when we held a silent auction at Eden’s Cove. Within an hour of reaching out to people, we compiled a full page of gifts and services people were willing to donate! Just another lesson in a community’s willingness to give that which they are most passionate about when provided with inspiration and appropriate space.

 

Community is woven from gifts, and the glue that holds everyone together is the felt presence of shared immediate experience through co-creation. When a community’s artistic gifts come together to create a shared experience, magic happens. Whether it was a spontaneous musical jam session, a flash mob dance practice, or a delicious pot luck, being able to co-create through the arts is when community comes alive. This is the type of community experience that helps us collectively reach a level of fulfillment we so desperately crave. Co-created community entertainment meets a deep human need of connection that purchased entertainment and mutual consumption simply cannot. Creative collaborations are what draw out our own unique artistic gifts which meet our severely unmet needs of sacred knowing and collective union. Tribes must sing, dance, and create together if they truly desire to be connected and fulfilled.

Recognizing the importance of connection and positive intention, we have continually taken great care to create celebrations which go beyond the usual “escape from life” mentality. We created a beautiful space with warming decorations and inspirational quotes throughout the house. Our parties begin with a group meditation to set a strong collective intention. They then blossom into free expressions of spontaneous musical creativity, deep and meaningful conversations, synchronistic interactions, flowing movement, erratic flailing, and expansive friendships. Many people comment on how loving and accepting the space is, and how they always feel as though they do not need to hide behind a false wall or image. It is more than just the space that does this – it is the collective heart contributions of each and every individual who enters the home that makes Eden’s Cove what it is.

Reaching out to the neighbouring community has also been important to us. Calgary is so spread out, and while we love our extended community, the one right next door is also just as important to connect with. Our doors are open to travelling couch surfers, visiting friends, and anyone who needs a place to sleep after a night of dancing. On a number of occasions we have reached out to our local neighbours and invited them over to community gatherings and pot lucks. We love to talk to them to maintain open communication and transparency with what we are doing, and to let them know that they are always welcome to come over and visit. Encouraging neighbours out of their homes and into ours has been a challenge, but success happens in small steps. It is always inspiring to see the courage in people to open themselves up to new experiences and to explore the connections that can be found every day.

I could continue for a long time with the lessons and experiences we have had around the creation of community. This is quite a large topic to explore and every person will have an alternative and valuable perspective on what community means to them. A final point worth mentioning from our own experience with urban community building is one that illustrates the amazing generosity that is returned when it is truly needed. During a couple moments along our path of growth, we hit some bumps which required financial help. One solution we created was an Eden’s Cove coupon book, which contained coupons for healing experiences, offered both from Eden’s Cove and from generous contributors within the community. The incredible generosity of the community during our times of need continues to inspire us even further along our path of generosity and trust in the community. Being there for each other, helping to fill needs with gifts, is what community truly stands for.

 

Our society has a strong value in personal independence, and as a result it is often difficult for people to ask for and receive help. If a community is to create a strong support network, it needs to allow for the acceptance and encouragement of open communication when someone has a need and asks for help. It is okay to depend on other people; this is the true reality of our existence. We are completely interdependent beings and it is this sharing of skills and gifts that creates resilient community.

 

A New Paradigm for Living

The collection of these lessons and experiences has taught us, as well as the community, that it is possible to live in a new, consciously open, and intentional way – even amidst the current paradigm we find ourselves in. The most motivating aspect of it all is that as more people open up to this idea, and begin to incorporate a loving, giving, and compassionate life attitude, the easier it becomes for everyone. I need to clarify one point, however – it isn’t really learning a ‘new’ way of living – it is remembering an older way, a more harmonious way of being in our world and interacting with each other. It is a way that we have been slowly moving away from for some time, and we now are beginning to re-awaken to that forgotten part of ourselves – our underlying connection to the whole. I am incredibly inspired and humbled hearing about other community houses that are springing up around Calgary. This spark to create meaningful and resilient community is spreading like wildfire through our concrete jungle as the urban tribes begin to coalesce.

We hunger for a life of meaning – a life of purpose reached only through a sense of giving back to our global tribe. Our deepest fulfillment is attained when we are truly free to give back our unique gifts to this world. Money is our world’s symbol that coordinates human activity and focuses collective intention. The way in which we have agreed to use this symbol so often limits our dreams and restricts our abilities to openly discovery and give our gifts. We end up having to choose between doing what we love and doing what is practical in order to survive. We feel forced to put a cap on our generosity and ignore our desire to help others as soon as the thought “I can’t afford to” creeps into our mind. It is because of the gifts and generosity of others that we are able to do what we do at Eden’s Cove. Because of this simple fact, it only seems fitting for us to offer what we do as gifts in return. We do not charge for the healing we facilitate because there is no possible way we could put a monetary value on such a gift. It could be worth nothing to one person and worth infinitely more than any dollar amount to another. Even our own unique talents and skills, our very life, was a gift to us. We are born into this world in our default state of gratitude as we are nurtured and protected with no expectation of payment.

Weaving the story of a gifting model for our home has continually challenged us to analyze our own personal views of money and what it means to truly give. Maintaining a willingness to authentically give goes hand in hand with maintaining an openness to receive. It is left entirely up to the receiver of our gifts to choose the return – the token of their gratitude. When we stress about where the money will come from, it is an inner struggle that results in outer scarcity. When we truly let go, open up, and trust in the natural, abundant flow of this world, we always have enough, right when we need it. These are truths now understood and integrated through our experiences at Eden’s Cove and within our personal lives.

 

Sure, there are people who ‘take advantage’ of the gift, or do not ‘pay it forward’ – but this is not an excuse to cast blame or doubt. If no gratitude is felt, then the gift did not meet a need and may have been a misplaced gift. Indeed, how you treat a gift reflects the respect you feel toward not only the gift, but the giver as well. These incidences were few and far between, and the inspiration from all the positive giving completely sweeps away the negative. Besides, it is difficult for us to truly know whether or not the giving was passed on; part of letting go and trusting means that return flow often comes back in completely different ways, from entirely different sources.

 

Through the experimentation of our giving model, we learned that is so important for us to really look at the way we view, and use, the tool of money. We cannot be a true giver if we are not an open receiver; they are two sides of the same coin, two halves of a full circle. This is another topic I have explored in depth with my experiences in life and have written about on my blog; I encourage you to read more if this idea resonates with you. We live in a world of abundance, and when you cultivate an attitude which allows you to let go of things easily, you expand your awareness and develop trust in the truth that you will always have everything you need.

Our society’s obsession with money leaves many gifts people have to offer undeveloped, and leaves so many of our deeper needs unmet. You can meet your need for calories with money, but you cannot meet your need for having a meal prepared for you by someone who knows and loves you. Authentic gifts from the community have been the most meaningful to us. Giving creates relationships and lasting connections, whereas money transactions (with some exceptions) end the bond when the exchange is over. We have had people’s time given to us. We have had healing given to us. We have had wonderful meals and delicious food created for us. These gifts are so meaningful and fulfilling in their ability to create relationships and bonds within the community. If we only valued money as a return, we would have cut off the opportunity to receive in these other ways and would not have built such a strong community. It has been so inspiring to see the wonderfully creative gifts people offer as a result of their inspiration from our giving. Witnessing generosity within the community motivates and inspires others in a self-amplifying cycle of giving.

 

Conscious Collective Growth

Coming together in a home with other individuals who are all dedicated to their own personal growth and development creates a really beautiful opportunity. It is the chance to open yourself to other windows into your life – mirrors that can reflect and illuminate your personal blind spots and negative or destructive habits. Most typical living situations involve roommates bottling up tension and stress, until the moment when the final straw breaks the “camel’s back” and angry conflict erupts. Rather than avoid conflict, we recognize it as inevitable and encourage it as a constructive and positive group practice. Conflict brings emotions to the surface for mutual healing and learning for all parties involved.  If tension is dealt with soon after it is brought into awareness, and approached with a mature, open attitude towards growth and mutual understanding, it accelerates both individual and collective growth. We all have negative aspects of ourselves that we often cannot see. When we open our minds and hearts to others with humility and respect, potential areas of improvement are illuminated, healed, and transcended.

 

At Eden’s Cove we entered into a conscious agreement – to, as lovingly and supportive as possible, offer each other constructive criticism in order to accelerate our individual and collective growth. When something is bothering us, we are encouraged to express our feelings. Creating and maintaining open and honest communication is the most important piece of this collective feedback loop. One of the ways in which this is facilitated is to hold weekly meetings, or what we called Tribal Councils.

 

Our tribal councils begin with each of us sharing our “weather reports” – an elaboration on how we were feeling, what we were excited about or working on, what we were grateful for, any difficulties we were having in our lives – anything we felt like sharing with the group. The weather reports are essentially a circle exercise designed to centre us in our hearts and connect the group together. The tribal councils were a necessary element of the bringing up and releasing of emotional tension between people. When we missed a council, things around the house would start to fall apart – people would stop calling to book floats, fruit flies would spring out of the compost, and messes would be everywhere. We quickly realized that as soon as we held council and resolved the tension, the whole house would all clear up and everything would move back into harmony. It’s no exaggeration how immediate this turnaround would occur either – as soon as we finished council the phone would start ringing and our week would fill up with bookings.

We have learned countless lessons and techniques for living harmoniously with other people in a busy community house. Throwing together friendships, roommates, and ‘business’ partners into one relationship pool was like a boot camp for personal growth. In our return to community, we recognize the need for an expansion and integration of our definitions of family and commerce. We are all one family, and our economy is the way in which we agree to use symbols (money) in order to assign roles (jobs) – ultimately to connect gifts with the needs within the comm(unity).

 

Family and business are not separate. Illustrated in the classic antagonistic movie line, “it’s nothing personal, it’s just good business” – business moves are taken extremely personally. I consider the generous individuals who contributed financially to manifest the dream of Eden’s Cove to be family. Family is about being unselfishly loving and helping one another on our life paths. It is through the use of economics that we are provided with the means to pursue our dreams, and it is under the umbrella of family that we are given the love, support, and space (emotionally, physically, financially/spiritually) to practice great acts of forgiveness. As the debt level continues to rise globally and more people realize there is not enough money in existence to pay back all of the debt (since money is created as interest bearing debt), there will be many opportunities for forgiveness. Expanding our definition of family and realizing we are one globally connected community will assist us in truly forgiving and moving past any debt that cannot be repaid.

 

When the spring of 2012 arrived, we were feeling the energetic drain from the non-stop pace of our community home. From July 2012 to October 2012 the four of us departed on a journey in pursuit of a different type of experience. This time period is a story of its own, but back at Eden’s Cove we were blessed with four of our brothers and sisters who continued the work while we were gone. While I cannot write about much that happened during that time at Eden’s Cove, the feedback we received from them mirrored much of our own personal experiences of challenges and growth. It was a wonderful opportunity for others to personally experience what went on ‘behind the scenes’ at the home. We are so grateful for the generosity from these individuals in helping us to continue making our dreams come true.

The Future of Eden’s Cove

There are currently six of us living at Eden’s Cove, which is constantly presenting a whole new set of opportunities for growth. Josh and Christy remained in Victoria to pursue a different path and four new roommates moved in with myself and Ashley. I have realized that problems in life will never disappear completely, that would make life pretty boring and uneventful. Instead, you just get higher quality problems.

 

Our landlord is selling the house at the end of March 2013 and retiring to Montreal. This puts our future and the future of what is currently Eden’s Cove up in the air. While many of us would love the opportunity to stay here and continue our giving, we also recognize that what we have collectively created is more than just the physical house. It is a result of the contributions of the community, each and every person who has stepped through our door and opened their hearts, that fills the space with the magic we all feel.

 

Change is the only constant in this world. As we learn to let go of the shore and let the flow carry us forward, we are better able to adapt to the challenges and recognize the opportunities along the way. What the community has co-created together will serve as a positive vision for the future and will continue to evolve into whatever we collectively choose to manifest.

 

You have my deepest gratitude and everlasting support for the gifts you bring to this world. Do not worry if you have not yet discovered them; our journey is one that teaches us patience and persistence. You will know your gift when you find it. The universe will always help you unlock your potential – all you need to do is continue to take the one step that is right in front of you. The world needs our unique gifts now more than ever if we are to heal our collective wounds.

 

I believe in you,

Sky

 

“We have all been given a gift, the gift of life.

What we do with our lives is our gift back”

–Edo