Between Defeat and Destiny
a one day workshop in Dublin at the Mindfulness Centre Pembroke St on May 27, 2017, exploring how to release patterns of defeat and develop our energy and capacity to pursue the things we treasure...
open to all, now booking,
(€80, concessions available)
Whatever age we are, we want our futures to be beautiful. We hope to be happy in them: to be comfortable, to be touched, and to live with meaning and joy. We want to be available to be transformed – positively – by our experiences, and to give the best of ourselves in ways that matter.
Yet many of us also struggle to believe happiness is possible for us: we sense we are up against an undertow, where experiences of failure, self-sabotage or disappointment can take their toll. When this is so, our futures rarely inspire us and can become a source of blankness or dread. This workshop aims to bring fresh light to these themes, and to develop and deepen our appreciation of dynamism, vitality and potential. Rather than rejecting our fatalism, we aim to counterbalance its dominance with an appreciation of our potential and pliability.
The day will offer us an opportunity to look with more compassion and insight at any threads of despair that may undermine our dynamism, and explore how we can alter and transcend these by learning to live in more engaged, responsive and creative ways. We will explore this territory through a rich blend of theory, poetry and experiential exercises in small groups. In a very accessible way, I will draw on the ideas of Christopher Bollas (on fate and destiny), and Julia Kristeva (on the allure of the past and how we can feel caught in looping cycles of repetition), and Thomas Hubl on how to hear ‘the fragrance of the future’, and also on contemporary approaches to Inquiry, which support us contacting and expressing ourselves in fresh ways.
HOW THE WORKSHOPS ARE STRUCTURED:
We work in a safe, supportive and confidential way. Through a blend of theoretical input, inquiry exercises, brief meditations, and group engagement, each person will be supported to make fresh contact with how the themes affect them. The emphasis will be on exploring this territory from an embodied, available presence. We aim to deepen our understanding of habitual patterns that deplete energy and hope, and clarify and support what is more vital and fresh. Certificates of attendance are offered on request. Max participants 16.
This May workshop is being offered at the Earlybird price of €80. Please inquire about a concession if you need one: emmapb@me.com