In the silence before we speak in circle, we give ourselves permission to access and allow any emotion that is present. Circle gives us the strength to feel and explore what we might otherwise have buried. We don’t direct emotion to any other member of the circle but, instead, offer it to the center as fuel for the fire.
Sitting on the rim of the circle as host and guardian, we bear witness. If we have done our work exploring our own emotional interior, we can stay longer with another’s pain and suffering without being triggered ourselves. The ancient Taoists called this “earning your pearl;” it is holding without taking on, or catch and release.
The following blog posts provide more information.
Fear and Anxiety

Sitting with Uncertainty
Addressing Meaningful Questions, Coming together post, Uncategorized
The Faces of Fear
Accessing Emotion, Addressing Meaningful Questions, Discovering Self through the ArtsGrief and Loss

Dying without an elephant
Grief post, Kelly Lindsay
Let the Sacred Festivities Begin
Kelly Lindsay
Poems and Essays Written in Honor of Kelly
Kelly Lindsay
Tributes to Kelly Lindsay
Cancer post, Kelly Lindsay
Words from a Caregiver
Accessing Emotion, Addressing Meaningful Questions, Caregiving post, Practicing Circle
Caring for a Soulmate
Accessing Emotion, Addressing Meaningful Questions, Caregiving post
A Healing Circle for Supporters
Addressing Meaningful Questions, Healing Circles Centers
Healing Circles Houston: Where BIG Meets the Pace of Guidance
About post, Healing Circles Centers, Partnering with other agencies
A Conversation with a Widow’s Nervous System
Addressing Meaningful Questions, Cancer post, Grief postLove and Joy

The Healing Power of Love
Accessing Emotion, Addressing Meaningful Questions, In Your CommunityAllow
There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream, and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild with the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.
by Danna Faulds
from her book, Go In and In
Published with permission
The Three Questions
In the video below, Khris Ford, of The Austin Center for Grief and Loss, discusses the three questions that we face as we walk the path through grief:
- What is lost?
- What is left?
- What’s possible?
Header photo courtesy of Callanish