SUUSI--Coming Back Open-Hearted

When we simply allow ourselves to fully feel our feelings as they come, we tend to let them go easily. This is all we are required to do; our feelings simply want to be felt. We often complicate the situation by applying mental energy in the form of analysis, when all we really need is to allow, as the earth allows the rain to fall upon it. As the rain falls, the earth responds in a multitude of ways, sometimes emptying out to form a great canyon, sometimes soaking it up to nourish an infinitude of plants. In the same way, the deeper purpose of our feelings is to transform the terrain of our inner world, sometimes creating space for more feelings to flow, sometimes providing sustenance for growth. All we need to do is allow the process by relaxing, opening, and receiving the bounty of our emotions. –Daily Om

So I just got back from a week of vacation.  I've been hearing about this place for years--SUUSI--The Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute.  I can talk about so many things about SUUSI (and maybe in other blog posts I will):

• About how great it was that my boys got their own dorm with other open-minded teens in a safe place to be who they were and be accepted fully for their awesomeness and to have the freedom and space to just be.
• About how high quality the music was--and how intimately I got to know the artists.
• About the gorgeous setting of Radford University, the peacefulness of reading under a tree and the beautiful hikes, falls, rivers and mountains there were nearby.
• About how this whole week was run by volunteers and how a camp for 1100 people felt better run than most corporate events I've seen.
• How high quality and just cool the workshops were--from ecstatic dance (my "stretch" workshop for the week), to poetry writing, to yoga and great hikes. 

But instead, I want to focus on just how I FELT after SUUSI.  This was an intentional community for one week that made my heart just burst right open.  It was a group of people who were so incredibly excited to be there and who just couldn't wait to share this time and space with each other.  It was a group who knew they were "home" and made you feel like you were with long-lost friends, even if you had just met.  By the concert on Monday Night of Brother Sun (great instrumentalists, but their amazing vocal talents are highlighted on this video), I felt my heart just opening.  The conversations with people there were just more real and authentic and everyone was just "fuller."  And every activity and every encounter just made that richer. 

You know that expression "dance like no one is watching?"  Well I did that at the evening dances.  I got to Contra Dance for the first time in 10 years and it just made my heart swell and I was grinning for the entire three hours.  I lost myself in ecstatic dance--a highlight of my week--where you just let your body feel the music and do what it wants to do, without an agenda or concern about what you "should" be doing or what anyone else thinks.  When we took a break, I looked and saw that I had been dancing for an hour and it felt like just 20 minutes.  And that was just the three dancing examples. 

Thank you SUUSI--as someone who is trying to live a more whole-hearted life, thank you for showing me how that feels.