I have found 2 places in my community for chair yoga. Just what I really needed. I’d love to do regular yoga right now but I am limited with health issues to do so unfortunately. Everyone is super friendly and nice!
I am also grateful for this community and my community at work only 12 mins away .
I recently moved across the country to the city I grew up in having just lost my husband.
I am searching for community here in my new home. So far I have not had much success.
I have my daughter & a dear cousin who are my community, which is great. I need more tho…
I recently started taking Jin Shin Jyustu classes & have begun a community of sorts with like minded people. Familiar faces @ the classes.
Gratefulness.org has been my community for many years now. It is an honor to be a part of this sanctuary. So much love here, authenticity too.🩷🙏🏻
I will continue to search for other avenues to connect. I haven’t given up but it’s been hard!!
Feel like “I don’t fit”……
That is a big leap after the passing of your husband. Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps. I am in a similar position. I am not ready to move but I am also keeping options open. It takes a long time to fit in
I am glad you are here. Blessings!
It really is hard it took me a full year to feel comfortable after my move and only starting to find some community that feels right. It will happen I am sure PKR💕
When I was a little girl
I never imagined that adults went to parties
or got together in group,
so it was a surprise to me
to be invited to one.
I suppose
I don’t know enough people at these gatherings
to feel comfortable
or like I belong.
I’ve been to a few since then,
and I can’t say that I enjoy them
or do well with them,
so I don’t seek them out . . .
but I do respect community
and groups with purpose.
Being a member here
satisfies and fulfills me
more than any group I’ve belonged to
or been on the fringes of.
I don’t much like being singled out,
but prefer to be a presence–
blending in with the whole picture.
I love to read what is in people’s hearts
and to hear their/your stories,
and learn so much
from the expressed thoughts of others . . .
I feel in communion here,
and not so afraid anymore.
I was in the beginning,
but have grown to feel safer
and willing to take a chance,
which is good for me,
because like some others
I am more or less alone in the world
except for my beloved husband,
of course,
and one or two friends
who I see or hear from occasionally.
My family is gone now
and my son is far away,
although I do hear from him from time to time.
You are real to me
and I value what is provided here
more than I can say . . .
I don’t have an outlet for the spiritual,
which is really the main thing that I am,
and I would be quite bereft
if this place didn’t exist,
so thank you.
The Divine in me
bows to the Divine in you . . .
all of you. ♥
This question comes at the right time since I have social anxiety. Making connections and finding a sense of community is quite a challenge for me, especially since we’re going to have a four-day trip with my extended family of more than 20 people. It will be pretty crowded, as the trip includes adults, young children, and toddlers. So, it’s not something that I find easy to manage, but I’ll try to observe my feelings, be a little more patient, and offer what I can do by supporting and watching the toddlers if I can. It’s a good start. Have a great one, everybody.
My Ngoc, this question came at the perfect timing for me as well, because out of the blue, I felt lonely in the middle of the night around 4am missing you.
I too,
have social anxiety,
dear Ngoc . . .
that is at least partially why
I love coming to this place.
I cringe a little about your visit . . .
a four day trip
with all of those people!
Yikes!
But you are fortified with love
from your immediate family
and have learned much
through your work on the call lines.
Look after the toddlers,
sure,
but take a little risk
and put your beautiful self out there too . . .
you don’t need to feel captive to your anxiety anymore. ♥
Sparrell, based on my answers of overcoming my biggest barrior being pride, I can balance her out in this area. My presence puts herself out there while she keeps my circle pure. I call her everyday after I eat dinner to check up on her, and we end up having quite a few meanningful conversations.
Who here is using the community app/lounge space through grateful.org?
I check the daily question every morning. Wondering what other options there are if people are using?
I looked at the lounge a while back, didn’t make it part of my morning routine. I want to be sure to be present in this community and only have so much time. I’d be interested in reading what others think who make use of that space as well as this one.
I often think about community and am glad to have found this Grateful Living community. Until I retired, I had a work community with many like-minded individuals who care deeply about the people who live in my area–part of the mission of the organization. I felt a responsibility to retire so that my husband and I could do some of the things we’d hoped to do since he had retired after open heart surgery at the age of 61 and then fought a rare leukemia a few years later. He is not home bound, but doing things outside of home takes increasing effort and planning. So I look for community outside of family in online forums… those with interests in mindfulness, healthy eating, and other areas. Perhaps I will find my community in volunteering!
I think it is wonderful,
dear Enndee,
that you were able to retire
to be with your husband more,
as he has certainly had some very big challenges.
You don’t need to restrict your social life at all . . .
perhaps there is some volunteer work
that both you and your husband
could participate in together . . .
it sounds like your support
is important to him,
whether he acknowledges it or not.
Have fun looking . . . ♥
This is funny to me because of course I get why we want to seek Community and I too do this as well, but I also see that the seeking mind is an endless mind and it’s a dead end. Having said that it’s important to note Truth is within us and what we are looking for is here inside us and all around us. We are all one and when I see from the this perspective my burden is taken away .
Seeking community right now is very challenging due to physical issues. I am seeing a medical specialist next week to evaluate whether surgery is possible or would be helpful. I love Audre Lorde’s quote, “Tomorrow belongs to those of us who conceive of it as belonging to everyone, who lend the best of ourselves to it, and with joy.” That I can work on and found today’s meditation from Richard Rohr’s site a helpful message in relationship to today’s quote. I identify with it. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-spirit-reworks-us/
I am pleased,
dear Carol Ann,
that you are seeking advice from a specialist . . .
this person
can help you to see your issues more clearly,
and may have solutions
you haven’t thought of.
I will be thinking of you
as you tread this path.
ps. I thought Richard Rohr’s meditation today
was very pertinent
to what happens
as we grow spiritually. ♥
I love this community, and was greatly distressed when I was BLOCKED! I see that happened to others of you. I am grateful to be back. I have a group of women I meet with on Thursday mornings called No Agenda Coffee. And that it truly what it is. We talk about anything and everything, except politics. It is my primary community since I am no longer attending church. That is because I just can’t find my niche. I am a retired pastor/preacher. I know what I want in a faith community, but it doesn’t exist in my area. And like Drea, I don’t want to drive an hour to find it. And I can’t afford that area anyway. I do have other friend and family communities of which I am a member, but I don’t get to meet in person with them very often. I would love a book club, hobby or volunteer based community – my neighborhood community is “pick up my mail/borrow sugar” kind of community. I could cultivate more there, but not sure …
Your No Agenda Coffee reminded me of my Second Saturdays group from years ago that I described in my response. Those informal “play dates” are harder to find once we’re adults, aren’t they? We have to create them if we can’t find them.
I understand and relate, Katrina. I also love this community and give thanks for it everyday. I too want a faith community but it doesn’t exist in my area. In my response to today’s question, I posted a link to Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation. I’m thinking you would relate to it and might find it helpful.
My local bookstore holds reading groups and I recently participated in the first one. It’s not quite the same as a club with consistent members, but we pretty instantly formed a sense of community thanks to the facilitator (and the book; we read Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering). I’m now going to watch for their groups on other books that interest me. Maybe there’s something like that available in your area? It was great and I love supporting my local independent bookstore.
I am seeking community in multiple places of my life, but I must accept what I may control. There is not much hope for the type of community I wanted in my family, however other ways I have been expanding that is by growing closer with cousins and spending one on one time with that familt vs. trying to unite everyone which was unsuccessful in the past,
I also seek community in my interests in reptiles and fitness, but I use facebook groups to get closer to that as majority of my friends aren’t into that.
I also seek community in friendships in general, but I have just been strengthening my current or newer friendships in an effort to adjust that, as it is not that I do not have people in my life, I just do not have many I am close with.
This is a timely question for me. I belong to a few groups that meet regularly. Are they community? I have to ponder this more.
This morning sharing time definitely is community for me. Thank you
When I begin my day here, I connect with a community of like-minded individuals. It’s a nice way to move into the world remembering that there are others who are light workers. I live in an area with brutal traffic and it can be aggressive just even getting to work in the morning, so this helps to balance my nervous system. I have very good friends and I’m developing a community in my Qigong teachers training program. My husband lacks community and we were visiting the church in North Georgia, where I was delivering the sermon and he remarked how much it felt like home. I speak their quarterly and every time we go, he makes note of how it feels so good to him. We’re beginning a process of a seven year plan of moving to that area so that we can have a regular relationship instead of an hour and 15 minute drive. We have to let our middle schooler finish her journey without uprooting her but now we can skillfully find our home and make a smooth transition the day she graduates high school.
I have been realizing that even though I can say I have a lot of friends from different aspects of life, work, working out, neighbors etc. I rarely gather with any group outside of that element.
I need to start orchestrating time to sit, chat, laugh with some of these people in a relaxed setting.
Deann, compatible environments make a huge difference in our well-being. It’s why I strongly value compatibility and have a basic desire for common ground when looking for friendships.
I feel like I am always seeking community. I am such a people person, and gathering in community is good for our well-being. We need connection. I need connection 🙂 While I have two beautiful yoga communities, one at the studio and the other at the fitness center, I don’t have a personal community. My best good friend moved, and while I do love where I live, the truth is that I just don’t really feel like I fit in. We live in a great area of Charlotte, but it is, in no better words, very “bougie.” The tax bracket in this area is way above ours. We are not broke, but we are not spending $850k on a 3br rancher house, which is the low going rate around here. We got lucky when we found the house we are renting when we needed it, and I am so grateful for that. But my husband and I have already started on finding our new community, a place where we feel like we’ll be more comfortable and fit in more, which is why we are planning on moving. It’s all in the works. No date is set, but it will happen as it should. End of summer/fall is looking like a good time for us to change things up. Until then, I will appreciate my yoga communities and all of the beautiful people I get to share it with.
I was looking for quotes to share with the class I’m teaching soon, and came across this one, which made me want to come back here… it made me feel better about my seemingly lack of local, in-person community. And I want to add that I truly appreciate the community we have here 🙏🏼
“We mustn’t withdraw from human interaction because it can be difficult. It keeps us grounded and helps us to grow through real and challenging situations. We do not need to decide which community to belong to. We just live life to the best of our ability and follow our interests and we will find ourselves within a community of people perfect for our growth.”
Donna Goddard, Love’s Longing (Love and Devotion, #3)
Dear Sunnypatti, wishing you & your husband the best as you contemplate your future move.
I too feel like “I don’t fit” where I reside.
Then again I have felt “I don’t fit” in many places!!!
Thanks for your update & info yesterday about the “blocking” episode many of us experienced yesterday.🙏🏻
Happy to hear it wasn’t just Me!!!
Have a blessed day. 🩷
Sunnypatti, surprisingly, I’m becoming more of a people-person as well. Barriors have been figured out. Often times, it’s pride and ego. I’m past my flu-game method. This all points back to my responses about my handling of Ngoc’s absence and how I’ve evolved.
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I have found 2 places in my community for chair yoga. Just what I really needed. I’d love to do regular yoga right now but I am limited with health issues to do so unfortunately. Everyone is super friendly and nice!
I am also grateful for this community and my community at work only 12 mins away .
Chair yoga is still yoga! You are doing good for yourself 🙂
Thanks SunnyPatti!
Get well soon, Robin. Being able to do what we want is a pleasurable feeling.
I recently moved across the country to the city I grew up in having just lost my husband.
I am searching for community here in my new home. So far I have not had much success.
I have my daughter & a dear cousin who are my community, which is great. I need more tho…
I recently started taking Jin Shin Jyustu classes & have begun a community of sorts with like minded people. Familiar faces @ the classes.
Gratefulness.org has been my community for many years now. It is an honor to be a part of this sanctuary. So much love here, authenticity too.🩷🙏🏻
I will continue to search for other avenues to connect. I haven’t given up but it’s been hard!!
Feel like “I don’t fit”……
That is a big leap after the passing of your husband. Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps. I am in a similar position. I am not ready to move but I am also keeping options open. It takes a long time to fit in
I am glad you are here. Blessings!
Thank you Yram for your kind words.
🙏🏻🩷
PKR, family is certainly a great starting point.
It really is hard it took me a full year to feel comfortable after my move and only starting to find some community that feels right. It will happen I am sure PKR💕
Thank you Robin Ann. Yes, it does takes time. 🙏🏻🩷
When I was a little girl
I never imagined that adults went to parties
or got together in group,
so it was a surprise to me
to be invited to one.
I suppose
I don’t know enough people at these gatherings
to feel comfortable
or like I belong.
I’ve been to a few since then,
and I can’t say that I enjoy them
or do well with them,
so I don’t seek them out . . .
but I do respect community
and groups with purpose.
Being a member here
satisfies and fulfills me
more than any group I’ve belonged to
or been on the fringes of.
I don’t much like being singled out,
but prefer to be a presence–
blending in with the whole picture.
I love to read what is in people’s hearts
and to hear their/your stories,
and learn so much
from the expressed thoughts of others . . .
I feel in communion here,
and not so afraid anymore.
I was in the beginning,
but have grown to feel safer
and willing to take a chance,
which is good for me,
because like some others
I am more or less alone in the world
except for my beloved husband,
of course,
and one or two friends
who I see or hear from occasionally.
My family is gone now
and my son is far away,
although I do hear from him from time to time.
You are real to me
and I value what is provided here
more than I can say . . .
I don’t have an outlet for the spiritual,
which is really the main thing that I am,
and I would be quite bereft
if this place didn’t exist,
so thank you.
The Divine in me
bows to the Divine in you . . .
all of you. ♥
Namaste
🙏🏼
This space is truly a beautiful place to be. I feel so fortunate to share it with you and all the others ✨
I do too,
dear SunnyPatti . . .
this is my source
for the Spiritual. ♥
Namaste and thank you dear Sparrow, ☀️.
May the sun shine brightly
on your dear soul,
dear Joseph. ♥
This question comes at the right time since I have social anxiety. Making connections and finding a sense of community is quite a challenge for me, especially since we’re going to have a four-day trip with my extended family of more than 20 people. It will be pretty crowded, as the trip includes adults, young children, and toddlers. So, it’s not something that I find easy to manage, but I’ll try to observe my feelings, be a little more patient, and offer what I can do by supporting and watching the toddlers if I can. It’s a good start. Have a great one, everybody.
My Ngoc, this question came at the perfect timing for me as well, because out of the blue, I felt lonely in the middle of the night around 4am missing you.
I too,
have social anxiety,
dear Ngoc . . .
that is at least partially why
I love coming to this place.
I cringe a little about your visit . . .
a four day trip
with all of those people!
Yikes!
But you are fortified with love
from your immediate family
and have learned much
through your work on the call lines.
Look after the toddlers,
sure,
but take a little risk
and put your beautiful self out there too . . .
you don’t need to feel captive to your anxiety anymore. ♥
Sparrell, based on my answers of overcoming my biggest barrior being pride, I can balance her out in this area. My presence puts herself out there while she keeps my circle pure. I call her everyday after I eat dinner to check up on her, and we end up having quite a few meanningful conversations.
Who here is using the community app/lounge space through grateful.org?
I check the daily question every morning. Wondering what other options there are if people are using?
I do take time for both venues. I do enjoy both on a daily bases. I will look for your name. It may be worth a try.
Here is a link,
dear Claire,
to the Gratefulness Lounge,
in case it is of interest to you. ♥
https://community.grateful.org/c/lounge/
Do you use it
I take a peek now and then,
dear Claire,
but no,
I do not post there.
This space here,
works wonderfully for me. ♥
I looked at the lounge a while back, didn’t make it part of my morning routine. I want to be sure to be present in this community and only have so much time. I’d be interested in reading what others think who make use of that space as well as this one.
same for me, I don’t have time for both.
I often think about community and am glad to have found this Grateful Living community. Until I retired, I had a work community with many like-minded individuals who care deeply about the people who live in my area–part of the mission of the organization. I felt a responsibility to retire so that my husband and I could do some of the things we’d hoped to do since he had retired after open heart surgery at the age of 61 and then fought a rare leukemia a few years later. He is not home bound, but doing things outside of home takes increasing effort and planning. So I look for community outside of family in online forums… those with interests in mindfulness, healthy eating, and other areas. Perhaps I will find my community in volunteering!
I think it is wonderful,
dear Enndee,
that you were able to retire
to be with your husband more,
as he has certainly had some very big challenges.
You don’t need to restrict your social life at all . . .
perhaps there is some volunteer work
that both you and your husband
could participate in together . . .
it sounds like your support
is important to him,
whether he acknowledges it or not.
Have fun looking . . . ♥
Thank you, dear Sparrow! I will continue to look for volunteer work that suits us!!
This is funny to me because of course I get why we want to seek Community and I too do this as well, but I also see that the seeking mind is an endless mind and it’s a dead end. Having said that it’s important to note Truth is within us and what we are looking for is here inside us and all around us. We are all one and when I see from the this perspective my burden is taken away .
”We are all one and when I see from the this perspective my burden is taken away .”
I think,
dear Antoinette,
that is why we come here . . .
to seek community,
but also to share our hearts
and our wisdom. ♥
Antoinette, as the old addage goes, “Alone together.”
Thanks Loc Tran i dint know that one .
No problem, Antoinette. From what I vaguely remember, it’s a title to one out the standard jazz tunes.
Seeking community right now is very challenging due to physical issues. I am seeing a medical specialist next week to evaluate whether surgery is possible or would be helpful. I love Audre Lorde’s quote, “Tomorrow belongs to those of us who conceive of it as belonging to everyone, who lend the best of ourselves to it, and with joy.” That I can work on and found today’s meditation from Richard Rohr’s site a helpful message in relationship to today’s quote. I identify with it.
https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-spirit-reworks-us/
Thinking of you, Carol Ann 🙏🏼
May you time with a specialist be fruitful Carol Ann.
I am pleased,
dear Carol Ann,
that you are seeking advice from a specialist . . .
this person
can help you to see your issues more clearly,
and may have solutions
you haven’t thought of.
I will be thinking of you
as you tread this path.
ps. I thought Richard Rohr’s meditation today
was very pertinent
to what happens
as we grow spiritually. ♥
CAROL ANN
I’m sorry about your health issue and I hope you get help you need . Sending hugs .
Thank You, Antoinette
I love this community, and was greatly distressed when I was BLOCKED! I see that happened to others of you. I am grateful to be back. I have a group of women I meet with on Thursday mornings called No Agenda Coffee. And that it truly what it is. We talk about anything and everything, except politics. It is my primary community since I am no longer attending church. That is because I just can’t find my niche. I am a retired pastor/preacher. I know what I want in a faith community, but it doesn’t exist in my area. And like Drea, I don’t want to drive an hour to find it. And I can’t afford that area anyway. I do have other friend and family communities of which I am a member, but I don’t get to meet in person with them very often. I would love a book club, hobby or volunteer based community – my neighborhood community is “pick up my mail/borrow sugar” kind of community. I could cultivate more there, but not sure …
Your No Agenda Coffee reminded me of my Second Saturdays group from years ago that I described in my response. Those informal “play dates” are harder to find once we’re adults, aren’t they? We have to create them if we can’t find them.
Blocked from this site? How?
This happened to me as well . So strange. I don’t know how it happened?
It was a new security feature they added, but unfortunately it effected lots of us regular users. Should be all good now!
I understand and relate, Katrina. I also love this community and give thanks for it everyday. I too want a faith community but it doesn’t exist in my area. In my response to today’s question, I posted a link to Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation. I’m thinking you would relate to it and might find it helpful.
My local bookstore holds reading groups and I recently participated in the first one. It’s not quite the same as a club with consistent members, but we pretty instantly formed a sense of community thanks to the facilitator (and the book; we read Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering). I’m now going to watch for their groups on other books that interest me. Maybe there’s something like that available in your area? It was great and I love supporting my local independent bookstore.
I am seeking community in multiple places of my life, but I must accept what I may control. There is not much hope for the type of community I wanted in my family, however other ways I have been expanding that is by growing closer with cousins and spending one on one time with that familt vs. trying to unite everyone which was unsuccessful in the past,
I also seek community in my interests in reptiles and fitness, but I use facebook groups to get closer to that as majority of my friends aren’t into that.
I also seek community in friendships in general, but I have just been strengthening my current or newer friendships in an effort to adjust that, as it is not that I do not have people in my life, I just do not have many I am close with.
I don’t have a sister and I value my close relationship I have with my cousin.
Everyday community in the neighborhood would be nice. I can participate in trash clean ups and neighborhood meetings as a start.
This is a timely question for me. I belong to a few groups that meet regularly. Are they community? I have to ponder this more.
This morning sharing time definitely is community for me. Thank you
When I begin my day here, I connect with a community of like-minded individuals. It’s a nice way to move into the world remembering that there are others who are light workers. I live in an area with brutal traffic and it can be aggressive just even getting to work in the morning, so this helps to balance my nervous system. I have very good friends and I’m developing a community in my Qigong teachers training program. My husband lacks community and we were visiting the church in North Georgia, where I was delivering the sermon and he remarked how much it felt like home. I speak their quarterly and every time we go, he makes note of how it feels so good to him. We’re beginning a process of a seven year plan of moving to that area so that we can have a regular relationship instead of an hour and 15 minute drive. We have to let our middle schooler finish her journey without uprooting her but now we can skillfully find our home and make a smooth transition the day she graduates high school.
Excited for you – how nice to find that community – time will fly by before you know it.
I like hearing about the home church/community you found, and your long term plan to get there. It’s inspiring.
Avril, valuing well-being is the first common thread jumping out that links us together here.
I have been realizing that even though I can say I have a lot of friends from different aspects of life, work, working out, neighbors etc. I rarely gather with any group outside of that element.
I need to start orchestrating time to sit, chat, laugh with some of these people in a relaxed setting.
I totally relate to this. For the most part I am a home-body and I am ok with that but do want to get out a bit more.
Grateful Gatherings are wonderful if you have one locally (or are willing to become a host).
Deann, compatible environments make a huge difference in our well-being. It’s why I strongly value compatibility and have a basic desire for common ground when looking for friendships.
I feel like I am always seeking community. I am such a people person, and gathering in community is good for our well-being. We need connection. I need connection 🙂 While I have two beautiful yoga communities, one at the studio and the other at the fitness center, I don’t have a personal community. My best good friend moved, and while I do love where I live, the truth is that I just don’t really feel like I fit in. We live in a great area of Charlotte, but it is, in no better words, very “bougie.” The tax bracket in this area is way above ours. We are not broke, but we are not spending $850k on a 3br rancher house, which is the low going rate around here. We got lucky when we found the house we are renting when we needed it, and I am so grateful for that. But my husband and I have already started on finding our new community, a place where we feel like we’ll be more comfortable and fit in more, which is why we are planning on moving. It’s all in the works. No date is set, but it will happen as it should. End of summer/fall is looking like a good time for us to change things up. Until then, I will appreciate my yoga communities and all of the beautiful people I get to share it with.
I was looking for quotes to share with the class I’m teaching soon, and came across this one, which made me want to come back here… it made me feel better about my seemingly lack of local, in-person community. And I want to add that I truly appreciate the community we have here 🙏🏼
“We mustn’t withdraw from human interaction because it can be difficult. It keeps us grounded and helps us to grow through real and challenging situations. We do not need to decide which community to belong to. We just live life to the best of our ability and follow our interests and we will find ourselves within a community of people perfect for our growth.”
Donna Goddard, Love’s Longing (Love and Devotion, #3)
LOVE this quote, thank you for sharing.
💜
☀️ Thank you
✨
What a wonderful quote,
dear SunnyPatti . . .
I will keep this one . . .
it takes the sting
out of feeling like I’m missing something. ♥
Doesn’t it, though? 🤍
Thanks, Patti…very helpful quote.
🙏🏼
A great quote–thank you for sharing!
🙏🏼
Dear Sunnypatti, wishing you & your husband the best as you contemplate your future move.
I too feel like “I don’t fit” where I reside.
Then again I have felt “I don’t fit” in many places!!!
Thanks for your update & info yesterday about the “blocking” episode many of us experienced yesterday.🙏🏻
Happy to hear it wasn’t just Me!!!
Have a blessed day. 🩷
Thank you, PKR. I guess “it’s not just me” in more than one area 💜
Sunnypatti, surprisingly, I’m becoming more of a people-person as well. Barriors have been figured out. Often times, it’s pride and ego. I’m past my flu-game method. This all points back to my responses about my handling of Ngoc’s absence and how I’ve evolved.
I feel like we should always be evolving, becoming the best version of ourselves in whatever ways we can and our paths unfold. We are all doing great!
Exactly, Sunnypatti. We’re never finished products.