Updraft Three

I have blogged about "updraft" twice now and it seems I can't exhaust this topic. The Women with Wings group has acted as an updraft for me many times in the past and once again I find them (you) lifting me up. I had been working on a session of my Flight School program called Community. It is clear to me that "what we appreciate, appreciates," and when we focus our attention in an area, it immediately seems to grow larger and more predominant in our lives. This has been the case with Community for me.

After a busy week, I decided I needed a weekend completely alone, and cancelled my Saturday morning Wings call for the first time in many months. It felt good to scan the weekend ahead and see nothing but solitude and open space. I knew I would miss the conversation, but self-care took front seat this time. What I had not anticipated was the response I'd receive when I cancelled the call. Almost everyone in the small community who gather on Saturday mornings reached out to me with expressions of care and concern or just statements of how much out time together would be missed.

As email upon email flowed in, I felt my smile growing wider. I suddenly had a a snapshot of my community, right there in my inbox. My heart was filled with gratitude for the deep and caring women I am privileged to call friends. Collectively, all the email responses acted as a huge, updraft for me. You reenergized me. You lifted my tired wings, and I am sure I can fly another thousand miles before I need to rest.

I am thinking of a short poem by N. Josefowitz:

My right hand is being held By someone who knows more than I, And I am learning. My left hand is being held By someone who knows less than I, And I am learning. Both my hands Need thus to be held- For me- to be.

The updraft we provide for each other is essential to our wellbeing, yes, but more than that I recognize how we are literally creating our world as we fly together. I am stronger, wiser, richer and more awake because we fly as a flock, lifting each other up and being lifted up ourselves. Thank you, friends. I had thought I would spend the weekend in solitude, but you have provided me a much richer gift!