Awakened Living Program Announcement

What does it take to birth a new program/project/venture/initiative? I have been thinking about it today, talking both to my beloved and to a potential program participant (though not at the same time) about a new “baby” I have been birthing that seems to be going through a rapid growth process.

A story about Picasso comes to mind. According to this story, there is a woman visiting his exhibit. At some point, she stops in front of one of the paintings and suddenly notices that the artist is standing right beside her. “How long did it take you to paint it?” she asks. “About an hour,” he replies, “and all my life.”

“Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.” – Pema Chodron

Somehow, I can relate, at least to some extent. Several themes have been converging to this point, of announcing this new program to the world. One of the key elements is the imperative to have many awake, conscious, and deeply passionate people to engage in meaningful, purpose-guided, restorative work in the world. I think we all know how badly it is needed, and soon.

I have also been sensing my own desire to engage in deep inner work with people. The potential for real impactful transformation is hidden deep in the rabbit hole of our human psyche. The deeper we go, the more potential we have for real, lasting, transformative awakening.

Lastly, such processes don’t happen overnight, over a weekend workshop, and probably not even over a week-long course. They require time, commitment, presence, practice, a supportive container, and have a quality of ongoingness to them.

“You cannot, you cannot use someone else’s fire. You can only use your own. And in order to do that, you must first be willing to believe that you have it.” – Audre Lorde

These thoughts have been swirling in my mind for a good year, until a dear friend and a past student invited me to speak at a conference this July. She suggested I speak about the Right Livelihood Quest, yet I, in my typical and fairly common way of putting the cart miles ahead of the horse, suggested that I do something about “The Journey of Awakening” as a good topic candidate. I thought it would be a good idea to give my few random musings a deadline, to make them more tangible. She loved the idea, and I promptly went into an overwhelm of actually not knowing what am I really going to talk about.

Eventually, the July conference came, and I was somewhat ready, after loving help and support from a dear friend and my beloved. At the end of my presentation/workshop (I wrote about it later, here), I took about 5 minutes to briefly mention the idea of a yearlong program on the topic of awakening. Apparently, I was more than “somewhat ready” because, after the presentation barely finished, 4 people approached me and essentially told me that they are ready to sign up and I just need to tell them when and where.

“The stunning paradox of human spiritual maturity is that, as we become one with all creation, we also at the same time become completely and uniquely ourselves.” — Thomas Yeomans

The next phase was of listening, of being present to what is wanting and needing to emerge, of being deep in a creative flow and a birthing process, with a dear friend and a professional collaborator, Kira, in this program.

Therefore… Drums please…

We are thrilled to announce the Awakened Living Program. It is a yearlong transformative journey, inquiring into the core essence of who you are. It is a deep inquiry program, guiding participants to peel the layers of who they think they are, uncovering the true essence of their Self, and bringing it to the world.

The registration is open, and you can find all the details, description, calendar, philosophy, and tuition information here: https://SimonGoland.com/description/ .

I think we are also at least somewhat humbled at what has been happening already, even before this “public” announcement. We are keeping the cohorts small and intimate, of 10 participants, and while the first cohort starts at the end of March 2019, we already have 4 participants registered and ready to start.

A whole new learning journey is about to begin!

Simon Goland