There are now workshops confirmed for Creston, Invermere, Jasper, and Smithers, and an evening presentation is confirmed for Golden.   My heartfelt thanks to those who have agreed to help organize and promote a workshop or presentation - Louise n'ha Ruby, Pat Cope, Ginette Marcoux-Frigon, Tamara Macleod, and Karen Cathcart respectively.  I have created a schedule of events for The Road To Compassion on our events page.  Also, I am currently corresponding with people in Cranbrook/Kimberely, Prince George and the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii towards organizing workshops or evening presentations in those communities.  There are other communities in which I'm hoping to offer workshops or presentations, but the challenge is finding the time amidst all our current projects to search for and connect with people in each community who might like to be a workshop organizer for The Road To Compassion.

There has been a change of plans for Melody and me.  After getting clear on our needs and what would best support our needs, we have decided that I will be going on The Road To Compassion trip alone.  This has not been an easy decision to come to, but we have come to a place peace and mutual support in moving forward with this strategy.

I have not yet found a camper van for my trip.  I have decided to stretch myself in the practice of making requests to meet needs: I have created little flyerss that describe my Road To Compassion trip.  Each time I spot a good-looking camper van I intend to put one of the flyers on the windshield of the van.  The flyer includes a request for the owner of the van to consider lending or trading his or her van to us for our trip, or even giving it to us as an extraordinary gift!  (It never hurts to ask.)  I will post on the next blog on the responses I am getting to these flyers.

I have left three messages about The Road To Compassion with the producer of the CBC radio program All Points West.  No response yet, but I am a believer in persistance.  I think I will try more empathy and humour in my next round of messages.  Please let me know if you have any inside connections to the CBC.

Finally, we are grateful for any support with spreading the word about  Road To Compassion events.  If you know anyone in the communities I plan to vist, please contact them and tell them about Sunwater's Road To Compassion.

Outdoor Memories

There are two main reasons that I am inspired about our Road To Compassion trip.  One inspiration comes from the opportunity to visit BC communities and meet people through sharing my passion for Compassionate Communication.   The other is the opportunity to explore more of the outdoors.  I love the outdoors. My hope is to find time to write about past experiences I've had in the outdoors, especially the ones from my time up north, and include them with my blog posts.  Writing about my outdoor experiences will keep me fueled to do all the indoor plannning work for the Road To Compassion.  And I hope these pieces about the outdoors will also bring our Road To Compassion trip more alive for others as well.  The following is another piece about my time as an expedition river guide up north on the Tatshenshini River.

Alone With The Exquisite

I was lying supine on the earth enthralled by the uncompromised night sky.  Expedition river guiding means a great deal of time looking after people, and so I cherished the moments when all were tucked away into tents and I had the universe to myself, especially on clear nights.  The stars above, the earth below, the soporific melody of the river, my breath.

From behind me, without warning and without a sound, an enourmous volleyball-sized shooting star flew directly over me.  I sat up and braced myself.  The size of this ball of light was such that I was certain it was going to crash into the ridge on the other side of the river.  An impulse to shout a warning rose up in me but there wasn't time.  Then, as fast as it had appeared, it was gone, disappearing over the ridge into silence.

I lay back down in awe of what I had just witnessed.  In that moment I no longer wanted the universe to myself.  Something so exquisite seemed too much for just one person to hold.  Celebration of life is best done with others.

Eric

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