When she came into our circle for the first time, she was overcome with feelings, some familiar, others new. She came to us knowing that she was missing something in her life but lacking clarity on what exactly that was.
She only knew that her loneliness was growing, and she felt sad and a little bit afraid a lot of the time. She longed, truly longed, for something that she couldn't even name, something that she knew was both inside of and beyond herself.
When she first sat in our circle, she felt immediate anxiety as she heard others talk because even though we assured her that she didn't have to share, she knew she needed to, and the thought of having to speak the truth aloud terrified her. She felt amazement as others shared pieces of themselves that she sensed fit exactly into pieces of herself.
Pieces that she had forgotten about for so long. And she felt hope.
Hope that somehow she could find and share the words (when the time was right for her) and they would be received in the same way as she was receiving others'. Respectfully.