LCG co-focaliser, Astrid Gude, reveals what makes the LCG programme a unique experience of community living and loving service...
“What makes you give a month of your time or more to go to Findhorn to work – weeding, washing pots, cleaning bathrooms – and pay for it?” I am sure this is a question that many, many participants who join the Living in Community Guest (LCG) programme have heard from family, friends or colleagues.
The answers are manifold, depending on each individual’s background, yet what they all have in common is the search for a life that is different, more meaningful, more rewarding, and more connected. They may respond to a call from their soul or may primarily feel motivated by finding ways of living a more sustainable life on this planet, sharing a vision with other like-minded people. What unites them is that they are open to learn – listen within, work on themselves, experience the whole environment of the community as a 'classroom' where the teaching does not come through textbooks or lectures but through every-day experience.
When I first joined the LCG programme in 2002, I was touched by the genuine appreciation I received while doing the dishes for residents and guests. I learned what it means to work as part of a supportive team, that it makes a difference to start and finish a working day by sharing how we feel. I felt 'seen'. I never had the impression that I should be different. I felt right, I felt loved the way I was - and the message sunk in a little deeper day after day.
This was the beginning of my journey. Six years later as a co-focaliser of the LCG programme I feel hugely blessed by being able to witness and be part of the journey of so many others, people of all ages, from many different countries, teenagers still exploring their vocational direction as well as highly-skilled professionals.
There is magic happening each Tuesday evening in our group sharing when people who have never met before feel safe enough to share their joy and tears, their life issues, the present stage of their spiritual journey. Since the group changes on a weekly basis, this is also a major learning about being fully in the present moment and accepting change, opening up to people, embracing them and releasing them again with love.
In the completion interviews I often fully realise with wonder and gratitude how big the transformation can be that people undergo in as little as a month’s time. Sometimes it is possible to pinpoint the exact moment when it happened; a specific conversation, an experience in the work department, insights gained in nature or in an education session, or time spent in the Sanctuary. More often, however, it is the field, the immersion into this community with all its different strands that provide the fertiliser, the agent of transformation as well as the container that holds it.
What comes after LCG? Again the answers are manifold. Quite a few participants, having experienced the reality of life in our community, know on a more grounded level that this for them is the right place to be and they move towards the staff stream, with the Foundation Programme being the next step. Others feel enriched and inspired, experience a deepening of their awareness and their heart-connection, and after having received many tools are ready to take them into their home environment and share them with others, becoming part of a wider network of friends.
Here are some voices of participants, taken from the feedback sheets we received in 2008:
On the overall experience:
“I came to the Findhorn Foundation to learn how to live differently and how to relate to other people in a community. The LCG programme has been a perfect introduction. What helped is being part of the community with the lightness of still being a guest.”
“I came back to myself through this experience. I know deeply there is a place where I can nourish myself. I can grow. I can serve others. I can take a rest. I can take care of myself."
“I became more confident about the possibility to create a community on a local, national and international level. I became more confident in myself.”
On working in departments:
“Working here in a spiritual way is completely different from working elsewhere. I learnt that work can be lovely, not a painful duty.”
“It serves my focus on being present in the moment, gives me more lessons concerning my attitude towards work and it's a wonderful place to share.”
“The garden offered me the chance to be. To be peaceful, to enjoy, to love nature, to relax, to work hard. Thank you.”
What has LCG given you that you will take away and use?
“What LCG has given me is some courage to be who I truly am wherever I go."
“A softening of my approach to work, less goal-oriented, more people focused and an understanding of service.”
“New friends. New Knowledge. Much more access to myself, my intuition/guidance and God. Confidence to step away from here with God in the driver’s seat.”
Astrid Gude
LCG Co-focaliser
October 2008
To find out more about the LCG Programme
Visit: www.LCG.org