Founder's Letter
October 2022
Dear Friends,
A friend of mine recently asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I am lucky; I have everything I need and more. I have my basic needs met and can afford most of the other things I really want.
When I do get overly fixated on something I want, I discover a part of myself that feels inauthentic, like the super savvy marketing department that has studied their target demographic (me, in this case) has won and I, and my sensibilities, have lost. To me, to spend any of my precious life force wanting for things is a failure of my true self, my higher self. I know the deeper part of me doesn’t need any of that stuff, what I need and truly want is much deeper than that. So, when my friend asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said, “Gratitude and Joy”.
What I really want is to have gratitude and joy flowing through me like a spring of fresh water flowing from the mountainside. Eternal. I want to shine like the sun from the inside even when it’s cloudy outside, to feel the calm of the depths of the ocean even when the surface is churning and angry. I know I can only get to this place if I let go of everything else I want and what I want everyone else to be like that is different from what is and live in this moment right now knowing it is a beautiful moment. That is where gratitude and joy reside. Here and now. I use this mantra by the monk Thich Nhat Hanh to bring myself back into the moment when I feel my head spinning with thoughts - mostly of things out of my control - or what I call “Doom Brain” all the bad things that can possibly happen. Insert this instead:
“Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment.”
I often get nostalgic around my birthday for the annual event we used to do in Aspen called Lead with Love. It’s where I met many of you. I am super grateful for that. When we first hosted Lead with Love at The Aspen Institute in 2016 it was the culmination of two of my dreams: The first was to bring the elements of mind, body and spirit to that storied campus and dive deeper into the spiritual aspect that I always felt missing in Aspen Institute programming; and two, to share some of the teachers who had positively influenced my life. That first year, when I was also celebrating my 40th birthday, we hosted Dr.’s Ron and Mary Hulnick from University of Santa Monica where I got my Master’s in Spiritual Psychology, and all three founders of Off The Mat Into The World - Seane Corn, Suzanne Sterling and Hala Khori. These two organizations had given me so much and I was full of delight and joy to share them. The following years we hosted even more luminaries including Dr. Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson, both of whom have influenced me so much. I am grateful for their commitment to sharing spiritual truths that help free people from suffering.
I miss some of the things we’ve done in the past at Lead with Love and our predecessors Aspen City of Well-being and Aspen Yoga Society, but I am also so excited about the direction we are heading in the future. We are embracing spirit more than ever. When we hosted Dr. Lisa Miller in August and heard about her research into the spiritual brain it reignited my passion to share what I already knew to be true: A spiritual life based on learning and growing and surrendering to something bigger than myself is a healthier, more joyful life. A shared spiritual life is even more protective against what Miller calls the diseases of despair - anxiety, depression, suicide. We are committed to advancing this research and what it means for society.
As the autumn leaves fade at the end of October I reflect on my life once again. There is no big event with famous people to prep for. I am happy and sorry about that. I am now officially closer to 50 than 40. It’s hard to believe how fast this is all going, all the things I’ve learned and all the things I have yet to learn. I am open to it. I know I have my compass pointed in the right direction - gratitude and joy leading the way.
My intention moving forward is to build a stronger spiritual community for myself, to lead with love in my personal and professional life and to open my heart even more to the gift of the present moment with my children, friends and family. I want to be more present with you, too. Those of you who have stuck with us over the years, I want to know who you are and what lights you up. How can we serve you and commune with you? How can we continue to shift from fear to love, from pain to presence, from darkness to light, together? Send me a note by replying to this email of two words of where your compass is pointing you this year. I’m truly interested in where you’re at. What’s the lighthouse on the horizon for you?
Take a listen to this song as inspiration on your journey towards the light of love that you already are. Know that I see that in you as I can also see and feel it in myself. We are one, many rivers heading toward the same great sea!
In Gratitude and Joy,
Gina
LWL OFFERING
Thursday Satsang at Aspen Chapel
September 29th-November 17th | 5pm - 6:30pm
Join Lead With Love at the Aspen Chapel for a weekly gathering in support of cultivating a personal and community-based spiritual practice. Each week, we will discuss a topic related to spirituality, engage in a practice like breath work, heart coherence, nature bathing, and yoga, and then have a time of meditation.
COMMUNITY
The Awakened Schools Institute
A Year-Long Course Designed to Nurture the Inner Core of Educators and Students 12 Sessions from October 2022 to May 2023
The Awakened Schools Institute is a spiritually activating year-long course that combines groundbreaking scientific research and inclusive educational frameworks into useful tools for educators. Frameworks include culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogy, healing-centered learning, literacies across content areas, social emotional learning, social justice education, and trauma-informed teaching.
The Collaborative for Spirituality in Education is dedicated to nurturing the innate spiritual capacity of educators (independent of any doctrine, ideology, or religion) through enriching activities, engaging discourse, scientific research, and contemplative practices. Teaching is an art, a science, a profession, and a practice; this year-long course will provide a space for educators to be guided, nourished, and recharged to show up authentically in their community and practice.
LWL SHARE
"We are all swimming in the water of trauma. We cannot address trauma without the heart. The heart is at the heart of healing trauma and understanding."