Community In A Post-Pandemic World — Interview

Community In A Post-Pandemic World // What We're Thinkin' About Podcast Ep.3 with Barry Ebert and special guest, Patty Luckenbach. In this episode, Patty and Barry talk about the challenges and joys of reuniting with the community on the tail end of this pandemic. Let's find out how can we get a shift in perspective. This podcast ends with a guided spiritual practice. Meditation music: Kent Rautenstraus on Piano and Nawang Khechog on the Tibetan flute.

Transcript

It is what we're thinking about and what we're thinking about is evolved communication.

Hello and welcome to the Mile High Church podcast.

This is the place where we connect and converse to explore communication in our relationships,

Our social world,

Inner development and spirituality.

Today,

We open our hearts and we get real.

Hey,

We're back.

This is Dr.

Berry.

I'm here with my good friend,

Dr.

Patty.

Today,

We're going to be talking about relationships.

And one of the things I'm excited about is coming back to person-to-person relationships.

We've been doing a lot of zooming.

We've been doing a lot of technology,

Face-timing.

And it's been great that we've had the opportunity to stay in contact over the last year when we've been kind of hunkered down.

But now we're going to be moving back into relationships in our communities and our families,

One-to-one relationships,

Meeting strangers.

And it's exciting and I think we need to bring ourselves to it with a high level of consciousness and awareness.

And so that's what I wanted to talk to you about today,

Patty.

And I know that you just work with so many people.

You are such a light in this community for helping people with their relationships.

And so I just kind of wanted to get your take on this time of coming back.

Well,

That's interesting because in my personal world,

I have noticed this past year,

It's been amazing.

And I just want to acknowledge I have learned so much about technology.

Sometimes maybe I didn't want to learn as much as I was learning,

But I took it in because it was a way of communicating.

It was a way of connecting with people.

And speaking of supporting people through their relationship challenges,

Grief work,

You name it,

I have been able to connect on that Zoom.

However,

My heart really is open to those moments where we can be together physically,

In person.

And I know Mile High Church is so dedicated to evolving communication.

And yes,

The technology is a evolving piece of communication,

But I think the definition of building good relationships is connection.

I agree with you.

I think one of the most popular spots when we start coming back to life is going to be the coffee shop and just people getting together for a cup of coffee and just getting to talk about things,

You know,

And just to kind of relax without that screen in the way and just to kind of get into a heart-to-heart thing.

And I think it's going to be very important for families.

I know that so many families have been disconnected,

Unable to talk with parents who are in assisted living facilities or living in places that have been quarantined off,

And it's going to be so powerful for families to get back together.

And I know that's been a big part of your work,

Too.

Yes,

It has,

Especially with our brilliant,

Lovable,

Wonderful elders of Mile High Church.

We refer to you all as wisdom keepers,

And that you are.

We have worked as smart as possible to keep them online with computers,

And that's been a real foreign frontier for them.

And some of our younger people,

With their grace and their insights,

Have really helped them,

And the elders have opened their hearts to learn.

And we've been able to keep people connected that way,

But we're also reaching out one-in-one,

Person-to-person,

To go over to see that person who perhaps was quarantined,

You know,

For months upon months,

Maybe a phone call here or there,

Not understanding the Zoom yet to have the family,

The grandkids on that Zoom.

So it's been a great adventure being able to do that,

And I know that we all long to be together,

To the point they said to me,

Can we just have a picnic in a park?

Yeah,

I think people want to just get together in a social situation without having to think too much about do they have their mute button on,

Or do they have their camera on,

And just be able to talk about things.

And I think it's going to be really crucial for families to be able to get together,

And just to be able to share that love of each other and the love of family.

And I think picnics are going to be a big thing,

And it's going to start out with being in the park because it's going to be safer for us to be outside.

But I think that there's something timeless about the person-to-person relationship.

The thing about sitting around a fire,

So much of your work is about people sitting in a circle and people honoring each other's wisdom in a circle.

And so I think as we move forward into that,

That's going to be a big part of what we do is sit in a circle together.

Yeah,

That sitting in a circle is just such ancient wisdom.

And we must remember,

Even though we're in 2021,

The ancient wisdom to be able to connect to what I refer to as the star seeds,

The energy above us,

The energy below us.

And many of you who know me,

I'm very,

Very connected to the earth and to our Native American ways,

Our indigenous ways.

And we all have indigenous roots to this world.

And I just want to share what I observed last Sunday in church.

We were so fortunate on Easter to have 300 people,

Her service,

Two services present.

And I felt and I witnessed,

I saw how important it was,

Yes,

To be together.

But to come together,

As you mentioned,

Barry,

In circle or to come together in church,

I see that as one big circle,

To come together,

It felt like it was anchoring something very,

Very deep,

Kind of undefined,

But it felt very,

Very deep in these individuals that they weren't coming just because they wanted to put their Easter dress on or wear a new hat.

They were coming to be anchored.

And we need to remember how to ground ourselves during these times.

Yeah,

I think it's connecting with an ancient ritual,

You know,

For us to be together and to celebrate together and to celebrate new life.

You know,

As we're moving into this time of spring and new life,

I see that in terms of our relationships too and an openness to what's coming next and to let go of that idea that we're going to go back to something that was.

There's no going back.

We're going to go forward.

And there's going to be a lot of technology as we go forward.

But if there's going to be a lot of humanity,

We have to bring it and we have to be conscious of it.

And I think the focus that we have now and being conscious in our relationships and being empathetic,

A lot of our time in the last year was spent in a time of political divisions.

And I think we want to go above that.

We want to go beyond that.

And we want to see the common elements of humanity that live in us.

And we want to bring our focus there,

More focus to that place.

And I think that's the part that really excites me about coming out of the dark right now.

Yes,

It excites me too because I recognize that that commonality that we all have speaks to that interconnectedness with all of life.

And no,

We're not going back to the exact way things were.

But if we could perceive it as going forward or lifting in greater awareness of who we are,

Speaking of relationships,

You know,

Am I in relationship with other people?

Can I be more effective if I'm in relationship with myself to be able to share with you?

Yes,

I think so.

And perhaps some of this time of isolation,

Either a person has gone deeper or we have put up barriers of anxiety and we have pushed that away.

And a good,

Good friend of mine and a community leader,

Doug Goodfeather,

Has just written a wonderful book entitled We Are All Indigenous.

And I've been reading through that.

I just can hardly put it down.

But he is speaking to all humanity,

Not to just one group or another group,

But all humanity,

How connected we are.

And that we're moving towards a new norm of,

I'm going to say,

Of compassionate heart and remembering who we are and what we're connected,

Whether we're saying I'm connected to spirit or to my God or whatever our religious belief,

There is a connection.

And that connection has always been.

And it's simple,

But yet it can be very complex if we allow it to be able to come back and touch into that.

Speaking of connection,

I have a very simple story.

Two years ago,

I received a tiny plant and it was just a tiny little sunflower.

And I planted it in a big pot of my home and I've watered it for two years and it has lived.

I received it in a giveaway from a circle group I was in where we would give gifts to each other.

And so the little plant has lived,

But it's been tiny.

So it was March 17th,

St.

Patty's Day,

That a friend of mine,

Someone had given her a shamrock plant and she can't have plants around her.

So she said,

Would you please take it?

And I did.

I took it home.

I planted it next to the little sunflower plant.

And the little sunflower plant has grown a lot.

It's greener than it's been for two years.

And so,

Of course,

People who know me,

I talk to plants and I feel that trees are our brothers and sisters,

Speaking of relationships.

And the plant is doing great and I think it needed connection.

It needed companionship.

I love that.

I love that.

It's amazing.

The thing that you mentioned about isolation,

That a lot of us being in isolation and being alone,

We got used to it.

We got okay with it.

But I think there's a price to be paid for being in isolation all the time.

And I think that we do need each other.

And I think that it's going to be interesting to see what gifts that we've gained by the opportunity to go inward.

When the pandemic first started in March of last year,

We had that time when we didn't know what was going to happen,

Except we had the opportunity to go inward.

And a lot of us did a lot more meditating and did a lot more yoga.

And we tried to connect with those books that we'd had on our shelves for a long time that we hadn't read.

And we've done a lot of inner work in that time,

Hopefully.

And now we can,

I think,

Really honor the value of relationships as we come back.

And I think that that's the thing that excites me,

Is that we can bring ourselves more consciously back into this world.

Yes,

I think about some of the elders and some of the grandmothers who years ago would get together in sewing circles.

I have a quilt that a great aunt made me.

And it's each little square of that quilt represents a lady who came to that circle to sew.

It has her name embroidered,

A little bit about her.

And the quilt was just so meaningful that I've donated it back to Douglas County,

Because that's where those women lived.

But to come back and to stitch ourselves back together with love,

Because love really is the key and to be able to put ears back on our hearts.

I know my family,

They came for Easter and,

Oh,

That was wonderful.

But I noticed within a second or two that they were all standing there on their cell phones.

And I didn't say anything,

But I know some people ask people to turn their cell phones into a basket on the table so everyone can communicate.

So there's a lot of distractions,

And we just need to find compassionate,

Good ways to come back.

Yeah,

I think one of the things that's interesting about technology is it pulls us from the present moment.

When you get together with people at a restaurant or something like that,

When we go to our cell phones,

Then we're going away.

We're going away from that moment,

That conversation,

That opportunity to connect.

And so I think we've got to bring that into balance and model that for our kids,

Too,

Because the kids that are growing up now,

They've never experienced a world without cell phones.

They've never experienced a world without social media.

And so I think if we're going to value person-to-person connections,

We're going to have to be very conscious about it.

And I think that's the opportunity that lies before us now is to really see the gift in it and to bring our attention and our focus to it in a healthy way.

So that's what I'm looking forward to.

Yes,

I am,

Too.

And I'm a little older than,

Of course,

My grandkids,

And they might see me as that grandma in a sewing circle,

But I don't think so because I'm pretty outrageous with my activities and the things that I do.

But I want to be able to shine forth with technology,

But I want to shine forth with my family and also my community family.

I want to be in community,

And I want to learn about you,

And I want you to learn about me because I believe in enhancing our relationship with each other.

We all have a love story to tell.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

I'm thinking of,

You know,

We've got the opportunity to work on ourselves during this last year and hopefully to be more healthy personally,

But also to really see that we have a common shared experience.

Everybody went through a time in the valley in the last year.

Regardless of your politics or your social standing or wherever you're coming from,

We have gone through a shared experience together,

And we have an opportunity to share something now and create something new,

Something better,

And to move past our divisions.

Our technology has really enabled us to become more divided,

Right?

To break up into separate camps.

I think that we're given now the opportunity to move closer together by getting back together personally.

That's what lies before us right now,

And I think it's a good thing.

I'm glad that we're talking about this today.

Yes I am too,

And I want to give thanks for technology because it's not going away,

And it has enhanced things,

And I'm grateful for it.

But to remember the technology of our hearts and how our hearts need to connect,

And relationship is about involvement.

It's about association,

Being present one for another.

I feel very strongly that it's about compassion,

And compassion has been defined many ways.

I think the late Ram Dass defined it as an inner connection.

Once again that connection word there,

Relationship.

It's an inner connection.

All of a sudden you and I very are sharing a compassionate moment because we're connected,

And we might not know the why or the how come,

But there's a feeling,

There's a sensing that we belong,

And we are connected in our interest.

So I support that,

And I support compassion being also that understanding of a lack of understanding.

There's a lot of lack of understanding going on in our world right now,

And to be able to just be open to understanding our brother and sister,

And being present for them.

Well,

I love all the work that you do with indigenous people and native people that we have a tendency to think because of our technology that we're so much farther advanced than the people that came before us,

The indigenous people that came before us.

One of the things I love about your work is that you see the technology of the heart that lives in indigenous people,

And the way that their communities were held together by their rituals and by their collective wisdom,

And the wisdom that came forward.

I think that that is being honored now more,

I hope.

Yes.

Oh,

I feel very strongly it is being honored more,

And even my nieces and nephews,

Native American nieces and nephews,

They have cell phones.

They know about technology.

They're part of the world,

But they do have elders around them that want them to remember that we have all come from one creator,

And we must listen to that wisdom.

It does my heart good when I see one of the young little boys or little girls sitting next to their grandpa or grandma,

Learning from them so that they can share this heartfelt connection and keep that relationship going because we are all related,

And that's one of the Lakota words,

Ho mitakuyu asan.

What that means is we are all related.

Isn't that interesting?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that that concept of relationships that all of us are related,

And to move out of our camps and out of our tribes and to create a bigger world together where everybody gets to participate,

I think that that's the opportunity that's in front of us now.

Thank you for being here and talking about relationships.

I'm excited that you're going to come back next time.

We're going to go deeper in this,

Talk a little bit about one-on-one relationships and about our romantic relationships,

But we will continue this conversation.

I thank you for being here,

And I know that you're going to do a little centering process with us here in a minute.

So thanks again.

So I just invite you right where you are to place your awareness,

Your soft awareness with your breath.

All the great mystics of all times have always known the power,

The gentle power of recognizing the breath.

So taking a deep breath,

Just holding it for a moment,

Releasing it.

Once again,

The awareness of the breath,

Beholding us in the light of love,

Just letting go,

Letting go,

Letting go.

And in this present moment,

I recognize that the only one present,

Right where you are and right where I am,

Is that open-heartedness of the infinite,

That God presence,

That God that has been called love.

God is love and love is God.

And moving into the very center,

Like an open door,

Open those doors of your heart.

Even taking both hands at your chest,

Like you're opening your chest,

You're opening those doors of heart.

And just allowing yourself to enter into that beautiful,

Beautiful,

Alder place of heart.

What I recognize with allowing the very bead of breath,

The very umbilical cord of golden breath to lead us into this sanctuary of heart,

This altar,

That your name is written upon that altar.

And your name,

Your God-given name is love.

And all that you are is that love.

Each of us,

We are in relationship,

We are connected in and of love,

The great fire of love that is always kindled within the heart of all humanity.

So just sensing that,

Knowing that that umbilical cord of golden light,

That golden thread has will and always forever and beyond forever behold the connection of who you are in relationship to the greater wholeness.

So just giving thanks for this truth.

I know that the essence and the warmth of the fire from this place of altar of heart,

It ripples in its warmth,

In its compassion,

In and through every aspect of who you are,

Those who love you and those whom you love.

It moves forth into family.

It has a way of melting away discords and misunderstandings.

And it moves and trickles forth into our communities with that healing balm of love,

Seeing all beings,

All persons as that light of the infant.

It moves through all systems.

It feeds all people.

It raises those who have been ill and it gives forth the goodness of God.

So I give thanks for this day.

I give thanks for this opportunity to just be,

To be love,

To be love.

So on Thanksgiving,

I just affirm that this light never goes out,

This warmth,

This flame.

It is eternal.

So I bless this day with great gratitude and knowing that we are all related.

And so it is.

Amen.

Alright,

I want to thank you for being here today,

Patty.

I look forward to connecting with you next time.

And thank you all for joining us on what we're thinking about and value those relationships.

It's the best gift we have.

See you soon.

Reviews

Beautiful! I love this very timely message from Dr. Patty and Dr. Barry. Great thoughts regarding the changes Covid has brought and the opportunities that are before us. Thank you!

Thank you so much for having these conversations. I am so excited about the way forward, healing and rebuilding relationships. I am also extremely grateful to be part of the Mile Hi community as we all embark on this adventure.