In the after-glow of various local events this past week here in London, I was prompted to reflect on the power of Awakin Circles in my and my husband's lives.

Four years ago, I was first invited to an Awakin Circle by a friend and it was my first real attempt at sitting for an hour. This was a scary but wonderful journey and has been a real catalyst in my meditation journey. I was grateful to meet Nipun and Guri at this special gathering and found them both truly inspirational.

The friend that first invited me to the circle, later became my husband. We both really value meditation and have gone on to do longer meditation retreats. We wanted to share this aspect of our life when we got engaged, so along a small family engagement event, we held a mini-Awakin Circle where we had a short meditation, a reading on love, and a circle of sharing with insight from the reading or advice for us for our future. We were genuinely amazed at our family (many non-meditators) for taking up our challenge and participating. We gained some beautiful insights from this and were particular surprised to see some members of our family that we thought would be more skeptical be a part of this.

We've gone on to host a similar circle for our housewarming and are planning one this thanksgiving with friends. As Kent Nerburn writes:
 

...you don't choose love. Love chooses you. All you can really do is accept it for all its mystery when it  comes into your life. Feel the way it fills you to overflowing, then reach out and give it away. Give it back to the person who brought it alive in you. Give it to others who deem it poor in spirit. Give it to the world around you in any way you can.

Much gratitude for the opportunity to give love in any way we can. :)