As a new intern who is still navigating my position and approaches to engage with Open Spirit, the Day of Spirit provided me with a deepened embodied understanding of who Open Spirit is and what we are trying to do as a community.

The day started with the marvelous exhibition of community quilts. The sense of grounded, earthly, and genuine love radiated through the quilts, resonating beautifully with the spiritual love and awakening cultivated by the sanctuary, co-elevating the space with the multiple layers of human creativity and connection. Standing before the quilts, I was amazed by the innovation behind the quilting ideas and the delicate crafts of the quilting process. It felts as though I was being carried along a momentary wave in the stream of history and memories woven into each quilt. One of the quilts which resonates with me a lot and reminds me of the meaningfulness of this day is the graduation quilt. It took the mother and grandmother six months to use the treasured clothes from the young girl’s years of growth, weaving together memories of their past as a gift for the young girl’s high school graduation. The quilt serves as an all-time reminder to treasure and love each other, while being loved deeply and wholeheartedly. This kind of love grounds us and prepares us for all life journeys, giving us courage to face obstacles, confidence to celebrate achievements, and a permanent recharging place for rest and reconnection.

Having been recharged by the overflowing of love, we then proceeded with the full series of events starting with Valarie’s keynote speech. It always feels like a gift and a blessing to hear a person who embodies creativity, compassion, and wisdom to share a bit of her life secrets with us.

“No matter where you are right now, it is perfect. I don’t need to be anywhere except here.”

“Due to losing memories, I only know people’s faces and not the background stories, and that helps. Not remembering is a strength.”

“What you say to others teaches them how to treat you.” ……

Every moment of awe and enlightenment was a testimony to prove that these snippets of life lessons were slowly and subconsciously untangling the little knots in our mental constructions which prevented us from fully loving ourselves and others. We were undergoing a profound mental massage and de-construction to help us strip off layered external and internal constraints imposed on our true natures and guide us back to the place where we inherently know how to keep faith and love one another.

The speech then transitioned to immerse us in a sea of extraordinary art pieces from Valarie, where I was continually impressed by her openness, courage, and wit in creating and sharing these threads that connect our histories, memories, and emotions. The ending reading touched our hearts by the heartfelt highs and lows of love in its various forms and stages, all held together by the deep bonds within Valarie’s family. The keynote speech felt like a shifting and re-

alignment of our minds and hearts towards a new stage of openness, freeing ourselves from what holds us back, and embracing a boundless, ceaseless, and powerful love.

The workshops and the open mic after the keynote speech seemed to center around the theme of co-creation. After being grounded by love and mentally inspired by life wisdom, we had the opportunity to practice holding faith in ourselves, being fully present and responsive to the present moment, and bringing our whole selves into a collaborative creation with the community. In the Jazz improvisation workshop I attended, I learnt to trust my own voice, refrain from being constrained by embarrassment or self-doubt, and rely on my intuition and creativity to build on what others were creating. After the workshops, the Open Mic ended the day with the perfect spirit of shared creativity which was fostered by every community member who brought their talents to the stage, listened attentively, and offered genuine recognition and appreciation to

each other.

I was swept over by all this loving, trusting, and creative energy after the day ends. Yet, even as this day ended, the energy continues to flow into our lives, embodying what I believe Open Spirit aspires to become: a space that grounds us in deep and authentic love, inspires us with insights and wisdoms to reorient us mentally, and provides a platform to practice holding faith and courage to be our true selves, co-creating, and shining together as a community.