Dear Reader,

When I returned to music after not playing the violin for 35 years, it took a lot of patience both with myself and with finding a teacher who could meet me where I was on this musical journey. I was neither a beginner nor an advanced player. Some skills returned quickly and others I "never had."

I met a teacher who explained that we could view music as a series of buckets. Some buckets were more full than others but we needed all of those buckets to develop musically. Each was important and each could be learned - even the ones like improv which I thought you were just born with:)

I'd learned earlier in life that when I wanted empathy and was not given it from someone I cared about, it was much easier on both of us if I viewed them as unskilled versus unloving.

Combining this idea and buckets of skills to my life cultivation proved to be a kinder way to treat myself. I wasn't incapable, slow, inept or any other adjective I might insert here. I simply had some areas less full than others and all of them could be learned. It helped a great deal to choose a few so I could develop them properly - to a deeper level - and also not get overwhelmed with all the things I could be doing. Ren Xue is a rich system with many possibilities and areas to focus.

When I thought about all the areas of skill development in life cultivation, the picture in my mind got very large with many directions to go in. I decided to sort it according to a model I've learned many times so far in this life. With sincere apologies to the person who developed it but whose name I don't remember, it develops like this:

Unconsciously Unconscious: we don't know what we don't know. For example, we can't learn Tian Yuan if we don't know it exists.

Consciously Unconscious: we are now aware that the skill exists but we are not doing it and/or don't know how.

Consciously Conscious: we know about it, we are doing it, but it takes conscious effort. Continuing with the Tian Yuan example, this is the stage that all the movements require thought and we aren't opening and closing with our mind and heart in a big way.

Unconsciously Conscious: we know the skill so well that it no longer takes effort and thought. It's automated. If still looking at Tian Yuan, the movements flow with ease and we are in a good state without needing to work at it.

My example of Tian Yuan is very basic. The skills from the first method of Yuan Gong can be extended into life - opening and closing in exchange with the Universe for example. Doing this fully and completely without conscious effort 24/7 is getting closer to the unconsciously conscious stage.

There are so many areas of life cultivation where we can apply this model and extend it into daily life in addition to the formal practices and theories. It takes honesty, awareness, and a strong internal connection to help determine where to focus next so we don't get lost in overwhelm or skimming the surface. All those qualities can be learned and cultivated by the way:)

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Over the next few weeks in Wisdom for an Awakening World, I'm going to continue choosing a few skills and explore some of these questions: What are they? How do we apply them to life? What do they look like in action? How do they move us closer to our True Self?

I'm glad I didn't try making a graphic on this topic yet. It has developed into areas I hadn't expected and this has been interesting to watch. What I know so far is that these are the first three sessions:

I am no longer doing these sessions live but will continue to make them available Mondays at noon Pacific. You can find them by searching #bucketsofskills within the Facebook group. So far, they are all about 30 minutes in length.

I'd also like to explain why I've put them into a private Facebook community instead of making them public. The first reason is that Ren Xue is a progressive system. Each step relies on understanding previous steps. Within the group I've provided some foundational information and many of you are already experienced with Ren Xue. This is not the case for the general public. Plus, anyone who doesn't quite have the basics has the ability to ask the group and search previous posts.

The second reason is that I work at making these posts personal so that I may share from as deep a place as possible to help your learning. I'm not comfortable doing that on social media. I will have some Youtube videos coming out but they will be a bit different.

Having said that, if you feel this information is helpful to people you know, please invite them to Wisdom for an Awakening World and this newsletter. We are a growing community and I'd love to help wherever I can within the boundaries of people being ready for the information and feeling safe myself.

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With gratitude for your courage and life cultivation efforts,​
Stephanie

​https://www.stephanierossauthor.com/​

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