WOWWBLOG #67: The Dance of Presence and Gratitude: Why Showing Up In Person Changes Everything
How a circle of “strangers,” a graduation in the rain, and a gathering of quiet voices reminded me that we are all murmuration
WHAT: A Week of Sacred Gatherings
This week has continued to be a big practice of gratitude.
For the energy that keeps me going—which I suspect is generated by my daily mindfulness meditation sits and centering prayer. It is simply flowing with how the Universe arises, and I am flown like a bird, swum like a fish, bloomed like a flower. It is a wonderful yin-yang experience, moment by moment. Anicca. Arising. Passing away. Silence and stillness. Motion and melody.
Three such opportunities arose this week, and I responded with deep curiosity and meaningful flow.
1. The First Friday Forum (F3) — In Person, Finally
Our First Friday Forum started in 2018 in person, went virtual during the pandemic, and this week we regrouped for the first time in person. For intimacy, from the usual 40-50 virtual registrants, we kept the number of participants to 15, excluding me and three other Coach Participant Facilitators.
We used a group coaching approach—co-creating a container of safe and sacred space where we all brought our agendas to one big circle. I love circles, even when they look more like amoebas because of space limitations! Because everyone is equidistant from a shared center, a shared purpose.
The response? Wow.
Such vulnerability. Sharing their realities. Work, work, work taking its toll on health in Body, Heart, and Mind. We used our 7 Pillar wHEW framework, and it was like long-lost BFFs seeing each other after so many years.
The shift in energy was palpable—from resignation to actionable hope. The starling murmuration made a significant impact on each one of us.
There is something about in-person, face-to-face interactions that makes relationships tangibly real.
2. The Shibashi Graduation — Seven New Guides, Torrential Rain, and a 1:30 AM Connection
After three 2-hour monthly in-person sessions, three months of daily practice, and 12 weeks of mindfulness meditation practice as a virtual sangha, we in the Conscious Living Institute (https://www.thetlcsolution.com/conscious-living-institute-philippines) graduated seven newly minted Mindful Movement Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi Teacher Guides. This is the second cohort who will spread the discipline in their own spheres of influence.
It was so significant a milestone that one graduate—Veron Estrella—joined at 1:30 AM from France! They brought their significant others as guests amidst torrential rains. We showed up. We celebrated each other and the new collective, mindful, and adaptive energy that strengthens our resolve to change things far better than we found them.
Congratulations to our Magnificent Eight:
· Mercedes “Merci” Villan and Mario Tiongco of Toledo Village
· Maria Flamiano of Barangay Sto. Domingo
· Natividad “Nati” Lood of Santa Rosa Estates 2 Village
· Veronica “Veron” Estrella of San Jose Village
· Roselle Dulce of Pramana Village
· Edyssa Marie “Myda” Fernando (Program Manager of First Friday Forum, among others)
· Fida Robles (Project Manager of our Laguna Grassroots Community Initiative)
If this guiding template works, we can scale to other provinces in collaboration with LGU Partners and other organizations whose goals align with ours ! Then we are closer and closer to our purpose: "Co-creating one world, well and whole."
Next MMTQS TRAINING 2027: https://www.thetlcsolution.com/shibashi
3. TINIG Kamustahan — Quiet Voices, Deep Listening
Just an hour after the Mindful Movement Moving-Up Day, Fida, Myda, and I segued into a TINIG (Tulong, Inspirasyon, at Inisyatiba Tungo sa Ginhawa) Kamustahan—our bimonthly check-in for people like me who have been diagnosed with Spasmodic Dysphonia.
It was a small, intimate group—only six patients and two advocates. But the conversation and sharing in safe space had a very special way of opening our collective hearts and minds.
After checking-in, we viewed a video testimony from the US that spoke to our hearts. That video inspired us to dig in deeper and shared the struggles and triumphs of our journeys: We brainstormed on how we can co-create a supportive community that will empower us to navigate a noisy and treacherous world and still be seen, felt, and heard.
And we already have new volunteers who will help promote to others who might choose to remain in the shadows because they do not sound "normal." We reminded each other that it is okay to come out of those shadows, as we are all lit from within. That we have access to a rich wellspring of being-ness that calls to be recognized, sharpened, and used for the common good.
SO WHAT: The Gratitude That Flows from Presence
This is where the gratitude comes from.
It is the same feeling that gives rise to a generosity of heart that gives without counting the cost. Because it is really in giving that we receive.
In the F3 circle, I saw strangers become allies. In the Shibashi graduation, I saw commitment become community. In the TINIG Kamustahan, I saw isolation become solidarity.
Each gathering was different. Each container was unique. But the common thread was presence—the willingness to show up, to be vulnerable, to listen deeply, to witness each other's humanity and to translate all these into wise action.
NOW WHAT: Three Ways to Cultivate Your Own Sacred Gatherings
You do not need to organize a forum, a graduation, or a support group. But you can create small, intentional containers of presence wherever you are.
1. Host a "Circle" of Your Own
· Action: Invite 3-5 people you trust—colleagues, neighbors, friends—for a simple gathering. No agenda. No slides. Just a circle, a question, and a willingness to listen.
· Why: Circles remind us that we are equidistant from a shared center. That center is our shared humanity.
2. Celebrate a Milestone, Even a Small One
· Action: Identify a completion—a project, a course, a personal goal—and mark it. Invite someone to witness it. Acknowledge the effort, not just the outcome.
· Why: Celebration is not vanity. It is a practice of gratitude. It says: "This mattered. We mattered."
3. Reach Out to Someone in the Shadows
· Action: Think of someone who may feel unseen—a colleague struggling, a neighbor who is quiet, a friend who has withdrawn. Send a message. Just: "I am thinking of you. How are you really doing?"
· Why: The greatest gift you can give is the invitation to come out of the shadows. We are all lit from within. Sometimes we just need someone to remind us.
I close with the words of the poet Rumi, who understood the dance of presence and gratitude:
"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."
Or putting it differently, where the inherent light within radiates its way outward!
In the F3 circle, in the Shibashi graduation, in the TINIG Kamustahan—wounds were shared, and light entered and shone from within.
That is the gift of gathering. That is the practice of presence. That is the gratitude that flows from a heart that gives without counting the cost. — And it is available to all of us, right here, right now.
🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷
-Susan Grace Rivera
Posted on: September 06, 2026
Learn more about our different TLC Community Gatherings here:
Off-the-Grid Flowcation from October 7 to 11, 2026 @ Mirador Jesuit Villa & Retreat house, Baguio City: https://www.thetlcsolution.com/off-the-grid-flowcation
TLC First Friday Forum: https://www.thetlcsolution.com/tlc-first-friday-forum-f3
Circle of Mindfulness Meditation Practice (CoMMP): https://www.thetlcsolution.com/commp
Taichi Qigong Shibashi Mindful Movement Training Program: https://www.thetlcsolution.com/shibashi
TINIG Kamustahan: https://www.thetlcsolution.com/tinigasiahome
