Finding strength and comfort where you might not expect it- with your fellow men!
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I just came back from a weekend men’s retreat called “New Warrior Training Adventure” hosted by The Mankind Project. A couple of my friends went through this training and recommended it to me. They didn’t give me any details about their experience, and when I saw the name “Warrior” (Humble Warrior Blog/Podcast–why not?), that alone was enough for me to give this a shot and sign up. In addition, part of my Spiritual Fitness Program is to go to at least one retreat a year to help me grow my spiritual practice. For the respect of The Mankind Project, my warrior brothers, and more importantly, future attendees, I will not give any details of the actual weekend. What I want to do is express how much I got out of it and how I will use this greater awareness.
I can only speak for myself, but right from the start, I never felt alone.
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One thing I have learned over the years is that when attending a retreat, conference, etc., set intention as to what you want to get out of it. I applied that wisdom this past weekend. Purposely, I didn’t do any research on this training adventure, as I was committed to setting my intent to being open, so when I arrived on Friday, I was ready. What I expected was a whole different story…
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First, my intent was to get more clarity on my business life as a spiritual resource center and how this all relates to my spiritual path. I got it! I now have a mission statement that ties my life and everything I do together. Second, I wanted to get more clarity around my blog, podcast, and book and see if what I’m doing is aligned with other men. This exceeded my expectation!
In my “New Warrior Training Adventure,” we had 30 men from all different walks of life and different demographics. The ages ranged from the youngest Warrior being around 21-22, I believe, to the eldest warrior being in his sixties. Here’s what I want to share: besides being men, we all were there healing past wounds, healing our upbringing, and by doing that, all of us were growing in our own way. All 30 stories are unique to each one of us, but they all hold a common thread.
I need more like-minded men in my life!
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I can only speak for myself, but right from the start, I never felt alone. By going through that intense healing with these brother-warriors, we formed a special bond. Spending a weekend with these guys was truly an honor and I will always remember this experience. In addition, it was so awesome to bond with the staff working the retreat; all these men went through this training, so they get it. They were very supportive, which leads me to the last and most important piece that I got out of this weekend.
I need more like-minded men in my life! More Warriors! I’m very grateful and thankful for the few in my life that I trust. After this weekend, my heart opened up in a direction I didn’t expect–my heart opened up with other men, and a new felt experience of how powerful that is. Bonding in this way is aligned with everything we’re doing as we go down our spiritual path.
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Know this: there are millions of men out there going through all the same obstacles as you, and it just may look a little different to each one of us. More than 60,000 men have gone through this particular training from all over the world. In ONE weekend, I now have 60,000 brothers who have shared this experience. That’s powerful.
I’m not promoting this type of training for everyone. One should do his own research to see if this is something that would resonate with himself. If you’re interested in learning about the New Warrior Training Adventure, visithttp://chicago.mkp.org/gobig.
This article was originally published on The Humble Warrior Blog. Read the original article.
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Photo: Getty Images