February 24 – May 19, 2025
We are starting our winter/spring session for the Dharma Buddies Program February 24 - May 19. FCM members have found this program a great support system for keeping their aspirations at the forefront in their minds. Dharma Buddies are asked to share their aspirations. and then determine daily how they will practice putting them into their lives. Each buddy sends a daily intention or plan via text or email of how they will support their aspiration that day. Buddies support each other by being present to read and respond to the written intention with a short response, perhaps just a thumbs up.
An aspiration is a core heartfelt wish of how we want to live our lives. It is our north star, the underlying force that guides us to do what we do. An aspiration brings clarity and that helps us make decisions that bring us a happier life. We want to look deeply into our hearts to find our aspiration. Take time to reflect on your aspiration. An example of an aspiration is to be more mindful and aware in my daily life.
Daily intentions water our aspiration. Visualize how your specific intention will materialize in your life each day. You want to decide where, when and how you will practice your intention. An intention to water an aspiration to be more mindful might be – During our family gathering today, I will be patient with the youngest attention seeking grandchild and respond with a calm understanding voice. Practicing your intention even for a short time each day is powerful. As your practice of intentions deepens, you will find yourself being aware of it in your thoughts, speech and actions more frequently. Remember intentions may change daily based on what is happening in your life but your aspiration stays constant.
Dharma Buddy Commitments:
- Please make a commitment to yourself and to your buddy to connect daily for the duration of this Dharma Buddy session, February 24 - May 19 2025.
- Reflect deeply on identifying your aspiration before meeting with your buddy. Know your aspiration and share it with your buddy. Aspiration example: I want to be more caring and compassionate to others.
- Schedule an initial meeting to get to know your buddy. This may take place on the phone (face time if possible) or in-person and may take longer than most of your connections.
- Discuss the following at this initial meeting with your buddy:
- Share about yourself and what may have brought you to FCM.
- Share your aspiration, your heartfelt wish, of how you want to show up in your life.
- Discuss your understanding of how an intention or plan supports your aspiration. Make sure both of you understand how to identify where, when and how you will practice watering your aspiration each day depending on that day’s schedule and activities.
- Agree on a daily method of contact (text or email). You want to keep your responses short to keep the process of sharing intentions flowing daily.
- Discuss the time of day you will typically send your intentions. Set a schedule which will work for both of you. Many buddies do this first thing in the morning.
- After your initial meeting start the next day by writing a short plan of how you intend to support your aspiration. Make sure you are concrete and identify where, when and how. This small act of setting your intention daily is profound and will bring change in your life.
- You support each other by reading and responding to each other’s intentions. This response can be a short response, even just an emoji with a thumbs up.
- Reflect daily before sleeping how that day’s intention helped to manifest your core aspiration. This helps to keep you more honest and accountable with yourself and does not need to be shared with anyone. If you forgot your intention, and this will happen, then you can start over again the next day with no judgement!
You may request a specific buddy but if you are in an intensive class, please select someone in your intensive. When asking for a specific buddy, both buddies must send an email to Evie at evelynhaseman@gmail.com.
If you are registered for the 5-week class, Grounding and Nourishing the Mind, you will automatically be paired with a buddy in this class. You DO NOT need to register separately for the Dharma Buddies program if you are registered for this class.
Please note that participation in the Dharma Buddies Program is open only to FCM members. There is no fee for this opportunity to “buddy up”. Registration will be open until February 14.
If you have any questions, contact Evie Haseman evelynhaseman@gmail.com.
