Looking for My Tribe

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/4785143332446020/

In a recent journeying experience, we went looking for connections to and disconnections from our tribe. Along the way, I found several attitudes and past experiences that contributed to my disconnection. As the journey was coming to an end, I heard a direction: Find your tribe. As I looked around, continuing on the path out of the journey, my own voice echoed: Who is my tribe?

Returning to the room and the group, my mind responded: I have no tribe.

Now, in terms of my tribe of genetic origin, my rational mind argued, I belong solidly.....

Wait, cautioned the voice still arising from the Journey. Breathe. I paused and found a whisper quavering inside my chest with the lightness and quickness of hummingbird wings. I could not quite catch what it was saying, but I knew I would.

Later, when relating the episode to a friend over a glass of wine, she began nodding vigorously. Yes, she said. You have no tribe. She grasped at words to explain what she meant. You fit in to so many different places. Like with the music and musicians, yet you are not a musician nor a groupie. Like.... Then she seemed lost for words. She tumbled and sputtered, backtracking and apologizing. It didn't sound the way she meant it.

But the Light had gone on in my head. Yes! I responded. Precisely! I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. It's not that I have no tribe ~ it's that I have every one. That's what had been fluttering against my ribcage. And again, a couple of days later, when I found myself relating the tale again to another friend, she agreed that not only was I connected to every tribe, she was as well. Perhaps I continue to discover the breadth of my tribe.

What tribe/s do you claim? What tribe/s claims you? How do you participate in the variety of tribal offerings around you? What are your characteristics? your rituals? your beliefs? How do you move within your tribe? Is being part of a tribe significant for you? Why or why not?