What are the 7 oath statements & why do they matter?

A community is a place where people who have shared beliefs & values gather for the purpose of sharing experiences which helps each member of the community support one another and meet personal needs. It is a way for you to feel part of something bigger than yourself. A place of belonging! And in the case of 7 Cups, a community is a great source of love & support.

As you start on your journey as a sponsor/ sponsee, we encourage you to join a sub-community together. Find a sub-community that makes the most sense for you both & join together! Within your sub-community you will see a subforum called oath statements & purpose. In these sub-forums we invite you take the oaths described in detail below with your sponsor/ sponsee. The goal is use this framework to connect further with your sub-community to add healing, support and love to your 7 Cups journey!

To get started we want you all to refer back to 7 Cups For The Searching Soul. Many of you read this incredible book. For those of you who did not, the book is organized into 12 chapters. Chapters 1 - 4 talk about: Denial, Distractions & Problems. The last 7 chapters refer to the 7 Cups growth program. The aim of this program is to break down this process of personal growth to help you and millions of others change their lives and make the world a better place.

Well be working to more deliberately incorporate this framework into our work of supporting others & ourselves. Every community has its own mission & oath statements. Leaders of your community will help establish this mission & orient members to it.

Take your time to work through these oath statements. Here are some general guidelines:

-------> Don't say them unless you mean them

-------> Dare to do each as many times as you see fit. Once you go through all of them, your journey is not complete. Cycle back through them, hang out on one for a little while... take your time.

-------> Don't do them in order! They are listed as numbers 1-7, but you can go through them in whatever order makes most sense for you!

-------> Enjoy the process, don't fight it.

7 Cups for the Searching Soul provides a framework for each community to use to create & build their community.

http://www.7cups.com/forum/7CupsfortheSearchingSoulDiscussion_139/1/

We are all at different stages of personal growth. As you review these oath statements & the 7 Cups, you may feel overwhelmed. That is okay. Our entire community is here to support you. The only thing youll need to do in return is committ yourself to the 7 Cups & give back to the community by sharing your story, being willing to grow & supporting others as they do the same.

We will all be at different stages in the 7 Cups. It is okay to hang out at one stage for as long as you need. Additionally, you may need to repeat stages to realign yourself to a particular step if you get off track or another situation arises which demands you give it another try.

There are no right or wrong answers. If you are an empathetic & supportive community member, there will always be a place for you at 7 Cups. We encourage you to commit yourself to personal growth by using the framework provided in 7 Cups for the Searching Soul & outlined below.

Cup 1: Open

Excerpt from book: The first cup of opening up and sharing with another person is very important. It is the essential first step. Share what is on your heart with another caring person.

Oath statement: We admit that we cannot reach recovery for XX all by ourselves. We commit to opening our hearts & sharing our stories with other members of the XX community.

Skills needed: Courage, trust in others & self

Cup 2: Attune to Love

Excerpt from book: Kindness, compassion, warmth, peace, empathy, patience, and generosity. The feeling of being seen, understood, and valued. A big hug. Self-sacrifice. Your favorite comfortable sweater. Kind eyes. A warm smile.

Oath statement: We commit to welcoming love into our hearts & sharing these experiences with XX community. To do this, we vow to engage in the following:

Remembering and reflecting on positive early memories of love

Looking for experiences of love in unexpected places and relationships

Working to identify where love exists in our lives presently and nurturing this love

Teaching others about love and helping them recognize love in their own lives

Skills needed: Vulnerability

Cup 3: Practice Healthy Coping Skills

Excerpt from book: Many of us already have skills we practice that help us feel better when we are going through a hard time. We have not been taught to see them as skills, but they are skills nonetheless. Whats more is that they are already active and effective in your life, so you do not even have to learn them. You are already doing them. Once you are aware of them, you can just start doing them more deliberately to help yourself feel better.

Oath Statement: We commit to dedicating ourselves to healthy coping skills to better our lives and the XX community..

Skills Needed: Dedication, hard work, personal commitment

Cup 4: Thrive Sleep, Eat and Move!

Excerpt from book: The simple truth is that your brain is in your body. It is one part of the complex system of your body, a system we are just beginning to understand. You could read book after book and spend hundreds of hours talking to the most brilliant experts in order to unravel your psychological challenges. However, if you are not sleeping, eating, and exercising, then all of this will be for naught. These core self-care skills are fundamental to your life and functioning. We can not expect to grow and move forward as people if we do not get the basics right.

Oath Statement: We deserve to thrive. We commit ourselves to self-care & enhancing our personal well being by means of building consistent eating, exercise & sleeping habits. We vow to do this for the betterment of ourselves & the XX community.

Skills needed: Knowledge, self-awareness

Cup 5: Accept

Excerpt from book: Accept what life brings you, Accepting what you cannot change

The key to a bad thing being turned into a really incredible thing is that the person decides to respond with openness and courage. You see, you may not be in control of everything that happens to you, but you are still in control of your destiny.

We have a natural tendency to avoid problems and their accompanying negative feelings. These feelings are a part of us. If we ignore them, they just grow stronger and more rambunctious. If we mindfully experience, open, and accept them, they pass through us like a cloud passing through a sky. They leave us wiser, more insightful, and more empathic. We owe it to ourselves to accept and integrate what life brings us. Helping ourselves can also lead to helping others that are going through similar struggles. Helping ourselves can also lead to helping others that are going through similar struggles.

Oath Statement: We accept that we cannot avoid negative or painful emotions. We commit to mindfully experiencing painful & negative emotions so that we may grow wiser, more insightful and more empathetic towards ourselves & the XX community.

Skills needed: Empathy, strength, willingness to ask for help

Cup 6: Care

Excerpt from book: Care for others that need support

Learning to care for others takes practice just like any other new skill. It is hard work, but it gets easier over time. An added benefit is that it provides you with magic stew. It is immensely satisfying as it nourishes you both while also making the world a much better place.

Oath Statement: We commit ourselves to helping others in XX community.

Skills needed: kindness, dedication, empathy

Cup 7: Commit

Excerpt from book: Live According to What is Important

You have to say to yourself, regularly, day in and day out, I choose to live for what I believe is important.

Oath Statement: We choose to live for what we believe is important. We commit to living with vitality & sharing this commitment regularly with the XX community.

Skills needed: Commitment, self-awareness