Close Encounters of the "Third Vault."
Aaron Taylor wears two Super Bowl rings on his brawny fingers. He’s also a part of our MEA guest faculty, where he introduced us to the concept of the Three Vaults in our MEA workshops. You might look at the vaults as how we approach the world or, more accurately, how we choose to be seen in the world.
When we meet new people in everyday life, we often focus on the First Vault: the facts that define our lives—where we live, what we do, who we live with, and how old we are. While the facts are like the spine of our lives, there’s no such thing as a soulful spine.
Sometimes, we graduate to the Second Vault: the stories that create a narrative for our lives, aka, the stories that make us look smart. These stories are lessons from our family of origin and the mindsets or archetypes that define our personality and, often, our identity.
While most of our interactions (even with those we know well) are limited to these first two vaults, there is a third and more precious vault to reach for. The Third Vault is full of our hopes, dreams, fears, emotions. This vault is our presence, our spontaneity, and our soul. It is what makes us different, and it is what makes us the same. More than that, we feel deeply liberated when we find ourselves in a safe crucible with others who are also exploring their third vaults. Most important, the Third Vault allows us to get to know each other from the inside out rather than the outside in.
Ultimately, you can’t enter the Third Vault without an open heart and the vulnerability to be seen. Aaron describes it this way: “Most of us don’t even know we have a third vault, let alone how to access it. To me, the third vault is where the magic of life is. It’s where our truest essence lies...where our intuition comes from...where our joy resides."
It helps when you share your journey with other like-minded individuals, and even more, when you help others enter the vault on their own. Of course, this collective effervescence is at the core of our MEA Workshops—our deep and unified dive into the heart (vault) of who we are.
While the pandemic forced MEA to pivot, we’re proud that we’ve created two new programs to keep the Third Vault open—Sabbatical Sessions and MEA Online. Of course, we’re equally proud to announce that we reopened our Baja Workshops today—after having been closed for 20.5 months. We’re excited to be lovingly opening a few vaults this week. And no secret combination or golden key is needed. All you need to do is sign up. And be open!
Here’s our workshop calendar for the next year, including Aaron Taylor’s workshop next June.
Hope you join us soon. Here’s a short video from yesterday in which we were celebrating MEA’s purchase of the fire truck for our local Mexican community along with our volunteer firefighters and our staff who are proud to see MEA making a difference in our local community. Hard to imagine having a fire crew without a "pipa" (firetruck).
