Thanksgiving Becomes Gratitude

November and the holiday known to Americans as Thanksgiving rolls around every year. We reflect on many aspects of the history and the holiday. Eat variations of a feast. Often make statements to the effect that another year has flashed by. Then set our sights on the next holiday, Christmas. While I was preparing for this article, I checked the etymology of Thanksgiving. Then I looked at early American history and some of the stories that surround the initialization of events that led to the creation of the holiday. Interesting Site Here

The recovery communities often suggest gratitude practices to temporarily alleviate old attitudes and behaviors long enough to begin replacing them with healthier ones.

Gratitude practices can help you focus on the positive aspects of life, which can lead to a happier and healthier you. Gratitude is a powerful emotion that can have a positive impact on your overall well-being. Gratitude can be instrumental in centering yourself and helping focus into the present. There are many ways to integrate gratitude into your life, such as:

• Keeping a Gratitude Journal: This involves writing down three things you’re grateful for each day. It helps in focusing on positive aspects and cultivates a habit of noticing things to be thankful for.

• Expressing Thanks to Others: Showing appreciation to people, whether friends, family, or strangers, can strengthen relationships and spread positivity.

• Reflecting on Positive Experiences: Taking time to recall and appreciate the good things that happened during the day helps in acknowledging and being thankful for those moments.

• Noticing Abundance: Being mindful of the abundance in your surroundings, whether it’s nature’s beauty, opportunities, or other resources, and expressing gratitude for them.

• Attending Gratitude Events like “Gratitude Rainshowers” at Tucson’s CSL: Participating in events focused on gratitude can be a communal way to celebrate and practice gratitude. The next Gratitude Rainshower is Gratitude Rainshowers

• Don’t forget the apps. If a nudge is needed now and again or you prefer the digital realm there are quite a few apps that can facilitate gratitude formulation.

• For a quick set of gratitude prompts ask chatgpt “What should I be grateful for?”

Engaging in a practice of gratitude aligns with research that shows how gratitude positively impacts mental health, relationships, and overall happiness. Integrating gratitude into daily routines can gradually cultivate a mindset centered on appreciation and positivity. Gratitude becomes really easy with a small amount of practice.

–Chris Wheeler

Got A Reverend?

Ahh, now that caught your attention.

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a pastor and a reverend? I have.

Many years ago, I attended a church and “Pastor Tom” went on vacation. While he was gone “Reverend John” filled in for Pastor Tom giving the Sunday talk. When Pastor Tom returned, I asked him, “what’s the difference between a pastor and a reverend?” Pastor Tom paused, thought for a moment, and said, “a pastor has his own church, a reverend doesn’t.” I think that was the short answer to what could be a complex answer that varies based on the religion. That settled my curiosity at the time.

Bing says “The key difference between a pastor and a reverend is the roles & scope. A pastor specifically leads a congregation and provides spiritual guidance, while a reverend is a broader title used for ordained ministers across different roles and denominations.”

Google defines reverend as, “used as a title or form of address to members of the clergy.”

As we call in our new minister, we see our new minister revealed before us as our joyful vibrant community leader. We know that they will be revealed in a way that will express Spirit and serve the highest and greatest good of all who are touched by their Presence.

You can strengthen our calling by reading the Covenant Prayer frequently.

There is only One Life! That Life is God’s Life! That Life is Perfect. That Life is my Life Now!

In knowing that I am ‘one’ with this Life that is God…I therefore know that I am ‘one’ with all of its blessed expressions, which includes the Presence of a New Minister for My beloved Spiritual Community.

Because I know that the highest Purpose of my New Minister is to express Spirit, I therefore know that my New Minister is a Revelation of Spirit as: Wholeness. I further know that my New Minister is the fulfillment of that which has been promised by God, for it is written:

Happiness and Wholeness fill my entire being with the realization of Love and Perfection.

As I stand in agreement with my beloved Community, I see my New Minister revealed before me as my joyful, vibrant community leader.

I now intend to experience my New Minister in full cooperation and agreement with my Community, knowing this Truth about myself, for …

I am inspiring and motivating the experience of wholeness and love

I am revealing the divinity and wisdom within me

I am leading in the realization of truth and love I am facilitating, supporting and expanding a diverse selection of classes

I am providing a nurturing, vibrant community welcoming all

As I now accept the highest expression of a New Minister into my life, I know that they will be revealed in a way that will express Spirit and serve the highest and greatest good of all who are touched by their Presence.

I am grateful God is gracious.

And so It is.

–Madeline Pallanes

Welcoming All

“We should not study to be alike, but rather to develop what we really are.”  Ernest Holmes, “Living the Science of Mind,” page 172.1

“When individuals with diverse viewpoints and experiences converge, they often generate a fertile ground for innovation.” Unknown

I’m currently working on costumes for HIR by Taylor Mac. Hir is a pronoun used instead of “him” or “her” to refer to a person of unspecified or nonbinary gender. Included in the cast and crew are individuals identifying as gay, transgender, queer as well as cisgender with ages ranging from teens to seventies.

The director has taken steps to make sure Live Theatre Workshop is a place where everyone feels safe to be and express themselves during rehearsals. It has been a pleasure working with them in this atmosphere of acceptance and collaboration.

I think it’s ironic that in an industry where we are creating a different reality and taking on characters that are not ourselves, that individuals feel truly comfortable being themselves. If it were only as easy to be so in the “real” world.

When Rev. Janis and I first met with the staff of Live Theatre Workshop about the possibility of holding Sunday Service there, the one thing they wanted to be assured of was that we were inclusive. Rev. Janis told them about the wedding she had recently officiated for two lovely ladies.

A new LGBTQ activity was started this month. This group will meet for coffee after service on the second Sunday of the month. Contact Maria if you are interested in joining.

The CSLT Sacred Covenant which we have been reciting as a group during Sunday service states “I am providing a nurturing, vibrant community welcoming all.” It is my vision that CSLT does provide a sense of ease for all who show up. Let us stand in agreement as a community in providing such an atmosphere.

(For those interested, HIR opens September 7 and runs through September 24. If anyone would like to join me, I will be in the audience on September 14. Contact me about possible comps. Be forewarned that while the first half of the show has many humorous moments, the second act does get heavy as the play deals with a wide variety of topics including transgender and transitioning, domestic abuse, stroke survivor, returning from war, PTSD, drug use and more.)

–Janet Salese

GOT PROMISES

CSLT is a “Spiritual Alternative…offering spiritual solutions to everyday challenges.” We offer principles and practices that aid in spiritual exploration and discovery. Some of our practices include meditation, classes, study groups and affirmative prayer practiced by our community eager to learn and to live a life more abundant in all ways.

There is a Power in the Universe greater than we are, and we can use it. Ernest Holmes

Along with CSLT, many of us are also involved in a variety of 12 step programs. For those of you who are not familiar with 12 step programs, they are international mutual aid anonymous programs, supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Participants in the 12 step programs study/work the steps and traditions, principles and promises of the program. Speaking from personal experience, working a 12 step program is like taking a stairway to heaven. I was simply delighted when one of our recent guest speakers shared the promises of the program in her talk, as these promises are also in alignment with our teachings at CSLT!

  • We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
  • We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
  • We will comprehend the word serenity.
  • We will know peace.
  • No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experiences     can benefit others.
  • The feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
  • We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
  • Self-seeking will slip away.
  • Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
  • Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
  • We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
  • We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

In closing I’d like to share the OA Promise prayer as this too is in alignment with CSLT and one of my most favorite prayers.

I put my hand in yours, and together we can do what we could never do alone.
No longer is there a sense of hopelessness, no longer must we each depend upon our own unsteady willpower.
We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than ours, and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams.

–Madeline

High Hopes as Spiritual Practice

This month we study and explore self-care as a spiritual habit.

Re-reading Edwene Gaines’ Rules for Spiritual Prosperity. Trying once again to craft goals specific enough and scary enough to warrant intention and attention several times a day to manifest that which I want for me.

Problem is every time I sit down to write it out, my brain usually decides to go play elsewhere.

Something ingrained, trained or absorbed rejects the concept of it’s not only okay but that it’s time to ask for something for me. Ernest Holmes has this to say about that rejecting:

“We need to teach ourselves to think just as consistently, just as emphatically, about the things we do want. We must declare for ourselves, in no uncertain terms, the things of life we desire.

Followed immediately by

“And In between the times we set aside for this purpose there must be no backsliding, no letting down of the barriers we have raised against negative ideas. A ‘yes’ one moment and a ‘no’ the next will hold us in the very position we want to get out of.
–Ernest Holmes, A New Design for Living, page 210.2

Well, backsliding has always been easier than persistent consistence. But I’m learning. The actual process of writing down, with truly specific details, what it is I want to manifest, brings it to Life in full living color. The more specific I allow myself to be, the easier it becomes to know it as a Reality. And then attending to it repeatedly during the day, keeps it fresh and vivid. And most importantly to be very generous with myself in my defining.

Because the most important part is to know and remember that all Good flows from the One Infinite Source. And that Source is truly unlimited – knowing neither big nor little but always delivers to our individual knowing.

Limitation is not in Principle nor in Law, but only in the individual use we make of Principle. … We cannot demonstrate beyond our ability to provide a mental equivalent of our desire.
–Ernest Holmes Science of Mind page 118.2

Settle back and let yourself dream big and then bigger. Know that as you believe – so It is.

–In Peace, Mariann

WABI-SABI

After graduating college magna cum laude, a woman asked me in a job interview, “How do you handle being a perfectionist?” Was she implying that there was something wrong with that?

It got me thinking about the negatives I experienced by wanting to be perfect: I wouldn’t try something if I thought I might not be good at it; It took me longer to do tasks; I would throw out good projects because they had a minor flaw. While I still strove to be perfect, there were times Icould recognize this was holding me back and take steps to move forward.

Years later I discovered wabi-sabi. As Kiyoshi Matsuomoto describes it, “Wabi-sabi is Japanese acceptance of imperfections as both meaningful and in their own way, beautiful.” The philosophy embraces that nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.

Kintsugi is a process of mending broken bowls with gold epoxy, which highlights the imperfection rather than disguises it. It is the physical demonstration of the wabi-sabi. It became so popular in Japan at one time that potters would intentionally break a piece of pottery they had just made in order to gild it in this manner.

Discovering this concept, and admiring the beautiful pottery, I have been able to incorporate it into my own experience. A fellow cardmaker, blaming her left-handedness, often makes a mistake on her card such as getting ink where it wasn’t intended. Instead of getting upset, she laughs and says, “At least the person I give it to will know it’s handmade by me.” I look at such mistakes I make as opportunities to add an embellishment creating the card into more than I originally intended.

Rev. Dr. Michael Gott wrote in a recent SOM Magazine, “We are human and we are divine. Can we finally…recognize and honor that our humanity is divine?” and, as John Legend sings, “love all your perfect imperfections.”

The student of Truth will maintain that they live in a Perfect Universe and among people potentially perfect. They will regulate their thinking to meet this necessity and will refuse to believe its opposite. At first they may be influenced by conditions, and they may appear to be weak, but as time goes on they will prove to themself that their position is a correct one, for that which appears imperfect will begin to slip from their experience. SOM 185.1

–Janet Salese

Crayons

I have always loved to color. One of my fondest memories as a child is coloring with my Aunt Ellie who taught me how to shade and outline with crayons, turning the simple drawings in my coloring books into works of art. I also have memories of drawings in school and being graded, having my art judged as good, or do better, or that’s not good at all. This taught me that I’m not an artist (my drawings were never really very good) and to keep my work to myself. This extended into writing and public speaking – I was afraid to share anything that might reveal me as not good enough. I took refuge in math, where the answer is either correct or not. There are logical steps to solving problems. I became really good at that and thought I had made peace with not being “artistic.”

Creativity runs through each of us and can never be completely silenced. In my twenties I would draw mandalas that I would color as a way of relaxing. I continue to color as a form of meditation. I have a dozen coloring books that range from simple children’s coloring books to complex “adult” mandalas. I have colored pencils, pens, and of course, crayons.

Over the course of my 20+ years with the Berkeley Physic Institute (BPI), I slowly began reclaiming my creativity. An integral part of every class is coloring with crayons. There were big bowls of crayons, and it was always such a joy when a box of sharp, new crayons was added to the mix. I got over my fear of my work not being “good enough” and embraced the stick people and scribbled roses I drew in class. Set in the vibration of spiritual kindergarten, the point of coloring was self-discovery and not to produce a work of art worthy of hanging on the wall, or even a refrigerator.

Recently crayons have been my medium of choice as I began doing nondominant hand (NDH) work. In her book, Living with Feeling, The Art of Emotional Expression, Lucia Capacchione writes, “writing and drawing with the nondominant hand give you greater access to the right-hemisphere functions: feelings, intuition, gut instinct, inner wisdom, and spirituality.” Writing and drawing with our NDH helps us to access our inner child that remembers the Truth about who we are. I have found her to be feisty and no nonsense.

As I consider my dream of doing Spiritual Coaching for a living, my inner critic, from that familiar place of “not good enough,” tells me I don’t know what I’m doing, I have nothing to offer, and I can’t really help anyone. The first picture below is my NDH’s response – I am the guide and Spirit is the compass, and together we navigate the mountains of our lives. The second picture is my NDH’s response to the Truth that I am an expression of the Infinite – I am both me as Sharon and Me as the I Am.

With crayons I access that little girl coloring with my Aunt, when every picture was a work of art made with love.

–Sharon Whealy, RScP

 

Our Co-Creation

When we use our creative imagination in strong faith, it will create for us, out of the One Substance, whatever we have formed in thought. In this way we become Co-Creators with God.
–Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind 157.2

It is the day before CSLT’s Co-Creation process begins with Dr Rev Kathy Hearn that will take place Thursday to Sunday. On Thursday everyone is invited to be a part of the process either by coming to the office or on Zoom. Please contact Mariann if you would like to attend, as there are handouts you will need. On Friday evening and Saturday, the Covenant Creation Team will create our New Minister “Sacred Covenant” which will establish the consciousness that welcomes our New Senior Minister. On Sunday Dr. Rev Kathy will be our speaker and we will read the “Sacred Covenant” together.

I still have a lot to learn about Co-Creation and looking forward to going through the process for calling our next minister, and seeing what aspects I can apply to my life. So far, I have learned that “Co-Creation is the state of consciousness that unfolds through the process of healing. It is the state of consciousness that arises when we come into agreement with others. When we come into the consciousness of consensus.” (Rev. Lloyd Strom, the Principles of Co-Creation)

And the sense I get of “healing” is learning about two relationships: My relationship with the Divine and my relationship with others and working through what separates me from others, so we move forward in writing the “Sacred Covenant” as One Mind.

The goal of Co-Creation is not to recreate, but create something new which is beyond my current knowledge. I look forward to a new CSLT that is Divinely created.

When a group of people come together with one accord and with one thought, a greater Power is generated. Not because the Creative Principle responds to a number of people more than It does to one, but because the combined faith of a group reaches a higher level of acceptance. Therefore, group spiritual practice should be definitely performed with the purpose in mind of arriving at a deeper conviction.

                        –Ernest Holmes, from handout on Group Spiritual Practice

–Maria

Stepping Out and Up By

Living in New York City for 35 years – a highly visual and colorful city – I particularly like Dr. Holmes when he uses especially vivid language to state that the responsibility for my Life is mine – all mine – AND only mine. It helps me remember the lesson.

“… The fact that our foot may be in a mud puddle now need not concern us for we can step to higher ground. We need to do this rather than to sit down with our foot still in the puddle and bemoan our situation, carefully noting in our mind every step we took which led us to our predicament, and probably finding ourselves sinking deeper into the mire rather than getting out of it.”       Ernest Holmes & Willis Kinnear. A New Design for Living (pp. 95-96).

That “stepping to higher ground” requires knowing not only that it exists, but it is within reach. Always already available. After 6 years of being around CSLT, I am finding the truth of that. As I’ve been taught, it’s simple, but not easy.

Persistent consistence are my bywords for moving out of the puddle and onto drier always somewhat higher ground. My house is papered with post-its reminding me to pay attention to now and to stay aware of and avoid the default state of mind that can so easily plop me right back into that puddle. The notes work better when I read them regularly.

Two weeks ago, in class (New Design for Living), Maria reminded us of the 5 ways to avoid any hole in our way. (The complete version of this is by Portia Nelson and follows this blog.)

Here’s my summary:

1- I see a hole and walk into it; complain, cry unfair, and eventually drag out of it.
2- I see it again and walk into it, say oh no, not again and begin crawling out.
3- I see it and walk into it, know it is my fault, and leave immediately.
4- I see it and walk around it.
5- I take a different path altogether.

Change is up to me, and I know that. I also know that the path and the changing are easier when I share it with like-minded individuals. The reminders on Sunday, chatting as we set-up and put away Sunday Service essentials, the small times we are together and share, the delighted laughter at some of the music choices these and so many more instances of sharing and caring provide the energy to reach up and out to that higher ground.

Thank you all for all the help in my stepping up and out.

–In Peace, Mariann

Continue reading for “Autobiography in Five Short Chapters” by Portia Nelson

I

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place but, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit.
my eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

V
I walk down another street.

Copyright (c) 1993, by Portia Nelson from the book There’s A Hole in My Sidewalk.

Thoughts about Being Present in the Practice

I’ve been working with BrainHQ for over 250 days. I haven’t actually worked with it every single day, but I have spent at least 5 minutes playing the ‘brain games’ most days. An interesting thing that I’ve noticed is that I’ve gotten better at some of the games that I was particularly pitifully unskilled at in the early days of playing. I’ve also noticed a couple more things about myself that are more broadly applicable.

Brain HQ is a fairly fast paced game that’s mostly about attention and focus. Every time I let my mind wander, I miss the next puzzle. If I berate myself for missing that puzzle, then I fail at the next several puzzles too, because I’m more focused on being irritated with myself, than I am on staying engaged with the game. This is great feedback, because it tells me that I’ve shifted my focus from something that has potential benefit, to something that doesn’t.

When I was much younger, I remember experiencing this same feeling. When my piano teacher wanted me to perform in public, I was so tense about performing that if/when I made an error (when I would lose my place, or fumble some notes), I would get so flustered, it was all over. My ability to continue was trashed. I didn’t have the external support to help me work my way through my lack of belief in myself as a musician, and I didn’t have the internal support that would allow me to see a way through. I’ve always appreciated musicians and actors who could flub a line and recover. I now have words to describe what they do – they redirect their focus from what went sideways (aka ‘wrong’) to what they wanted to have happen.

This is a basic teaching or practice in what we do, or what anybody wants to do, when they are moving in the direction of our dreams. When we screw up, or lose focus, we pick ourselves up, and begin again. We do this as many times as it takes. Most of us would prefer to reach a state of advancement that we no longer stumble and fall, but I’m not sure how realistic that is. It may be that we reach a state where we simply recover faster, wasting less time on self-irritation.

In sailing: If you are sailing towards a particular place, whether it is a tropical island, or the buoy that marks the turning-around-point of a sailboat race, you are almost never 100% on course. Instead, you are tacking back and forth, working toward that goal. I think the same thing is true in life.

I was reading Robert Greene’s The Daily Laws the other night. (If you have this book, it was the reading for February 11th.) He started by quoting Emerson, “That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed, but our power to do has increased.” The daily reading was about how we get to an advanced state of practice wherein it is easier to stay focused on our intended target.

He wrote, “… The more we do it (the thing we want to learn), the easier it becomes. Even with skills that are primarily mental, such as computer programming or speaking a foreign language, it remains the case that we learn best through practice and repetition – the natural learning process. We learn a foreign language by actually speaking it as much as possible, not by reading books and absorbing theories. The more we speak and practice, the more fluent we become. [This next section is the key to the puzzle that Greene unlocks.] Once you take this far enough, you enter a cycle of accelerated returns in which the practice becomes easier and more interesting, leading to the ability to practice for longer hours, which increases your skill level, which in turn makes the practice even more interesting. Reaching this cycle is the goal you must set for yourself.”

This is equally true for spiritual practice. We don’t ever reach a level where we can stop practicing. We can reach a level where the practice becomes attractive and enjoyable in its own right. Happy practicing!

A reminder that supports this idea from Ben Hardy

–Rev Janis

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