Sunday Service: 03/12/2023 – Transitions
Guest Speaker: Rev. Charli Tupper
https://revcharlitupper.com/about-me/
Rev. Charli is a Board representative of the Southwest Unity Region who specializes in transitions, and is an ordained Unity Minister who has served in the SW Region for over 14 years.
Unity’s Fifth Principle is about practicing spiritual principles in all our affairs. It may sound like it is pretty easy but when life gets a bit much, it is not as easy as it sounds. Or maybe it is for those people who are more evolved on a spiritual level than me.
Life right now is a bit chaotic and although I know we live from the inside out, so much chaos and change around me challenges my inner peace.
In an article by CBS news, the most stressful five things were #1 death of a spouse, #3 third moving, and #5 the loss of a job (or leaving a job).
So there I am with 1, 3, and 5 and I wonder why I am so stressed and emotionally challenged. In the midst of all this, I know that the only way to get through it is to go through it. It is not easy but it is possible and a lit bit easier if I do to the best of my ability, the things that make me feel more centered.
For me, some of those things are eating well (with moments of binging on my comfort foods), physical exercise, meditation (when I can sit still long enough,) and using the serenity prayer on a daily and sometimes hourly basis.
When I am frayed, I can stop and say, “God grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change (people, places, things, events), the courage to change the things I can (taking the next step forward because not moving forward is moving backward), and the wisdom to know the difference” (sitting in silence to get the answer).
I don’t do this perfectly but I am ok with knowing that as far as my spiritual life is concerned, it is progress, not perfection that I need to seek on a daily basis.
Quote of the Week
“Stress acts as an accelerator: it will push you either forward or backward, but you choose which direction.”
Chelsea Erieau
Sunday Service: 11/13/2022 – Love in Action
Rev. Arlene Meyer
This week we talk being of service versus helping or fixing, and honor the many here who serve each week.
Sunday Service: 10/30/2022 – The Masks We Wear
Rev. Arlene Meyer
This week we talk about the Masks we wear in the world, how to find the Truth, and how to consciously choose how we show up.
I hope you all had a great 4th of July holiday! For me, the holiday is not just about our freedom in this country but, even more importantly, the innate freedom we have from birth.
True freedom is not dependent on physical space, as people like Nelson Mandela and Viktor Frankl prove. Viktor was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. He did not allow himself to believe that the Nazis could make him give up his true self. He realized that even dictators could not control his thoughts and attitudes unless he allowed them to do so. He had the choice of making his experience whatever he desired.
At times it brought him great pain. Freedom of any kind does not come without challenges and discomfort. I believe most people understand that at some level, and therefore, to try and live without pain, we choose to give up being all we are created to be. We are like a caterpillar that decides becoming a butterfly is too painful and stays locked in his cocoon until he dies, never experiencing the wonder of what he truly is.
For many people, letting go of old thinking keeps them locked up in a cocoon prison of negativity and victimhood. To be free, we must take responsibility for our thoughts and attitudes. We must stop playing the victim and realize we are volunteers in this life, and as such, we determine what we do with what we receive in life. We have the freedom to choose is the key to true freedom.
Quote of the Week
“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”
Viktor Frankl
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