Category: change

GOT CLUTTER?

Clutterers Anonymous (CLA) is a fellowship of compulsive clutterers who practice a 12-step and 12-tradition program modeled after AA (Alcoholics Anonymous.)

What is clutter? Clutter is anything we don’t need, want, or use that takes our time, energy, or space, and destroys our serenity.

I know I am a clutterer and I know I am not alone. I have created physical, mental/emotional, and paper/email clutter to name a few.

Physical: This is the behavior that results in the stacks piles and objects and unfinished projects that fill my home. Whether organized or thrown about, it is all so overwhelming. I have become owned by my possessions.

Mental/Emotional: This is the mental clutter I carry in my mind-resentments, unfinished thoughts, emotional baggage, worries about the future, regrets about the past. My mind and thoughts often are often filled with clutter. Paper/e-mail: Unprocessed mail, notes written on scraps of paper, endless books and e-mails not yet read all add to the clutter. It’s so overwhelming.

What I really want is to be in surroundings of beauty, order, and serenity; a balanced life; and harmonious relationships.

How do I achieve this?

By following the 12-step program of CLA along with the teachings from our Center for Spiritual Living.

They complement each other beautifully.

–Madeline Pallanes

Got A Reverend?

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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

Places

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments….
                   In My Life by John Lennon

I first visited Lahaina, Maui in 1977. It was part of a one-week 3-island trip, a real bargain with flights out of LAX. I fell in love with Hawaii, eventually purchased a timeshare and visited one or more of the 4 major islands at least 30 times. On my first visit to Lahaina the town was small with no high-end lodging in town. The recommended restaurant, The Whale’s Tail, was tiny and upstairs on Front Street, across from the Banyan tree. This historically significant town was the filming location of several movies. It was destroyed by wildfire the week of August 7. We are friends with 2 couples who live on Maui full-time. The losses are immeasurable. In such situations my feelings of sadness eventually mature to acceptance.

I seem to form emotional attachments to places. Sometimes the connections are due to the beauty and atmosphere of the place itself; often places become special because of the activity and people involved. I know that change is inevitable and change over a long period of time can be major. I would prefer that my special places remain the same so that by revisiting I can recapture some of the magic I first felt. I have been shocked, angry, and sad at some geographical changes. One of The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz is to “take nothing personally.” Just like with any kind of loss, I can choose gratitude for the experience and love how it enhanced my life. So I will do that. My special times in Hawaii were numerous. None of my experiences were unique but they were personally intimate.

I once told someone that after cremation I wanted half my ashes to be sprinkled off the end of the pier in Hanalei, Kauai, and the other half around the base of Bell Rock in Sedona. I was sort of kidding. I first visited Sedona in 1984. Tlaquepaque was relatively new, and the population was a fraction of what it has become. In visiting in 2008, I took offense at the traffic circles and the new mall where Oaxaca restaurant had been located. The amount of traffic was another inconvenient change. Sedona is still lovely, and I enjoyed its beauty on several trips. Gratitude to the Source for the natural wonders.

In 1991 I spent 6 months on a temporary job assignment in Chicago. I met some amazing people and got to experience the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Chicago River being dyed green. Lack of familiarity and experience in city life caused some slight fears at the beginning but I am grateful for every minute I spent in Chicago and for the wonderful interpersonal experiences.

For a few years I traveled to Charleston, SC for the Spoleto Festival and shared a beach house on the Isle of Palms across the river. Details were all arranged and scheduled by a friend who grew up in the Charleston area. The food and music were phenomenal. Activities were fun. Another special place is San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a colonial-era city, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its centuries-old Baroque and Neoclassical style architecture. A life-long friend of my husband is a resident and was full of useful information. We visited once for a week and a couple of years later we stayed for a month. I lack the space and vocabulary to describe this magical city and the joy I experienced on my visits.

In New Thought we know that positive expectation, believing what we are thinking, influences outcomes. In Creative Mind and Success, Ernest Holmes states “Wherever you go, know that the Spirit of Truth goes before and prepares the way, bringing to you every friend and influence that will be necessary to your comfort and wellbeing.” This language richly describes what is possible if we apply the Law to our planned experiences.

I likely will not travel to these places again, yet they are part of me, my tapestry. Thank you, Carole King.

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view…. Tapestry by Carole King

 

–Linda Bullock

Falling into Place

In June I took a meditation retreat in Colorado Springs with Dr. Roger Teel, who led Mile Hi Church for 25 years. I have enjoyed watching his online talks and when he mentioned his mediation retreat, I knew I wanted to go. I looked online and when registra6on for the workshop opened, I immediately signed up.

The workshop was at the Franciscan Retreat Center in the foothills of Rockies. The setting was lovely, with big trees, old buildings, and lots of space to wander. There were deer roaming freely. One morning I went to get my journal out of my car and there was a deer five or six feet away from the driver’s side. I unlocked the doors with the remote and the deer lifted its head then returned to eating. I opened the passenger door and rooted around for my journal. When I looked out through the driver’s side windows there were three deer looking at me as if they were wondering what I was doing. What a treat!

The workshop consisted of lectures, stories and lots of time meditating using a variety of techniques, and free time to walk around the grounds and contemplate. It was liberating to have 3 days where I didn’t have to think about anything, as our days were scheduled, meals prepared.

Going to the retreat jump started my meditation practice. The app Insight Timer has kept track of my meditations and I have reached 60 days in a row. I have given myself the rules that I can’t have coffee or open my Fitbit app to see what my sleep score until I sit. Those boundaries are working for me. After sitting the rest of my day seems to fall into place and I’m more productive since I have been consistent with my practice. Taking the retreat, was a treat, an immersion I highly recommend. Here’s a little taste of the workshop: Affirmation Meditation for JOY – Dr. Roger Teel.

–Maria

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

GOT INNER WORK

They say that everything you ever learned, you learned in kindergarten. If this is true, my memory brings me back to my first feelings of fear. It was 1967-68 and I was in kindergarten.

It was music time and my classmates and I were sitting in a row as the teacher was at her piano. She picked 10 of us and assigned us our number. I was number 3. We were lined up facing the other kids that weren’t picked. We were going to sing 10 little Indians. Each kid sings the number they are, as she accompanied on the piano. I don’t remember why, but I didn’t want to sing so I didn’t.

The first kid sang 1 little Indian; the next kid sang 2 little Indians; she continued playing but had to abruptly stop. In her stern voice as she glared over at me, “Madeline! You have to sing 3 little Indians.” I stood there and said nothing, but I remember thinking I did not want to sing. “If you don’t sing, you are going to have to stand out in the hall! Ok class let’s start this again.” She resumed playing and 1 & 2 sang but I kept my mouth shut.

The music stopped and she escorted me out to the hall! As soon as I hit the hall and she went back in the classroom, it occurred to me that Andrew, my brother may walk by and see me. Everyone knew if you were standing in the hall you were in trouble! If he saw me, he could tell our mom and dad and I would be in so much trouble (or so I thought). At that very moment fear of being in trouble kept me frozen by myself in my own thoughts. Andrew never saw me.

Jump ahead 55 years and I’m still that same little girl often frozen by fear, with the thought of being in trouble. I’m still doing some of the same actions. If I don’t want to do something, or don’t know what to do, I do nothing. I’m still carrying the fear of getting in trouble from my actions or lack thereof.

What can I do to release this fear?

The thought came to me to do some inner work. What is inner work? Google says, “deliberate and ongoing reflective practice that increases awareness of self, others, and the systems in which complex social problems arise. At its core, inner work is the process of getting to know yourself. It’s a form of introspective self-care where you can help yourself let go of harmful attachments, habits, people, and thoughts.”

Oh yeah, I need to do some inner work. I’ll start with prayer as written by Ernest Holmes:

LOVE DISSOLVES ALL FEAR
Greater than fear is Love.
Love dissolves all fear, casts out all doubt and sets the captive free.
Love, like the River of Life, flows through me and refreshes me with its eternal blessings.
Love cannot be afraid; it is fearless and strong, and is mighty in its works.
It can accomplish all things through the Inner Light of that faith in all Good,
Which fills my very Being with a Powerful Presence.
Love casts out all fear.

–Madeline Pallanes

Prayer Partners and Practitioners

I meet with two prayer partners and have a session with a Spiritual Practitioner once a month. Each relationship is unique and vital to my being. With one of my prayer partners we talk about spiritual principles, and our humanness. I shared an experience that activated my inner two-year-old and I didn’t want to play anymore. I could feel it and see it as it was happening. And learning to recognize limitations, I know that I am at choice with my feelings and behavior and don’t have to stay stuck, or in bondage, as Ernest Holmes would say.  As I talked about my humanness, I saw the humor, and both of us start laughing. In the lightness of laughter, I saw that the comment someone made, was simply data about something I didn’t do. At first, I took it as a criticism. Then I realized that my behavior (the data), was not the truth of who I am, and I can change my behavior to live my truth. It gave me a totally different way to look at those words that seem critical. It is merely an opportunity to get back to my Truth. It is God nudging me to choose a course correction.

In practitioner training we would get a new pray partner every 10 weeks. My first prayer partner and I decided we would continue meeting with each other. from class. At first we would talk a little and go directly into prayer. Now our conversations are an hour long. It has been wonderful to see our time together expand and see our lives grow and manifest our prayers.

My monthly meetings with a Spiritual Practitioner, anchor me in my practice. It is a time of emptying out and refueling for the next month’s journey.

These meetings with pray partners and practitioner are compass to keep me on course.

–Maria

GOT CHANGE

I’m sure you know, some things change and some things never change. But did you know there are different kinds of change? This is something I hadn’t really thought much about. Reversible change—melting of ice. Irreversible change—burning of paper. Desirable change—ripening of fruits. Undesirable change—rusting of iron. Natural change—changing of seasons. Slow change—growth of a plant. Fast change—occurrence of lightning during a thunderstorm. You get the idea. It’s all change. We all experience change.

As we all know, our beloved community is in the process of calling forth a new minister to serve us. Now that’s some change!

What hasn’t changed is the spiritual way CSLT offers solutions to life’s challenges. We offer principles and practices that aid in spiritual exploration and discoveries. Some of these practices include meditation, classes and affirmative prayer practiced by a community eager to learn and to live a life more abundant in all ways.

Our community amongst each other, and our individual relationships with each other, I have found to be such a blessing in my life. Our morning meditation group has evolved into such an important part of my daily life. It’s a practice that has grown to be immeasurable. I am sure others feel as I do, and it is open to all who want to join us.

Our classes and book studies expand upon our teachings, principles and practices. Most of the time I get my homework or readings done before class, but even when I don’t, I still show up and get so much out of the classroom discussion. The most recent Ernest Holmes book study, “A New Design for Living” may be one of my favorites now. From page 131 we pulled some affirmations and I’m saying them multiple times per day and am receiving positive results!

• Something new and wonderful comes into my experience today.
• Today I bless everything I touch and am prospered in everything I do.
• Today nothing but good goes forth from me, therefore nothing else can possibly return.
• Today, this day, I am happy and whole.

We all change. Everything changes, yet everything stays the same.
I’m so happy and grateful to be a part of this loving community. That never changes.

–Madeline

We Learn and We Grow

Our Interpretation of the world changes as new information is verified and added to the knowledge base. The list of changes is monumental because the experience of life is always changing.

We are explorers, innovators, inquisitors, and we adapt as we go. Because of all the advancements it is not advantageous for us to cling to outmoded concepts, rituals, and practices.

Like it or not, believe it or not, accept it or not we are bound to follow certain aspects of the universe. We may change our relationship with them. For example, cataclysmic events are not the result of an angry Deity. Or electricity in the form of lightning is not supernatural. Sure, it took us a while but today we have a better handle on these things than we did. Our application of electrical principles is expanding into other aspects of matter and energy.

Clinging to past logic loops and justifying them in any fashion will not allow for spiritual growth or expansion of our database. As they say in the computer programming world “Garbage In Garbage Out”.

I want to include in my present experience an element of zeal, which to me is kind of a mix of eagerness and energy. Particularly because our teaching releases me to experience unencumbered freedom like I never knew before. Now that I have Science of Mind, I want to step into the authentic version of me and feel the awesomeness of life.

Today is a great day. We are on a continually advancing adventure. Expanding into life learning and growing every moment. Our CSL is becoming and expanding. I am looking forward to the changes with excitement and anticipation.

–In shared growth, Chris

The Wheel of Time

By the time this newsletter lands in your inbox at 3am (MST) on Wednesday morning, I will have retired as the senior minister at CSL Tucson, and your CSLT board will have already begun taking the actions necessary to identify what CSLT desires in their next minister. I affirm that your next CSLT minister is already beginning to feel the pull to join this beloved community.

I thank you for the beautiful send-off that happened this past Sunday – for the applause after my talk, the party, the hugs, the cards, the gifts (you didn’t have to, and thank you!), and your words of encouragement about my next adventure. I also want to thank you for the things I learned as your senior minister, all the joys, the hard things and every single thing in between — all the growth that I personally experienced.

I meant every word I said Sunday about every individual already having everything they need to live as their full expression as their divine self – living out loud. God as you, right here and right now. This doesn’t, can’t, and won’t negate the Law of Cause and Effect, or choice and consequence, as I like to think about it, because we all get to learn as we go. Holmes wrote about life this way (The Science of Mind 384.1) “it leaves us free to work out our own salvation – not with fear or even with trembling – but with peace and in quiet confidence.” Each one of us gets to work out what gives us and our life experience more light, joy, delight, wonder, awe and life, or whatever qualities of Abundant Good each one of us chooses to experience in greater expression.

I also meant every word from that African proverb about being able to ‘go farther’ as part of a spiritual community that you support and that supports you. I know of no successful person who doesn’t have a community of practice. Give yourself that gift of community by participating.

I leave you with one final thought. Those of you who know me well, know I have a particular affinity for the Tao Te Ching, almost anybody’s translation. I came across a little book recently, called The Art of Pastoring, Contemplative Reflections, by William C Martin. He’s paraphrased the writings of the Tao Te Ching as guidance for ministers.

–Rev Janis Farmer

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