"Discover the Power within you"

In our Burning Bowl ceremony we released the past year and any lingering limitations, and in our White Stone Ceremony we set our intention to call forth the qualities that we want to cultivate and express in 2012.

In the Bible, when a person receives a new name it is saying they received a new consciousness. The names (qualities) each of you chose to cultivate this year showed the depth of our spiritual community.

Our theme for 2012 is: "Discover the Power within you."

One of the ways we can unleash this power is to cultivate the art of being kind to ourselves, even when we don't feel kind.
Thoughts, moods, emotions arise in our consciousness, we cannot control this.
How then can we bring kindness to ourselves when we feel like we are burning up inside with hurt, restlessness, or anger?
Pema Chodren sees these emotions as opportunities to practice self-kindness. She says that criticizing yourself for how you are feeling is like criticizing the sky for having clouds. Minds think and emotions arise. The practice is to ask What now?

Attending Unity or engaging in Life coaching is about being more conscious with the energy of your life. Create a relationship with your life energy and as you do, you notice that thoughts, feelings, moods, emotions are all energy and they have their own tone;

Instead of trying to get rid of these feelings, acknowledge them and yourself for having the courage to look at them, and to see them as opportunities to become free from excessive suffering by shifting your attention onto something more interesting, like your life's intentions.

This year, I invite you to release old structures by cultivating a relationship with your life energy. Everything is impermanent; energy arises, the energy of provocation, irritation, feelings of inadequacy, yet energy doesn't stay frozen. What keeps it frozen is the story line that spirals into self criticism.

Unity is a Spiritual Center that heals with unconditional love. The best way to start this process is to enter into an unconditional friendship with yourself.

Discover the power within you, in 2012.
Rev Janice

"Lift your Eyes Up and SEE"

The Holidays can be a lovely yet also stressful time for many. The excitement of gifts and extended visits with family, putting together new toys, bikes or kitchen island carts, which Dave built this past week, can cause stomachs, hearts and heads to churn.

Being willing to face and work through the challenges presented when our routines and experiences are changed, invites us to keep our eye focused on the desired results while keeping our attention in an observation mode of noticing and allowing the thoughts and emotions to pass.

Like the story found in (Matthew 14:25-30) when Peter asks to join Jesus walking on water but, having got out of the boat and feeling the great power of the wind and waves began to sink, crying out in fear, "Lord, save me!
Esoterically, this passage is about the power of the Christ within each of us to still the strong, restless power of the elements in our lower animal nature, symbolized by the wild and rolling sea.

Keeping our eye and intention lifted onto the horizon we are not detered by the warning "assembly required," and we are able to complete the bike, finish the dollhouse, or assemble the kitchen island with grace.

And afterwards perhaps go out with family and friends for a fish dinner.
Amen, it is done!
Rev Janice

"Lift your Eyes Up and SEE"

A few years ago Dave and I went snorkeling at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park located in Key Largo in the Florida Keys. This is a beautiful underwater playground where you go out on a two and half hour snorkeling tour and play in the warm waters among the coral reefs.

In the midst of the waters you come upon a statue of Jesus. His head and his hands are reaching upwards and fish swim around and through his outstreached arms. After about an hour and a half of snorkeling, the captain sounded the horn signaling us to return to the boat.

As I reached the boat's ladder and brought myself up and onto the deck of the boat, suddenly I felt dizzy and my stomach was turning summersaults. The first mate told me this was a common experience for a lot of people, and he gave me a bottle of water and told me to tilt my head up and keep my eyes looking up and onto the horizon, above the water until the feeling passed.

This was indeed the antidote as the queasiness passed away.

There is a spiritual Principle here: To lift the focus of our attention above any situation or concern, to lift it upward, Godward, onto the horizon and give thanks.
Jesus always lifted up his eyes and gave thanks; he lifted up his hands and gave thanks, he lifted up others and gave thanks; he lifted up little children and gave thanks.

When we lift our eyes onto the horizon, the queasiness passes, as the fear lifts. What emerges is a sense of Faith, a sense of gratitude, a sense of peace and love as we realize: We Are an integral part of something much Bigger, grander, glorious, we are the twinkling, blinking, colorful expressions of Christmas Light.

Shine On!
Rev Janice

"Many Decorations, One Message"

Coming back from a breakfast meeting this morning, I was driving down Bayshore, which seems to have the most "blow up" Christmas decorations of Santa, reindeers, and snowmen. Of course, being the daytime they were collapsed into piles on the lawns.  Our subdivision also seems to have many blow up Christmas decorations including bears and the polar express train. There are very few "traditional" decorations of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in a manager.

A friend sent me a link to a youtube song, called "Where's the line to see Jesus." It's a nice song actually, yet it brings up for me, anyway, a tinge of expectation that one needs to worship a person called Jesus in a certain way. And I am sure that many of us have seen the bumper stickers that say: "Keep Christ in Christmas."

Now, I love the nativity story; and when viewed spiritually, I can see how Mary, Joseph and Jesus lives in us. For fun, let us see how Santa, the reindeer and snowmen also live in us.

Santa is our heart's generous desire to give and receive gifts, eat cookies and drink hot chocolate; reindeer are our strong and fast luxury vehicles that can move us above congested traffic with one upward kick off; and snowmen, well, to me, they are about relationships. Their button noses and eyes made out of coal sure make me remember being dressed in layers of leggings and scarves, hats and gloves, rolling the snow, with the help of my friends, into as big a ball as we could manage to lift.

Decorations, whether they be traditional or contemporary; whether balloon type blow ups or made from plastic, whether they have a religious or secular theme, really all have one message in common to share.....

"Be of good cheer"
Peace
Rev Janice

Thanksgiving

"Be a Parade of Thanksgiving"

Dear Unity,
One Thanksgiving Day, long ago, when I was eight, I was part of a baton twirling majorette group that included many of my closest friends. We were invited to walk and twirl our batons in the Thanksgiving Day Parade. We were so excited and thought it was the best thing in the world!
Now the parade was not the Macy's Parade in New York nor the Hudson's Parade in Detroit; No, this was a local community parade put on by area Service Clubs and held in beautiful downtown Mt. Clemens.
Bands from local high schools, Chappawa Valley, Clintondale, Lans'Cruse walked in front of the floats made by the high schools and Service Clubs and the reigning school kings and queens rode in the backs of convertibles.
Clowns walked the streets while making balloon animals and trucks followed them filled with local politicians and their families waving and throwing candy as they went past.
Then near the very end of the parade just in front of Santa being pulled on a tractor and wagon was us; a group of aspiring majorettes, twelve eight year olds dressed in short blue dresses with white fur trim, white tights, white boots, hats and gloves, all freezing.
We tried valiantly to twirl our batons as the wind whipped our faces turning our noses red and tearing through our not warm enough uniforms. But we did not care about the cold, for all along the route our attention was captured by cheers and waves from our families and many from the community who lined the two blocks wrapped in warm coats and blankets.
The whole parade lasted about three hours but the memory of this parade continues to live on in me.
This Thanksgiving remember everywhere we go and everyone we interact with, we are creating in them childhood memories. May you help to create memories filled with gratitude for family, friends, community and the unlimited possibilities that compassion, love and attention nurture in children of every age everywhere.
God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving
Rev Janice

Thanksgiving

"Be a Parade of Thanksgiving"

Dear Unity,
One Thanksgiving Day, long ago, when I was eight, I was part of a baton twirling majorette group that included many of my closest friends. We were invited to walk and twirl our batons in the Thanksgiving Day Parade. We were so excited and thought it was the best thing in the world!
Now the parade was not the Macy's Parade in New York nor the Hudson's Parade in Detroit; No, this was a local community parade put on by area Service Clubs and held in beautiful downtown Mt. Clemens.
Bands from local high schools, Chappawa Valley, Clintondale, Lans'Cruse walked in front of the floats made by the high schools and Service Clubs and the reigning school kings and queens rode in the backs of convertibles.
Clowns walked the streets while making balloon animals and trucks followed them filled with local politicians and their families waving and throwing candy as they went past.
Then near the very end of the parade just in front of Santa being pulled on a tractor and wagon was us; a group of aspiring majorettes, twelve eight year olds dressed in short blue dresses with white fur trim, white tights, white boots, hats and gloves, all freezing.
We tried valiantly to twirl our batons as the wind whipped our faces turning our noses red and tearing through our not warm enough uniforms. But we did not care about the cold, for all along the route our attention was captured by cheers and waves from our families and many from the community who lined the two blocks wrapped in warm coats and blankets.
The whole parade lasted about three hours but the memory of this parade continues to live on in me.
This Thanksgiving remember everywhere we go and everyone we interact with, we are creating in them childhood memories. May you help to create memories filled with gratitude for family, friends, community and the unlimited possibilities that compassion, love and attention nurture in children of every age everywhere.
God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving
Rev Janice

Lessons of a swan

There is a graceful black swan that lives in our subdivision. She glides up and down the stream that runs behind our house.

She often hangs out with a family of ducks, who have clearly adoped her. She is well fed by the stream and also the neighbors who come out from their homes to visit with her and throw her bread.

I have heard, and conventional wisdom says:
"It is not good to feed wildlife," And I have read many signs saying "Don't feed the wildlife."

The reason, I have been told is because it makes the wildlife depend on humans for food and they need to care for and find food for themselves.
Now if this were an alligator, I would have no problem following that advice.

But as she glides along, she is beautiful, regal. She honks when she sees you, as if to say "hello." Her tail feathers waggle as she dives her head into the water for the crumbs that fall around her; and if a fish or turtle grabs the crumb first, you hear her hiss.

But when the last morsel has been swallowed, she glides away, without looking back.

Maybe she is teaching us a Swan Lesson:

Yes, we need to learn the lifeskills to care for ourselves
Yes, we need to accept gifts from one another
Yes, when it is time to leave, we need not look back, but carry the grace of this swan with us in our heart.

Blessings,