Just when you’re trying to catch your breath from the holidays, here comes a whole new year, with the expectations and pressures to make it your best year, your best life, your best you. Whew!! That’s a lot to heap on the post-Christmas stress. So, how can we nurture ourselves while laying a path through the new year that will support us in our growth, allow us time for light-hearted relaxation and guide us through challenges? 

There is a rhythm to growth and change—rarely do we seem to follow a straight…

What obstacles do you perceive to be blocking your success or happiness? A while back I read “Merle’s Door” by Ted Kerasote. It is a great book about a man and his dog. The “door” in the title refers to a dog door that Ted installed a couple of years after Merle came to live with him, and how, in giving Merle this independence, Ted released much control over the dog, changing the dynamics of their relationship. 

When I moved into my current duplex, I installed a dog door for my Papillon Yoda, the first one…

Are there times when your dreams seem to be in a holding pattern, and you keep running around the same circle looking for a way out? Times when you feel stuck, stalled or short-circuited? If so, sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey! 

In our high-pressure, goal-oriented society, we sometimes forget that life unfolds according to divine timing. There is a natural rhythm to our progress, with periods of high accomplishment followed with times of inactivity. Know that there is real work being done in these…

Does it ever seem like as soon as you get it figured out, they change the rules? One of my favorite bumper stickers is “Shift Happens.” Yes it does, it surely does. Have there been shifts in your personal life or in our country or our world, when nothing was ever again the same?. 

I think of my own life and two major shifts—the first was signing myself in for 28-day inpatient treatment for alcoholism in 1988. The second was leaving a successful career in software to attend ministerial school in 1998. What…

Are you a Scarlett? Are you plucky and passionate? Do you sometimes struggle needlessly? Or are you a Melanie? Are you serene and loving, always seeing the best in people? The truth is that we all have qualities of each of these iconic women of the old South. 

And for the men, are you an Ashley or a Rhett? Like Ashley, do you value tradition and family, or are you a bit of a maverick like Rhett Butler? The enduring qualities of these characters created an unforgettable story. 

I have recently become aware…

Do you ever find yourself deflecting your good? It could be as simple as not accepting a compliment, or just failing to recognize the goodness of life that surrounds us. 

There are a couple of Ukrainian women who live around the corner from me. They raise tomatoes, peppers, oranges and roses in their front yard and often sit on the porch in the evening, enjoying the delta breeze. One of them is my mother’s age and wears a kerchief around her head. The other is near my age and often has her pet cockatiel…

John 9:1-3 
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” 

This passage, seeming to indicate various causes of illness, has long baffled readers. Whereas we would like simple explanations for life’s challenges, we are presented with more complex causes—ones that display the wondrous…

One of my fondest memories is of an Easter Sunday when I lived in Orlando. I began the day at a lakeside sunrise service led by a community Christian church. Later, I attended the Easter service at Unity and had lunch with some friends from the congregation. That evening I went to a Native American drum circle at a local metaphysical bookstore. 

Similarly, the Christmas holidays included honoring the return of the light on the winter solstice, and the Christmas Eve candle lighting service at Unity…

I’ve been fascinated by the strange loops that occur in life. Strange loops, often used in the illustrations of M.C. Escher, are cyclic structures that arise when, by moving only upwards or downwards, one finds oneself back where one started. The eldest of my brothers, Rick, and I have shared a lifetime of strange loops. In our twenties, I pursued training in software while he attended a Bible college. I continued my software career and became a public utility specialist. Rick led a Christian school in…

Unity is a grown-up religion, despite what your relatives may say. To those who don’t regularly attend Unity services, some of our teachings may be interpreted as overly-optimistic, light-weight or underdeveloped. But those of us who have been involved with Unity principles for a while know that they have a way of sneaking up on us. 

Take the Law of Mind Action for instance. This Law defines the creative power of thought, sometimes described as “Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind.” Most of us…

There is a rhythm to a year in the life of a church. We cycle through basic teachings, move into series that are more cutting-edge or specialized in their focus, only to cycle back through the basics once again. This rhythm reflects the spiral fashion in which humans move through life lessons and incorporate new ideas. 

Each time we spiral back through basic teachings, we see them from a higher level. We’ve had time to process the previous lessons, and can see more of the deeper Truth being conveyed. As we…

The teachings of Unity bring together lasting concepts from different traditions and different ages. We may study Jungian archetypes and discover that they mirror metaphysical Bible interpretation of the major figures in our spiritual ancestry. With increasing awareness of these similarities, we grow in understanding of our connectedness on global and galactic levels. 

In July, USC presents a series based on our ancestral archetypes. The Jewish prophets were able to perceive alternate visions of…

We love our wild cards when playing games of chance. And in the game of life, we are occasionally dealt unexpected, sometimes surprising, and always positive ideas and events that add spark and sparkle to our otherwise routine days. Wild cards can be like tasting a new spice in a traditional family recipe—or like the pop of color added by pinning a bright flower on a favorite hat. 

Summers at Unity Spiritual Community have traditionally been a time when we take a break and look at the lighter side of life…

It’s not the actions that are troublesome, it’s the thoughts behind the actions. For it is from our thoughts that all events spring forth into the physical, appearing here as incidents, people, movements, objects, energy and more. When major themes that are in race mind, spring forth and are externalized, then we are able to discern more clearly the impact of holding troublesome thoughts. 

This spiritual Truth is readily apparent in today’s politics. Our thoughts, which include our beliefs, our…

One of the greatest reminders that we have about faith comes from Mark 4:28 “For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” We see from this verse that all things in nature proceed in good, orderly fashion. 

In our own lives it is sometimes challenging to see the full ear of corn when only the tender shoot is visible. Yet, if we allow ourselves to be comforted by the knowing that all is well, we can see the promise of tomorrow’s harvest. 

…

When the endless turning of your mind starts to drive you to distraction, try this. Remember that the churning and spinning of the same ole’ problem is caused by the rational mind’s attempt to solve that which can be solved only in Divine Mind. Our culture has recognized the rational mind as the most important, or even as the only, mind. Yet, about 90% of our consciousness abides at deeper levels, much like 90% of an iceberg remains submerged. 

As humankind explored the realm of the separated self, the…

Although this week’s idea may seem contrary to Metaphysical Moment #2 (Maybe I don’t know…), it is a time-honored counseling technique used to bypass restrictive patterns that block self-discovery. If you feel stumped when facing a tough question or situation, take time to ask yourself, “What if I did know?” You will be surprised at the wealth of information and strategies lying just below the surface of your conscious mind! 

My favorite examples of using the “What if I did know?” involve my cousin…

This week’s idea can be applied to events ranging from the mundane to the miraculous. Our first example concerns the kitchen wallpaper in my first house in Orlando. I was a new homemaker and excited about creating the place of my dreams—including a blue kitchen with floral accents. The problem was that the kitchen was papered in a chartreuse and white plaid pattern and the landlady was not open to my changing it. As I lay on the sofa in the next room, pouting and praying, my view of the kitchen shifted, and…

We are not usually aware of our blind spots, and infrequently take time to consider that we might be encountering one. Yet, leaving room for that possibility opens our understanding to new connections and creative solutions. 

One way of illustrating areas that are known and unknown is the Johari window. Named for its creators, Joe Luft and Harry Ingham, this simple diagram divides a square into quadrants. The quadrants are labeled: 

1) Things we know about ourselves and others know about us (Known Self) 
…

If we follow Unity’s practice of regular periods of prayer and meditation, we can sometimes feel a little wobbly upon re-entering the everyday world.  The long-term benefits of meditation include clarity, focus and increased energy.  But there can be a transition period between plumbing the depths of consciousness and becoming active in the outer world.  I like to compare this transition to the times of dawn and dusk—those twilight hours when it is not quite day and not quite night. 
  
At dusk, we see the…

We are all familiar with the wonder created when heavenly bodies align in unexpected, and perhaps synchronistic, ways. This coming Monday, June 20, is such an event. The full moon is around 4 AM, so moonrise both Sunday and Monday should be spectacular. Summer begins around 3:30 PM as the Earth spins through the solstice, a time oft celebrated as Midsummer—the longest day of the year. 

When we honor the cycles of nature, we ground our lives into the rhythms of the Earth. We join in the energy of centuries…

Alright, so we survived Y2K with nary a glitch. Then we sailed through 2012 without disappearing into the ethers. We’re still here. What’s next? What next big change are we facing and how shall we prepare? 
  
I’m convinced that we live in the twilight of old 3D consciousness and that we chose to be here now in order to witness the dawn of the next great era in our awakening and ascension. Though Y2K and 2012 may have seemed to be non-events, resulting changes in race mind may still be surfacing. Sometimes…

Spring has sprung. Boy, has spring ever sprung! With all the rain we’ve had, each flowering bush is celebrating the rites of spring. Persephone has returned from the underworld, the Beltane fires are being built and the world clamors for the joy of unabashed Dionysian frolicking. 

Much like we enjoy the bounty of buds and blossoms throughout our area, we at USC are experiencing an abundance of springtime delights--beginning with our Beltane Mini-retreat on April 30, when we explore our inner Persephone and…

 
Recently the Vernal Equinox fulfilled the promise of the return of the light from the darkness of winter. Soon after, Easter morning fulfills the promise of the return of the light from the darkness of the tomb. The cycle of birth/death/rebirth is reflected throughout nature and in the scriptures of the world’s great spiritual traditions. We see examples such as caterpillars surrendering to the chrysalis and emerging as butterflies, and like Jonah spending three days in the belly of a big fish before…

During our Ritual of the Burning Bowl this past December, I released over $40,000 deferred income (back pay) that our church has conscientiously tracked over the years. I’ve rarely felt so light or so free. It reminds me of how I felt when I was a teenager getting my hair cut short for the summer. 

Once I went to a hairdresser who taught that getting your hair cut would help you to lose weight--that old growth hair and extra pounds are both places we store unresolved feelings. Old debt is also a depository…