Sponsored Post

Theres a natural curefor dealing with your stress and its spiritual.

According to theADAA, 40 million adults sufferfrom anxiety disorders in the US. Its highly treatable and can be controlledin various ways. Whether or not you consider yourself spiritual, you can usefaith to reduce your anxiety.

Your spirituality andhealth are connected. Here are 3 ways faith helps to overcome stress.

1. Youll Be Able to Cope with Stress Better

Stress can cause you tofeel lower than youve ever felt. Constant worrying about what could go wrongcan leave you feeling on edge and hurt your relationships. This can stress youout even more than you already were.

By trusting in yourfaith, youll be able to release yourself from triggers that cause youranxiety. Youll feel more positive as you see the silver linings in life. Theseare the types of things youll want to do when learning how to cope with stressbetter.

2. You Could Heal Faster

Anxiety can take a tollon your physical health, along with your mental state. When you spend too muchtime stressing about things out of your control, youre only hurting yourselfmore. A positive mental state is the best thing you can do for your health.

Diseases are created inthe body and mind from the imbalance and disturbance ofuniversal elements. When yourefeeling physically unwell or hurt, you should trust in your faith. Spiritualhealing will use your positive energy to improve your overall health.

3. It Gives You Hope

Your spirituality canproduce a positive mind and give you the gift of hope. Hope is one of thegreatest things you can use to improve your health. When the world seems toodark, its the light that keeps you going.

To obtain hope, youshould practice spiritual activities. These can help you feel closer to God andcreate a happier life. Trust that your belief in a higher power can help youfeel more hopeful and witness how much happier you become.

Other Ideas for Managing Your Spirituality and Health

Perhaps you dont knowwhats at the root of your problems. This alone could cause you to feeloverwhelmed and stressed out more often than youd like. Depression, physicalpain, and anxiety can be from past life regression.

If you believe your pastlives could be hurting your present, you could be a great candidate forregression therapy. Working with your therapist, youll:

Its okay to feelskeptical if youve never done this before. You canread moreabout it first.

Hello Faith, Goodbye Stress

Now that youve learneda few ways that faith can help you overcome stress, its time to begin. You canlive a happier and better life when you accept that your spirituality andhealth are connected. Visit the health section on our site for other ways youcan improve your wellbeing.

See the article here:

Spirituality and Health 3 Ways Faith Helps to Overcome Stress - spokanefavs.com

Book Review: My Year of Living Spiritually by Anne Bokma

Making use of her eagerness to find answers to life's questions yet relying on her reporter's skepticism to remain objective, Bokma invites readers to vicariously experience her 12-month sampling of spirituality.

By Doreen NicollPublished September 25, 2019

I'll admit, it's been a very long time since I have been able to sit down and read a book. Don't get me wrong, I love reading. In fact, I read at least one newspaper a day - sometimes more, seemingly endless articles and reports, and information to make me a better teacher. Still I wasn't able to sit down and read a book from beginning to end. That is, until I started devouring Anne Bokma's new release, My Year of Living Spiritually.

Bokma, the Hamilton-based award-winning freelance journalist and creator of the fantastically popular Six-Minute Memoir which tasks Steel Town locals with creating themed short stories about their lived experiences, has outdone herself one more time.

We meet Bokma in mid-life. She is not in crisis, but she is looking for something more. That lays the groundwork for her year of living spiritually, chronicling each month's journey to find greater depth of meaning, connection, simplicity and ultimately inner peace.

This book is for those who think for themselves and want to have a spiritual life without the baggage associated with organized religion. Bokma, who left the Dutch Calvinist Canadian Reform Church at 20, joined the growing group of individuals who may or may not believe in God, but who share a deep connection to nature and the earth. Known collectively as spiritual but not religious (SBNR) Bokma tells us it's the fastest-growing faith group in the Western world.

Making use of her eagerness to find answers to life's questions yet relying on her reporter's skepticism to remain objective, Bokma invites readers to vicariously experience her 12-month sampling of spirituality.

January is the month of hope and fresh starts, a chance to try out new morning routines and to once and for all, put an end that obsession women have with busyness. By the end of the year, only the most essential practices remain.

February finds Bokma creating sacred space on a budget while trying to avoid spiritual appropriation. Ultimately, Bokma morphs her altar into a collection of meaningful keepsakes and personal items that show she is charting her own spiritual path.

In celebration of a secular Lent, Bokma gives up her beloved wine for 40 days beginning in March. Fortunately, Bokma's husband let her in on a well-kept secret: Catholics have a fallback plan that allows them to 'break the fast' on each of the six Sabbaths of Lent. This makes getting through the ritual much more manageable and agreeable for everyone concerned.

In April, Bokma explores improving her inner dialogue with the help of a 'Soul Coach.' She also spends quiet time in a sensory-deprivation chamber, better known as a float tank. When that quest for quiet goes well, Bokma opts to spend 48 hours alone in a secluded luxury tree house retreat, where she rediscovers the wonders of spending time disconnecting from technology and reconnecting with nature.

May finds Bokma 'Forest bathing' - walking in the woods and talking with the trees to find out how to make life matter. During this existential experience Bokma observes, "How like a dew drop we are, I think, so often trembling and hanging on for dear life." Ain't that the truth.

Her spiritual journey takes her on a pilgrimage to Concord, Massachusetts where Henry David Thoreau spent two years living, walking, playing his flute and writing about the local plants and animals.

Thoreau was also a founding member of transcendentalism based on the belief that people and nature are inherently good. Transcendentalism established the distinction between religion and spirituality. It's in Thoreau's beloved Walden pond that Bokma conducts her own spiritual baptism.

June brings the antithesis of May, when Bokma actively searches for her voice. She starts the chapter with a quote from the French singer Edith Piaf: "Singing is a way of escaping. It's another world. I'm no longer on earth."

Many of us are unable to relate to Piaf's adoration of singing. Possibly someone told us when we were young that we couldn't carry a tune, or perhaps, like Bokma, our first solo performance in front of a sizable crowd didn't sound quite the way we thought it would.

Joining a weekly neighbourhood drop-in group that sing together at a local pub gives Bokma the confidence and freedom to toss aside her self-consciousness, "like a bouquet thrown by a drunken bride," and find her true voice.

Then a private music lesson goes well and Bokma is encouraged to keep singing "for the joy of it." Her next stop is the Hamilton-based choir Singin' Women, made up of homeless and precariously housed women and their allies. Yet, all cares evaporate when the singing begins.

After a couple of revelationary singing retreats, as well as some time spent with a choir singing for chronically ill and dying patients, Bokma realizes singing in a group is not only good for body and soul, it also increases social connectedness, a sense of belonging and all of that is good.

This is a powerful chapter that can trigger tear-filled moments. It's a good place to stop reading for the day in order to process Bokma's spiritual journey through the first half of 2017 as well as the intense feelings that readers may experience.

July is certainly a great month to take a trip, but it's a psychedelic trip with therapeutic overtones that Bokma embarks on with the help of an ayahuasca ceremony, holotropic breathwork and some magic mushrooms. Her guided experiences take Bokma through the process of letting go of children and motherhood and realizing the everlasting bond between mothers and daughters, but it also gives the reader a brutally honest account of her relationships with her own two daughters and especially her husband, Jeff.

August is a busy month dealing with Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS) that encapsulates pretty much the entire dogma of organized religion and leaves individuals suffering from anxiety, depression, shame, guilt, perfectionism, and a sense of being unlovable. It's also the chapter that asks you to think of Jesus as a protector and a radical who challenged the authorities of his time.

This is also the time that Bokma explores her local Unitarian church, whose welcoming philosophy includes believing in inherent worth and dignity, a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and respect for the interdependent web of all existence.

Bokma also explores a very long list of secular gatherings, including drumming circles, secular alcoholics anonymous meetings, storytelling events, death cafes, and the Women's March on Washington, in order "to nurture that shared ethical basis."

September brings an exploration of supernatural states like chakras, reiki, tarot card readings, past-life regression therapy and mediums.

October is spent meeting Tim, the brother Bokma never knew she had. It was also spent exploring all aspects of death and coming to terms with it over dinner with a group of women friends.

November ushers in the ultimate spiritual practice - gratitude as well as rebuilding relationships.

December becomes the month Bokma lets go of exhausting Christmas traditions (two years ago I also decided to give money, chocolate, and a few trinkets, go out for Chinese food, and then see a movie) and declutters and organizes not only her house but her personal life.

Being the same age as Bokma, I often found myself thinking I tried reiki or tarot readings, OMG that same thing happened to me at that age, or I remember feeling the exact same way when I encountered that situation. There's a familiarity, unity, perceived sisterhood, and natural comfortableness that comes with these shared experiences.

Interspersed throughout Bokma's spiritual journey are interesting, often heart-wrenching stories of her life. It was a privilege to share in Bokma's year of self-discovery and learning to love herself. I can hardly wait for the next chapter.

My Year of Living Spiritually by Anne Bokma, published by Douglas and McIntyre (2019)

Doreen Nicoll is a feminist and a member of several community organizations working diligently to end poverty, hunger and gendered violence.

You must be logged in to comment.

Read the original post:

Book Review: My Year of Living Spiritually by Anne Bokma - Raise the Hammer

I think Im beginning to understand more clearly, at least from a spiritual perspective, the whole notion about blessings. I mean havent we all been taught at one time or another that it is far better to give than to receive? Christian or not, kindness and goodwill are thought to be wonderful attributes of all of Gods people. Forgiveness and mercy are considered staples of the Christian diet. The result, we believe, is a reaping in this life or the next of God given rewards for a life spent giving with no hidden expectation of receiving in return. That all sounds good until somewhere in your world, life happens. At a very early age we learn that life is cruel, unpredictable and the only religious factoid we experience is that our kindness is generally taken as weakness and our generosity viewed as foolish. Life and the people in it will use you if you let it/them. Pain often comes from an attempt to help somebody who doesnt give a damn about you. It is the reason many a good person goes bad.

People will protect themselves against this kind of personal anguish. We learn how to survive in spite of disappointment. We all eventually learn to navigate a world in which weve come to believe nice guys do finish last, takers succeed and cheaters, well, they cheat and win. Now here comes scripture with the edict that giving is always better than receiving. As a matter of fact, it is a Christian prerequisite. I thought about this and came to the following conclusions. You dont know what kind of mother youll be until you have children. You dont know what kind of friend youll be until you become one. You cannot know the depth of your ability to love someone until you are head over heels caught up in it. The point is you cant really know yourself as a human being until you share your life with others, without fear, without restrictions, without conditions. For many, including me, this is tough duty because life is so cruel. However, only by being a friend can you know true friendship. Only by giving love unconditionally can you understand unconditional love. Only by being a blessing can you know being blessed.

It doesnt appear to work any other way. If you go through life just existing with a self-imposed set of criteria, then guess what? Thats what youll get in return; love and friendship with strings attached. You cant expect your prayers to be answered if your prayer life stops with, IF. I believe you block countless blessings if your prayers include no one but you and they echo the trials and tribulations of your life only. God really shouldnt have to ask what have you done for Him lately, when He asks so little of you in the first place. Just act like you know who He is and who we are in relation to Him. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. John 12:13. Like I said, being a blessing is the only road to being blessed. Now take a look at the nonsense of this world. It gives you clarity.

May you be a blessing to someone and may God bless and keep you always.

James A. Washington is the publisher of The Dallas Weekly. He can be reached at dallasweekly.com.

See more here:

Spiritually Speaking: Being a blessing is the only road to being blessed - The Philadelphia Tribune

New York Times columnist and author David Brooks visited Baylor University once more to talk about his new book, his older work, and a topic hes long avoided: himself.

Brooks returned to focus less on politics in favor of more personal questions about faith, vulnerability and what he sees as an epidemic of social isolation. Alan Jacobs, with the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, led the conversation on the eve of another local appearance with Mission Waco on Tuesday.

Jacobs said Brooks newest book, The Second Mountain, stands apart from his previous work.

There is, typically, in your writing, a gently ironic distance in your writing, Jacobs said. It is rather disconcerting to see you be so straightforward and so open.

The book discusses his Jewish upbringing, his experiences with Christianity and his own personal ambivalence toward belief as he grew up, and his admiration for Catholic activist Dorothy Day and Saint Augustine as well as a painful divorce.

In the other books, it was about stuff I was working on in my life, but it was through some sort of mask, Brooks said in reply. So I had to take off the mask.

He writes that after his divorce, which he describes as a painful ordeal, he came to a deeper understanding of God, describing himself as a wandering Jew and a very confused Christian.

The perverse thing is that I feel more Jewish now than ever before, because the covenant seems real, and its not just something we said on Passover, Brooks said.

Brooks spoke about his earlier work, Bobos in Paradise, The Social Animal and The Road to Character. He said each book is about reaching a deeper level of understanding whats missing in conventional politics, while The Second Mountain is primarily about spiritual understanding. During the discussion, Brooks spoke about what he sees as the heart and soul missing from politics.

Wokeness, is deeply spiritual, Brooks said. Its just as spiritual as the Great Awakening, its just that the sin is called privilege.

He described speaking at political conferences and finding people starved for spiritual conversation.

You get a sense of insane spiritual and emotional yearning, especially in the last five years, Brooks said. The only time I dont find that yearning is at a Christian school.

The book pulls from a wide variety of sources to make points about finding fulfillment in the face of a predominantly individualistic, meritocratic culture that Brooks sees as steering people away from deeper understanding.

The character model I had, control your passion it was too individualistic, it was too self-imposed, Brooks said, referring to his 2015 book The Road to Character.

The Second Mountain outlines what Brooks sees as a path to a more fulfilling life. The first mountain, as described by Brooks, represents the period in a persons life spent striving for success and achievement in their careers. Brooks writes that an individualistic mindset can only get a person so far, and the view from the top of the first mountain will likely be unsatisfying.

The book outlines four major commitments that define much of a persons life: a commitment to a vocation, a spouse, a philosophy or faith, and a community. He said the existential crisis between the two mountains as the valley, and advocates for letting go of self-interest in favor of digging deeper into those commitments.

He writes that dedication to those commitments and looking outward to others instead of inward to personal happiness defines second mountain mentality, which can lead to the fulfillment that is missing from the first.

He discusses the plight of graduating college students uncertain about their future and states that simply telling them to believe in themselves without providing more concrete direction will only make their 20s harder. He said the internet serves as a diversion from finding that meaning by taking up too much of our time and exacerbating feelings of inadequacy and isolation.

[Isolation] is, I think, the issue of our day, Brooks said.

He said he cofounded Weave: The Social Fabric Project, in response to what he sees as a chronic isolation, fragmentation and loss of community in the country. The project, which he created with The Aspen Institute, intends to shine a spotlight on people who work for a wide variety of causes within their communities.

There is a continuum between a life of selfish individualism and agape, Brooks said. I wanted to hold these people up as examples.

Jacobs then led the audience into a Q and A, during which people watching a live stream of the conversation could text questions.

John White, director of the Faith and Sports Institute, said hes been a fan of Brooks for years.

Hes definitely more conservative on many issues, White said. I think he has incredible nuance and he can address both sides when it comes to cultural and political matters.

Brooks frequently jokes that being a conservative New York Times Op-Ed columnist is a little like being a lone rabbi in Mecca.

Katherine Power said she came to Baylor to visit her granddaughter, a Baylor student. She said shes seen Brooks speak before in Dallas and enjoys the way he breaks down the topics in his work during live discussions.

Its been interesting to me to see how hes evolved over the years, Power said.

Brooks married Anne Snyder, a researcher he worked with closely on his previous book and current editor-in-chief of Comment Magazine, in 2017. Brooks and Snyder will speak at a Mission Waco fundraiser at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Waco Convention Center.

Read more here:

David Brooks discusses spiritual hunger, Weave project in Baylor visit - Waco Tribune-Herald

Greta Thunberg has established herself as the planets spokeswoman on climate change at the tender age of 16. But long before social media, another teenager was scolding UN leaders on the world stage 27 years ago.

In the year since she organized school walkouts in her native Sweden to protest climate change, Greta Thunbergs environmental crusade has been unavoidable, culminating on Monday in an angry and passionate speech before the UNs Climate Action Summit, in which she lambasted politicians for stealing her dreams and her childhood with empty words while humanity stares down a mass extinction.

Thunbergs grim pronouncements have earned her savage criticism, and glowing praise. New York Magazine called her the Joan of Arc of climate change, while The Guardian ranked her speech alongside President Lincolns Gettysburg Address for its historical significance.

Then again, they said the same about Severn Cullis-Suzuki in 1992. Long before Thunberg deadpanned to parliamentarians that we probably dont even have a future any more, and netizens tore each other to shreds attacking and defending her, 12-year-old Cullis-Suzuki became known as the "The girl who silenced the world for five minutes when she delivered a similar sermon before the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The tone of Cullis-Suzukis speech is strikingly similar to Thunbergs. Weve come...to tell you adults that you must change your ways, she opened, just like Thunberg told the assembled adults we will not let you get away with this.

Just as Thunberg told the UN summit we are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is the money and fairytales of eternal economic growth, Cullis-Suzuki told leaders that losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market.

And underpinning both girls messages was a nihilistic fatalism. I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the hole in our ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I dont know what chemicals are in it, Cullis-Suzuki said in 1992. Striking schoolchildren in 2019 carry banners reading Youll die of old age, Ill die of climate change.

The environmental problems addressed by Cullis-Suzuki reflect the world of the early 1990s, when deforestation, the depletion of the ozone layer, and the extinction of species were the ecological concerns de jour. Yet humanity has been fairly successful at resolving those problems in the intervening years. Thanks to a landmark chemicals ban, ozone depletion has slowed dramatically, and forest cover worldwide has increased by an area the size of Texas and Alaska combined.

Cullis-Suzuki herself went on to found an environmental think tank and work for UN Secretary General Kofi Annans Special Advisory Panel in the early 2000s.

So what does the future have in store for Thunberg? Well that depends how you look at Cullis-Suzukis example. On one hand, none of her worst fears came to pass. On the other, world governments still have ecological problems to contend with, and are still being lectured by children about them.

Assuming the world as we know it still exists 27 years from now as Thunberg says it wont unless we slash carbon emissions to absolute zero in the next decade or so then the teenage activist will likely look back on a long UN and NGO career that kicked off with one famous speech.

By then, another concerned child will likely be delivering a passionate warning about acid rain in the Martian colonies.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Original post:

Meet Greta Thunbergs spiritual precursor: The 12-year-old who silenced the world - RT

Brad Pitt is dating a spiritual healer. Brad Pitt is not dating a spiritual healer. One of these is the truth, but one is not. Lets hear both sides.

First up: A source told Us Weekly that Pitt has been seeing Sat Hari Khalsa, a jewelry designer and holistic healer. A source cant be wrong, right?

According to the source, Khalsa, 50, is earthy, and much more low-maintenance than the women hes been with in the past. Shes very strong, adds the insider, and has a beautiful mind. Thats what hes attracted to.

Sparks allegedly began flying between the two last year, when they were seen laughing and talking intimately at a benefit thrown by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Us acknowledges that the relationship isnt too serious...yet.

Brads not in that mind-set, notes the source, but still, Sat is very special to him and someone he enjoys spending time with.

Very compelling. Now, the dissent, courtesy of E!:

Rather, Pitt, 55, and Khalsa, 50, are simply friends. A point they proved while celebrating his new film Ad Astra last week. At the flicks after party, she was with another girlfriend and was talking to Brad, a second inside shared with E!. But, at no point during the party did there appear to be an obvious PDA or any indication that they were romantic.

Brad didnt really talk to her much, he was talking to different groups of people, continued the source. It was just friendly and not romantic.

HMM. Looks like theres only one way well know for sure: Stick them in an aquarium together and see what happens. [Us Weekly/E! News

Happy 90th freaking birthday to Barbara Walters, oh my god.

Original post:

Brad Pitt May Be Dating a Spiritual Healer But They Also May Just Be Friends - Jezebel

Very briefly, I remind us to continue to reflect on that message from the Book of Amos where he denounces those who continue to pile up wealth for themselves, mistreat the poor, and send them away. Through Amos, God says that ultimately they will not be successful. God will punish those who defraud the poor. In our own country just recently, another report was written and published on how the gap is growing between the rich and the poor in our country. It's not by accident, not by the fact that the rich work a lot harder. It's the way the system works the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

We have to begin to look at that, especially through our public policies, our tax code all those things that make wealth flow from the poor to the rich. As God warned through Amos, we must try to bring about change. But the main thing I hope for us to reflect on today is what Jesus says in the Gospel lesson where he says, "The children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own than are the children of light."

He's talking about his disciples and those who are not his disciples. "The children of this world," he says, "are prudent, acting on their own behalf, more than the children of light." Now this is troubling, I'm sure, to most of us. It seems that Jesus is calling attention to those who defraud others and calls them more prudent. They are, in a very worldly way, more prudent. But Jesus is trying to call our attention to the fact that we, who are truly children of light, disciples of Jesus, must try to overcome the problems in our world that are literally destroying us within our nation and our planet, our beloved Earth.

It's amazing, I think, that it really is the children of light among us who are leading the way of the two most important problems, I think, that face us. Children are leading the way. This year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, this very summer, there were 26 mass shootings in our country. In three months 26 mass shootings. Violence seems to be overwhelming us. There were 126 people killed, including a 3-year-old girl and a 90-year-old man. Hundreds of others were wounded during these 26 mass acts of violence.

Who's leading the way and bringing change? It's the young people. Those young people who, a couple years ago, had a mass killing in their high school in Parkland, Florida, are still out there working to change our laws to prohibit the kind of assault weapons that are used in these killings. Our government leaders keep stalling, not making the changes that are necessary. Perhaps we fail to put on the pressure to make those changes.

But our young people, truly acting as children of light, are bringing about change, or certainly working to bring about change. It's time that all of us got behind their efforts. We need to stop this violence in our country. It's an absolutely atrocious kind of evil that seems to be overwhelming us. Twenty-six mass killings in the last three months and everyone knows there will be another one soon unless we change things, become supporters of those who are trying to bring about changes that will stop this violence.

But then there's another way in which young people are truly acting as children of light. This past Friday, a couple of days ago, there were demonstrations on every continent. Millions of young people, again, were involved demanding that we make international treaties to stop what's happening to our planet. We're destroying this world that Jesus taught us to love. Do you remember how he spoke so fervently about the flowers of the field and the birds of the air? God takes care of them, Jesus says, because God loves them. We destroy them.

In the past 50 years, over 26 billion species of birds have been destroyed. That means lots of dramatic and disastrous changes in our planet because our ecological system is all connected. When we destroy one part, it affects other parts. If we don't stop within 15, 20 years, our planet will not be able to support human life. As the youngsters throughout the world this past Friday went on strike, they were demanding that we make the changes.

There is a climate treaty. Our country pulled out of it; we're not supporting it any longer. The young people are saying, "This is wrong." The leader of the group and she is an amazing young person, 16 years old, Greta Thunberg from Sweden for the last two, three years has become very famous because she is speaking out. This week, a 16-year-old youngster will be speaking again to the United Nations urging all the nations to make the changes that will save our planet.

Pope Francis has written a beautiful encyclical letter, "Laudato Si'," "praise God for this earth." It's built on a canticle of St. Francis of Assisi. We need to become serious, become children of light, follow the leadership of our own children throughout the world all of those who took the time off on Friday to make public protests on every continent. We need to listen; we need to follow that lead. Jesus urges us to love the world that God has given to us, just as God loves this world and provides for the birds of the air and the animals on the planet.

Jesus, it seems, was kind of amazed that the children of this world are more prudent than the children of light. He wasn't praising them; he was asking us to be prudent in regard to our very planet, to save it. It's time that we listen to the young people, prophets in our midst who are listening to Jesus and following him. Perhaps if we do, we can end the violence and save our planet. It's not just a political issue; it's a religious issue. God, through Jesus, rejected violence of every kind and insists on love. God, through Jesus, showed love for the planet. We must follow God's way.

Editor's note:This homily was given Sept. 22 at St. Ambrose Church, Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. The transcripts of Bishop Thomas Gumbleton's homilies areposted weeklyto NCRonline.org.Sign up hereto receive an email alert when the latest homily is posted.

Follow this link:

Children lead the way to stop violence, save Earth - National Catholic Reporter

Thebooks sectionis supported by a generous donation from Anne Germanacos.

Paula Wagner, who now lives in the East Bay city of Albany, has traveled a great deal, both geographically and spiritually. Born a twin in London to an English mother and Jewish American father, she (and her family) crossed both the Atlantic and the American continent before settling in California.

The habit of moving became a constant, and included stints in France and Italy as an adult. But it was in Israel, where she moved at 18 to study Hebrew, that she truly connected with the land and people of her father and came to know it as her heritage.

She was at a kibbutz the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and she navigated the shock and pain though the compassion of the Israeli people. It was in Israel, too, that she met and married a French Jew named Ren, with whom she set off on further life adventures.

Wagner now divides her time between creative writing and career coaching, and still travels whenever she can. Her memoir, Her new book, Newcomers in an Ancient Land: Adventure, Love and Finding Myself in 1960s Israel,which is her first full-length book, was published in July. It offers a lively, personal view of Israel in the 60s and the meaning of extended family.

Temple Sinai of Oakland is not the inspiration for Oakland musician Robert Schoens first novel, co-written with fellow congregant Catherine deCuir of Albany, he insists. Nor is the central character of The Rabbi Finds Her Way, a young rabbi named Pearl Ross-Levy, based on Sinais Rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin, though they may share characteristics.

Im real and shes not, Mates-Muchin has clarified.

Nevertheless, local readers of the novel should have a great time identifying places mentioned and speculating on the characters. The timely and humorous narrative which follows Levys first two years as an associate rabbi at a large Reform congregation in California hits on many of the current challenges facing women rabbis, as well as issues congregants bring to them.

Schoen, a former composer-in-residence at Temple Sinai, also wrote On Gods Radar: My Walk Across America following the death of his father in 2017. Both books were published in April of this year.

Outside of fiction writing, deCuir, who converted to Judaism at 61 after thinking about it for 40 years, is a cantorial soloist and jazz vocalist who sings with Schoens jazz groups. Their collaboration anticipates a series of five Rabbi Ross-Levy novels.

The duo has been on the book-talk circuit, with their next appearance at Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.

See the original post here:

Spiritual wanderlust in new books from Bay Area authors - The Jewish News of Northern California

Kanye West has had many interesting phases in his career. From his initial rise to fame, where he received acclaim for his catchy beats and thoughtful lyrics, to his ascension to business mogul as the head of the Yeezy brand, West has never allowed himself to be pigeonholed into one category. These days, West is establishing a new title for himself as a spiritual leader of sorts, following the debut of a new sort of gathering in the hills of California: West is hosting Sunday Services.

West first became known to the world as a stylish rapper, walking the red carpet with a bottle of liquor in his hand. Therefore, it might come as a surprise to many fans to know that West considers himself to be a spiritual person with a deeply-held belief in God.

In a 2009 interview, West opened up about his upbringing and how it wasnt an option to not be a Christian in the home in which he was raised. He felt as though he wasnt really given a decision as a child as to what religion to align himself with, but growing up, he started to separate himself from the idea of belonging to a specific church, focusing rather on a set of ideals.

West discussed how Christianity is embedded in him, and how he will catch little snippets of him in things that he does or says, such as saying that something is a blessing. He also takes no issue with other peoples religions or how they choose to express themselves spiritually: West claimed that he has super respect for when people believe strongly in something.

Wests views on religion and spirituality have only deepened over the years, prompting the rapper to start up something known as Sunday Services in early 2019. The event, which takes place near his home in Calabasas, as well as other private locations around the United States, is only open to select celebrities as well as members of the Kardashian-West family. Though he has recently begun to take Sunday Services on the road, showing up in Chicago recently to perform.

The service itself consists of West performing various songs, accompanied by a choir and orchestra. Its also been reported that in order for people to attend Sunday Services, they must sign an NDA. Still, that doesnt stop many of the celebs and influencers who have attended the service from posting brief videos to Instagram, giving fans a sneak peek at the exclusive event.

The popularity of Sunday Services has led many people to wonder whether or not West is considering following up on the phenomenon and starting a church. Reportedly, the rapper has toyed with the idea briefly. However, Wests wife, Kim Kardashian, stated that theres no preaching involved at the Sunday Services and that it is open to all faiths, even though theres a Christian vibe to the services.

In late August, West revealed that he would be releasing a new album on September 27th, titled Jesus Is King. The album will feature a selection of tracks that West has performed at Sunday Services, as well as some brand-new songs that have never been heard before.

The album will reportedly allow fans to get in on the feel of the Sunday Services from their own homes, and perhaps get a better understanding for the type of spirituality that West is attempting to foster. Could the next step for West be founding an actual church? Only time will tell.

See original here:

Kanye West: What Religion Is the Rapper and Does He Have His Own Church? - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Pam Murray walks along her spiritual path, going where it takes her.

She is the author of several books on achieving dreams, miracles and successes in life, including Live Impossibly: Go Beyond Yourself and The New Success: How to Redefine, Create & Survive Your Own Success.

Murray is writing another book and at the time of the interview was preparing for her participation in the Quilt Festival. She pursues her interests with passion and energy, whether its writing, quilting or prayer and meditation.

Ive been traveling a lot. Ive been fortunate to teach workshops all over the world, she said. The short version: I teach people to create the life of their dreams.

As far as being on her spiritual path: I was born on it. As a child, she just knew things, and she recalls an experience in her room. I was supposed to be cleaning my room, she said. I didnt like cleaning my room. Her mother happened to walk past her just as she said, Oh Jesus. Her mom came in ready to wash her mouth out with soap but there she was, holding a picture of Jesus. It was just a conversation.

I remember holding the hand of my Guardian Angels. Im a Christian and an ordained minister. All the religions have within them the seed of love and truth, she said.

Murray holds a doctorate from the University of Metaphysics now located in Sedona, Ariz.

Shes studied many things: Ancient Jewish mysteries, religions, writings on creating miracles and anything she found interesting. Her calling is to teach people tools and exercises to help them discover their spiritual path and live a happy, successful life. I call myself a practical mystic. If it doesnt work, Im not much interested. Jesus was so very practical, teaching us so much about simplicity and letting go, she said.

Murray teaches people the spirit of manifestation: How to manifest, or create, the life you want to lead. Its really simple and not always easy, she said.

She spent 11 years at Boeing, became bored, then went to another division in the company as an executive in growing organizational development.

I had a gift for personal development guiding, she said. Everywhere I went, I started a newsletter and studied my craft. I took a lot of classes and wrote hundreds of articles that went all over the world.

Murray spent a few years at Unity Church in Bellevue as a lay minister training director. Murray wrote her first book in 1991-92.

I wake up everyday and spend time in prayer and meditation, she said. Her home has a beautiful sunroom that she dedicated to this sole purpose. She also built a labyrinth in her backyard. Its not a maze to increase stress and frustration, quite the opposite. Its a defined pathway to encourage being in the present and leaving your problems behind you.

Its very calming if youve had a rough day. Its marked for you to clear your mind. Just follow the path, she said. If you have a problem, state it and ask for the solution at the entrance, then come to the center. Then walk back out and the solution comes to you in a flash of the obvious.

My 20s were so awful, then came my early 30s in mystery schools. Things didnt start coming together until I was in my 30s. Now, I open myself up to the unknown possibilities and bring in extreme blessings of abundance in all its forms, she said. This is a daily endeavor founded on clarity and the freedom of letting go.

In all days, be guided, she said, I wake up every day and spend time in prayer and meditation. Most things, I dont stress about anymore. I make my stress. I want to use time for intentional living. Im going to stay peaceful to the extent possible.

Im doing what I can, as much as I can now, as I start to slow down. My 96-year-old aunt says do as much as you can. From spending time with family and grandchildren to planning future activities, she is doing quite a lot.

Currently, shes planning a European river cruise, making more baby quilts for charity, finishing the landscaping of her home and reminiscing on her recent performance in The Little Theatre of Walla Wallas play Calendar Girls.

One simple, but huge thing she gained from The Course in Miracles was the belief that I can choose peace. I use that for present and future. Now that Im rounding the corner in my 800-mile run of life, Ive lived longer than Im going to and I have no more some days, she said. Right here, right now, Pam Murray is enjoying life.

More here:

In pursuit of the spiritual, practical, abundant | About The Valley - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Deepika Padukone at Lalbaugcha Raja and Siddhivinayak Temple. Pic credit Instagram 

Among the millions of believers, who have faith in the might and power of God, Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone finds a special mention. The pretty actress, who has left an indelible impression on the minds of moviegoers with her performances, firmly believes that there is a power beyond one's comprehension that governs the universe.

Her rise to stardom - from being an aspiring model to Bollywood's number 1 actress - is a classic specimen of one's determination and will power. And like many people, Deepika Padukone derives strength from her unshakable faith in God. Her spiritual leanings take her to places of worship, and we recently saw images of hers seeking the blessings of the mighty Lalbagh Cha Raja in Mumbai during Ganeshotsav.

A practising Hindu, Deepika, often visits the Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi, Mumbai. Deepika believes in paying her respects to God before beginning any new venture. The paparazzi often spot her at the temple ahead of the release of her films. But her maiden visit to the temple as Mrs Ranveer Singh grabbed more eyeballs.

After a fairytale dual wedding ceremony on the banks ofLake Como in Italy on November 14 and 15 last year, Ranveer and Deepika returned to the country as Man and Wife. And after getting back home from foreign soil, they visited the Siddhivinayak Temple along with their family. For the uninitiated, the Siddhivinayak avatar of Lord Ganesha grants wishes.

Interestingly, Deepika had flown to her hometown, Bengaluru to attenda pre-wedding ceremony. Close friends and family attended the Nandi Puja, which is conducted by the family priest to seek blessings for the bride and the groom. The priest places a coconut on the mouth of a traditional copper Kalash, and this ritual symbolises good health, wealth and prosperity. Deepika's guests shared photographs from the ceremony, and in one of the pics, her father was seen wearing the traditional attire with headgear and her mother wearing a garland.

In the year 2017, videos of Deepika Padukone performing the Ganga Aarti in Rishikesh along with Swami Chidanand Saraswati & Sadhvi Bhagawati were all over the internet. In the video, Deepika was visibly engrossed in devotion as she took part in the ritual.

Deepika's film journey has been an enriching one, and her spiritual quest is genuinely inspiring.

Read the rest here:

Deepika Padukone's spiritual leaning showcases her unshakable faith in God - Times Now

Haynes was a member of an illustrious Roxbury family. His older brother, Roy, is a legendary jazz drummer, still performing in his mid-90s. Another brother, C. Vincent Haynes, was a photographer and journalist, and an authority on Bostons jazz history.

But it was the Rev. Haynes who left the deepest mark on his city through his ministry, his mentorship of generations of young people, and his activism, which included three terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Haynes was a true son of Roxbury; he liked to say that his entire life had taken place within one quarter-mile. He and his brothers grew up just outside Dudley Square. He was initially drawn to worship, he told me when he retired, through his love of church music. That led to a call to the ministry at Twelfth beginning in the early 1950s, where he served with Martin Luther King Jr., then a BU graduate student who became Hayness dear friend.

From the beginning, he had a passion for working with neighborhood youth. He volunteered at settlement houses now long gone that ran afterschool programs. For years, he led college tours to historically black colleges. It was on one of those tours, in 1964, that he heard the students discussing possible candidates for public office. One of those students, Rudolph Pierce, challenged Haynes to run.

Haynes took the challenge, and served three terms. (Pierce would go on to become one of the citys most prominent lawyers.)

But Hayness time in the House always seemed almost incidental to his service as a minister and neighborhood advocate.

Mel King, the former state representative who was the first black candidate to reach a mayoral final in 1983, said Haynes constantly challenged him and other black men around him to serve the community and understand their power.

He talked about the need to recognize our capacity to make a difference, King said. He was a great model for us. He made me understand the role we could play if we came together.

For years, Haynes was deeply connected to Billy Graham Ministries though with increasing wariness as the evangelical movement became ever more entwined with right-wing Republican politics.

I am biblically orthodox, he said. And I have to remind them that you can be an African-American Kennedy Democrat and be biblically orthodox.

In the pulpit, Haynes wasnt a showman. He was cerebral, with a gift for connecting the sacred to everyday life, said the Rev. Arthur T. Gerald, a onetime mentee who eventually succeeded him at the helm of Twelfth Baptist.

There are preachers who make a lot of noise, Gerald said. He wasnt one of those. Rev. Haynes was the kind of preacher who made you think, and encouraged you in your thinking.

I visited with the Rev. Haynes when he retired in 2004 and was stuck by how at peace he seemed with the decision to step down. Churches were changing, he told me then, and he didnt want to overstay his welcome. Even then, his sense of community outweighed any sense of self.

With a twinkle in his eye, he alluded to Shakespeare.

Shakespeare says the world is a stage, and were all players, he said. Its time for me to leave the stage.

Boston is a better place for Michael Hayness decades on its stage.

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. E-mail him at adrian.walker@globe.com.

Continued here:

The Rev. Michael Haynes was the spiritual leader of Roxbury - The Boston Globe

Chance The Rapper paid a visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live! and sat down for a rather extensive interview, under TV show circumstances. The Chicago rapper touched on a range of topics including his paternity leave as well as his homie Kanye West.

Chance talked extensively about the work it takes in raising not one but two daughters and is clearly a devoted father. Kimmel then shifted to his old homie Kanye West and whether or not Chance still considers him a spiritual advisor.

Yeah, Kanye is so devoted right now. Hes verywell-versed in the Bible at this pointhes reading a lot, said Chance. The way that he talks to me now its seems like hes had them [Bible verse] memorized for years. To my knowledge a lot of that stuff he learned very recently. Hes talking about what I believe in, which is that Jesus is king.

Peep chance talk more about his beliefs and his new album The Big Day, as well as the possibility of doing stand up, below.

Go here to read the rest:

Chance The Rapper Says Kanye West Still His Spiritual Advisor, Talks Paternity Leave - Hip-Hop Wired

By Sant Rajinder Singh

Many feel life is passing by too quickly. We move from one season to the next and wonder where the time went. Most of the time we are so busy, we hardly have a moment to think about our life, our goals and our priorities. It seems at times that our life is not really our own. Our daily schedule is often controlled by our employer or family members who need us. It seems that there is hardly a spare moment left just to sit in stillness and reflect on where our life is going.

We can avoid being aimlessly adrift on the sea of life. We can spend some time to decide the direction we wish to go in. If we look at the lives of great people, many of them had decided on a direction in life.

They may have wished to pursue their art, their hobby, their science, their research or their spiritual growth. If we devote time to the spiritual side and empower the soul, then we will find that growth in other aspects of our life comes easier. It is similar to putting money in a savings account; the money will accrue interest that will help us with our other expenditures later on.

By sitting in meditation for some time each day, we would find that we are using our time for lasting spiritual gains.

Meditation is a way to devote time to our body, mind and soul. It allows us to spend some time daily in the quiet of our own self and tap into the treasures within. The byproduct of that is that it also has an effect on improving our physical, mental and emotional health and wellness.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

Read more here:

Spiritual fulfilment - Economic Times

Blending music and magic, cultural healing expedition Cosmic Pineapple has announced its return to Pikes Ibiza.

Offering an array of healing and hedonistic activities, the 12-hour mini-festival will run from 16:00 to 4:00 on Tuesday 24 September.

Perfect for creative and spiritual beings among us, Cosmic Pineapple provides a day-to-night fiesta, filled with ethereal experiences and superlunary activities.

Intending to educate, connect and bring awareness to charitable causes, this time the theme will be "Star Child".

In light of the recent devastation caused by wildfire and the illegal logging trade, for its final event of summer, Cosmic Pineapple will donate all proceeds to Amazon Watch - a charity working to protect the South American rainforest and indigenous tribes.

Attendees can begin their journey with guided meditation, yoga and influential talks from a selection of philosophers in the hotel's own Cosmic Activation Dome - a large zen-filled space designed for learning, sharing and evolving.

You are also invited to hear a presentation from Huni Kuin - himself a member of tribespeople native to Brazil.

After dark, the focus shifts to Freddies from 22:00 for the finale dubbed Space Rave. Talent such as Jackmaster, Heartthrob and resident Cici, will be all be on hand to sountrack the night.

Entry requires guest list. Although entry is free, donations on the door are encouraged.

See the original post:

Cosmic Pineapple gets spiritual, ethical and eco-conscious - Ibiza Spotlight

The sponsor of a bipartisan bill that would resolve banking issues in the marijuana industry is preparing to amend the legislation as a planned House floor vote approaches in order to bolster its appeal among GOP members.

The bill, which currently has 206 cosponsors, including 26 Republicans, was revised to clarify that banking protections apply to hemp and CBD businesses and also shields certain businesses such as firearms dealers from being targeted by financial regulators, as was the case under a 2013 Justice Department initiative that flagged various industries as higher risk for fraud and money laundering.

Other changes include an expansion of the definition of ancillary businesses working with marijuana firms that would be protected, extending and clarifying protections to federal home loan banks and insurers and language specifying that financial regulators wouldnt be uniquely restricted in their supervisory roles over the cannabis industry.

The text of the updated bill as prepared for floor action next week was obtained by Marijuana Moment.

The provisions are meant to entice conservative members who might have been wary of approving a bill that is narrowly tailored to help the cannabis industry.

A new section of the bill notes that hemp was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill yet some hemp businesses (including producers, manufacturers, and retailers) continue to have difficulty gaining access to banking products and services and that businesses involved in the sale of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products are particularly affected, due to confusion about their legal status.

In order to address that problem, the legislation stipulates that financial regulators must issue guidance confirming the legality of hemp, hemp-derived CBD products, and other hemp-derived cannabinoid products, and the legality of engaging in financial services with businesses selling hemp, hemp-derived CBD products, and other hemp-derived cannabinoid products, after the enactment of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.

Regulators must also provide recommended best practices for financial institutions to follow when providing financial services and merchant processing services to businesses involved in the sale of hemp, hemp-derived CBD products, and other hemp-derived cannabinoid products.

The section that seems to aim to prevent actions such as the controversial Justice Department initiative known as Operation Choke Point targeting the gun industry states that federal banking agencies may not formally or informally request or order a depository institution to terminate a specific customer account or group of customer accounts or to otherwise restrict or discourage a depository institution from entering into or maintaining a banking relationship with a specific customer or group of customers unless theres a valid reason.

Getting more Republicans on board will be critical as House leaders plan to advance the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act through an expedited process known as suspension of the rules, which requires two-thirds of the chamber of pass and does not provide opportunities for floor amendments.

The expanded version of the legislation will also likely fare better in the Republican-controlled Senate if it clears the House. Senate Banking Chair Mike Crapo (R-ID) said earlier this month that his panel will also hold a vote on the banking issue, ideally by the years end, but he didnt commit specifically to a vote on the SAFE Banking Act as currently drafted.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whos made clear that hes no fan of marijuana, could presumably feel better about brining the bill to his chambers floor given his long-standing advocacy for hemp and CBD issues.

Its not just the GOP that the bills supporters have to consider, however. While Democrats have capitalized on popular marijuana reform issues, the banking legislation has recently been a topic of contention among progressive advocates and lawmakers.

After House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) informed the Democratic Caucus of his intent to bring the bill to a floor vote by the end of the month, some groups such as the ACLU, Human Rights Watch and Drug Policy Alliance signed a letter urging leadership to delay a vote until comprehensive legalization legislation that addresses social equity is passed.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is a prominent example of a lawmaker who indicated she might not vote in favor of banking legislation without Congress first tackling the racial injustices of cannabis prohibition, with a staffer telling Marijuana Moment on Thursday that the congresswoman feels strongly that addressing racial justice should be the first priority.

Marijuana Moment spoke to a number of lawmakers about the internal Democratic caucus debate on Wednesday. House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA), whose panel passed the bill in March, said that she understands the groups perspective but that the issue is that Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has yet to hold a vote on his more wide-ranging legalization bill.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act, made a similar point and stressed the need for action on any cannabis reform legislation regardless of its scale. Revising his bill signals that hes not letting up on that goal, and it also bodes well for the prospects of getting a vote next week.

A vote has yet to be scheduled but a key signal will be whether the SAFE Banking Act is listed on a weekly floor schedule that Hoyers office will release on Friday.

Marijuana Moments Patreon supporters can read the full text of the revised banking bill below:

This premium content is available only for Marijuana Moment supporters on Patreon. Please start a monthly pledge to help us continue our cannabis advocacy journalism. (Please contact [emailprotected] if you are a patron and have trouble logging in.)

Senate Committee Blocks DC Marijuana Legalization While Advancing Hemp Regulations

Visit link:

GOP Congressman Says Marijuana Shops Near Churches Is Evidence Of 'Spiritual War' - Marijuana Moment

Sudden change, even if it is for the good, is disruptive. Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister, Malaysia

Its the place where Ive met many a blind date, a place to nervously page through newspapers and magazines as I wait for a mystery woman to show up. Its the place to meet my Goddaughter for dinner, as I take the T in from the burbs and she strolls over from the yard. Its the place I rarely shop anymore but a place whose presence, sure and steady, strong and true, right in the heart of Cambridges Harvard Square its a place that I will miss when it closes up shop at the end of next month.

Its Out of Town News, a purveyor of all things journalistic: newspaper broad sheets and tabloids from all over the United States and the world, a seller of hundreds of magazines, everything from "Popular Mechanics" to "Playboy." The place to buy a map if you are a tourist, cigarettes if you are smoker, or a Coke to slake your thirst on a hot summer day.

First built as a subway entrance in 1927, in 1954 it opened its narrow doors for business in a squat brown building that sits at the busiest intersection in the square. For 65 years its sold the news, from near and far. Like New York Citys Grand Central Station clock, Out of Town News is a place that most everyone knows, easily recognizable and an absolute perfect landmark to meet.

But on Oct. 31, unless some last-minute Halloween miracle saves this venerated institution, it will go away, the building staying, but the business shuttered for good. It wasnt a zoning problem that closed Out of Town News, nor sky-high rent. Cambridge, which owns the building, is planning to renovate that piece of valuable real estate, and the current owner of the store has said he will not renew the lease.

Yet beyond this seemingly simple business decision, what really killed Out of Town News is me, and you, and millions of other folks who still consume the news, read the news, follow the news but now do so through our screens. Who needs actual physical containers for the news made of paper and ink when with a tap on a smartphone or computer mouse we can get the news and so much faster and more up to date and all so conveniently?

The fancy term for this type of social shift is disruptive innovation. Though the entrepreneurs who create and exploit such innovation in 2019 think Amazon, Uber, or Google might imagine they are the pioneers of such disruption, the truth is that disruptive change has been going on forever. Its hard-baked into the human condition. God gave us brains to think and so we do just that and we constantly build upon the innovation and creations of the past to move into tomorrow.

So, the horse and buggy were killed by the car. The telegram was killed by the telephone. The movies killed burlesque and then TV was supposed to kill the movies but now Netflix just might kill both the movies and cable TV. Facebook and other social media are radically reshaping how community is formed and so even the place I work, a church, a 2,000 plus year old institution we are being radically disrupted too.

I will miss Out of Town News. Miss the visceral feel of the printed page as I flip through a magazine or newspaper. I still miss the black ink that used to stain my hands as a newspaper boy in Springfield, Massachusetts, so, so long ago.

But the economy, all of life: it does not run on nostalgia, on looking backwards, on staying put. We cannot return to an era when America was supposedly great because that is not the way that time or the human experience works. We humans are a restless lot, created by a God who gives us the power to think, to change, to grow, to innovate and to reach for the stars.

Along that path, as we shift from one way of doing things to another, it can be hard to bid farewell to the familiar and the comfortable and the known. But the truth is that innovation and disruption happen, and not just because some vague outside force wrenches us into the future.

Disruption happens because of us. Factories in the United States close not just because of corporate greed. They close because we demand cheaper consumer goods. Clothes that cost as little as possible. Appliances so inexpensive that when they break, we just throw them away. We demand the news: not a day late, not on a 24-hour timer, but now- right now!

We dont buy the news at Out of Town News anymore.

And thats a shame. And thats reality. And thats good and thats bad and thats the way this amazing world works. As to a new place to meet my blind dates: any suggestions?

The Rev. John F. Hudson is senior pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn (pilgrimsherborn.org). If you have a word or idea youd like defined in a future column or have comments, please send them to pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org or in care of the Press (Dover-Sherborn@wickedlocal.com).

Visit link:

Spiritually Speaking: Out of time for Out of Town News - Wicked Local

Being there for someone who is dying is never easy, whether we love them deeply or have been hurt deeply by them. The following are five things that are important to say. Some will be harder than others, but if you can find something for each, you could turn an ending into a beginning.

Remember, love goes deeper than like. This doesnt mean you have to like the person; it does mean you want more for them (and for yourself) than they were able to give. Say this even if the person already knows it. Words carry power, and love is always the best place to start.

Think of the ways you are a better person because of this person. Again, that might come from positive love and support or from negative learning of what hurts. Find something, some moment, no matter how small, that you can genuinely be thankful for and center on that. Remember, we are biologically wired to remember the bad more than the good, so do the work to counter that programming and find the good.

For those who have many such moments, dont skimp out. Share them all. Stay at that bedside and recount the blessings that came in all the different chapters of your life together. It will help you treasure the legacy they have given you and give them a chance to hear the difference they have made, proud and at peace with a life well-lived. Hold this thankfulness close. It will be comfort and strength for both of you.

This is where things get hard. You dont have to be able to forgive everything, but try to take at least one step towards forgiving something while they are still here. That will make the other steps easier to take when they have passed. It will also give a chance for closure. Even if the person doesnt take you up the opportunity, the work you did to make it possible wont be a waste of time. Youll be that much freer to live, a little less trapped and limited by their harm.

If the harm were talking about is an abusive pattern, forgiveness does not mean putting yourself back in that pattern. Keep yourself safe. The level of harm youre dealing with will determine the ways you can and cannot stay connected to the person. Thats what forgiveness is a balance of distance and connection. What distance do you need to be safe as your own person, not what this pattern is forcing you to be? What connection can you maintain to give healing and change a chance?

Remember you only have control over yourself, so as much as all of us would like to squash out the injustice youve experienced, we cant force someone else to change. Thats why space and connection are both important pieces in this process.

Again, forgiveness isnt about letting the other person off the hook but about letting go of the pain or resentment around their harm. Also, dont do this step alone, regardless of the level of harm were talking about. Ask people that are your safe space to support you. If you dont have a village, come find me and Glendale United Methodist Church. Well help you find your people or be your people, whatever works best for you.

Make this bit mutual. Relationships are always messy, and rarely does anyone carry full blame or innocence.

Especially for those in the active process of dying, giving your blessing is a gift they need. As hard as it is to watch someone die, the person dying is the one doing the hardest work. Be there for them. Think of childbirth and all of its intensity and risks. Think of gathering around this person and blessing them just as you would for a mother giving birth.

In the Christian tradition, one of my favorite images is of the community of saints gathering around the person dying, ready to welcome them into the family just as we gather to welcome a new baby here.

No matter what your faith tradition or non-tradition, I pray your experience of saying goodbye is a meaningful and blessed one.

Kate Payton is a recent transplant from the Baltimore-Washington conference where she served for 15 years in campus ministry, suburban, and urban settings. As a pastor, she looks to create a community of both support and accountability where curiosity and playfulness keep us all resilient and growing. She lives in Lakeville with her husband Abraham and dog Olaf.

Original post:

Spiritual Reflections: Five things to say to someone who's dying - SW News Media

18th Sep 19 | Lifestyle

Gwyneth Paltrows go-to healer is bringing out a new book to help readers tap into their spiritual side. Just dont call him a guru, says Liz Connor.

Grandma, download more medicine into her body, says Shaman Durek, as he asks the spirit world to rid my body of all the bad juju its been harbouring from years of London living. When you hear a command like this being bellowed into the ether, you know whats coming next isnt going to be your average encounter.

Im lying on a massage bed at a trendy wellbeing spa in the heart of Londons swanky Knightsbridge, as Shaman Durek works with the spirit world to clear my energy.

It youre thinking this has Goop written all over it, youd be right Durek is a sixth-generation shaman who counts Hollywood megastars, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Selma Blair, as clients.

Since discovering his gift at the age of six, Durek has travelled the world using his tools and knowledge to help create a bridge between the physical and spiritual world for burned-out celebs, royals and CEOs. Now, hes brought out a new book on the subject Spirit Hacking:Shamanic Keys To Reclaim Your Personal Power, Transform Yourself, And Light Up the World.

In the age of Instagram, the word shaman gets thrown about quite a lot. But at its essence, a shaman is thought to be able to communicate with spirit guides and ancestors to bring back valuable information to heal the body.

Historically, its often associated withindigenousandtribal societies, who believe that shamans have a connection to the otherworld, alongside the power to heal the sick, communicate with spirits and send your soul to the afterlife using different kinds of natural energy.

Durek is a kind of shaman for the modern go-getter, if you will. Ive created my own shamanic lexicon, he tells me. He uses all kinds of commands to get my vibrational frequencies fired up, that sound half like Im undergoing an exorcism and half like Im on the operating table. Spirits, direct fire into the belly, Spirits, bring more saliva into the throat to rid the black tar, Spirits, lets shock her body at 500, to quote a few.

I always knew that London living could be a little soul-destroying all that anger at transport delays, crowds and rent hikes cant be good for me but on the fifth round of expelling the black tar through my mouth, I start to worry that Ive irreparably destroyed not just my physical health, but my metaphysical one too.

Reassuringly, Durek grabs my arm, tells me Im doing great and says the spirits have done their business in clearing out my body.

His method, spiritual hacking, is all about fostering happiness, or has he calls it feeling lit.

Im the ambassador of all things LIT! he says with a laugh.

Lit to me is feeling excited about life. Dont you want to feel that? Why do you wanna go [to] therapy for 40 years, instead of going for a picnic on the beach with friends and have great conversation? Do something that inspires you to be even greater than you are. This is what spirit hacking is about.

Durek is a truly fascinating person. I dont know what I was expecting, but it probably veered towards the long white robes and incense stick-burning stereotype of a mystical elder. Instead, he wears checked Vans slip-ons, with blue jeans and a T-shirt.

People think Im going to be coming in chanting and shaking maracas, he jokes, but most shamans dont dress like that. He was bullied at school for his gift and fell into drugs and alcohol abuse at a young age but now at 44, hes built a career on spiritual healing with an Instagram following of 134K devotees.

Incidentally, he hates the word guru. I am not your Gucci bag, I am not your crutch, I am not your saviour, I am not your guru, he says.

Im just a human being like everyone else, I have my own issues that Im supporting and bringing love to. You cannot be dependent on me, because it makes you weak.

His mission, he says, is to give people the tools so they can manage and control their own positive energy. Looking at the spiritual community and all these self-help books that people are doing, [theyre] coming from this energy of you dont have the power, I have the power buy my next book.

Mine is more like, Im giving you a book to remind you of your powers. To let you know you have the power and give you tools to step back in that power.

I believe in people being self-independent and self-preserving. I think society has fallen out of that because everyone is looking for someone to fix it for them. Theyre still looking for their mommy and daddy to look after them. I think we need to become more spiritually mature.

Durek says that when you have that power in your hands, you can start communicating, talking and learning about your own intuition when you trust yourself, you make great decisions in life.

His final diagnosis of me is that I get overwhelmed when I have too many pots on the boil (true), I get stressed easily (also true), and I often put barriers up in my relationships when Im trying to spin a bunch of plates (nail on the head).

Some of the methodology gets a little too Goop for me, like programming the energy to burn fat in the body, or that good energy can help you to avoid cancer. Theres certain imprints that women get inside of their vaginas when they have too many sexual partners that they need to clean out I give exercises for that, Durek tells me matter-of-factly.

But the essence of his method is knowing yourself better, without needing validation from other people or material objects, and I think theres something incredibly valid in that. Even the biggest sceptic could agree.

Did Dureks Grandma rid me of my spiritual demons? Who knows, but I do feel deeply relaxed after an hours session on the table.

As Shaman Durek puts on his shades and exits into his Uber, we share a long hug. I think about everything hes said to me the fact I take on too much, get overwhelmed and push away those closest to me out of frustration.

Whether youre a spiritual believer or not, Im left with a lot to think about on the way back the office, and in a way, having someone voice the issues youve been holding on to for so long is the most healing thing of all.

Spirit Hacking:Shamanic Keys To Reclaim Your Personal Power, Transform Yourself, And Light Up The World is published by Hodder & Stoughton on October 17, priced 14.99.

Press Association 2019

See more here:

Meet Shaman Durek ' Hollywood's spiritual healer who's on a mission to make us all feel 'lit' - Lifestyle from Xpos - virginmediatelevision.ie

By Msgr. Brian Bransfield Catholic News Service Posted September 17, 2019

Why Celibacy? Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest by Father Carter Griffin. Emmaus Road Publishing (Steubenville, Ohio, 2019). 215 pp., $24.95.

When reading Father Carter Griffins book Why Celibacy? this summer, I repeatedly had to close it and think of my father.

It may seem odd that my first (and repeated) personal reference while reading a book about celibacy was of a married man with five children.

I think of my dad every day, of course, these 26 years after his death. But when reading Father Griffins book, I had to put it down a lot to think of my dad.

Father Griffin, the rector of St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, has written a book that takes us deeply into the subject of clerical celibacy, but it also is a reflection on spiritual fatherhood.

Why Celibacy traces a path through the depths of sacred Scripture, the fathers of the church, the scholastics and modern scholars to tell the story of how genuine, freely chosen celibate love generates a celibate spiritual fatherhood that is always new and never grows tired. Celibacy is a generous response to a supernatural fatherhood in the order of grace. Grace builds on nature and so, while reading these pages on the supernatural capacity of celibate love, I naturally thought of my dad.

My dad lifted burdens from the backyard, to work, to family life. He lifted burdens I can only now begin to understand, a quarter of a century after he died. He gave things up, and he loved his wife and children to the point that sacrifice and endurance were cruciform ways of life for him. He didnt cut corners. He refused himself a lot. He made no excuses, and he had a fathers wisdom.

When reading Father Griffins book, I thought of how my dad taught me about the light to get up early in the morning and begin the day as the sun came up, because an hour in the morning is worth two at night. Watch for the light, hed say. Dont cut corners.

Father Griffins work doesnt cut corners either. Why Celibacy? takes the reader in an accessible way along academic theological foundations and illumines with precision the vital link between celibacy and fatherhood.

From there, Father Griffins book guides us to the light, away from the traps of clericalism, narcissism (and its undernoted calling card, delusional grandiosity) and similar detours, to show us how important formation for celibacy is in seminaries. And it is here that Why Celibacy? can make its contribution.

The book is helpful as a launching pad providing a new beginning to reconsider fatherhood from deeper places. The four areas of priestly formation come to mind: the intellectual, the spiritual, the pastoral and the human. An indispensable next step to Father Griffins book, across the field of formation in seminaries and ongoing formation, is to further develop human formation for celibacy from an emotional perspective. That is, to do human formation for healthy and holy celibacy emotionally, as well as intellectually, spiritually and pastorally. Grace builds and transforms on nature; it doesnt supplant it or override it.

This work leads to reflection on many aspects of the celibate life, including when things go wrong. It seems that, along with significant spiritual causes, a repeated major contributor to terrible scandals and betrayals lies deep along the fault line of men who promised celibacy but made a choice not to live chastity on a mature human, emotional level. They found themselves living a double life. And it is not likely that this double life arose simply due to a deficient intellectual understanding of celibacy or chastity.

The double life arose because of a pronounced deficit of human formation for celibacy on an emotional level. This absence gave systematic license to a life of impulsivity around emotional triggers even while the perpetrators may have portrayed an academic understanding of celibacy. These men simply could refuse themselves nothing.

A double life doesnt begin overnight as a double life. It begins early as a series of incremental failures. And the fuel of a double life is the repeated inability to navigate emotional triggers and to talk oneself (and others) into compromises and excuses that somehow the compromises are OK. Theyre not.

Father Griffin reminds us why. He reminds of healthy men who lived their vocation well those married men, celibate men and mentors. He reminds us of the light. For that we owe him a debt of gratitude. He reminded me of my father. For that I am very grateful.

***

Also of interest: You Shall Be a Blessing: Twelve Letters on the Priesthood by Cardinal Gerhard Muller. Ave Maria Press (Notre Dame, Indiana, 2019). 224 pp., $17.95.

***

Msgr. Bransfield is the author of The Human Person: According to John Paul II and is general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Read more from the original source:

Author reflects on clerical celibacy as spiritual fatherhood - CatholicPhilly.com