This is the second in the series of ‘Why My Heart is Here’. This series showcases how individual congregants’ roles and activities at Concord UU help them find connection to and meaning in their lives at church. By spotlighting these individual stories, we hope to show how you might also find your heart’s home here. … Continue reading Why My Heart is Here: Contemplative Practice
by Jeanne Ann Whittington Consider this truth: We live in the world not as it is, but as we see it. As human beings with limited perceptual capability and urgent emotional needs, the moment we are born we begin to make sense of things, developing a working model of how the world is: Friendly, unfriendly … Continue reading Changing the World Begins Inside
Thank you. Seriously. For allowing me to have generous time off this summer, to breathe, to replenish, to regain perspective, to listen to wise and entertaining voices on podcasts, audio recordings, and on film. And to read and reflect, connect with family and friends, and to sit and pay attention to my body, to my … Continue reading Returning, with gratitude
“Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there,’ or being in the present and wanting to be in the future.” So simple these words by Eckhart Tolle, yet how true. We never really have a choice, of course. We are always ‘here’ rather than ‘there,’ always taking this one step right now … Continue reading Right Here… Right Now
(Part 3 of 3 – continuing the December and January Musings): If I had to point to one practice that’s most fundamental to my own spiritual well being, I would have to say: Sleep. For decades I treated sleep as the uninvited guest crashing my party of life, readily ignored, rarely appreciated. Embracing sleep as … Continue reading How is your daily practice?
(Part 2 of 3) Last month’s musings talked about the importance of warm-ups – whether for sports, music, oratory, or worship. And I tried to make the case that we ought to take equally seriously warm-ups for the most important activity of the day – being the human being we aspire to be. Most of us are committed to … Continue reading Spiritual Warm-up: Setting Intentions
(Part 1 of 2): My great passion growing up was gymnastics. Four times a week I took public transport for an hour to get to practice, spent three hours at the gym, and then retraced my steps to return home after dark. Homework happened on the train and bus. Thanks to an amazing coach, I … Continue reading What’s your spiritual warm-up?
Our worship theme for April is Equanimity, and I will freely admit that equanimity is not anything I’m famous for. I laugh easily, cry easily, and while I can be extremely patient with other people’s children, my own personal children? My older son, now 22, came home to visit and got a volley of criticism … Continue reading Equanimity: a Theme for All Ages
Reflections offered by Jeanne Ann Whittington during worship on Sunday, March 12, 2017 When Michael invited me to talk about how my practice has transformed my life, I was happy to oblige, though it is one of those topics that feels so big it’s hard to know where to begin. I’m reminded of an image … Continue reading Transformed by my Practice
