Tag: #unityuk

Contemplation – Day2

“The path to the Truth is a labor of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over your nafs (false ego) with your heart. Knowing your false ego will lead you to the Knowledge of God.“

When I looked back at my ‘worst-case-scenarios’ I noticed how much anxiety I had always lived. It is a bit funny, because I never considered myself a worrier. Well, apparently, I am one. My anxieties are  mostly around feeling overwhelmed by the ‘burdens’ I place on myself. I don’t seem to understand the concept of saying ‘no’. 🙂 My anxiety is around ‘not being able to handle’ what comes. As I was sitting with my fears and worries, I recalled:  God is my Partner, I shall not want, and remembered how supported I am. 

I am still not able to create best-case-scenarios just yet but when I notice anxiety emerging, I can recall “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” from Psalm 23

What have you experienced?

Please note, that God for me is not an old guy with white beard. The Divine, the Lord, God, the ‘Universe’, the Higher Self, Spirit I use interchangeably with the meaning of a higher Loving Entity that encompasses everything.

Read: DAY2, 40 Rules of Love, form Release to Embrace (click)

40 Days – Day 2

Introduction to 40 Days of Lent – From Release to Embrace

introduction

Rule 2

“The path to the Truth is a labor of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over your nafs (false ego) with your heart. Knowing your false ego will lead you to the Knowledge of God.“* 

Today, we are releasing Anxiety and embracing God’s Love for us. 

Our Lent Booklet invites us today to release our anxiety.  Our FalseEgo tries to convince us that we are weak and feeble so to keep us trapped in the games of the world. Our Nafs tell us that we are powerless and vulnerable to the unpredictability of the world. In God all is well. As we turn our attention into the ever-flowing Divine Love, the chaos of the world disappears and we find peace. From this place we emerge with guidance and endurance that we are supported and safeguarded.

As an experiment, let’s have a look at times when feelings of anxiety lied to us! I invite you to look at times in the past when you felt anxiety. Then write down the actual outcome of the situations that you were anxious about. What do you see? In my experience most of the problems I was anxious about never resulted in the worst-case scenarios. And in yours?

Today, I invite you to sit in the silence for at least 10 minutes and contemplate on Rule No2 and the quote below. Let me know how practicing releasing anxiety worked for you today. 

Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God. Philippians 4:6

Today we affirm: I envision only best-case scenarios.

BUY THE LENT BOOKLET

*Rules are from ’40 Rules of Love’ by Novel by Elif Shafak. See more about the book here (click)  (Please note that ‘mind’ in the text is referred to the EgoMind or the Limited-Self)

Let’s walk this journey together!

Join me by reading the daily blogposts I create – SEE THEM HERE (CLICK) – and joining the UNITY CONNECTED FACEBOOK GROUP where I invite you to share about the contemplative questions.  (click on the buttons below to join)

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Contemplation – Day1

“How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame swelled inside us. If we see God as full of Love and compassion, so are we.“* 

I release my emotional reactions and heal form within.

As I was contemplating on Rule No1 and today’s Lent affirmation, I realized that I see God as my ultimate support system. I also noticed, how independent, I often think I am, and how untrue that notion is.  Every time, I get angry it is because I feel unsupported and overwhelmed. I try to protect myself by being angry with the world that seemingly puts so much pressure on me. It is not true, however. The world does nothing to me, it only reflects my own inner reality back to me. 

When I blame the world, I also blame God. Everything is God, even though it is hard to grasp the idea. God’s energy, Its being is waved across the entire tapestry of the universe and beyond. God is All and All is God.

As I was sitting in contemplation working on releasing my frustration and my anger, I realized how vulnerable I am. Without God’s ever flowing Presence and Loving for me, I am but a small mouse in a giant hamster-wheel, running in circles. 

As I was releasing my anger, I also started to let go of control. It scares me to know that I cannot control life. Life is gigantic! At the same time, it brings me peace to know that God can. God works though me, supports me with managing whatever shows up in front of me at every moment. I am not grated knowing what the future holds but I am granted the knowing that God is with me.

The God I see beyond my fear and anger is supportive and protective. 

Read: DAY1, 40 Rules of Love, form Release to Embrace (click)

40 Days – Day 1

Introduction to 40 Days of Lent – From Release to Embrace

introduction

Rule 1

“How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame swelled inside us. If we see God as full of Love and compassion, so are we.“* 

Today, we are releasing Anger and embracing God’s Love for us. 

Our Lent Booklet Invites us today – on Ash Wednesday – to release and let go of our anger. Our anger and our inability to accept and release what does not work for us or we do not agree with block our connection with the Divine. If we truly want to experience God’s Love and compassion, we need to be willing to release old ideas, old hurts that no longer serves us. In that we open ourselves to see a world of love and compassion reflected back to us. 

Today, I invite you to contemplate on the Rule No1 and the quote below. Let me know how practicing releasing anger worked for you today. 

Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. James 1:19 

Today we affirm:I release my emotional reactions and heal form within.

BUY THE LENT BOOKLET

*Rules are from ’40 Rules of Love’ by Novel by Elif Shafak. See more about the book here (click)

Let’s walk this journey together!

Join me by reading the daily blogposts I create – SEE THEM HERE (CLICK) – and joining the UNITY CONNECTED FACEBOOK GROUP where I invite you to share about the contemplative questions.  (click on the buttons below to join)

Picture Source Unsplash/ Featured Image: alex-block-unsplash

FACEBOOK GROUP
BLOGPOSTs
YOUTUBE

40 Days of Lent

From Release to Embrace – An Introduction

What is it about? 

As I was looking for some material for contemplation for LENT this year, I decided to meditate and contemplate of some quotes from a book called ’40 Rules of Love’ by Elif Shafak. (Read more about the book below. )

Background 

At first, I thought that Shams Tabrizi wrote a book – which is very unlikely – and started to look for his ‘rulebook on Love’. Since he was a rather particular 13th century Sufi Mystic known for being the teacher of Rumi, I thought,  that he might have left some notes behind which served as a base for the book. Well, nothing like that. The book – 40 Rules of Love  – is a fictional story. It is a story of Love, on Shams and Rumi, but most importantly the book offers 40 so called ‘rules’ on how to live a Spirit-filled Life.

I have collected some information on Shams’ Life and his impact on Rumi’s Spiritual unfoldment that you can read HERE

As I was reading the book, I have fallen in love with both the story and the ‘rules.  I found them thoughtful and deep. Each one made me think. They reminded me how much we are attached to the phantasy of rom-coms that tell nothing about the Truth of Love. They do not make it real or even believable. But there is a kind of Love that is beyond the warm and fuzzy emotions and fantasies, a Love that Rumi and Shams wrote so beautifully about.  

We often spend countless hours trying to find love in another person or in the world but what we fail to see is that the Love we are so desperately searching for is right there within ourselves. It has always been there. We only need to discover it or uncover it, more like.

Personally, I think it is important to find the True meaning behind the word ‘LOVE’,  understand it and experience it as a Spiritual Quality inherently within us. 

I am going to walk this 40-day Lenten journey contemplating on the True meaning of Love, Divine Love, Spiritual Love for me by experimenting with the 40 rules and quotes from the Lent Booklet. Every day, between the 22nd of February and the 6th of April, I will post a ‘rule’ from the book ’40 rules of Love’ and an a release idea from the book ’40 days of Letting go – Lent 2023′ by Unity.org. Then, we will contemplate on it and share about it in this  Facebook Group.

Buy the LENT BOOKLET @this link (CLICK)

Let’s walk this journey together!

Join me by …

either reading the daily blogposts I create – SEE THEM HERE (CLICK) – or joining the FACEBOOK GROUP where I am going to share my writings and daily contemplative questions. I will also post a short video/audio material on the daily posts. (click on the buttons below to join)

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FACEBOOK GROUP
BLOGPOST
YOUTUBE

Connection vs Separation

“When I accept my humanity I can claim my divinity.” There is a very popular saying in Unity, “I am a spiritual being having human experiences.” It is the perfect reminder that I am not ‘only human’; I am of Spirit as well. Yet, living in such a fast-paced world, many feel isolated, alone, frightened; …”

Rev Kimerie Mapletoft – Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK

As I was reading Rev Kimerie’s thoughts – see above – I felt reminded of the ‘ separation’  we generate by not being aligned with our ‘greater self’, the living-loving spirit with in us, that is of the Divine or God (chose your word of preference).

I started to wonder what it is that I can all do to feel closer to the Divine not only in myself but also in others.

 

Rev Kimerie continues …

Yet the good news is that as we begin to accept our humanity, our foibles, mistakes and errors for what they are, our experience as human beings, learning and growing in a human body, we can move beyond identifying with these errors and claim our divinity. We will be able to say with joy that I am, and you are, a beautiful, creative, inspiring being; a blessing in the world.

The invitation, in all of this, is for every single one of us to accept our differences, our human mistakes and experiences, to help us see through and beyond them to Spirit that shines brightly within, whenever we open the door to this experience. As we accept our humanity, we can claim our divinity.

Rev Kimerie Mapletoft -Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK

How true! By honestly looking at my mistakes and flaws, I become aware of them. This awareness helps me embrace and love ALL OF ME: the silly-me, the hurry-scurry part of me, the arrogant-me, the scared-me, the fat-me, … And as I do that they start dissipating, kind of being removed from obscuring my connection with the Divine. As a result, not only do I become aware of the Greater-part of Me, but I am also enabled to see the Divine in others. 

The separation that was created inside of me by looking for our differences and judging them in fear, disappears. I become free and let others to be free in themselves, too. 

Read THOUGHT OF THE WEEK blogpost on UNITY UK website here (CLICK)

Picture sources:

Photo by Josh Marshall on Unsplash

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash

 

Gratitude and ART

The idea to run a Gratitude infused Art Class came about during the Lockdown. I felt lost and angry. My entire life suddenly was on hold. Because of the uncertainties, I had to live my residence, move to another country where I was stuck for over two years. At the beginning, all I could do was to complain. Why is it happening to me? Why did I make that decision? I should have done it differently. I hated the place where I was ‘stationed indefinitely’ and I could not see the way out.

As I kept on looking at the glass half empty, I started to get depressed. This was the moment when I thought that it just could not go on like this. I cannot change where I am or what is going on in the world, but I can change how I experience all that. So, I started a ‘daily blessings’ exercise which basically consisted of me sitting in a meditative position and trying hard to find things that I was grateful for on that day.

It was not easy. Because I like drawing, I decided to try to draw my days in a way that the picture would remind me of the fun things that I have in my life. To cut this rather long story short, eventually, I thought that others may benefit from having fun with counting their daily blessings, so I opened my ‘daily blessings’ sessions to the general public. The rest is history! 🙂

GRATFULNES ART JOURNALING CLASSES AT UNITY UK

According to participants, the class supports them to become more mindful and creative. During the class we focus on addressing the shift from left-brain to right-brain activities, balancing the two hemisphere.  Colouring and drawing contributes to generating a state of flow. Participants can also develop their drawing skills. All in a fun and supportive environment.

YOU DONT NEED TO BE AN ARTIST TO BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE AND ENJOY THIS CLASS!

Each class  addresses a different aspect of Gratitude and supports you to deepen your practice of expressing your Gratitude towards the blessings in your life.

Find out more about the Class here (Click)