Unity Spiritual Center of Anchorage

Join us for the Journey!

Unity Spiritual Center of Anchorage
PO Box 240173
Anchorage, AK 99524

COVID-19 plan

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Below you will find a note from the March 11 newsletter. As of March 14th we are moving to an all virtual format. You can see the information on how to stay connected on our virtual connections page.

I know for many it has been confusing and sometimes scary to see and hear the news these days. I invite you into taking a deep breath. On Sunday I spoke about using Wisdom to have a plan which allows us to not be in fear. As the unknowns of many kinds swirl, we can choose to be a place of calm in the midst. 

This is a time to increase our compassion. (ie being patient with someone you think is over or under reaccting) It is a time to deepen our spiritual practice. (ie more prayer, meditation, yoga etc)  It is a time to be aware of the ways that we can each contribute to raising the common good. (ie being mindful of how we can spread or not spread germs, encouraging sifts in self-care and sick-leave norms)

Unity’s 4th Basic Principle is we use prayer and meditation to change our life. 
Unity’s 5th Basic Principle is that knowing spiritual truth is not enough, we must go forth and put feet to our prayers. 

This is the time. 

I opened today’s board meeting with a prayer of Wisdom, Wholeness, and Love for ourselves, our community, local and world leaders, and each being on earth. I extend this to you dear friends. 
May all beings be well, wise, and act from love. 
Rachel

Self-Talk Victories

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I was all settled in with my coffee and a comfy chair. I opened up my backpack and… Dang! The books that had been sitting right there for me to read had not made it into my bag.

Now dear reader, if you are like me, you know what usually comes next. “gosh how stupid for forgetting” “I’m so scatterbrained” etcetera…

But instead this time I thought “well darn, I had hoped to get that reading in. I guess I was distracted when I was getting ready.”

Is this because I’m an oh so enlightened minister? Um, no. However, I have been practicing the Art and Practice of Living with No one and Nothing against you (the Q process). In the Q we notice this negative self-talk and learn to diffuse it and employ self-compassion.

Additionally the book we’ve been studying, What’s in the Way is the Way by Mary O’Malley talks about the inner storyteller and how to shift the story.

So, when I discovered I didn’t have the books I wanted, I was glad to notice that I didn’t spend a bunch of time being a mean to myself. It’s nice to see that this ongoing inner work actually has results.

Friends, it’s so nice to have the volume turned down on these unkind thoughts. It’s odd how we may consider words we wouldn’t say to a beloved perfectly ok to say to ourselves. Well, this is your reminder to stop it! Step one is to be aware.

You can certainly go deeper in healing these tendencies with the tools I’ve mentioned, but even if you don’t, just being aware is a step in the right direction.

Everyone makes mistakes, so be kind.

The future you want…

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“What are you willing to give up for the future you want to have?”

This is the question I asked someone recently. This particular person has been, in their own description, mostly doing the same thing and not getting anywhere. It really comes down to that too, we can want things ‘til the end of time, but wanting isn’t action and it isn’t change.

We wouldn’t expect someone who occasionally goes for a walk to be able to run a marathon. No, we would expect a marathon runner to train regularly and align their whole day around choices that would be supportive of that goal. In that process of alignment, there will be things that no longer fit. It may be a way of thinking, a food choice, or myriad of other things.

Maybe you’re not looking at marathon type goals. That’s ok, the answer still stands.

Do you want a future with more peace and kindness? Are you willing to give up gossip, nitpicking, judgement?

Do you want more time to enjoy your loved ones? Are you willing to reprioritize your time and give up the things that aren’t necessary or bringing lasting joy? On that note, maybe you are done cleaning your bathroom but you shouldn’t quit that particular thing. Maybe what you’re willing to give up is the money to pay someone else to do it.

Do you want to be able to respond more gracefully and centered to adversity? Are you willing to ‘give up’ time every day for spiritual practice and meditation?

One of the biggest things we as individuals and as a community and culture would be helped by giving up is this: The belief that we can’t.

All too often we give up on the possibility before giving it the full opportunity to blossom. Real change or progress takes time and each person and situation is different. Our skin is replaced in about 39 days while it takes 10 years for our bones to be renewed. If our bones compared themselves to the growth time of our skin, they’d have given up a long time ago. I mean if your friend succeeded 93 times before you did, you might be thinking you can’t either. But maybe it just means your task is harder.

In closing we return to the question: “What are you willing to give up for the future you want to have?”

Change, Something to Count On

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A friend of mine recently said. “I can count on change.” She had come up with this way to frame the variations of life because she had found that change had been stressful. Now she has a new perspective, that change is the thing she can count on. Not that her favorite shop would always carry her favorite thing, or even exist. Not that a relationship would stand the test of time. No, the thing she counts on is change.

I have been thinking about this ever since. I have my favorite people and things like most of us. I would prefer for things to be MY way. But whatever way that is, it’s simply a change of the way things were before that. As you may know, I am a frequent coffeeshop patron, many coffeeshops in our area rotate art and artists on a monthly basis. Sometimes I’m delighted by what I find, other times it’s not my preference. But either way I can count on there being something else in a month or so. This is happy or sad news dependent on my subjective opinion. I could pitch a fit and it’s still going to change, so I must either buy the art and take it home or allow for curiosity about what’s next lead.

Another friend of mine who grew up in Kansas City would say when I described a shop or restaurant by the street name, “oh, is that where such and such used to be?” I would laugh because of course when I was new to town, I didn’t know what was there before, only what was there now (and the street names). By the time I left over 9 years later, I could play that game too, either because the business had changed in my time there or I’d heard it called something else long enough.

That’s the nature of our existence. I can count on change.

If we fully embraced this truth we could be agile and able to respond. We can be present in the now, not in the what was. When we are truly plugged in to the truth of NOW then we can take action if we think it should be different. Arguing the facts doesn’t get us very far, change is always happening, in ways that we like and ways we don’t like.

The real question then comes down to, since we already know that we can count on change, “How can I be a catalyst for the change I want?” This is something with a lot of different answers depending on the goal. Of course prayer and meditation is always a wise first step. From there, you can be an agent of change is many ways.

Next is getting our own house in order, if we want more kindness in the world, we need to work to be kind. Then find others who are already working for the change you seek. Not a group that sits around and complains but is actually putting pen to paper, paint to wall, and trees in soil. You don’t have to invent the wheel, learn from those who have experience, then you can be much more efficient.

Then not only can you count on change, you can be the change!

Good Enough

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Today at the dog park, I saw this sticker that read: “You don’t need a pedigree to be a best friend.” Of course, it was talking about dogs, but I saw another application, in other words: we don’t have to be perfect/beautiful/smart/etc to be good enough.

I have observed this tendency to not begin for fear that we’ll not live up to an expectation. It’s something kids know but oftentimes grown-ups forget. Which is that it takes time to be good at something. The artist spent thousands of hours learning the ways to manipulate their medium. The writer uses the delete key as often as the others. The spiritual master has practiced for many years for many hours. The yoga teacher has fallen over more times than they can count to get that great form.

What they have that we may not is time invested. While their expression of the form may be more skillful that doesn’t guarantee that they’re having more fun than the first-timer or 20th-timer. That takes us back to our sticker.

What does it take to be a best friend, human or canine? Time spent together, mutual affection, loyalty, shared interests. None of those require a special skill set. To be a friend, we mostly need to show up. You don’t need the ‘right’ ‘stuff’, to have reached a certain enlightenment milestone, or have AKC registered parents.

If you have a sincere desire to improve in some area, then you and I both know that the investment of time is the way to go. But what’s most important is to know that you, as you are, are valuable. And where you are is the only place you can start from.