Tell A New Story. Use Your Creativity.

All of the people of the world joined together.
New leaders and new thought on the horizon.

It was the first Sunday of 2012, Rev Heather was out so that morning Rev Patricia Truman took the podium.

The Democrat and the Republican debates as well as the State of the Union address had been monopolizing the news.

“I don’t like any of them! That’s my position and I'm sticking to it.” Sometimes I feel more discerning when I am disagreeable. But it's true, there is no candidate who articulates my vision. Then I realized I hadn’t articulated my vision.



After Rev Patricia’s first Sunday of the year I have been challenged to look at it another way.

I’ve been called to imagine the future I envision. To tell a new story. To use my creativity.

Articulating our vision isn’t for the lazy minded. It takes energy, enthusiasm and thought. I’m so thankful for Rev Patricia’s reminder on that first Sunday of 2012. Now as I watch the news I don’t think that old thought, “I don’t like any of them.”

It's has become my call to creativity. What would my perfect representative represent? Who would I want in leadership positions? It allows me to move past the illusion of two cholces. It gives me the opportunity to formulate in my mind the perfect candidate, the perfect policies.

To use my creative energies. To remind myself that I am shaping this world. We all are.

I work on articulating my vision. I imagine my candidate. I tell a new story. There’s more than two choices, even to a discerning eye.

Throw away that illusion of limited choice. We have infinite choice. We do need to take the time to dream them up and know them intimately. God is in the details.

On that Sunday I came to church to hear that I needed to articulate my vision. To tell a new story. And that has made all the difference.

How Many Science Of Minders Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb?

John Cleese on Creativity,

Creativity is not a talent, creativity is a way of doing things.

Creativity is not related to intelligence.

Creativity is the ability to play with ideas. 

Watch this most excellent talk on creativity by John Cleese, where he gives you some fantastic tools for transformation and then in the comments please answer this question,

How Many Science Of Minders Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb?

The Open Mode Of Creativity 

Creative Angst is Straight from God

"Once I saw a little boy sitting at a piano and vainly trying to bring harmony out of the keys. I saw that he was grieved and provoked by his inability to play real music. I asked him why he was unhappy, and he answered, ‘I can feel the music in me, but I can’t make my hands go right."

From The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles

This is just how I feel sometimes. No, actually I feel this way a lot. I so understand this “creative angst.” That gap between what is in my minds eye and what actually appears feels absolutely intolerable at times. It can be the spacing between letters on a graphic, the phrase that doesn’t quite capture what I want to say or how I want to say it, those proportions in a drawing that just aren’t quite right or too much salt in a dish I am cooking. Even more insidious is the large project. The hems and haws, the ideas that don’t all fit together in a proportional manner. Sometimes I just can’t seem to quite map out how it’s all going to go and it leads to spinning my wheels.

It makes me curious how people create. How much is planned out and how much evolved out of the process of doing? I asked a novelist friend of mine. I felt safe asking her, I've known her since we were sixteen. “How do you start writing a novel? It seems like such a momentous task?” She said “You start with a main character, a place, a first scene and sometimes a theme.” “Really? That’s all?” I was shocked that it isn’t all planned out.

I shared this with my step daughter Ella. She agreed with my friend. “Well, yes,” she said with absolute certainty “the writing is when the story is written.” She said it with so much matter-o-factness I couldn't help but palm myself in the forehead.  

I really love what Wallace Wattles continues to say in The Science of Getting Rich. 

"God, the One Substance, is trying to live and do and enjoy things through humanity. He is saying, 'I want hands to build wonderful structures, to play divine harmonies, to paint glorious pictures. I want feet to run my errands, eyes to see my beauties, tongues to tell mighty truths and to sing marvelous songs.'"

People v The State of Illusion Tonight With Austin Vickers

Tonight June 21st at 7pm,
Austin Vickers @AustinVickers here to screen his new film,
People v The State of Illusion.
Watch the movie and find out how your full potential can be realized.
After the show share your thoughts!

Call the center 949-240-6463 with a credit card today to get your tickets for $15.Tickets are $20. at the door for more info contact
Karyn Allen, Staff Minister
Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley &
Centers for Spiritual Living Clergy Association
949-240-6463 x103

The Zen Commandments by Dean Sluyter

SAN CLEMENTE IN THE NEWS!!!

Dean Sluyter will present his workshop: “Natural Meditation” April 19th 2015 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

A light lunch will be served following the Sunday Celebration Service; childcare will be provided during the workshop.  Love Offering! 

A Parable Consider the waves of the ocean.

At any given moment, a wave is limited in space: extending from Point A to Point B, it's just so big and no bigger, isolated by the troughs that separate it from other waves. It's also limited in time: it arose at some moment in the past and will crash against the shore at some moment in the future. And it's never at rest but is in constant, turbulent motion.

Like waves, all the things I encounter are limited, isolated, and in motion, and so am I. From my Point A to Point B is just 5'10" and 153 pounds, and not only my body but my personality, history, philosophy, social status, net worth - everything I might identify with Me is dwarfed by the much larger totality of Not Me. Within the great expanse of time it's a frighteningly short span from the moment of my birth to the moment when I will crash against the shore we call death. And both I and all the other finite, wavelike beings undergo the turbulence of constant activity and change, often creating new problems and limitations as we slosh up against each other. (read more)

What It's All About

1. Rest in Openness
2. Act with Kindness
3. Notice the Moment
4. Recognize Teachers
5. Keep It Simple
6. Be Devoted
7. No Appointment, No Disappointment
8. Bless Everyone
9. Disconnect the Dots
10. Be a Mensch and Enjoy the Joke

A Love Story Based on a True Story of Reincarnation

When a modern-day couple decides to discover through past life regression if their lives were linked in the past, a passionate 1930s love story emerges.

Synopsis
Based on a true story of reincarnation supported by documentation. It is 1934 in Rensselaer, Indiana, when Elsie Wilkins meets John McDonald―-a man unlike any other. After feeling an intense chemistry, Elsie cannot take her eyes off him. The handsome apprentice architect has swept the independent-minded teacher off her feet. Despite the fact that Elsie is still married to a man who abandoned her without warning, she and John begin a fervent courtship as all social mores fall away. As the Great Depression continues to wreak havoc around them, John and Elsie feel no hunger other than for each other. Just when their infatuation transforms to a powerful love, Elsie’s husband makes an appearance and suddenly, the joyful future they have planned is threatened.

Lifetimes Ago - A Love Story Inspired From Past Life Memories

Available on Nook and Kindle for $1.99

Member of our center, Susie Schecter, wrote "Lifetimes Ago - A Love Story Inspired From Past Life Memories." Creativity is the theme for June at The Center for Spiritual Living. This past weekend we had the privilege of enjoying the performances of our singers and dancers and now we turn the spotlight to our literary folk.

Musical Benefit for American Cancer Society tonight in San Juan Capistrano

Desserts Theater will present, "Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do" with songs from Bye Bye Birdie, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Wicked and more.

The show begins at 7:30 pm. Be sure to arrive early to reserve your seat. Be prepared for the best evening of your life. Scrumptious desserts will be served at intermission.

General Admission is $15.00 and premier rows 1 and 2 are $20.00.

The proceeds from performances will be donated to The American Cancer Society in honor of all the choir members we have lost to cancer.

The Ultimate Change

Ernest Holmes

No matter what may be in the subjective state of our thought,
the conscious state can change it.

Such is the power of right thinking that it cancels and erases everything unlike itself.  It answers every question, solves all problems, and is the solution to every difficulty.  It is like the Sunlight of Eternal Truth bursting through the clouds of obscurity and bathing all life in a celestial glory.  It is the Absolute with which we are dealing and nothing less.

You Can Grow Ideas

Hi Neighbor! Welcome again to this neighborhood!
I'd like to show your something, do you know what this is?
Maybe if I press this button, this is a cassette player with a little cassette in here.
And there is nothing written on it, so we will just have to play it to see what it is.

Do you ever imagine things? Are they scary things?
Do you ever imagine things? Things you'd like to have?
Did you ever see a cats eyes in the dark?
And wonder what they were?
Did you ever pretend about things like that before?

Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind?
You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind.
It's good to be curious about many things.
You can think about things and make believe,
All you have to do is think and they'll grow.

Imagine every person that you see is somewhat different from every other person in the world
Some can do some things, some can do others.
Do you ever think of the many things you've learned to do?
Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind?
You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind.

It's good to be curious about many things.
You can think about things and make believe,
All you have to do is think and they'll grow.

Do you feel like going like that?
Let's give the fish some food.
Mr McFeely I did't order any whistles.
That's what they call these, slide whistles.

Do you feel like going like that?
There are so many things to learn about in this world.
And so many people who can help us learn.

Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind?
You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind.
It's good to be curious about many things.

You can think about things and make believe,
All you have to do is think,
You can think about things and make believe,
All you have to do is think, And they'll grow...

Garden of Your Mind / Mister Rogers Remixed

What if life were like going out to dinner?

What if …?

What if life were like going out to dinner?

THE MENU

FRANK

Where do you want to go out to dinner tonight?

(NANCY turns to him with a blank stare. He looks at her questioningly.)

NANCY

Oh, I don’t know. You decide.

FRANK

“Well then lets go for pasta, that Italian place.”

(NANCY frowns and sighs discontentedly.)

NANCY

“No, no Italian’s too heavy. I want something different.”

(FRANK stands listlessly.)

FRANK

“Well … decide what you want. That's all you have to do.”

***
Articulating what you want. It’s everything. Its planting the seed. It’s choosing to live in the imagination. It's making a choice.

How many times do we not make a choice, live from our default settings, and then get crabby when we aren't satisfied with the results. 

Because we are creating every second of the day. From "5 Steps to Freedom an Introduction to Spiritual Mind Treatment" by Dr. John Waterhouse "We live in a constant state of creative expression."

Every moment we are making choices. Some of our choices are being made on autopilot, unconsciously, automatically.

This leads me to wonder what the world would look like if everyone were making the choices that led to consciously creating their own best good.

Austin Vickers @CSLCV June 21st at 7pm

On Thursday, June 21st at 7pm, Discover what Filmmaker Austin Vickers learned while creating his new film, People v The State of Illusion. Find out how your full potential can be realized. Come see the movie with us and share your thoughts!

Pre-sale tickets are $15 or $20 at the door for more info contact
Karyn Allen, Staff Minister
Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley &
Centers for Spiritual Living Clergy Association
949-240-6463 x103

Ernest Holmes Your Creative Spirit

True imagination is not fanciful daydreaming;
It is fire from heaven. ― Ernest Holmes

Science of Mind Book Review 5 Steps to Freedom

5 Steps to Freedom
an introduction to spiritual mind treatment

My book review for Science of Mind class 104.

I would highly recommend the book "5 Steps to Freedom an Introduction to Spiritual Mind Treatment" to anyone who wants to learn more about the practice of spiritual mind treatments. Dr. John Waterhouse, author and co-minister for the Center for Creative Living in Asheville, North Carolina, creates a straightforward plain spoken explanation of all the steps.

So many of my questions were addressed before I even had time to articulate them. Waterhouse guides you through the process and anticipates questions while deepening your understanding of the major tenets of this philosophy.

An excellent accompaniment to class. Here are some of the special gems I found in this book.

Redefining Prayer
We are really praying all the time. Page 3, “Every time we are angry, we are praying. Every time someone tells a joke, or laughs, or lies, or cries, what is happening is prayer. Our judgments are prayers. Our fears and phobias are prayers. Spirit is present in the midst of it all … Everything we think, say and do is a prayer, and every bit of it is having a direct and significant effect on our lives.“

No Permission Needed.
It’s not about asking permission. It's about knowing it's already here. Seeing the spiritual perfection, knowing it and being grateful for that. Page 49 “Asking implies that there is a power separate from us that we must appeal to before we can receive a desired outcome. Knowing implies that the power of Spirit is within and all around us, available for our use right now.”

Choose Specific and Strong Language in the Now
It may be true of any science. Scientific language needs to be precise. Words like “try” “want” separate you from the desired outcome. This language creates a state of want and not a state of “have.” Page 51 “When we say, “I now have …” or “I now know …” we locate ourselves in time and space in such a way as to focus on and intensify our creative power. The now moment is the only place where anything happens.”

I’m going to read it one more time just to be satisfied I’ve gathered all the good little morsels this book has to offer. I also want to thank Diane Hennessey for the book. I'm going to lend it to you, I'm just not quite ready to let it out of my clutches just yet. It was the perfect accompaniment to Class 104.