Time To Connect Sunday Service

This holiday I choose my own traditions. I fill my soul with whom I spend my time, how I celebrate, and how expansive I feel.

Time To Connect!

Be Grateful In All things

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it reminds me to practice gratitude. For many people Thanksgiving is a special time with family and friends, sharing favorite foods and enjoying each other's company. I know that for many people football is part of the tradition. I For some families it is an afternoon of playing cards and relaxing with friends.

I know that each of us has our own memories of Thanksgivings Past. So I know also that some people have painful memories of Thanksgiving.

I was talking to a friend recently who told me that her worst Thanksgiving ever was one year when she was in France. There weren't even any turkeys anywhere!

For others the worst Thanksgiving could have been one filled with arguments. disagreements and anger.Not everyone's family is functional.

Nevertheless, what a great opportunity to remember all the things to be grateful for...all of your talents and abilities... your friends and family...your knowledge...the Presence of the Divine...freedom to choose and the Law of Mind.

Gratitude multiplies your good. Lavish praise on the Universe and the Universe will respond by bringing more good to you.

May this be your best Thanksgiving yet!

One of the best videos on gratitude I have ever experienced is Louis Schwartzberg's video on gratitude. Please enjoy.

Centers For Spiritual Living Ordination

Our Vision: “Global Heart” 

1. We envision the emergence of the Global Heart to balance and guide the further evolution of humanity. 

2. We see a world free of homelessness, violence, war, hunger, separation and disenfranchisement. 

3. We see a world in which there is generous & continuous sharing of heart and resources. We envision a world in which forgiveness, whether for errors, injustices, or debts, is the norm. 

4. We see a world in which borders are irrelevant. 

5. We see a world which has renewed its emphasis on beauty, nature and love through a resurgence of creativity, art, and aesthetics. 

6. We see a world in which fellowship prospers and connects through the guidance of spiritual wisdom and experience. 

7. We envision a world in which we live and grow as One Human Family. We envision "UCSL" as a bridge across the illness and illusion of separation thereby dynamically empowering the vision of Global Heart. 

8. We envision "United Center for Spiritual Living" as united and actuated by this compelling vision of a healthy world (a world experiencing Global Heart) & is ardently committed to bringing this vision forth through its ministries & its transformative teaching. 

9. We see "UCSL" as a global community of people pervasively caring for and about each other and the entire human family, thereby bringing the gift of active compassion to the world. Our local churches and communities become "points of inspiration and influence" effectively advancing the vision of Global Heart.

The Centers For Spiritual Living Ministerial Code 

Prayer of Gratitude Sunday Service

Every moment of every day, I experience a resounding feeling of having enough. I give thanks for it being so, and I know tomorrow brings even more.

Favorites

This Sunday we will be celebrating the ordination of three of our ministers -- Rev. Karyn Allen, Rev. Bruce Fredenburg and Rev. Pattie Mercado. Ordination is my favorite celebration. It signifies so much. In the Centers for Spiritual Living ordination handbook, it is written :
 " A Rite of Passage:

In some denominations, ordination is part of graduation from seminary.  In the Centers for Spiritual Living ordination is conferred upon a minister who has completed practitioner training and ministerial training and who has successfully performed as a minister in a field church or ministry.  The ministry of this individual has been reviewed by the Office of Licensing and Credentialing at the Centers for Spiritual Living Home Office.  S/he has been interviewed by a panel of his/her peers who made the recommendation of his/her ordination to the Leadership Council.  It is this Council that grants the office “Ordained Minister” to successful candidates.

For the minister being ordained, the ceremony is the fulfillment of many years of study, commitment and growth.  Most importantly, it is his/her affirmation that ministering to the spiritual growth of others is his/her life time dedication.  Ordination is a celebration with the minister as s/he affirms his/her sacred commitment to spiritual service."

What a joy it is to officiate in this ceremony for three of my favorite people! Many colleagues, family and friends will be attending. It is a true celebration. The ceremony itself is heartfelt and sacred.

Although the ceremony itself has changed over the years, after integration, the intent is simply to provide a ritual that is a rite of passage from one level of consciousness to the next.

Yolanda, me, Rev. Bruce Fredenburg 01/20/2014

 

Rick Dale,me, Rev. Karyn Allen 1/20/2014

Rev. Pattie Mercado, me, Fred Mercado 01/20/2014

Your Movie Script Sunday Service

Every day I experience my creative gifts, my prosperity, my health and my relationships in a more expanded way from yesterday, knowing I am Divinely equipped to thrive. And So It Is!

And So It Is!

A Place Called Home

I have lived in many places from the tiny rural villages I was raised in, to cosmopolitan cities. Each one has a special place in  my heart.

When I knew I was being called to southern California, I was living in Calgary, Alberta. Calgary is a great city, close to the mountains. I has a view of the mountains (on a clear day) from the window of a junior high school classroom. I first came to California in May of 1993. The weather in San Diego was welcoming and warm. Everywhere there were palm trees. (Some of you know that I saw palm trees in my long term vision back in 1985.)
But the most surprising tree was the jacaranda trees. I had never seen a tree bloom in color before.

Last May I took some pictures of jacaranda trees.

Laguna Niguel Jacaranda

There are so many exquisite plants and trees here. I trust that we all remember to be open to their beauty. 

The trees are phenomenal but it is really the people I remember.

The cute surfer in Hawaii, sitting under a tall palm tree on the beach in Waikiki,who I returned to see many times. 

The wonderful men and women in my first center in beautiful Bonita, who helped me establish myself as a teacher and speaker.

The wonderful men and women here in San Clemente who continuously call me to my greatness, who share their hopes and dreams with me, and who remind me to rise to my higher self.

What surrounds you? What vegetation reminds you that you are home?

Dr. Judith Orloff San Clemente Workshop

THE ECSTASY OF SURRENDER:  With Dr. Judith Orloff; 

12 Surprising Ways Letting Go Can Empower Your Life Workshop in San Clemente 

December 6, 2014 1:00 p.m. Click here to take part. INCLUDES FREE BOOK WITH TICKET! 

Dr. Orloff's message is that you can sabotage your health, success, and longevity by pushing too hard. Surrender is the antidote to stress in a world that relentlessly conspires to interrupt creative thought. Surrender boosts your brain's endorphins--euphoric, opiate-like pain killers--and serotonin, a natural antidepressant that allows you to relax, have more fun, and succeed more wildly than ever before. Though surrender may seem counter-intuitive to making your goals happen, it can actually be the magical factor that facilitates this and relieves gridlock. Life becomes easier and more blissful when you can let go. 

Through passionate examples from her own life and those of thousands of patients and seminar participants who she has taught the art of surrender, Judith suggests, instructs, guides, makes you laugh and cry, and then just let go! When you come to the end of THE ECSTASY OF SURRENDER you realize that you are free to be who you are--finally and truly--and you are happier and healthier for it! This book is a friend to everyone who wants to conquer stress, live longer and healthier, and a life-long resource to return to again and again. 

New York Times bestselling author and UCLA psychiatrist, Judith Orloff, M.D. has created a results-oriented book that shows readers how to thrive in our modern, task-heavy, constantly-wired lives. She considers this her most important book for compelling reasons.

National Bestseller, THE ECSTASY OF SURRENDER reveals everything you will ever need to know about when to let go versus when to assert control - the secret formula to vibrant health, longevity, wellness, healing, success, pleasure, and happiness. The powerful promise of this book, from succeeding in business to falling in love to accepting death, is letting yourself be catapulted beyond the ordinary to view all of existence in extraordinary terms.

In THE ECSTASY OF SURRENDER Judith has created 12 essential choices for a powerful, healthy, abundant, and fearless life. Each chapter guides readers through specific ways they can apply surrender to success, money and communication, relationships, love and sexuality, the divinity of the body, illness, pain, aging, death and beyond. Dr. Orloff teaches you how to shut off an overactive mind to achieve inner calm, and how to stop worrying and pushing too hard so you can feel more peace of mind.

THE ECSTASY OF SURRENDER:  With Dr. Judith Orloff; 

12 Surprising Ways Letting Go Can Empower Your Life Workshop in San Clemente 

December 6, 2014 1:00 p.m. Click here to take part. 

Dead Trees Don't Lose Their Leaves Sunday Service

I remember always that I am flexible and strong, bending and flexing, knowing that life's wind will always die down and I remain standing strong. And So It Is!

The Gift of Friendship

Over the years I have noticed something strange about myself. i was always a very sensitive child...at three years old sobbed about Bambi's mother being shot when the story was being read to my older sister. I still make certain I have lots of tissues in my purse when I go to the movies no matter whether going to an animated feature or a love story. I can easily put myself in the characters place and feel their heartbreak or despair. 

However, in my own life letting myself feel and express sadness is almost impossible now. I don't know when it started but I do not like it. I don't want to feel cold-hearted or unresponsive.

I feel like there is a iceberg around my heart. I want to cry, but I can't. It feels fake, forced and inauthentic. What has happened to me?

Maybe the events of life have hardened my heart, or maybe they have desensitized me to the facts.

I wonder if other metaphysicians feel the same way.

My twenty-plus year friendship with Dr. Jane Claypool is a heart-wrenching example. I benefitted so much from my years of friendship with Jane.We laughed together often. We prayed together often. I wonder if we cried together. Right now I do not know.

Please stand with me for an open heart, unprotected and ready to give and receive love. In the 198o's a group of Canadian singers recorded the song "Tears are Not Enough." They may not be enough but they are a start.

The Faith Factor Sunday Service

When in doubt, I step into the realm of possibilities where solutions lie, healings occur, and abundance is a plenty. And So It Is!