You Are Invited to Participate

First Service in San Clemente 2013

Do you love the Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley?

Would you like to participate in the success of this center?

Do you consider this Center to be your spiritual home?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, please join your spiritual family for a very special event.

On Sunday, November 1, 2015, immediately following the service, I will lead an inner introspective journey that will reveal your successes and how you have  risen to a more joyful way of living by being part of this beautiful spiritual family. I will then explain how your commitment to our Center benefits our programs, staff, and our community at large.

If you consider yourself to be a member of this spiritual family or if you would like to be a member, please join us in the Love, Community and Commitment that is who and what we are at the Center for Spiritual living Capistrano Valley.

We will break bread together, so you won't need to leave after the service. Both your souls and your stomachs will be fed. 

I am looking forward to seeing you there.

Our mission is to grow into our divine potential individually and collectively, revealing spiritual truth, and inspiring spiritual awareness in our community.

For those of you who join us virtually and cannot attend in person, arrangements will be made for you to Zoom in to be part of the ceremony. 

I am thankful for surfers, carnies, family and my spiritual community.

Hearts don't break. They just get resized.

“You happy Mama?” Kate asked me.

She had just opened the office door to find me crying. She had never seen this before … not like this.

I picked her up and held her close and said, “Yes Sweetheart, I am happy.”

And it was the truth.

I had taken the risk. What I thought would surely break me did not.

That Thursday afternoon I had heard a No, a no that I had been dreading my whole life. In fact I was so certain that hearing a “no” would destroy me that I had never dared put myself out there.

From Thursday afternoon on I was numb. By Friday I was a sloppy crying mess. By Saturday I was raging mad … my husband will confirm this. I joked that I was going through the steps of grieving quite quickly as I was already on anger.

But once I let the anger drop and I got the tears out everything got quiet.

I walked down to the trail, got my feet in the dirt, smelled the sage brush and watched the surf. Nearby on the beach a family with young children started to include Kate and I in their play. We looked at sea slugs, sand crabs and the Mom and I discussed music and kindergarten.

A pretty young girl surfer invited Kate to make a sandcastle with her. Her boyfriend joined them and they giggled as they played family in the sand. I watched the set waves come in. It was a great show.

That afternoon I went to the Carnival with Kate and my Mother-in Love to see our Fab 3 sing the Metaphyscial Hits of The Beatles. We watched Kate laugh and giggle on the rides. We both laughed and smiled. Kate’s joy was infectious and it filled me with gratitude for the love that surrounds us both.

I reached out to my community. I was in pain. I decided to try something new. The support swooped in like magic reminding me of the truth. It didn't make me feel weak. It made me feel supported and loved. By reaching out I created space to let in the support that has been surrounding me all along.

I will probably still cry about this but my tears will be of love and not regret. It feels a lot different.

"Don't fear the night time cause the monsters know that you're Divine." 

~ Michael Franti & Spearhead "Never Too Late"

Balance, Balance, Balance!

 

As a parent it is easy to find life being all about the kids. When our two children were young preschoolers their father and I would strive to balance our lives around  the very important issues of sleep, play dates, parenting classes, parenting books, the parents of our kids friends, and oh, ya work! My husband and I saw each other over dinner that was consumed by baby talk, snatched moments of intimacy and looking over the heads of our sweet children who consumed our lives and the thoughts we were thinking. To save ourselves from becoming baby-maniacs we balanced our lives with becoming involved in our spiritual center. The same one we attend today, our center was a refuge for me as a young stay at home mother.

When the kids were school age, family vacations were at kid friendly places, our friends were the parents of our kids friends, our activities were the activities of our children so we were Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and students again.  We watched "G" rated movies and spoke of the tooth fairy, how to be a friend, and who got to stay home alone while the other parent took the kids to their activities. My husband and I discovered date night and the power of a weekend away and even vacationed without the children thanks to our family and the circle of friends established in those early preschool years. Our thoughts were still consumed by our children in these years and we were well equipped with the spiritual tools that we learned at our Center to balance parenthood with our marriage. Kids and work, life and living was all the creative expression of our lives. Somehow we were able in those years to deepen our connection within our spiritual center as volunteers, and leaders. Our circle of friends were our kids friends parents and our classmates from church. We learned, along with our children, about the value and importance of our "church family". 

I look back on the teenage years with fondness - mostly because they are over! We all survived the inevitable rolling of the eyes (mine as much as theirs) demands on our time from overburdened school activities, the crazy taxi driver life, and the extreme sport of pulling away while clinging to life as it has always been.  My husband and I were involved in every aspect of our children's lives and they in ours. Balance was a matter of fitting more onto the plate of activities because surely there was room for more good in my life. I was definitely more adept at this than my husband who has always had an easier time saying no than me! During the teen age years my husband and I became licensed Practitioners here at our spiritual center. We were trained in the art and science of prayer. What a blessing to our family and ourSelves!!  The process required us to be in class one night a week for several years. Because we went through the classes together we experienced our growth together.  During the teen age years we all grew! We had a village of support that included our extended families on both sides and our church family. 

Now as parents of young adults my husband and I are still involved here at our beloved home away from home our spiritual center. We have friends here at church and in our neighborhood, from my husbands work and friends of friends. We have kept in touch with some of the parents of our children's  friends but mostly we have our own now.  Our children are our friends and we have a life outside of parenting that I never could have imagined. 

Tomorrow my husband and I celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary and when I think about how we did it I know it is balance! We consciously and sometimes unconsciously balance our lives to include God, our dreams, our passion and each other. Oh, yeah, and our kids are part of that balance too! The theme throughout our 27 years has been our spiritual community. Here we have grown in love and in age. Here, we have come to know ourselves. 

Teaching our children is a blessing and humbling experience.

Teaching our children is a blessing and humbling experience. 

Planning and presenting the lessons for the youth of our center is a powerful and humbling experience. Each week, children from infancy to 12, come for an hour of their precious weekend to learn about God, affirmations, prayer, universal laws and all the reasons why they can and do use them. They come for connection, inspiration and because they know they are important to our extended spiritual family. Well, I like to think that is why they are coming. And some are! In reality, I know some are dragged by their parent-- "you will learn to be spiritual", some are coming for the promise of the donut after the service, and some are coming to see their friends and maybe get a chance to speak into the microphone on the platform. Whatever their reason, I and our teaching team, are ready to receive them with discussions, activities, spiritual practices, crafts and most importantly our love and to listen. We listen to the stories; the desires of the heart of a four year old who wants to play with the trains and the ten year old who wants to fit in at school. We take that lesson that we have spent hours on and adapt, tweak and shift it up to meet the needs and desires of the kids who have shown up. I often wonder if the kids show up because of the lesson that has been created in Mind, or does the lesson show up for the kids. Of course, it is both. Sometimes, as I am planning a lesson, a particular child will be on my mind and I am never surprised to see them, but I am always left with the humbling thought that they are responding to the same inspiration that I am. That we have connected at deeper place that brought us to share this lesson.

This week we have been planning our Palm Sunday lesson. For more than ten years this has been my favorite lesson. I know it has been at least ten years because my children who are now young adults participated as children in this lesson with me. The lesson, has evolved and grown over the years.  I can't remember how it started that we re-enact the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  Like so many inspirations it is timeless and continues to give year after year. In this lesson, together we create the road lined with flowers, covered with palms and beautiful fabric that symbolizes the cloaks of the people.  We ask, What must that have been like to have the road lined with people who adore you? Singing your praises and laying down palms and cloaks for you to walk upon. The only similarity in our lives is when the winning team of the World Series returns home and gets a parade of adoring fans. Is that as close as we can get I wonder.  I wonder if those athletes who are being greeted by adoring fans realize the magnitude of their words and their actions. Surely this is a great moment in life.  Knowing who we are matters, what we think, say and do makes a difference. This is our Palm Sunday lesson As we re-enact the event from two thousand years ago we recognize that the great teacher Jesus owned his power. He owned it with all of his being. He didn't say well sometimes I'm pretty good like if I'm with good friends and if the stars and moons are aligned I can do great things. He owned it all the time. So we learn to own our power, to share our gifts, our talents with the awareness that we glorify God by shining our light.  And, here is the great part of our lesson: Jesus knew that the same divine potential that he owned so completely in himself was and is in every person. In this lesson we explore what it is to have the courage of Jesus to let our light shine, be great in all that we do and the awesome humility of knowing that that great light is God and is everyone. Not just some, not just a few special ones, but everyone. We learn to let our light shine with courage and to recognize that light in ourselves and everyone around us as the light of God.

Like I said, creating and presenting the youth lessons at our center is an awesome experience. I know that what I am doing is making a difference. I know that the children I am sharing these lessons with are making a profound difference in my life. Finally, I am blessed in knowing that our spiritual community is a place to learn about Life, about Love, and about the awesome Power that each of us has.