Change is upon us.   Whether we like it or not, it is here. We can balk and resist, but it will do no one any good. What is one solution to the challenges ahead of us? For me, it is to deepen our sense of community. When times are tough, there are always hidden treasures to be found. We have recently completed a Service dedicated to recognizing the “treasure” hidden in trauma (“From Trauma to Treasure”).

We can use the environmental/economic/political challenges of our times to propel us forward, to develop ourselves in new ways, not only to better manage what lies ahead, but to grow in ways which will forever enhance the quality of our lives. Perhaps we can comfort one another, cheer one another on, offer help in different ways, offer our heart’s compassion, encouragement and even share skills with each other. Perhaps our simple presence with each other is enough!

Safety, Belonging, Community as Circle and Intimacy are the topics we will cover this month, as we encourage everyone to consider deepening community, not only amongst our Church community, but in other communities we are involved with as well.

It is up to us to create the future we want for ourselves.   Isolation or intimacy, separation or oneness? What will we choose? Can we make this planet a thriving healthy one through individual plans and gains, or do we need to learn to consider each other in a caring communal global plan?

Please join us as we explore community, what it means, what we need to do to make it happen for us, and to develop deeper connections within our Community of Conscious Living.

Cedona Holly,  Spiritual Directions Committee

Sunday Service Schedule for September

Theme:  Deepening Community

September 5 Safety in Community

Moderator- Marvelous Trudeau

Meditator- TBA

Panel – Paul Monfette & Marvelous Trudeau

Sept.12th Community as Circle

Moderator- Joyanna Wilkinson

Meditator- Norm Smookler

Speaker – Andre Spencer

Sept.19th Community Service:  Sense of Belonging

Panel - Spiritual Directions Committee  (Pass the mic)
Moderator – June Swadron

Meditation – Marie Logan

Sept. 26th Community Service:  Invitation to Intimacy

Moderator –  Deborah Hawkey

Meditation – Laura Lane

Oneness Wednesdays is starting up again (after the Summer break)  and everyone is welcome to drop-in to any and all sessions.   In September, we will  open our bodies and  hearts  to inner calm and loving kindness,  reflect, acknowledge and  honor the changing seasons and cycles of life,  and joyfully connect with each other in spontaneous fun and other life-enhancing creative activities.  Free or by donation.

• September 1, 8 + 15 Mindful Yoga with Misha Gitberg:  Theme will be Metta or Loving Kindness
  
• September 22 Autumn Equinox Celebration with Joy Emmanuel and members of the Transition Victoria’s Heart and Soul Group.
• September 29 Ways of the Playful Warrior with Paul Monfette and Friends

Information:    Oneness Wednesdays – see side bar or Linda at (250) 380-6383

Mindful Yoga Course with Misha Gitberg – Thursday, September  2  to Thursday,  October  7, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Theme will be Compassion, which is ancient Buddhist practice of training the mind to be open to suffering.   Over the period of 6 weeks,  Mindful Yoga will be practiced  in a small group.  Mindful yoga is ideal for those who want to experience yoga as a spiritual practice, not merely as a physical workout.   In this style of yoga, the work with the mind is as important as working with the body. The result is a deeper experience of mind-body connection, inner peace and health.   Fee:   $90.  Prerequisites:  curiosity about yoga- no previous experience is necessary.

Information:    Misha at 778-678-0137  or misha@soulstir.net

LaMilonga Superior,   Every Saturday,  9 p.m. to Midnight

Tango VITA meets weekly for Argentine Tango dancing.  For those of you that have not been there, this venue has a beautiful hexagonal hardwood floor. Refreshments are also served.   In order to preserve the beautiful wooden floors, please bring non-marking shoes.  Lessons: Rene and Hilda offer lessons before the milonga from 7-8pm beginners; 8-9pm intermediates.

Information:  Tango VITA:  (info@tangovita.com )

Two Toonies For Tunes on Tuesdays - Every Tuesday from to September 7, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Everyone is welcome to drop-in.  For the third year,  Gloria Hansen will be leading the Two Toonies for Tunes on Tuesdays. Songs will be selected from the “Gettin Higher Core Repertoire” as well as lots of rounds,gospel songs,world music fun and fanciful songs as well as many songs from recent Gettin Higher concerts. Get out your favorites and be prepared for a songfest.

Info:  gloria@gettinhigherchoir.ca or http://www.gettinhigherchoir.ca/community-info/#dropin

Women Food and God,  Wednesdays beginning September 8,    7 to 9 p.m.    (in the Quiet Room)

This is an ongoing discussion and support group for women, based on Geneen Roth’s best-selling book facilitated by Treena Norrish, RPC.   This group offers you an opportunity to:  consider the way in which you relate to food, connect with other women in a safe and supportive environment,  learn Geneen Roth’s eating guidelines and discover how your relationship with food can be a doorway to freedom.  Cost is $10 per session.

Information:   www.livingradiance.ca or  contact Treena at 250 891 1817  treena@livingradiance.ca

Bhakti Night Friday, Sept 10,  6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

You are invited!  Come sing your heart open.  Enjoy a simple vegetarian meal 2nd Friday of every month.  By donation.

Information:  Mirabai@telus.net.

Write Yourself Home Saturday,  Sept  11, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

A nurturing, playful one-day writing retreat with June Swadron.  Writing has the power to stop time, cut through the extraneous and take us home to our heart.  This workshop experience will include the writing of stories, poetry, memories and learning the fundamentals of moving past the head and into the heart of writing.   You will be led gently into story and into the soul’s inner landscape where clarity, creativity, passion, originality and truth are revealed.  With encouragement, safety and the freedom to jump in,  you will open to the joy of where writing can take you.  Everyone welcome – seasoned & novice writers alike.  Full day workshop fee:  $85.00

See YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcDtScvbpZY

Information and to register:  http://juneswadron.com/retreats/write-yourself-home and call June at  (250) 385-2205 or june@juneswadron.com

Awakening Our Evolutionary Eyes - Part 1:  Entering In – Saturday, September 18, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We begin in Gratitude – a pathway for opening the heart – and move through the spiral of deeper feelings that awaken the truth of our common condition – reconnecting with our true inner nature, with each other, and with all beings as we awaken our passion to protect life on planet earth.   Cost: Sliding scale $25.00 and up ~ per workshop  [Note:  This workshop is part of a series and is also a stand-alone event]

Information and to register:   Joy at (250) 744-5790 or joye@telus.net

Gettin Higher Choir – Fall season starts week of Sept 20 to end of January

New singers are welcome to join the choir in the first two weeks:  Tuesdays  (September 21 & 28) or Thursdays (September 23 & 30).  Choir fees$175 for the season with a sliding scale down to $130 for seniors/students/unwaged.  The choir meets 7:30 to 9:30 each night of the season and there will be New Singer Orientation sessions from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. on each of the intake nights.

Information:  Bill Hanson at  250-920-4160 or bill@gettinhigherchoir.ca

Environmental Health Association BC Annual General Meeting - Sunday, September 26^th – 2:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

Speaker will be Rachel Aube.  2010 AGM and Meeting Announcements (PDF–70k).  Please attend this meeting unscented and fragrance -free due to allergic persons in attendance.

Information:   www.ehabc.org or  (250) 658-2027

High Noon Choir - Fall Season starts September 28 through December 14.

Each season lasts 12 weeks, and there are three seasons per year.  Each season lasts 12 weeks, and there are three seasons per year.   New singers are always welcome!    There will be orientations for them before choir at 11:30 for the first two weeks of every season.

Information:   Gloria Hansen at gloria@gettinhigherchoir.ca or 250-995-8731

We become human only in the company of other human beings.

And this involves both opening our hearts and giving voice to our deepest convictions.

—  Paul Rogat Loeb

Mindful Yoga with Misha Gitberg – Sept 1, 8 + 15

The focus for the Oneness Wednesdays Mindful Yoga  is Metta or Loving Kindness. This is an ancient Buddhist practice of training the mind to be loving without clinging

Mindful yoga is ideal for those who want to experience yoga as a spiritual practice, not merely as a physical workout.  In this style of yoga, the work with the mind is as important as working with the body. The result is a deeper experience of mind-body connection, inner peace and health.  Each class will consist of a series of asanas followed by a formal Metta practice.

Please bring your mat.

About Misha Gitberg:

Misha Gitberg is a yoga and meditation teacher as well as a mind-body psychotherapist, who combines classical Hatha Yoga teachings and Buddhist meditation practices.  His professional and personal trajectory included Western psychotherapy, body-focused psychotherapy, Buddhist meditation practices and yoga, and he lived and learned in Russia, Canada, India, Nepal and Thailand.   His aspiration is to live an aware and creative life and to be of service to others who are inspired to follow this path. For more information, please visit Misha’s website: www.soulstir.net

Oneness Wednesdays Details:

Date: Wednesdays,  September  1, 8 + 15

Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Location: Church of Truth, 111 Superior Street (in James Bay)

Cost: Free or by donation

Information: Linda at (250) 380-6383 or http://cotvictoria.ca

Article on Misha Gitberg – March 2009

Misha’s Mindful Yoga Course – (Theme:  Compassion) on Thursday, Sept  2 – Oct 7, 5 – 7 p.m. at Church of Truth.

Autumn Equinox Celebration ~ Finding Inner Balance in a Changing World – September 22

The Autumnal Equinox marks a time of crossing an invisible threshold; a brief moment of balance between the forces of darkness and light, warmth and coolness, playful nurture and earnest action, gathering in and giving out.  While we prepare for the shift in our daily rhythms, we also hold in our awareness the larger, not-so-seasonal shifts happening on our planet – and we seek ways to care for these changes as we create a more just, caring, and sustainable world.

This Autumnal Equinox event, Finding Inner Balance in a Changing World, invites us to gather for a time of collective reflection on the changes we see and feel happening around us; a time to acknowledge the beauty we love and care for in the world; a time to celebrate all that has been given; and a time to welcome the future we wish to create together. We gather as our ancestors have done for many thousands of years to honour the changing seasons and cycles of life; and, we gather to creating meaningful ritual for our times and the challenges that we face.

About Heart and Soul Group:

One of the off-spring of the Victoria Transition Town Initiative (http://transitionvictoria.ning.com/) has been the Heart and Soul Working Group.  The Heart and Soul group is a mix of practitioners who follow different paths and fellow sojourners. Through this Equinox celebration, which will be facilitated by Joy Emmanuel and led by members of the Heart and Soul group, we honour and celebrate our evolutionary consciousness through a diversity of approaches to engaging this planetary shift.

Oneness Wednesdays Details:

Date: Wednesdays,  September  22

Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Location: Church of Truth, 111 Superior Street (in James Bay)

Cost: Free or by donation

Information: Linda at (250) 380-6383 or http://cotvictoria.ca

Way of the Playful Warrior” with Paul Monfette and Friends -  September 29

Paul Monfette will introduce vocal improvisation and other fun and creative activities.   Other details currently TBA.

About Paul Monfette:

Paul Monfette  is a playful warrior and has been involved in dance, vocal improvisation, singing and theatre.  He brings a wealth of experience from the men’s movement (`a la  Robert Bly, Sam Keen and Wild Men Drumming), poetry world, theatre and recent involvement with 2 1/2 year olds.

Oneness Wednesdays Details:

Date: Wednesdays,  September  29

Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Location: Church of Truth, 111 Superior Street  (in James Bay)

Cost: Free or by donation

Information: Linda at (250) 380-6383 or http://cotvictoria.ca

Everyone is welcome to drop-in.  For the third year,  Gloria Hansen will be leading the Two Toonies for Tunes on Tuesdays. Songs will be selected from the “Gettin Higher Core Repertoire” as well as lots of rounds,gospel songs,world music fun and fanciful songs as well as many songs from recent Gettin Higher concerts. Get out your favorites and be prepared for a songfest.

Info:  gloria@gettinhigherchoir.ca or http://www.gettinhigherchoir.ca/community-info/#dropin

LaMilonga Superior,   Every Saturday (except Aug 7,  14 &  21),  9 p.m. to Midnight

Tango VITA meets weekly for Argentine Tango dancing.  For those of you that have not been there, this venue has a beautiful hexagonal hardwood floor. Refreshments are also served.   In order to preserve the beautiful wooden floors, please bring non-marking shoes.  Lessons: Rene and Hilda offer lessons before the milonga from 7-8pm beginners; 8-9pm intermediates.

Information:  Tango VITA:  (info@tangovita.com )

A Journey into Wisdom of the Breath: Meditation and Yoga on the Breath of Life,  Saturday August 7, 7 to 9:30 p.m.

2 1/2 hour Kundalini Yoga and Meditation workshop Saturday, August 7th from 7:00 to 9:30 pm,  Hari Amrit and Devmurti Khalsa are teaching.   The fee for the course is $35 and to register please contact Karamjot in Victoria at (250) 298-0738.

Information: Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa at devmurti@telus.net or (250)-335-1143

Bhakti Night Friday, August 13,  6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

You are invited!  Come sing your heart open.  Enjoy a simple vegetarian meal 2nd Friday of every month.  By donation.

Information:  Mirabai@telus.net.

an evening of en-chant-ment Sunday, August 22, Starts at 7:00 p.m.

Vocalist/flautist Vinod Bhardwaj and percussionist Niel Golden team up to present an evening of chants from India and around the world.  The audience is welcomed to participate as the songs have a call and response element to them. The evening will also include some improvisatory instrumental pieces featuring both Vinod and Niel.  Tickets:  $10.

Tickets and information:    (250) 598-1810 or  n.golden@shaw.ca (http://vinodbhardwaj.com and http://nielgolden.com)

This theme for this month of August 2010 is called The Power of Story. On each Sunday of this month the Spiritual Directions Committee has chosen to show a progression from the Power of story telling, Lessons from the tree of life, Using humor to go beyond story, then Trauma to treasure and on the last Sunday we will feature the community service.  We hope to show the whole range of the importance of story telling.

The oral narrative was a highly developed, sophisticated medium supported by ages of old teachings and explanations that were based on fact, observations, oral claims and contracts.  People’s lives and the health of the group were sustained by shared knowledge and experiences.

Good story tellers possess a capacity for connectedness.  The connections made by good story tellers are held not in their methods, but in their hearts- -meaning hearts in the ancient sense, as this is the place intellect emotion and spirit meet.

As story tellers share personal stories of their experiences, others can respond by sharing their own stories within a trusting relationship.  Equality.  Not one expert opinion.  An experience that will benefit everyone.

Sometimes we need stories more than food to stay alive.  It’s hard to dislike anyone who’s story you have heard.

All you are is story.  When you pass over, the stories, told by you and about you are all that remain.

Your spiritual essence.     Marvelous Trudea SDC

Sunday Service Schedule for August 2010

THEME:  THE POWER OF STORY

AUGUST 1     THE POWER OF LEGENDS AND STORY TELLING

SPEAKER—Andre Spencer

MODERATOR—Marvelous Trudeau
MEDITATION—Deborah Hawkey
AUGUST 8     STORIES WITHIN STORIES FROM THE TREE OF LIFE

SPEAKER—Carol Douglas

MODERATOR—Nikki Menard
MEDITATOR—Arkady Isakov

AUGUST 15 FROM TRAUMA TO TREASURE

PANEL: 1. Deborah Hawkey   2. Jan Falkowski   3. Paul Monfette

MODERATOR — Cedona Holly
MEDITATOR—Joe Carlson

AUGUST 22     USING HUMOR TO GO BEYOND THE STORY

SPEAKER- Bob Winkenhower

MODERATOR—Ella Brown

MEDITATION—D. Joan Thomas

AUGUST 29   COMMUNITY SERVICE—TELL US YOUR STORY

MODERATOR-Deborah Hawkey

MEDITATOR-Cedona Holly

Tango VITA meets weekly for Argentine Tango dancing.  For those of you that have not been there, this venue has a beautiful hexagonal hardwood floor. Refreshments are also served.   In order to preserve the beautiful wooden floors, please bring non-marking shoes.  Lessons: Rene and Hilda offer lessons before the milonga from 7-8pm beginners; 8-9pm intermediates.

Information:  Tango VITA:  (info@tangovita.com )

Bhakti Night Starting  Friday, July 9,  6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

You are invited!  Come sing your heart open.  Enjoy a simple vegetarian meal 2nd Friday of every month.  By donation.

Information:  Mirabai@telus.net.

Summer Workshop – In depth study of French Opera,  Saturdays July 10 and July 17, 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Come and explore the development of French opera from the 17^th century operas of Jean Baptiste Lully and Jean Philippe Rameau to the most famous French operas of Charles Gounod, Camille Saint -Saens, Leo  Delibes and Georges Bizet. This course provides a combination of lectures, discussions and musical examples.

Information: Zhila Kashaninia  (http://zhilak.com/#)

Lunar Intentions:  New-Moon Celebrations,  Sunday, July 11, 6:00 p.m. to Midnight

This is a monthly new moon celebration, welcoming in the energies of the new lunar cycle. For this installment of the Lunar Intentions series, join in on the celebrations and enjoy a stunning array of favorite local talent. This line-up is sure to move your body, open your mind, and bring you deep within your spirit.

Information:  Chris Lambden  (in.lumination@gmail.com)

Secular Buddhist Group Weekly Meetup ,  Starting July 19, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

This will  be a weekly meeting repeating every Monday night. Where scheduling conflicts arise with other groups renting space in the building,  other arrangements will be made (i.e. July 26).  Chairs will be provided.  The format of the meeting will be: 30 minutes teaching about Buddhism • 20 minutes question and answer period about anything to do with Buddhism • 20 minute social break• 20 minute Meditation teaching (how and why regarding each of three kinds)• 20 minute meditation period.  By donation.

Information:  Rick Bateman (rbateman@rbateman.com)

Write Yourself Home, Saturday, July 24, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

This  is a nurturing, playful one-day writing retreat with June Swadron.   Writing has the power to stop time, cut through the extraneous and take us home to our heart. This workshop experience will include the writing of stories, poetry, memories and learning the fundamentals of moving past the head and into the heart of writing.  You will be led gently into story and into the soul’s inner landscape where clarity, creativity, passion, originality and truth are revealed.  With encouragement, safety and the freedom to jump in, you will open to the joy of where writing can take you.   Everyone welcome – seasoned & novice writers alike

Info / Registration:  June Swadron:  (250) 385-2205  (www.juneswadron.com)

I am sitting with my herbal Allergy tea, after putting today’s food and sketch book purchases away, washing the dishes and wiping down counters and stove in preparation for writing this article. The inner critic-editor is already at work, ready to pounce on any perceived flaw or mistake. I am ready, having flushed the critic out into the open and taken care of those little mundane tasks, which if left undone seem to niggle somehow in the background.

Self-care and looking after the day to day details of life is so important yet some-day’s elusive.

Spending the past three months convalescing after a surgery which reattached a broken piece of my femur knuckle to the rest of my femur with three stainless steel screws, I have quite a bit of contact with our Health are system. Western medicine is good for fixing broken bones and the like but does not take a wholistic approach to the individual. Everybody knows that our health care system and health aren’t in alignment. The good news is we don’t have to eat hospital food and there are many good alternatives.

A couple of weeks back, loading myself and crutches in a friends car’ we made a trip up to Cowichan. Self Care. The companionship of a friend, traveling with new eyes through the primeval forests of Goldstream, up and over spectacular Malahat views, down the other side to Cowichan Station where my friends have an acreage along the meandering Kokesilah River. Lush from recent rains, the sun’s rays bring out a multiplicity of green hues. Verdant. Peaceful. Euphoric.

We hang out in each others presence, open, exploring, lunching together and accept an invitation to stay for dinner.

Self-care, company of friends, surrounded by nature, good wholesome food, sunshine and Water River. Just like much of the natural world, nurturing and growth happen when I plant myself in the right environment.

We have come to dig up and take home some Comfrey Root, also known as knit-bone and harvest some Stinging Nettles. Both to help promote the healing of my knee. My friends do the digging and gathering for me. I and we four-wheel crutch and walk to the meandering River edge, where we each in our own way spend a little time in sacred communion with garbling River Spirit.

We drive home that night having given ourselves over to the gift of company, planting ourselves in the renewing energies of nature, resourced to a place of knowing and peace… Self-care… Whole and healthy. Refreshed…. Whole and healthy.

Take Care of Your-Self

Paul Monfette SDC

Sunday Service Schedule for July 2010

TOPIC OF THE MONTH:  SELF CARE

JULY 4 - PANEL DISCUSSION: INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW SDC

SPEAKERS—Cedona Holly, Nikki Menard, Marvelous Trudeau, Paul Monfette

MODERATOR—Deborah Hawkey

MEDITATION—Carole Douglas

JULY 11 – PANEL: THE MANY FACES OF SELF CARE

SPEAKERS— Ella Brown,  Clive Langton, RawBC, and Alisa Kage

MODERATOR—Paul Monfette

MEDITATOR—Joe Carlson

JULY 18 – SPIRITUAL SELF CARE

SPEAKER— Rev. Cedona Holly

MODERATOR — Jan Fakowski

MEDITATOR—Cedona Holly

JULY 25 -  COMMUNITY SERVICE: WHERE ARE YOU WITH SELF CARE

FACILITATOR FOR DISCUSSION—Deborah Hawkey

MODERATOR—Cynthia Pattison

MEDITATION—Bernadine Sperling

Oneness Wednesdays  Fall/ Early Winter  Line-up:

• Mindful Yoga with Misha Gitberg – Theme will be Metta / Loving Kindness - September 1, 8 + 15
• Fall Equinox Celebration:  Co-Creating Balance in a Changing World with Joy Emmanuel + members of  Transition Victoria’s Heart and Soul Group - September 22
• Ways of the Playful Warriors with Paul Monfette + Friends - September 29
• Ego Busting with Cedona Holly-  October 6, 13, 20 + 27
  
• The Dance Circle – Where Oneness and Wholeness Meet with Betsy Nuse – November 3, 10, 17 + 24
• TBA – Joy Emmanuel -  December 1, 8, 15 + 22

Getting Higher Choir Concert The Golden Apple of The Sun at Alix Goolden Performance Hall, Friday, June 4 & Sat, June 5

Directed by Shivon Robinsong & Denis Donnelly with special guest….Gina Sala A benefit concert for Mozambique Kapasseni Kuwangisana at Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora Avenue.  Tickets are $20 ($15 for seniors & students) from: Munro’s Books, Larsen Music, James Bay Coffee & Books, Ivy’s Books~ and ~Dig This

Gita Yawaste Concert – Friday, June 11,  7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Gita Yawaste is a local group that plays devotional songs from a variety of paths.   With two vocalists, a guitarist, keyboard player, tabla player, harmonium, flute, glockenspiel and percussion, it promises to be an enjoyable evening of enchanting and uplifting music.   Web site:  http://www.gita-yawaste.net/

Mindful Yoga with Misha Thursdays  (Starting  June 24 to August 5 -no class on July 1) 5:30 – 7  p.m.

This gentle style of yoga is based on classical Hatha yoga asanas, which are held for a period of time to allow our body to unfold into a deeper release and opening. Contact Misha at 778-678-0137 or misha@soulstir.net to register for the 6 sessions. Prerequisites: curiosity about yoga- no previous experience is necessary.   This class will provide learning opportunities for both, novice and experienced students.

Clothing Exchange - A Fundraiser for the Church of Truth, Community of Conscious Living  Sunday,  June 27 12:30 p.m.  Queries to Patti at (250) 385-0941 or Linda at (250) 380-6383

From my observation, this is for you and me. At some point in our lives, or even now, we have some form of prejudice. I would like to claim: “everyone else has prejudice, except for me” but the reality is I am not free of prejudice. I am aspiring to change it by being conscious of my/others language and reframing my thoughts, comments, perceptions and heart.

The dictionary has many definitions and I chose two:

1. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions

2. An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.

The media has more than covered this topic on prejudice and its victims and it also has articles, which are detrimental to increasing prejudicial thoughts of groups, cultures etc. Socialization, conditioning and beliefs have permeated our cells and memories with all kinds of notions on people, places and things. Often we think these are harmless thoughts; for example, in our off colored jokes or strong opinions, such as men are….,women are…generalizations to name but a few. We have all had thoughts, though they seem harmless to us at the time. However, they do impact the recipient: our loved ones, our neighbours, co-workers and even ourselves.

Here is an example. Years ago I attended Co-dependents Anonymous, a twelve-step program. When I got there, I thought “who are these people”. They have so many problems. They all look like losers. I don’t want to be here with these people. I was judging them with all kinds of ill-informed information and preconceived ideas. Then I realized that I WAS one of them, being a person who needed help and support and love, instead of allowing fear to take over.

What is it that we say about ourselves, OR how we TREAT OURSELVES? How do we attack ourselves for not measuring up to our perceived perfection? Self-talk is pervasive. How do we treat our loved ones when we have unreasonable judgments about certain behaviors or situations that are not measuring up to our standards?

Many of our prejudices are subtle and seemingly innocuous. Are they really? What about the prejudices we might have encountered towards us or our friends? How have we managed to deal with other people’s misconception of our culture, language, gender or even being white etc…? Have we been a victim or have we victimized others? How do we move from prejudice to compassion? How do we let go of any form of prejudice, within our minds, with others, in our communities, on the planet? How would it be to live in a world BEYOND PREJUDICE of all forms? It starts with us in our healing, our renewed understanding, our empathy toward others and ourselves for the highest good of all. Let the ripple effect permeate all things and people on the planet with love and compassion. The only cure is PREJUDICE BUSTING. — Nikki Menard SDC

Sunday Service Schedule for June 2010

TOPIC OF THE MONTH: PREJUDICE BUSTING

JUNE 6 — PREJUDICE TO COMPASSION

SPEAKERS—Marvelous Trudeau, Deborah Hawkey, Katarina Nolla
MODERATOR—Bernadine Sperling MEDITATION—TBA

JUNE 13 –EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN BUT NO-ONE WANTS TO DIE

SPEAKER—Gordon Thurston
MODERATOR—Marvelous Trudeau MEDITATOR—D. Joan Thomas

JUNE 20– A JOURNEY OUT OF VICTIMHOOD

GUEST SPEAKER—Joe Carlson
MODERATOR—- Paul Monfette MEDITATOR—Joe Carlson

Joe is a man who has packed much into one lifetime. A volunteer with hospice for twenty five years. A native Indian with Black blood Joe has Seminary training and a degree in Moral and Religious Philosophy. Being Queen Victoria in the Gay Pride Parade could not have been always easy. Above all Joe is a man who Loves indiscriminately…..

JUNE 27 — COMMUNITY SERVICE

FACILITATOR FOR DISCUSSION—Nikki Menard
MODERATOR—June Swadron
MEDITATION—Patti Huot