Optimism Starts With You And Me

As we were on our way to the Farmers Market this morning, out of the corner of my eye I saw some brilliant colors on a wall and just had to turn the car around to look up close. The image above is what I saw and it lifted my heart! I must admit that I have been feeling the ongoing relentless nature of our lives right now -- the pandemic, divisive politics, future of our postal service, unemployment, overall defunding of the arts, back to school issues for teachers, students, families...it just seems like so much sometimes. Maybe you have felt that too these days?

So this mural in downtown San Antonio allowed me to shift, gave me reason to remember that my thoughts do matter. I am reminded of the quote from Sai Baba, "All action results from thought, so it is thoughts that matter." I invite you to join me, as we keep our heads up, focus on the positive, remain grateful for what we have in our lives and to always remember that Optimism starts right here!

In joy,

Zet

Jubilant And Exuberant

“Jubilant and exuberant is the melanin of our skin. From despair we have arisen.”

~ Andrea Vocab Sanderson

Tuesday night Rudi and I had the joyful opportunity to help create a street mural at Travis Park. Heading downtown, I didn't really know much more than that we were going to support San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea Vocab Sanderson in getting one of her poems painted publicly, somehow, somewhere, downtown at the park.

We arrived at 9:00pm and were pleasantly surprised to see 20 or so volunteers there to help with painting and documenting the process. After checking in with Vocab, in her radiant yellow, we connected with our former next door neighbor, Anthony Dean Harris, who was in charge of the design and lettering of the piece. Then we had the pleasure of visiting with another neighbor, Andi Rodriguez, Vice President for Urban Planning for Centro San Antonio, and the one who had the vision for this piece of public art and was instrumental in making it happen.

We were each given a brush, roller, and paint tray, filled with bright yellow paint; our task was to paint in the hand-drawn chalk markings on the street, indicating the outlines of the 8-foot square letters spelling out Vocab’s poem. The message filled the whole length of the block on three of the four streets surrounding the park, and had to be finished by 5:00am, in time to accommodate morning traffic. So off we went!

I started on East Pecan Street with the first letter J and carefully outlined it, then steadily began to fill the inside of the letter, covering up the dark dirt and debris of the city and the tire tracks of countless cars and VIA buses with a thick coat of that bright yellow. What a sense of excitement I felt when I finished that first letter J! You might even say I was jubilant!

A few letters down, Rudi was working on the letter A and next to it I noticed that the letter N needed another coat of paint, so I continued working there with a growing sense of accomplishment I hadn’t experienced in a long time. The simple act of rolling this vibrantly hopeful dandelion color across the asphalt of the dull gray street was such a simple yet profound experience. Knowing that I was helping Vocab’s powerful words take on newer, larger dimensions made me feel connected to something much bigger. Knowing that at the end of this there would be a message of hope, compassion and love, spelled out for all to see.

By then they had turned the first corner and moved over onto Jefferson Street, making pretty good progress. Because of Covid, I haven't attended any of the protest marches that have taken place in recent months. So this event gave me a chance to feel like I was taking part in communicating my hope for a more equitable world. I felt even more deeply touched while painting the letters of the word “melanin", because it momentarily allowed me to feel into the skin of those who look different from me on the outside, my loved ones and strangers, alike. And to connect to them heart to heart.

So much of the public discourse in our culture today is polarized, which brings great sadness to my heart. Yet here, for a few hours, I felt my desire/our desire to focus on that which we have in common, our true humanity, as we all painted that feeling into the streets of this city we love.

Shortly after midnight, the effects of the physical exertion, the late hour and the emotional roller coaster I’d been riding told me it was time to go home, so we left before the last words were finished on East Travis. The next day, feeling a bit exhausted, I laid low and allowed my emotional and physical bodies to soak in the experience, taking time to reflect on the passion and creativity of Andi, Vocab, Anthony Dean and all the others involved. To recognize the beauty of this community we live in and the diversity of its people in heart, mind, melanin and soul.

This street art will be on display until January 1, 2021, and I hope you will have the chance to see it the next time you are in downtown San Antonio -- and that you, too, will feel the power of our connections to our deepest selves and each other.

I also hope that you’ll join me for our online Circle gathering this Sunday morning, as we explore how these challenging times are affecting us -- as individuals and as a spiritual community – and how we can foster our awareness of the deep connection between us.

In joy,

Zet

Do You Believe In Miracles?

Miracle is a noun meaning “amazing or wonderful occurrence" and comes from the Latin miraculum, meaning “object of wonder." If you dig way back the word derives from smeiros, meaning "to smile," which is exactly what you do when a miracle happens. (vocabulary.com

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Just as a smile, Love itself is miraculous. It is the basis for all our human relationships. And yet, sometimes we forget. The constant motion of our minds, chattering on with thoughts, feelings, sensations, and images keeps us from experiencing a quiet mind. The act of remembering to settle into the quiet brings our awareness to Love itself, allowing our breath to connect us with the One, the Beloved. This amazing occurrence of connecting to our True Self only seems extraordinary because we usually fail to pay attention, not giving ourselves this precious time. Yet when we take the time to open up to Love, we become aware of the everyday acts of grace in our lives, the miracles that can dwell in the invisible.

Please consider giving your Self the gift of a few moments of quiet time as your Valentine gift to You. You deserve it!

In joy,

Zet

SOAKED IN LOVE

In one of my favorite reads, The Book of Awakening, author Mark Nepo offers us this simple and powerful meditation as an opportunity to take a break from our fast paced lives. 

• Place a dry sponge and a glass of water before you. Set them aside for a moment. 
• Center yourself by letting the energy of all that feels urgent rush through you. Exhale and try to let it go.
• Now drip a small amount of water on the sponge and, as you breathe slowly, watch how the sponge opens.
• Keep dripping water on the sponge as you breathe slowly, and feel your heart open.

This meditation really speaks to me and I trust that you too will find the time to breathe, slow down and allow your heart to open - to yourSelf, those around you and ALL of creation.  

In joy,

Zet Baer

THANK YOU for holding the Circle in your heart by visualizing a generous flow of financial abundance. Thank you for supporting us as we continue our work of fostering a creative, inclusive approach to spirituality. We are deeply grateful.

Recipe for a Happy New Year

I'd like to share a wonderful recipe for a Happy New Year,  found on the internet. It was attributed to Anonymous, so I don't know who wrote it originally, and I've taken the liberty of changing some of the ingredients a little bit to suit my taste. But it sounds delightful, so I'm going to try it. Maybe you will too.

To begin, take twelve ripe, full-grown months; be sure they are thoroughly free of old memories of bitterness, regret and hate. Clean them thoroughly, picking off any speck of pettiness, spite and sorrow. In short, see to it that these months are freed from the past, and that they are now fresh and clean.

Cut each of the months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time, but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, and work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest). Sprinkle liberal amounts of hope, compassion and kindness. Add a fair amount of rest and Self-care; leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing - don't do it.

 

Add daily prayer and meditation, in amounts that feel right.

 

Finally, put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor. Mix well, and take time to savor the flavors frequently. Enjoy!

In joy,

Zet

THANK YOU for holding the Circle in your heart by visualizing a generous flow of financial abundance. Thank you for supporting us as we continue our work of fostering a creative, inclusive approach to spirituality. We are deeply grateful.

Sahasrara

The Sanskrit word for the crown chakra, Sahasrara, refers to the thousand white petals of a lotus flower. Sahasrara connects us to the spiritual energy of enlightenment. It is the energy center that awakens us to a higher power, the awareness that each of us is an expression of universal consciousness. Realizing that you are simply pure consciousness is the true source of enlightenment.

 

You only have to be willing to allow your mind, body, spirit, heart to open to this Divine consciousness as you let go of fear, self-doubt and selfishness, as you express unconditional Love and believe in the unlimited possibilities. This consciousness resides in all living beings, and in each moment we are connected to all and everything on the planet.

 

The simple (but not always easy) tools for opening the crown chakra are sitting in quiet stillness as you lett go and surrender to the Unknown, to the great mystery. So allow some time each day for real silence, no phone or computer, no mental replay of your To Do list, no outside distractions. Challenge yourself, allow your Self time to feel the healing power of this spiritual practice. Let it become a part of your everyday life as you image these thousand petals of spiritual connection and Divine consciousness. As we do this individually we remember together that We Are One, We Are The Lotus.

 

In joy,

Zet

THANK YOU for holding the Circle in your heart by visualizing a generous flow of financial abundance. Thank you for supporting us as we continue our work of fostering a creative, inclusive approach to spirituality. We are deeply grateful.

We Are One

In her 1980's ground-breaking book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, Marilyn Fergusoninvokes the power of the imaginal cell that is present in all living things. This primary cell holds the image of the fully grown organism and the innate life force of that organism continues to grow it into its full being-ness. It is this life force that holds the full potential of a giant oak tree within a tiny acorn, that allows a crawling caterpillar to transform into a colorful butterfly fluttering through the sky.

 

As we each take our journey of becoming, life circumstances sometimes get in the way of us growing into our own fullness. As you read the piece below from the poet Rilke, I invite you to feel how he encourages us to move our life force toward the soul, the heart of who we truly are, the imaginal cell, which lives in each of us, though we sometimes forget its presence.

 

"I want to beg you, as much as I can...to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."

If you have been present in the Circle recently you are seeing, feeling, experiencing the process of transformation.  The Cosmic Mass, Angel's ordination, the Spiritual Leadership Training, last Sunday's Cosmic Circle, Rudi's recovery...all of this is part of the process of growth and change. These are all part of living into the questions of who we are and who we are becoming as a community. 

For each of you, each of us, we are all present in the imaginal cell that lives at the heart of the Celebration Circle.  We are grateful you have chosen to join us on the journey to who we truly are, as individuals and as a spiritual community. Whether you are with us on Sundays, Wednesdays, watching livestream, reading our words online or sitting alone watching your own breath, please remember that We Are One.

 

In joy,

   Zet

THANK YOU for holding the Circle in your heart by visualizing a generous flow of financial abundance. Thank you for supporting us as we continue our work of fostering a creative, inclusive approach to spirituality. We are deeply grateful.