Good news for 08/10/20 - Masks work according to microbiology professor at SUNY Brockport

I am a proud alumni of SUNY Brockport in 1968 as was my mother in 1942 and three of my daughters, Katie, Colleen, and Mary, and my granddaughter Haley.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. What better way to apply this principle in our communities during the Covid-19 pandemic than by practicing social distancing and wearing masks to protect one another from contracting the virus?

History of UU A Way Of Life and what do you think about the viewership?

Leave a comment.

 Email me privately at davidgmarkham@gmail.com

 Call or text at 585-967-8510

Pageviews by countries for UU A Way Of Life from 08/02/20 - 08/09/20

I have no idea what this data means. There is the saying by Jesus that one cannot be a prophet in one's own land. And it seems to be accurate for this blog.

There were 2016 views of UU A Way Of Life blog pages outside the United States while only 245 in the United States. The viewership outside the United States is almost 9 times greater.

I have no ideas about how to explain this or how to use this information. If anyone has any ideas please leave them in the comments or email me privately at davidgmarkham@gmail.com.

Spiritual Book Discussion - The Spiritual Child - The importance of nurturing a child's spirituality

The UU A Way Of Life spiritual book discussion usually chooses a book a month for discussion. This month, being the first book, the discussion will last two months: August and September. There is plenty of time to get a copy of the book and join our discussion below.

The importance of nurturing a child’s spirituality.

Our children have an inborn spirituality that is the greatest source of resilience they have as human beings, and we, as parents, can support our children’s spiritual development. Our parenting choices in the first two decades radically affect our children’s spiritual development in ways that last their entire lives. Natural spirituality, in fact, appears to be the single most significant factor in children’s health and their ability to thrive.

Miller, Dr. Lisa. The Spiritual Child (p. 6). St. Martin's Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

As a Psychiatric Social Worker with over 50 years experience in the field of mental health and substance abuse I have always been fascinated with the question , “What makes you tick?” Rarely these days do people respond with any reference to their interior spiritual life or their spiritual nurturance as children. If people do bring up religious training it is often a source of wounding and distress.

In  my professional training we were taught what is referred to as the “bio-psycho-social” model. Only in the last 10 - 20 yrs has there been more attention paid to the spiritual. We will get to the distinction between religious training and spiritual training in the next article, but for now let’s focus on what spiritual experiences and inklings you had in the first two decades of your life, and what spiritual experiences and practices you would like to encourage your children to develop? Who can help you with this?

Subscribe to our group

Spiritual practice #5 - Listening with undivided attention

Listening with undivided attention

The fifth component of spiritual health is unconditional love and the cardinal sin # 5 is conditional love and indifference. The spiritual practice to mitigate conditional love and indifference is listening with undivided attention.

Who would think that listening with undivided attention is a spiritual practice? It seems so pedestrian and easy. Try it especially when the person is saying things that are upsetting.

Giving people our attention nonjudgmentally and just listening is the most precious gift in the world. It takes much self discipline and restraint and forbearance. Peace Pilgrim said “I look for the Divine Spark in every person and focus on that.” Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles the first of which is the inherent worth and dignity of every person. The best way of living this principle is to develop the art and habit of listening to people with your undivided attention.

A Course In Miracles Workbook, Lesson #8 - My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts

My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.

We live in the past. At this time of the Covid-19 pandemic people continually say they wish things could be back to normal. They will never be normal again. Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan was “Make America great again” but society has moved on and it can never go back and many even question whether it was ever great especially when it comes to race relations and the caste system which America was built upon.

One of the points of today’s lesson is that our souls are imprisoned by the past experiences on the path of the ego. Our souls were created for so much better things. We cannot enjoy the peace of the soul when we are living in the past and so we are encouraged, in this lesson, to recognize, and acknowledge how much of our mental energy is spent dwelling on the past rather than the peace of the present. As the Buddhists laughingly say, “Be here now.”

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence. Another term for this might be “cosmic consciousness.” When we become attuned to the interdependent web the past has no meaning. The interdependent web is the portal to eternal bliss.

Good news for 08/09/20 - Warren Pizaro delivers meals on wheels for 30 years.

Warren Pizzaro has delivered meals on wheels in NYC for 30 years.

This is a good example of affirming and promoting the inherent worth and dignity of every person and justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, the first and second principles of Unitarian Universalism.