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WHAT’S NEW? Happy Thanksgiving!
I wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving! It’s a great time to review the year and give thanks for everything that transpired this year – the good, the bad, the ugly – for it all has it’s purpose and place no matter how painful it may have been.
Here are a couple of quotes for the holidays that I love and I hope you do too!
“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.”
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”
~ William Arthur Ward
“Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted–a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.”
~ Rabbi Harold Kushner
“Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally “count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.”
~ Shakti Gawain
“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend…when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present — love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure — the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.”
~Sarah Ban Breathnach
Blessings and love, Sheri Rosenthal
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EVENTS, JOURNEYS + WEBINARS!
Unconditional Love in Action
Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), Cambodia
Jan 21-31st, 2015
Join New Thought Minister Rev. David Ault for a profoundly heart-opening spiritual journey of service to Siem Reap, Cambodia – home of the incredible ancient temples of Angkor Wat. To open oneself deeply, to risk feeling the suffering of others, and to wish to relieve that suffering – is the definition of compassion and the cultivation of the Buddha within us. As Gandhi once said: The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Volunteer travel is a powerful experience – you risk coming home with a clearer vision of what you want in life, a deeper sense of self-realization, and clarity about who you are and your purpose in life!
We’ll have the opportunity to explore the amazing temple complex at Angkor Wat – or at least a part of it (it’s huge!). Our home away from home in Cambodia is the Siddharta Boutique Hotel. It has a large saltwater pool in a tropical garden, and a restaurant with views over the Cambodian countryside to watch unforgettable sunsets.
All breakfasts are included in this itinerary and one dinner, along with tours of the temples, daily Sangha (gathering) with David Ault, a traditional Khmer dinner & show, helping in the schools with the children and in creating new wells, and so much more.
Trip tuition: $1799 USD per person double occupancy.
OUR FEATURED ARTICLE
Juicy Tidbits of Wisdom from my Favorite Buddhist nun: Pema Chödrön
“We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who’s right and who’s wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don’t like about our associates or our society.
It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others….Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground.”
― Pema Chödrön
“When you open yourself to the continually changing, impermanent, dynamic nature of your own being and of reality, you increase your capacity to love and care about other people and your capacity to not be afraid. You’re able to keep your eyes open, your heart open, and your mind open. And you notice when you get caught up in prejudice, bias, and aggression. You develop an enthusiasm for no longer watering those negative seeds, from now until the day you die. And, you begin to think of your life as offering endless opportunities to start to do things differently.”
― Pema Chödrön, Practicing Peace in Times of War
“Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons.
The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, “May I have permission to go into battle with you?” Fear said, “Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.” Then the young warrior said, “How can I defeat you?” Fear replied, “My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face.
Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power.” In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear. ”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”
― Pema Chödrön
“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”
― Pema Chödrön
“People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That’s not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn’t understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you’re given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.”
― Pema Chödrön
“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth”
― Pema Chödrön
“Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
All pictures in this article by h.koppdelaney
OUR UPCOMING JOURNEYS
~DELICIOUS DECEMBER JOURNEYS~
Mastering the Buddha Nature Within
Bhutan – LAST CALL!
Trip Leaders: Sheri Rosenthal + Lisa Tully
Dec 7-18th, 2014
~JAUNTY JANUARY JOURNEYS~
Unconditional Love in Action
Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), Cambodia
Trip Leaders: David Ault
Jan 21-31st 2015
~MAGICAL MAY SOJOURNS~
Communicating with Animals – Following in the Footsteps of St. Francis
Assisi, Italy
Trip Leaders: Lisa Tully, Cheri Harris + Pea Horsley
May 17th – 23rd, 2015
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Want to see our whole line-up for the upcoming year?
Visit our Trips at a Glance page.
