I used to teach workshops on engaging and strengthening Intuition.  (This included assisting folks in communicating with Angels, but that is another story for another time, and you do NOT need to believe in the "unseen realms" to think about your own intuitive abilities or the power of letting go of secrets!)  In the workshop, we did an exercise that focused on opening to receiving a thought or image held (but not verbally shared) by another.  One of the questions I was asked most frequently in these workshops was "WHY can't I hear/see/feel as much as I would like to?"  Part of my answer to that question is: even though everyone is asking this question, YOUR answer will be specific to you - and you may unearth it as we progress here. The other part of my answer however, was for everyone; I shared it by recounting a tale from a story by author Marlo Morgan on her experience being on a Walkabout with a group of Aboriginal Australians.  (While the validity of Morgan's tale has been much maligned and disputed, the portion of it I share now is useful either way.)

The story goes that in the early segment of her unplanned journey on walkabout, the group had been traveling all day in silence. She had thought it odd that no one spoke on the long journey, but when evening came and all lay down to rest, she looked to the sky and realized she was very grateful for the experience. She silently said in her heart "Thank you".  And, from across (the also silent) sleeping circle, she heard, OUT LOUD, from the only other English speaking person in the group, "you are welcome".  Morgan was mystified - how did this person "hear" her voiceless thank you?  
When she asked, the next day, how this happened, she was told that this was how people communicated - wordlessly hearing one another.  And when Morgan asked why she - and people she knew back in the USA - could not hear one another's thoughts, she was told that it as "because you have too many secrets".  That for every wall or barricade we hold up to keep others OUT, so too are we blocked from allowing information IN, or receiving intuitive knowings.

Morgan asked herself deeply - and we all could ask the same - if she was truly willing and able to let go of secrets, to forgive those she felt had wronged her, to forgive herself for the hurts she had inflicted, to let go of anything in heart or head that she felt she needed to hide, to open to exposure of motives, desires, judgements. . . 

It has been my own experience, and also with that of those in my workshops, that the more one is courageously compassionate enough to allow the falling away of secrets and walls, not only the deeper will intuition be, but also the lighter our bodies, hearts, minds and spirits will feel.

I invite you now, if you feel moved to join me here, to take a moment. . .

Imagine you can feel inside you all the “secrets” (or as we might call them, privacies) you harbor.  .  . All the uncomfortable things you keep a wall up around. . .
Shame, fear, doubt, lack of forgiveness, old hurts and angers reserved in the darkest recesses, maybe even things you are not fully conscious of, but can feel a heaviness around . . .
I am not going to ask you to share any of these - but just for a moment, I will invite you to experience your inner world free of them . . .  ​

Hello Friends,

I would like to invite you to my sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Castine.  I am covering for the wonderful Rev. Margaret Beckman this weekend, and as always am honored and delighted to be present with this very small, very wonderful congregation.

For those of you who do not know, UU churches are notoriously "UN-God oriented", that is, the focus here is on personal growth and social justice; using our minds, hearts and hands to actively make the world a kinder place. I say this for you who may attend other churches and might otherwise be surprised by the lack of mention of God or Jesus.

If you are curious or interested in attending, I will be delighted to see you at the church in person (masks suggested but not required), at:
Unitarian Universalist Church
80 court street
Castine, ME
04421

Or, if you prefer to join us online, a zoom link follows this invitation:

 SUNDAY SERVICE ~
November 27, 2022 at 10:30 a.m.
 
"The Fault and Fortune in Silence"
Rev. Maya Massar, Worship Leader
Karen Froehly, Musician
Click HERE to download an order of service.

. . .We are a culture that is, in general, not comfy with silence. 

Many of us are so uncomfortable that we tend not only to allow the breaking of silence, but often to hope that any silence we find ourselves in will soon be interrupted – by anything, really, to save us from the anxiety of the unfilled space. And yet, both science and our sages teach us that silence is nature’s antidote to all the craziness of life. We know that silence is good for us.  Yet on the other hand, it is also true that silence can do great harm. . . as Martin Luther King Jr. says “The silence of the good people is more dangerous than the brutality of the bad people."  I, personally, have been both decimated and renewed by silence. . .  Join me on Sunday for a brief exploration of The Fault and Fortune in Silence.

I very much look forward to being with you all.
Very warmly, Maya
​
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Today I was reminded of the sweet work of Bother David Steindl-Rast.  The video below is a lovely introduction to his offerings.  If you have not see this delightful video, or need a few minutes of rest, or a lightening of the heart, take a look at this wonderful video.

A Grateful Day with Brother David Steindl-Rast www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSt7k_q_qRU

You can also visit Brother David's main website here:  www.Gratefulness.org

Today in our hospice team meeting, I read a passage from what many of you know is one of my favorites; The Book Of Awakening; Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have, by author and cancer survivor Mark Nepo. The passage was a part of his offering titled "Wisdom of the Torn Heart" (p. 337).  In it, Nepo urges us to invite a softness into our selves, reminding us of the image of a flag that is made soft and flowing by the wind that fills it.  He suggests that, though it is difficult to overcome the wounds of our past that may have rendered us stiff and shielded, it is indeed the softening those wounds - that allows us to heal,
to flow with the grace or presence of
being with ourselves as we truly are.

Nepo quotes noted poet Rilke: 
"I want to unfold. I don't want to stay folded anywhere,
because where I am folded, there I am a lie."

The author then goes on to quote Lao-tzu, the Chinese Sage, in his 2,500 year old wisdom:
"The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail..."

So, today, I invite any of you who feel courageous enough to do so, to take a moment and

BREATHE INTO YOUR OWN STIFFNESS

- whether this/these be in the physical, emotional, mental or spiritual aspects of your being - and to see if allowing a softening might afford you a new view, a healing moment, a way through to a richer sense of who you are in your most authentic, honest self.

You can simply use your own breath to bring kindness or curiosity to where you have felt hardened, or if you are so inclined, invite the presence of what is greater than yourself (God, Goddess, Great Mystery, Nature, Awareness. . .) to lift the flag of your being into that billowing softness that may brighten or release you to something larger or safer or more alive than perhaps you thought you were.

Every Blessing upon your SOFTENESS, Dear Humans.
With Love Always,
Maya


PS: Please enjoy these famous images of the magnificent Alvin Ailey and Judith Jameson
(of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which I was privileged to see and take classes with  back in 1980 when they performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY, and both icons were still working members of the company.  And yes, I swoon to recall these precious moments...)
The first photo at the top of this post is my all-time favorite of Ailey.  I had it on my wall for decades until last year it died in a flood at my home. . . this image, and these that follow below, to me, express the incredible grace and power in allowing, inviting, and expressing SOFTNESS. . .  

This, dear Friends, will be short;

How many of us (especially perhaps, those of us who are caregivers of any sort) wrestle with boundary-setting?  Maintaining space and time in which we allow, engage in and actively defend our own well-being sometimes seems like a murky river to wade across . . . when do I draw lines, where do I offer safe harbor and where must I close a gate to the needs of the world?  This Instagram post by "Jess" under their account @WORDSOFAJAY does not answer all those questions, but it does delineate a most basic line we can all draw in our inner sand: If they whom we seek to relieve from suffering are causing us suffering in return, we are healing no one.  Empathy, Jess shares, should be taught in two parts. . .
Have a listen:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkWJk3MJj4f/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

May your Heart be Safe and Strong,
 With Love,

Maya

PS: The beautiful image above is from the blog of John Shaw-Rimmington who shares:
I am a person who builds dry stone walls and bridges and thinks a lot about how to get other people discovering what a satisfying occupation it can be. I am founder and president of Dry Stone Walling Across Canada www.dswa.ca and an avid supporter of the idea of sharing knowledge freely and learning from others.
You can visit John's blog page at the link below - maybe you'd like to learn to build with stone?
https://thinking-stoneman.blogspot.com/2016/10/full-moongate.html

This morning in our hospice meeting I read a version of The Lord's Prayer, revised by and for the Anglican Church of New Zealand and Polynesia, to include the beautiful Earth-based spirituality of the Maori and Pacific Islanders. 

While the prayer does not exactly speak to Atheists, it may warm the hearts of folks who's spirituality meanders a bit beyond the boundaries of traditional Christianity.

Here, you can read it:

The New Zealand Anglican Lord's Prayer
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father or Mother or Source of us all,
Loving God or Beingness, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all existing beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and be with us on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we offer to or absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is harmful, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever.
Amen.
- The New Zealand Book of Prayer | He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa