Meditation with the Kiddos

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People of almost all faith traditions practice some form of meditation. Why? Meditation is a super power!

Light Watkins, says, “Common side effects of daily meditation are increased energy and feelings of contentedness and inner happiness.”

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to sit silently and empty your brain to meditate. Meditation can include any number of practices that help you strip away distraction and encounter your innermost being. This can start with something as simple as focusing your eyes for a period of time on some object like a bird or a flame, and when your thoughts start to wander, notice, and then return your attention to your focal point. You may be wondering how on earth that helps you encounter your inmost self, but do this enough and you’ll start to identify patterns in what’s tugging at your attention. When we hurry and scurry, distract and scroll, it’s possible for us to live any number of days without encountering ourselves. Meditation is a way to reconnect to what is present within us.

Start with Guided Meditation!

Guided meditation is a great starting point for children and new meditators alike. You don’t have to be an expert, or have studied some ancient practice. All you have to do is close your eyes and visualize what you’re hearing.

When my children were younger, we started every day with a guided meditation, often the one linked on the left. Those are my two older kids, about fifteen years ago when we had family meditation time every morning. It was a great way to settle and center before getting into the work of the day.

Try joining your kids for a guided meditation, and discussing the experience over breakfast!

Make a Calm Down Jar

Calm-down jars are a mesmerizing way to help our brains step out of a stressful moment and settle like glitter.

Supplies:

  • 1/2 C hot water
  • 1/2 C corn syrup
  • 1 Tbsp glitter
  • 1-4 drops dish soap
  • jar

Mix water and corn syrup in the jar. Add glitter and shake. Dish soap will help the glitter clump less, but will also make it settle faster, so add a drop at a time and test before adding more.

Next time you’re stressed, give it a shake, and envision your feelings settling with the glitter.

Meditation Spaces Around the Valley

You can meditate absolutely anywhere but the Willamette Valley is rich with excellent places to help you flex your meditation muscles.

If the great outdoors is your thing, Starker Arts Park is a lovely place to sit for a nature meditation beside the pond and focus your attention on a dragonfly or the surface of the water. If you prefer gazing across the distance, Fitton Green is a delightfully short hike out to a bench that’s just perfect for observing the horizon and tracing the line where the sky meets the mountains.

Maybe insulated silence is more your jam. If so, check out the Grotto’s cliffside meditation chapel next time you’re in Portland. Pictured in the higher image on the left, it’s open to the public during operating hours and is a beautiful space for quiet contemplation in a warm and protected silence.

A little closer to home, you can enjoy a walking meditation in the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan’s courtyard labyrinth, shown in the lower image to the left. This space is always open to the public, though during office hours, you’re likely to have an audience of church administrators. And while I haven’t seen it myself, I’m told there’s a second labyrinth that’s open to the public behind the cancer center near the hospital.

Homework for Caregivers

Just being with ourselves is getting harder and harder as the world fills with digital distractions and opportunities for immediate gratification. It’s easy to want better for our children than we demand for ourselves, but role models are the best teachers. If you’ve been particularly stressed, or self-medicating with social scrolling, try setting aside a mere five minutes a day to try on of the techniques above. Notice how you feel in your body before and after your five minutes. Once you’ve tried it yourself a few times, consider inviting your kids to join you. Tell them why you wanted to try meditating, and how it’s going, and see if they’d like to try with you.

Meditation might seem weird to your children at first, but many children feel a sense of inner control that is comforting to them after a very short amount of time developing their meditation muscles. When so much outside of ourselves seems big and scary, knowing that we can turn inward and trust ourselves can be a huge source of security for the smallest members of our families.

Happy meditating!

Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder, 12/15

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In ancient Chinese practices, there was recognition that peace begins in the closest place – within each human heart and mind. “If there is to be in the world, there must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the homes. If there is to be peace in the homes, there must be peace in the people.” This wisdom has been understood through generations in almost every culture, yet, we forget — we forget. Forgetting has become our cultural habit, distracted and limited as we are by stuff and ego, anxiety and fear. We should be careful, and thoughtful, about our words and deeds in this season of holidays. If we are going to sing about peace, we must first consider and contemplate how much peace we are nurturing in our own hearts, and how much peace we are creating in our relationships. If we are going to celebrate the balance of light and dark, day and night, we must consider and contemplate how well we move between the two – how much we understand the necessity of both. If we hope for the accomplishment of “goodwill to all” we have to start with our own families and neighborhoods.

Has it ever been harder to cultivate peace and goodwill? Perhaps not, and yet we are not the only humans to be alive amidst war and strife. Perhaps this is why the old admonishments feel so welcome, and so comforting. Once again, we are invited to begin again. May this then be our practice, our observance of the holidays and holy days, our celebration of the season: to find peace in the gift of every breath, to let that peace move through us and into the world as love and respect, as consideration for the well-being of all. Yes, it’s hard, yet nothing is more needed. May we hear the invitations, and may we begin again.

Sending love to you all in this season of great possibilities –   Jill

Mid-Winter Dreams: A Yule Celebration

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All ages join together for this winter celebration of the longest night in story and song, followed by a sing-a-long of beloved songs from “Frozen”, because what better way to celebrate Winter? 

with Rev. Jill McAllister

Inquirer’s Series – Every Sunday

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Question Mark

A series of 9 hour-long sessions designed especially for newcomers seeking more information about UUism and the Fellowship AND open to all others who are interested. Sessions take place every Sunday at 11:45 AM Room 8. Care and Support with Sandy Piper

Thinking About Year-End Gifts to Organizations You Appreciate?

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‘Tis the season when people plan for the upcoming holidays, look back at the year that has passed, and ponder how they can make our world a better place in the year(s) to come. And yes, also begin thinking about the upcoming tax season. If in your pondering you are thinking about making year-end gifts to the organizations you appreciate/love and the UUFC is among those, thank you!

Year-end gifts to the UUFC can be made in many ways:

  • Send a check to UUFC, 2945 NW Circle Blvd, Corvallis OR 97330.
  • Donate online using a debit, credit or ACH bank transfer. Go to the middle of the donation page and select yearend 2023 in the first drop down menu.
  • If you have appreciated stock that is burning a hole in your holiday stocking, transfer stock to the UUFC Schwab account (82873024) using DTC # 0164 Code 40 (you can use these numbers in an online transfer or your broker will know what these are used for).
  • If you are of an age where you need to make required minimum distributions from your retirement accounts, you can have a check written to the UUFC or send a message to office@uucorvallis.org and ask for the flyer on how to make such transfers. If you make these distributions directly to the UUFC, they won’t count as income for tax purposes.
  • Unlike NPR, OPB or an assortment of other non-profits, we have not yet accepted vehicle donations, but if this is of interest to you, send an email to office@uucorvallis.org and your inquisitive finance team will see if we can figure out how to make this happen.

We thank you for your efforts to make our world a better place for all. May you and yours have a joyous holiday season.

Your UUFC Finance Council

Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder 12/10/2023

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Can you imagine that each season, as it arrives, brings with it a welcome? A welcome to the world as it is, in this particular season, at this particular time. Can you imagine being welcomed into winter, for example. What might it look like and feel like to know yourself welcomed by winter?

We could start with the soft grayness of the sky and hills, especially after rain – a softness which doesn’t move one to cover their eyes, but to quiet just a little and breathe in the fresh moistness. And the clouds – the variable and moving clouds, especially those that settle in to hug the fields and the valleys between the hills, like blankets. The darkness of course, with its invitations to rest, to reflect, to contemplate, to sleep, to keep covers on for longer each morning. And the stars – when the clouds part in the night sky, and stars can be seen even through the bare branches of trees. And here in this valley, at the edges of hills and woods, owls, who converse around the neighborhood as night begins and as morning begins as well. Don’t forget the cold – the breath of the north, the bringer of snow and ice and their unique expressions of beauty.

Can we allow ourselves to feel this welcome, to be welcomed, a few times a day, and to understand the welcome as generosity – the generosity of the turning earth, of the waxing and waning seasons. A generosity of variety, of breadth and depth of life, of life beyond our expectations. And if we can imagine this welcoming generosity, then might we ourselves become part of the welcome, part of the generosity, as a practice of understanding what we are part of? The season offers us all of this. All that’s needed from us is to enter in, with gratitude. May we feel the welcome of winter as a season of generosity, and may we respond with generous hearts and minds to spread the welcome to all who are in need of it.

“A Season of Generosity” 12/10/2023

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There are plenty of ads, jingles, mailings, and conversations encouraging us to give at this time of year. But how is the giving of gifts related to generosity of spirit, a generous open heart and open mind, a generous respect for the basic needs of all? Perhaps instead of focusing on giving we should be contemplating deep and broad generosity, beginning with this season.

with Rev. Jill McAllister

Men’s Gathering

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Sunday, December 10th, 11:45 AM in Room 9 at UUFC

Connect with other UU men, forge deeper relationships and share what’s currently moving in your life. Open to all folks who self-identify as men at UUFC. Discuss a meaningful topic in a small group.

Contact Jerry Buthman for more information.

Inquirer’s Series – Every Sunday

by
Question Mark

A series of 9 hour-long sessions designed especially for newcomers seeking more information about UUism and the Fellowship AND open to all others who are interested. Sessions take place every Sunday at 11:45 AM Room 8. This week: Social Justice, Community Action & Connect Up with Karen Josephson.