What is Your Favorite Season?

In staff meeting this week, my boss kicked our meeting off with "What is your favorite season?" I could not go with a convential answer, WHAT A SHOCKER!, so I said late winter. Not spring, not winter, but late winter.

WHY? Because once it is very clear that the days are getting longer, my depression lifts and I become the hamster that most of my family and friends know and love.

We discussed this in women's group last night and I realized that those mid-winter nights, when I sit on the couch, do SUDUKO, knit and watch TV, are for a reason. I do not have to be a bundle of activity 365/24/7. Although lately I have gotten close to that. My dreams are hard work after all. Just sitting is a necessary non-activity.

Daylight savings time helps, and it was 2 weeks earlier this year, but it really is mid-Feb that is my favorite time of year.

Did I say yet that I love my boss? She starts every staff with a question like this. Even when are agenda is jam-packed and abbreviated, this part is not forgotten.

Women's Rally a Success

Damn, I just lost my post . . .

Here I go again.

Today we held a Women's rally at church. Women who knit, write, make bamboo pipes, do ceramics, quilt, analyze numbers, sing, compose music, make prints and others which I have forgotten got together. We use a methodology called Open Space. Google that to find out what it is about.

We start with an opening circle, break into groups, have a potluck lunch all together, afternoon sessions and then closing circle. I had an activity planned for the closing circle, but threw that away when one group announced they had a song for us all to sing that came out of the afternoon session, from someone who has been blocked recently trying to compose music. Yes, we talked about blocks to creativity, the biggest being fools who say things like "That's a dumb idea" or "You can't sing" or "You can't write" or "This is not perfect". One nugget we talked about was that we are all creative, and need to get over those kinds of comments to find our inner voice or creativity.

I am always a bit nervous when I am planning these, but after today I should just relax. They run themselves, just like Open Space says.

It was a good rally.

Women's Rally a Success - the lost one found

This morning at church 20 women held a rally. I am not sure if that is the appropriate name for what we did, but that is what we always call it, since these started 8 or 9 years ago. We use a metholology called Open Space for these rallies. Today was titled Creativity and Spirituality. We start with an opening circle, decide what sessions we want to run, feed each other lunch by bringing a potluck meal, afternoon sessions and closing circle. Women who paint, knit, write, analyze numbers, make mobiles, sing, make prints, make pottery, make and play bamboo pipes, compose music and probably some that I have forgotten got together. A nugget aka seed that was planted is that ALL of us are creative. When people start saying to us "That is a dumb idea" we start to self-monitor and sometimes believe that we are not creative. Interesting, this often starts when we enter grade school. Women today realize a broader definition of creativity. We closed the rally by saying individually to each other "I appreciate you and appreciate your creativity.

I am always a bit nervous about how these are going to go, but after this one today, I should just relax. I had an activity for our closing circle planned, but that was unnecessary. A group composed a song for us all to sing sung to the tune Dona Nobis Pacem. I was in tears as we sang it.

It was a good rally.

Mormons and the spiritual journey

At my women's group meeting tonight our topic was "new beginnings" and somehow we got on the subject of the PBS show on Mormons. Before we knew it, the meeting was up and we had a very interesting discussion on other religions, including the Shakers.

The wonderful aspect of being a Unitarian Universalist is that we are on a spiritual journey and part of our spirituality is creating our own theology. The bad part, is that no one tells us what to believe and there is so much uncertainty. However, we can draw from so many sources and there are so many. On the way home from my meeting, the stars overhead and the coyote at the end of the street were just 2 sparks of inspiration for my journey.