Author: Paula
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Upcoming Give Away With a Twist: How You Can Help
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I want to celebrate Welcoming Spirit’s 100th post with a give away, which will happen in early February. I’m envisioning a small gift basket that has things that are inspiring, that I love, that I would want to share with someone else. In the spirit of giving, I would also…
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Friday Afternoon Music: Elevator Love Letter
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There’s a little band from Canada called Stars, and I thought I needed to share this lovely tune with everyone for the reprisal of Friday Music. Here is “Elevator Love Letter”: I’ve found myself listening to this song on repeat, and wanting to climb into it and live the music…
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Music
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If you know Welcoming Spirit, you know that I like to do a music post once a week. Music has always been a big part of my life. I have some favorite memories as a kid in the formal dining room, with my Dad playing drums with chop sticks on…
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A New Idea for Welcoming Spirit: Book Reviews
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OK, so its not really new. But it’s new here! I get these really great alumni magazines from UCSB (UC Santa Barbara, go Gauchos!) and Yale, and lots of times they have announcements of faculty or alumni books that have been published in the last year, with a little blurb…
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A Fear of the Nothing
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I like to attend retreats as much as I like leading them. One of the ones of special note coming up is with Cynthia Bourgeault. She is the author of one of my favorite recent reads, The Wisdom Jesus. Her site describes her as a “hermit priest, writer, and internationally…
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The Car Manufacturer Bailout: Let’s Turn This On It’s Head
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On the way into work today, I was listening to NPR, and there was a story about automobile emissions standards, and how those standards have come into question around to the industry’s requested bailout. I realize I don’t usually get into political issues here, but something about this story grabbed…
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“O Beauty Ever Ancient,” a Video From the New Year’s Retreat
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At our New Year’s retreat, we did a lot of group work with doors – each person chose an image of a doorway or gate or threshold as they arrived the first evening. This item helped break people into “teams” (small groups), and had a quote about thresholds or journeys…
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Love Gambles Away Every Gift
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Another poem that I’ve come across recently, and that has really had me thinking is this, by Rumi: Love is recklessness, not reason.Reason seeks a profit.Love comes on strong, consuming herself, unabashed. Yet in the midst of suffering,Love proceeds like a millstone,hard surfaced and straight forward. Having died to self-interest,she…