Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
Every Monday morning, I set an intention for my mind to start working on my theme for this message. To review and process what’s been popping up over the past week and find a passion, purpose, or pattern. By Tuesday a theme usually reveals itself. This week my mind suggested “needs.” Right after that, I received Matthew’s blog post that started with this paragraph, which I decided confirmed my theme:
Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
This post showed up in my Facebook feed a few days ago:
Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
In this polarized political climate, I’ve been questioning our two-party system. Questioning our binary - black and white - either/or - right or wrong - thinking. Wondering if it’s possible to collectively shift to “both and” thinking. To understand that even opposites can be true at the same time: I can feel grief AND joy at the same time.
Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
Every time I type “Dear” in the salutation, it sounds weird to me. Too formal. Too intimate. But “Hi” doesn’t convey the care I have for this community. Then this popped in my head:
Dearly beloved
We are gathered here today
To get through this thing called life--opening lines of Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy
Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
Every morning, I do a 10-minute guided meditation. On Tuesday it was about using poetry to express and feel our emotions. It reminded me that last year I used a journal with writing prompts and I instinctually wrote in verse. I loved it! It was a 3-month journal and when it was done, I was done writing poetry. I’m thankful for that meditation: I’m going to start journaling again . . . in verse.
Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
Happy first day of spring! On Saturday, our LFUU Sunshine Committee delivered a bit of spring to me! Marilyn brought me a salmon-colored begonia, which happens to be my favorite flowering plant. Thank you, Marilyn! Covid symptoms really hang on – it’s been over two weeks -- but I am feeling a bit better each day and easing into normal activities.
Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
Covid knocked me down for several days, but I’ve turned the corner and am starting to feel better. As I mentioned in last week’s note, this is my first time having it and I’m grateful I got it! I’m grateful for two reasons: I can better empathize with others who’ve had it and I like new experiences, as long as they’re not harmful to myself or others.
Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
Dear LFUU Members and Friends,
I woke up crying Tuesday morning. (Something I've never done.) I was crying for those whose lives won’t be extended or saved if NIH’s cuts to “Indirect costs” of medical research grants is upheld. The day before I had visited my daughter and family. She worked an “indirect cost” job at a university medical research center. She recruited people for studies and submitted the volumes of paperwork NIH requires when there are human subjects.