Goodness Weekly 02.05.24
“Be careful how you are talking to yourself because you are listening.”
– Lisa M. Hayes
What’s Good
A few weeks ago, we had the joy of gathering for another Good Acres Roundtable with our neighbors and colleagues at Grace Northridge. Following the freeze we all just experienced, this was a wonderful opportunity to discuss the physical and volunteer resources we have as a community, and the best ways to utilize them to serve our respective neighborhoods. We are eager to attend the Neighborhood Economics summit later this month to continue learning about how congregations nationwide are working to revitalize their campuses, resources, and cities.
Partner Spotlight
It’s February and that means it’s time to show a little extra love to the people in our lives. Need a gift idea that gives back? Come by campus and purchase One Another Coffee gift cards where all profits go to support the creation and maintenance of Charis Park. Try our top-selling brown sugar miso latte and gluten-free coffee cake, a matcha latte or chai tea, and baked goods from Biscuit Baby!
A Message from Mae
Mae Czarnecki, Sunset Ridge Collective Communications Coordinator
If you are a Spotify user, you may have noticed the new trending feature, “daylist.” This is a new playlist that Spotify’s algorithm puts together for users based on what you usually listen to at that time of day, on that day of the week. This has also given whatever fellow Communications nerd is over at Spotify, unrestricted reign to a thesaurus. Currently, I am listening to “post-punk revival 00s indie afternoon.” Wednesday nights are often labeled “delulu hopeless romantic evening.”
I opened the app this morning at the gym, excited to see what unnecessarily accurate jumble of words awaited me.
“Tailspin fearful early morning”
I laughed, and immediately extended grace to myself for the very tearful night I had before.
Remember the excitement of my resolutions for the New Year? Well, I completed the first of many–a yoga challenge. In 30 days, I did 32 classes. Some were very hard. Some were a very welcomed distraction from the cold, dark, January days. All were worth it.
One yoga teacher, Connie, is what I call “woo-woo.” She invites us at the beginning of each class to abandon the worries of the world for one hour, and connect to our inner child who is excited to play. In one particular class, after reminding us that we were there solely to breathe and that anything else was a bonus, she suggested we practice “Ahimsa.”
Ahimsa is the respect for all living things and avoidance of violence toward others, as well as ourselves. “In its purest form, ahimsa is the spontaneous expression of the highest form of love — universal love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness — an unconditional sense of belonging to everyone and everything.”
Now, I may be the only subscriber to Goodness Weekly with a “tailspin fearful early morning” Spotify playlist, but I am certain I am not the only one that needs a regular reminder to practice Ahimsa, love and compassion, towards myself. Suffering from depression and anxiety since before I even took the training wheels off my bike (this may, in fact, be why it took me so long to ditch the left training wheel), the grooves in my brain for self-deprecation and self-harm are well worn.
During February, a month where our culture celebrates love, we are simultaneously in the darkest period of the year for mental health worldwide. I invite you to put as much effort into the love and kindness towards yourself as you do towards any Valentine, family member, or friend.
This Week
Saturday, Feb 10th Second Saturday
9 am Yoga
10 am Bilingual Storytime
Sunday, Feb 11th
No evening gatherings–enjoy the Superbowl commercials, or the game!
Upcoming…
Sunday, Feb 18th Outdoor Worship on the lawn (weather permitting)
Inhale:
May my head, heart, and hands
Exhale:
carry love for myself, and all around me
Subscribe to Sunset Ridge Collective on YouTube. We will be hosting our umbrella of work all in one place and would love to see you there.
