Navratri Continues

Navratri continues for three more nights, with the arrival of Saraswati, the Goddess of wisdom and knowledge. Saraswati means "the essence of self".

Agenda Today:
1- Add to my altar
2- Morning meditation on wisdom
3- Make moong dal (yellow lentils)
4- Evening visualization and prayer
5- Saraswati mantra

Lent Calendar 2020, Week Six

My theme for Lent this year is the Road to Resilience. I'm trying to build and strengthen my ability to bounce back from challenges, conflict, and calamity. My goals are:

• Resilience Habits: Resilience has lots of parts - equanimity, flexibility, resolution, tenacity, social intelligence, and optimism to name a few. I want to gradually add in some useful daily habits as a practical way to grow in recilience. 
• Fast from binge eating: I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow, and I think my binge eating has a direct connection to feeling overwhelmed by life's challenges. 
• Educate myself: I'm reading the book The Coward's Guide to Conflict: Empowering Solutions for those Who Would Rather Run Than Fight. 
• Inner work: Ground myself in journaling, meditation, and prayer to connect to my core of peace and courage. 
• Take creative action: Take decisive action on adverse or challenging situations as they arise, and use my creative super powers to grow, and make the world better. 

March 29, 5th Sunday of Lent-
1. Journal queries: What have I learned so far from my Lenten fast and study? What is the next step to take?

Ground myself in optimistic hope for the future, and become more open to the best actions to take.

March 30-
2. Resilience habits: For the last two weeks I've worked on optimism habits because optimism is a coping mechanism in times of crisis. I've also worked on equanimity and social intelligence.

This week I'm working on the habit of courageous persistence and tenacity. I want to take decisive action on adverse situations as much possible, rather than detaching from problems and stresses and wishing they would just go away. I plan to be persistent, energetic, and happy to do the work to make my dreams come true.

March 31-
3. Study "The Coward's Guide to Conflict": Read Chapters 15-17 this week. Also, I plan to use my courageous persistence and tenacity to maintain an eye-to-eye communication style, i.e., respectful, honest, and vulnerable.

April 1, April Fool's Day-
4. Send a foolish greeting: Since we are in lock down, not leaving the house very much and not having visitors, the days begin to blur together. Today I want to remember the change of the month and shock my kids with an outrageous text first thing in the morning.

April 2-

April 3-

April 4-

Navratri Continues

Navratri continues tonight with the visit of Lakshmi, the Goddess of material and spiritual wealth, and success.

Agenda Today:
1- Make a new rangoli design
2- Add to my altar
3- Morning meditation on creative growth 
4- Make sweet corn sundal
5- Evening visualization and prayer
6- Lakshmi mantra

Navratri

Today is the start of Navratri, a Hindu holiday during which we honor and thank Shakti, the Divine Mother, in all her forms. Shakti is the universal principle of energy and creativity, Mother Earth, and the feminine power in each of us.

The word nava means nine and ratri means nights; the festival lasts for nine nights and ten days. Navratri is celebrated twice each year, in the spring and fall, because these are times when nature and people undergo great changes. Spring (Chaitra) Navratri begins the day after the new moon in late March or early April, and is celebrated as a request to Shakti for a good growing season.

Agenda:
1- Make a rangoli design
2- Plant grain seeds
3- Set up an altar for Mother Nature
4- Morning meditation on strength
5- Make channa sundal (spicy chickpeas)
6- Evening visualization and prayer
7- Durga mantra

New Sleepy Moon

Tonight is the new moon; the Chinese call the third new moon the Sleepy Moon, because the drowsiness of spring is in the air. 

On the first three days of this moon, the Chinese in Beijing celebrate the birthday of Hsi Wang Mu with a temple festival. Hsi Wang Mu is the Grandmother Goddess of the Western Heaven, also called the Great Yin. She controls the cosmic forces of time and space, determines life and death, and controls disease and healing. She watches over the tree of the peaches of immortality.

This is turning out to be a very yin season, as we all "shelter in place"... How can we help each other stay healthy, body and soul?  

Agenda for today:
1. Journal queries
2. New Moon Meditation
3. Plan
4. Have a yin kind of day

Lent Calendar 2020, Week Five

My theme for Lent this year is the Road to Resilience. I'm trying to build and strengthen my ability to bounce back from challenges, conflict, and calamity. My goals are:

• Resilience Habits: Resilience has lots of parts - equanimity, flexibility, resolution, tenacity, social intelligence, and optimism to name a few. I want to gradually add in some useful daily habits as a practical way to grow in recilience.
• Fast from binge eating: I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow, and I think my binge eating has a direct connection to feeling overwhelmed by life's challenges.

• Educate myself: I'm reading the book The Coward's Guide to Conflict: Empowering Solutions for those Who Would Rather Run Than Fight.
• Inner work: Ground myself in journaling, meditation, and prayer to connect to my core of peace and courage. 
• Take creative action: Take decisive action on adverse or challenging situations as they arise, and use my creative super powers to grow, and make the world better.

March 22 - 4th Sunday of Lent

1. Journal queries: What have I learned so far from my Lenten fast and study? What is the next step to take towards resiliency? Ground myself in optimistic hope for the future, and become more open to the best actions to take.

March 23- 

2. Resilience habits: Last week I listed out some optimism habits, because the pandemic news is pretty depressing. Positive thinking is a productive way to approach hardships; it reduces anxiety, fosters strong relationships, and allows me to handle stressful situations better, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on my body. Optimism is a coping mechanism.

This week I'm trying these habits:

1. Focus on the solution rather than the problem: While it is tempting to dwell on the problems and disappointments of being isolated, and the threats of a raging virus, I do know that worry won't change the situation. This is happening whether we like it or not. Rather than thinking about what I'm missing out on, I will do my best to let go of regrets and negative thoughts, get proactive, and start planning for ways to stay connected, how to get my work done, and how to help those in need. 

2. Have some fun each day and laugh: I promise to do at least one fun thing each day, and laugh as much as possible. Ideas: Watch a funny movie, wear a funny hat all day, learn a new joke and share it (by phone) with 3 people, learn some new dance moves...

March 24, New Moon-

3. Have a yin kind of day: Spend one day in yin mode, not doing, but rather being. Hang out in the garden, relax in my home, drink water, read a book, daydream, go for a long walk, take a bath, take a nap, linger over dinner, and go to bed early.

March 25, Spring Navratri-

4. Altar for Mother Earth: I'm finding it hard to take creative action this Lent, because all events and meetings are cancelled. But, really, I'm feeling stagnated and dull, and taking any action at all is hard. Today I made an altar to honor Mother Earth, with my Sabzeh and spring flowers, and it feels good to create something beautiful.

March 26-

5. Study "The Coward's Guide to Conflict": Read Chapters 13-14 this week. Also, examine my usual style of listening and communicating. I suspect that I often analyze as I listen, then try to give solutions without addressing the underlying emotion, or just withdraw in order to not get in a fight. How often do I listen with empathy, asking caring kinds of questions?

March 27-

March 28-

Nowruz

Nowruz is the Persian New Year, which begins each year at the time of the spring equinox in Iran, and is celebrated for two weeks. The word Nowruz means New Day in Persian. It’s an ancient Persian belief that creation of the world took place on the first day of spring.

Agenda Today:
1. Prepare the sabzeh
2. Dye a few eggs
3. Make Koloocheh Cookies
4. Set up a haft sin
5. Nowruz Ceremony

Vernal Equinox

Spring equinox occurs this evening at 8:49 p.m. PDT, the earliest spring in more than a century, due mostly to leap year. 

The word equinox comes from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night). This is a moment of balance - the sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west, and we experience twelve hours each of light and dark. From this moment on, we gain more light each day, until the summer solstice.


Agenda Today:
1. Journal queries
2. Spring Cleaning
3. Plant my straw doll

Chahar Shanbe Suri'

Chahar Shanbe Suri', the Festival of Fire, is part of the ten day Zoroastrian festival, Farvardegan, which concludes with Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on March 21. On this last Tuesday of the year, Iranians jump over bonfires.

Agenda this week:

1. Make Ajeel
2.  Build a fire and JUMP!

Farvardegan and Hamaspathmaidyem

This is the start of Farvardegan, which means “days of remembering the Fravashis" or guardian angels. It's a ten day Zoroastrian festival, and it includes the five days of Hamaspathmaidyem, which begin on March 16, and concludes with Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on March 21. 

Hamaspathmaidyem is the sixth and last gahambar. This gahamber is the most significant to Zoroastrians, because it's devoted to remembering the fravashis or guardian angels. According to Zoroastrian religion, each of the 6 creations was created during one of the gahambars. Mankind was created on this last one.

Agenda this week:

1. Spring cleaning
2. Welcome the angels
3. Offer Thanks
4. Recite prayers

Lent Calendar 2020, Week Four

My theme for Lent this year is the Road to Resilience. I'm trying to build and strengthen my ability to bounce back from challenges, conflict, and calamity. My goals are:

• Resilience Habits: Resilience has lots of parts - equanimity, flexibility, resolution, tenacity, social intelligence, and optimism to name a few. I want to gradually add in some useful daily habits as a practical way to grow in recilience.
• Fast from binge eating: I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow, and I think my binge eating has a direct connection to feeling overwhelmed by life's challenges.

• Educate myself: I'm reading the book The Coward's Guide to Conflict: Empowering Solutions for those Who Would Rather Run Than Fight.
• Inner work: Ground myself in journaling, meditation, and prayer to connect to my core of peace and courage. 
• Take creative action: Take decisive action on adverse or challenging situations as they arise, and use my creative super powers to grow, and make the world better.

March 15 - 3rd Sunday of Lent

1. Journal queries: What have I learned so far from my Lenten fast and study? What is the next step to take towards resiliency? Ground myself in optimistic hope for the future, and become more open to the best actions to take.

March 16, Hamaspathmaidyem- 

2. Chant the The Ashem Vohu, a prayer with universal appeal. The word Ashem has many meanings: Law, Order, Beauty, Truth, Righteousness, Purity, Freedom. This one word expresses Divine truth, purity of body and mind, and all the beauty of nature. It's a central idea in Zoroastrianism.

This prayer is like a mantra, to be chanted slowly. To hear it recited, go to this link.

ashem vohû vahishtem astî

Truth is the best good.

ushtâ astî

It is happiness.

ushtâ ahmâi hyat ashâi vahishtâi ashem.

Happiness is to one whose truth (represents) best truth.

March 17, St. Patrick's Day-

3. Plant peas: The corona virus has caused my town to close down: Schools are closed, the library is closed, all my meetings and classes are cancelled. I'm turning my creative energy towards my garden.

In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is the traditional day to plant peas and potatoes (or so some people say). Today I'll put in a second row of peas.

March 18, Red Wednesday-
4. Resilience habits: This week I've begun to list out some optimism habits, because the pandemic news is pretty depressing. Positive thinking is a more productive way to approach hardships; it reduces anxiety, fosters strong relationships, and allows me to handle stressful situations better, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on my body. Optimism is a coping mechanism.

This week I'm trying these habits:

1. Acknowledge my achievements: This is already a habit for me - Every night I list what I've accomplished, which allows me to stop listening to my inner critic and appreciate my daily successes.

2. Create positive mantras: Look out for negative thoughts that pop into my head and replace them with positive messages. Write these down and repeat them on a daily basis.

3. Turn Off the News: I normally don't watch the news, but I feel I need to keep informed, so I'm allowing myself to read a little and watch a little. It's definitely contributing to my bad mood. 

This week I'll try to balance my news intake with healthy discussions about it with friends and family; hopefully this will offer me some balanced views on the news.

March 19-

5. Study "The Coward's Guide to Conflict": Read Chapters 11-13 this week. Also, practice identifying the underlying emotions in any conflict... Anger is often front and center, but the real emotion might be hurt, embarrassment, or even sadness. Anger is harder to deal with than these softer emotions, so if I can begin to identify them I will have an easier time with conflict. 

I can practice with my own emotions, with emotions on TV, and with real conflicts with friends and family. I can begin to be honest about my own emotions, and also help others to identify their own.

March 20, Vernal Equinox- 

5. Journal queries: Consider the balance in my life.
How well do I balance my physical, mental, and spiritual needs?

How can I balance my personal needs with my commitments to the outside world? 

How do I balance my Being-ness (mindful, compassionate, grateful) with my Doing (engaged, kind,and giving)?

Think also of the balance in the world; meditate upon what this half of the year will bring, dark and light, and how best I can take right action in the world.

March 21, Nowruz-

Holi

Holi is a Hindu holiday that falls on the day after the full moon in March each year. It marks the end of winter in India. Holi is sometimes called the Festival of Color, because on Holi everyone in India throws paint at each other! 

To prepare, folks buy gulal, which are powdered paints in rich colors of pink, magenta, red, yellow and green. Three days before Holi families get together to sprinkle a little of the gulal powders on each other, to share love and blessings. 

On the day of Holi the whole country goes wild with people laughing and running in the streets; they smear each other with powder, drench each other with buckets of paint, and spray paint with long pistons (like super-soakers). They also fill water balloons with paint! People often show respect for elders by sprinkling dry powder on their feet. 

By the end of the day everyone is covered with color- old people, children, men, women, rich and poor. Holi creates a feeling of equality in a country with strong disparity.

Agenda Today:
1. Make Malpua
2. Have a paint throwing celebration

Full Egg Moon

Duck egg in the apple tree nest.

Tonight is the full moon, called the Egg Moon because this is the month when birds begin to lay eggs again. 

The egg is a powerful symbol of hope, new beginnings, and completeness: My vague ideas take a solid shape, enclosed in a perfect shell, and I have created a whole new beautiful thing!

Agenda Today:
1. Journal queries
2. Altar
3. Practice strength against the storm
4. Spring cleaning

Lent Calendar 2020, Week Three

My theme for Lent this year is the Road to Resilience. I'm trying to build and strengthen my ability to bounce back from challenges, conflict, and calamity. My goals are:

• Resilience Habits: Resilience has lots of parts - equanimity, flexibility, resolution, tenacity, social intelligence, and optimism to name a few. I want to gradually add in some useful daily habits as a practical way to grow in recilience.
• Fast from binge eating: I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow, and I think my binge eating has a direct connection to feeling overwhelmed by life's challenges.

• Educate myself: I'm reading the book The Coward's Guide to Conflict: Empowering Solutions for those Who Would Rather Run Than Fight.
• Inner work: Ground myself in journaling, meditation, and prayer to connect to my core of peace and courage. 
• Take creative action: Take decisive action on adverse or challenging situations as they arise, and use my creative super powers to grow, and make the world better.

March 8-
1. Journal queries: What have I learned so far from my Lenten fast and study? What is the next step to take towards resiliency? Ground myself in optimistic hope for the future, and become more open to the best actions to take.

2. Massive Bike Ride: My Climate Revolutions group has a monthly ride this day, and we are celebrating our first year birthday! Also, I am leading an idea gathering activity to inspire us for the next year.

March 9, Full Egg Moon-
3. Study "The Coward's Guide to Conflict": Read Chapters 7-11 this week. Also, practice charting out my conflicts, in order to find compelling reasons for facing conflicts rather than running.
Here's a paraphrased section from chapter 9 that gets to the crux for me: After a conflict, we have a several choices - 

• We can ignore it and have shallow relationships.
• We can panic, avoid each other, and miss out on a growth opportunity.
• We can hold on to anger and bitterness, lose trust in each other, and end our relationship.
• OR we can try to understand it, and do our best to grow from it.

March 10-
4. Climate Justice Town Hall: 350 Eugene is hosting this event to talk about environmental justice, and I hope to gather more ideas for next steps I can take.

From the Baxter Power Plant in West Eugene, rendering the soil unsafe to the City's need to adequately incorporate climate justice recommendations made by community members from the Equity Panel into the Climate Action Plan, environmental injustice is rampant in our community.

This town hall features a panel on local environmental equity issues, followed by breakout groups that focus on how climate activists can engage with local environmental justice issues. Together, we will share resources, identify and organize next steps to take together.

March 11-
5. Resilience Habits: Resilience has lots of parts - equanimity, flexibility, resolution, tenacity, social intelligence, and optimism to name a few. I've added some useful daily habits to help myself stay calm, and this week I'm adding a habit to help myself stay focused and tenacious, even when I'd rather procrastinate, or avoid the challenge.

Each morning I will list the activities I'm having trouble completing, or relationships I'm struggling with, and make a plan for how to face them with strength. I have these strategies:

• Find the smallest, most non-threatening step I can take and do it.
• Write about the pleasure I will feel when it's done.
• Set reminders on my phone.
• Tell someone about my plan.

March 12- 

6. Climate Candidate Forum: My chance to hear what local candidates say about action on the climate.

CANCELLED due to Corona Virus.

(Instead I got my Shingles vaccine and spent a day on the couch sleeping.)

March 13-

7. Make a prayer flag:

March 14- 
8.

World Day of Prayer

The World Day of Prayer takes place every year on the first Friday in March. Women in the United States and Canada first formed this event after the devastation of World War I, when they were convinced that world peace was tied to world mission. 

Each year, Christian women from all over the world join together to plan and organize events, and suggest a theme and focus. This year the theme was set by the women of Zimbabwe:

Rise! Take Your Mat and Walk 

John 5:2-9

The program is based on Jesus’ encounter with a person who, although positioned for healing, had not acted upon the opportunities given. Jesus asked –“Do you want to be made well?” 

We are faced with this life-changing question. What are we going to do?

Agenda today:
1. Read John 5:2-9
2. Action on Peace & Reconciliation
3. Prayer for Reconciliation

Hina Matsuri

Hina Matsuri is a Japanese festival that falls every year on March 3. It began in ancient times as a Shinto effigy ceremony to prepare farmers for the planting of spring crops: They would rub their negative energy off onto a paper doll, then float it down the river.

Shinto is the official religion of Japan. It is an optimistic faith: Shinto followers believe that humans are fundamentally good, and evil spirits cause evil in the world. Shinto's honor the kami-- spiritual essences that live in nature within the mountains, trees, and rivers. Shinto tradition says that there are eight million million kami in Japan.

Today girl's set up displays of dolls, have a tea party, and- yes- some people still send dolls down the river.

Agenda today:
1. Set intentions
2. Make hina dolls
3. Make paper boats
4. The hina-okuri ceremony
5. Make hishi mochi and have a tea party
6. Prepare garden beds for planting

Clean Monday

Today is known as Clean Monday in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. The clean originally referred to the purification of the soul for Lent. Today it's customary to clean the house thoroughly, and, in Greece, people go on picnics, eat shellfish, and fly kites!

Agenda Today:

1. Spring Cleaning

2. Make skordalia or laguna
3. Start the Sabzeh
4. Prayer of Cleansing