Sunday, March 20th, 2022
The topic of Forgiveness seemed a natural progression as we’ve been diving more deeply into letting go and releasing. Oftentimes, in order to fully release trapped emotions such as pain, sadness, fear or anger, we must first learn the art of forgiveness. Interestingly, it is rarely a particular “event” that causes us anguish, but our interpretation of the situation. We do have a choice in how we internalize the perceived intentions of others. Perhaps it is time to change and expand our definition of forgiveness. There’s a lot to discuss here, and we hope you’ll join in the conversation!
Love, love, love,
Colleen and Mark
Quotes to ponder
“To transform energies we must experience them totally, working through them and forgiving them, which means seeing the perfection in them.”
~ Colin Tipping
“Forgiveness truly is heart medicine. It involves the healing experience of Divine contact. The Divine has many names, including the Holy Spirit, the Divine Mother, Father God, Great Spirit, Nature, or the “peace that passeth all understanding.” (Use) any name that works for you. The important thing for us to remember is the uniting, creative force of Love. Only this Love is real, and only Love has the power to heal and reunite us with our true nature.”
~ Ana Holub
“True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience.”
~ Oprah Winfrey
“Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim–letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor.”
~ C.R. Strahan
Looking Ahead/Notes of Interest
Paths of Heart Schedule (Sundays, 11 a.m.)
With the county mask mandate now lifted, we will remain conscious of everyone’s comfort level regarding masks at our gatherings and will make a group decision week by week. The general consensus so far is folks are comfortable with others being unmasked, though some are choosing to wear their own masks, which you are always very welcome to do!
March 20th – in person
March 27th – in person
April 3rd – ZOOM gathering
April 10th – in person
April 17th, Easter Sunday – in person, and we are fully intending to have a long-awaited-for POTLUCK after our gathering (hopefully outdoors!).
April 24th – in person
May 1st – ZOOM gathering
Request for guest presenters and musicians ~ Please let us know if you’re interested in sharing a topic or joining in the music! If you have ideas of other speakers/musicians you’d like to invite to Paths of Heart, we would love your suggestions. A small honorarium is available to these guest presenters.
Sending prayers and affirmations ~ If anyone would like to receive our collective positive thoughts and prayers on a Sunday morning, please ask! We can be as specific or as anonymous as you’d like. Let us know if we can surround you and your loved ones in love and light!
Giving Opportunities – Paths of Heart continues (into its 9th year now!) almost entirely through your generous donations. What a beautiful thing! If you find value in what we do here each week, please consider donating to keep our non-profit running smoothly, with grace and ease. The past 2 years saw a severe drop in donations and we’d love to regrow our account balance to a more healthy and sustainable level now that we are meeting regularly again. During the pandemic, online donations became increasingly important to our organization, and are always gratefully accepted on our website, https://www.pathsofheart.org/donate/. You can even sign up for monthly giving, which we deeply appreciate. Thanks so much for supporting the continuation of Paths of Heart!
Two ways you can further support Paths of Heart are detailed below:
King Soopers Community Rewards Program – if you shop at KS and have a rewards card, you can “link” it to Paths of Heart and King Soopers will donate a portion of your dollars spent (around 5%) to our non-profit. Go to https://www.kingsoopers.com/i/community/community-rewards to sign up and link your card. Our organization name is Paths of Heart and organization number is RG782. Let us know if you want help signing up!
Amazon Smile – We do love shopping locally and very often do, but Amazon sometimes fits the bill. If you are an Amazon shopper, you can make a difference by shopping at smile.amazon.com/ch/81-4175487 to generate donations for Paths of Heart!
“Paths of Heart” Labyrinth and Zen Meditation Garden – This was intentioned to be a community space, so know that you are always welcome to drop by and walk or sit – you do not need to let us know in advance. Do note that we have experienced the outer “halo” of glass blocks in the labyrinth to be slippery when wet, so it’s best to walk it on a dry day (not usually a problem in Colorado!). We also welcome volunteers to help keep our labyrinth looking beautiful and free of debris and weeds. Thank you in advance.
Gratitudes
We are so grateful for all the good folks bringing humanitarian aid to Ukraine at this time. Here are some links shared from a trusted friend, of organizations in Poland that are helping Ukrainian refugees and their beloved animals.
http://uku.com.ua/english/index.html
World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders are also worthy organizations that would welcome our monetary support.
We are also grateful for a short trip to the mountains where we are experiencing a beautiful, cleansing snowfall and a crackling fire in the fireplace with dear friends.
What are you grateful for today?
“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.”
~ Henri Frederic Amiel
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.”
~ Henry Ward Beecher
“Going to sleep with a grateful, open heart
is a powerful healing practice. Your dreams will become more inspiring and you will awaken in the morning
with a lighter state of mind.”
~ Dr. John Demartini
About Paths of Heart…
Paths of Heart is a high spirited, heart-centered community where we gather together (in new and creative ways!) for music, poetry, commentary, and dialogue to create and nurture joy, compassion, gratitude, and love – in our own lives and throughout the world. Paths of Heart is a 501(c)(3) Human Services/Educational non-profit organization that uses the arts, especially, to encourage and propel seekers of a better, more peaceful world to find ways to serve, while becoming more kind and compassionate human beings.
We welcome you as we collectively and individually explore the sweet mysteries of life – this is an invitation into co-creation!
Visit us on the web at https://www.pathsofheart.org
We hope our physical paths may cross soon!