“farmhouse allium”
As you may have noticed, it has been an overcast and drizzly week of weather and the forecast is calling for more of the same. The lack of direct sunlight can sometimes have a direct effect on our brain chemistry and our emotional/spiritual outlook. We will explore the topic in this week’s talk titled “Here Comes the Sun” and suggest some possible therapies.
We also have a Sunday concert at noon on the coffeehouse stage with Ewan Dobson. Music is good therapy too when you need a little boost. Join us for lunch and music therapy after the service.
The YouTube Channel content for this week is our flower communion service. The service includes special music by soloist Nick Foster, the UU Flower Communion Singers and organ selections by Dale Holden and lots of flowers! You will find the link for YouTube listed below. Please join us for one of the services this weekend.
Waiting for the sun!
In Ministry,Dave
SUNDAY CONCERT@ NOON
June 11 Sunday Noon on the coffeehouse stageThe Cup Cafe, 61 Military Street
(No Charge, but donations are encouraged)
This Sunday we have a Concert @ Noon downstairs on the coffeehouse stage. Ewan Dobson, the Bird Whisperer of New Brunswick and solo guitarist has performed several times at the Houlton Coffeehouse but we thought we’d try a new time-slot. This is Ewan’s first time back since covid closed the border between Houlton and Woodstock in March of 2020. Ewan is most well-known for his YouTube video “Time 2” that went viral back in 2001 which currently stands at 32 million views. In that video Ewan wears a hat he was given when touring China that looks similar to a lampshade leading to his humorous nick-name, “the human lamp shade.” With his recent interest in bird-watching and feeding birds from his hand, he has an additional nick-name, “the human bird feeder.” You can watch several videos on the home page of Ewan’s website ewandobson.com Ewan has released 18 albums, two of which are “Insomnimania” (2016) and “The Pit of Despair and the Joy of the Trampoline” (2016). All albums are available in the website store.
This is the first time we’ve had a concert at Sunday noon so we’ll see how it goes. Plan on joining us for lunch at the cafe, hang out with new and old friends and enjoy the show. We have classic chicken stew on the menu and it comes with one of our homemade burli rolls. Desserts are also available and coffee drinks from the espresso bar. There is no charge for the concert but donations to the musician are encouraged. Live music is back so please show your support!
Short-Form Bio:
Instrumental guitarist Ewan Dobson originally from Toronto, Ontario currently resides in New Brunswick. Having started his career by winning the 2009 Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Competition where the prize was to record an album with Candyrat Records. As of early-mid 2023, he has released a total of 18 albums. One of the highlights of his path was being a featured guest on two of Marty Friedman’s (ex-Megadeth) solo records. The video that put him in the Youtube limelight was “Time 2” released through Candyrat records, amassing over 32 million hits to date. The styles he has represented are video game inspired fingerstyle guitar, acoustic metal, and renditions of the legendary Italian violinist Niccolo Paganini on steel string guitar. Dobson has toured Europe, Canada, USA and China multiple times. These days he resides next to the woods creating music as well as feeding a variety of wild birds by hand. Recently, Ewan published a video documenting what may be a record for most species of bird to land on a human hand, 26 species in total.
See you at the Cup!
Feel the buzz…
Menu
Classic Chicken Stew and homemade burli roll
THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE:
HERE IS THE SERVICE LINK FOR THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE
(Please note it won’t be active until 10AM on Sunday morning)
HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY COFFEE HOUR:
Topic: UUHoulton coffee hour & check-inTime: Jun 11, 2023 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83679671411?pwd=TWJtK2IrSnFmQ0RUQVBueGVsQjAvdz09
Meeting ID: 836 7967 1411 Passcode: 423001
Calendar of Events @UUHoulton
June 11 Sunday Concert at Noon: Ewan Dobson, instrumental guitar On the coffeehouse stage, lunch available in the cafe No charge for the concert, donations encouraged
.June 13 Meditation Group 4PM (online)
June 17 Houlton Coffeehouse 7-9PM Open-mic night
June 18 Sunday Service: Rev. Mary Blocher
June 25 Sunday Service: Steve Kinney “Atomic Mysticism” This is also a Pride Service led by Rev. Dave
June 27 Meditation Group 4PM (online)
June 30 Midnight Madness: UUHoulton Chicken Curry Night (Starting at 4PM on the church front lawn)July 1 Possible Yard Sale on the church lawn If interested in helping we’ll discuss during coffee hour
.July 2 Sunday Service: Dave Hutchinson
July 15 Houlton Coffeehouse 7-9PM
July 16 Sunday Service: Rev Mary Blocher
July 23 Sunday Service: Joshua Atkinson
July 30 Sunday Service: Dave Hutchinson
Virtual Offering Plate
If you would like to send in your pledge or donation simply drop an envelope in the mail. The address is listed below. You can also send your donation electronically with our new payment system on the church website. Simply go to uuhoulton.org and click “Donate” on the menu and it will explain how the system works. You can set up a regular monthly payment plan or donate in single transactions. Thank you for your generous support!
UU Church of Houlton, 61 Military Street, Houlton, ME 04730
Grow Your Mindfulness in the Garden
BY CHERYL WILFONG| MAY 24, 2023
Cheryl Wilfong on how to practice the four foundations of mindfulness in the garden.
What better place to practice mindfulness than in the garden? In the garden, we can let go of what others think of us, let go of trying to please other people, let go of judging our every action. Our flowers do not judge us. We can settle into our authentic selves. We’re home—our hearts are home.
Practicing mindfulness, we don’t need to improve our garden in any way. We are ordinary gardeners with ordinary gardens, and we’re doing the very best we can, given our resources of time, money, and other commitments. Let’s embrace the ordinary beauty in our backyard. Let’s tune into that happiness. Mindfulness is a forget-me-not reminding us to be here now.
The garden is an excellent sanctuary in which to wake up from the delusion we all live in.
The four foundations of mindfulness stake out the corners of our meditation garden. These practices of body, feelings, mind, and dhammas lead to the awakening of our heart-mind to the beauty all around us, even in difficult times.
While pruning bushes or raking leaves or planting seeds, settle into the body. This is first foundation of mindfulness. Perhaps we are familiar with mindfulness of the body from practicing breath meditation, walking meditation, or body scans. But in the garden, when we are in motion and doing lots of tasks, it’s easy to lose track of what the body is doing. Try simply being aware of each posture. By saying the labels aloud, you remind yourself of what you’re doing: walking from the flower bed to the compost pile; standing while you are watering a flowerbed; or bending over while you are weeding.
As you deadhead your flowers, you can practice the five daily reflections of aging, illness, death, impermanence, and karma. Say to yourself, “This flower is of the nature to grow old and die.” Notice the body walking to the compost bin. Pause for a moment and contemplate the life cycle of compost. Here today, gone tomorrow. Next year, new life springs forth. It’s a mystery.
Next, we move on to the second foundation of mindfulness, feelings, by which is meant mood or hedonic tone—not emotions. Go stand in one of your flowerbeds. How do you feel? Pleasant? Unpleasant? Or neutral? No need to go wandering off into story right now. Just, how do you feel? Accept the first word that comes to mind. No need to judge the answer. We’re scientists collecting data in this moment. There are no wrong answers.
Perhaps body and feelings, the first two foundations of mindfulness, are sufficient practices for you. Any one of the four foundations leads to awakening; you need choose only one. But analytic types tend to enjoy the third foundation: the mind. Watching the shenanigans of that rascal is a slippery object of meditation.
We begin our analysis of the mind by noticing the three roots of stress—greed, aversion, and delusion. If you like typologies, this is a very useful one. The so-called greedy type of person wants more of the pleasant; the so-called aversive type wants less of the unpleasant; and the deluded type (which is all of us) is confused by this idea.
Walk around your garden and again label everything your eyes land on as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. But this time, notice which category gets the most hits. Keep the judging mind at bay. You simply want to see if you’re tending toward greed, aversion, or delusion, because in that way you’ll know which antidote to apply. That is, you’ll know which practice will especially benefit your mind, making it more flexible.
Practice generosity for the greedy type, loving-kindness for the aversive type, and wisdom for the delusional type. Generosity might mean giving away bouquets of your flowers or giving your time to help a friend in her garden. Loving-kindness is something we can practice in every step, watering our minds with loving-kindness and goodwill. Wisdom comes from reading dharma books or articles and by surrounding ourselves with spiritual friends who keep us on the path, especially when our unkind habits of mind want to take us into the ditch. With these practices, we let go of the well-worn habits of mind.
Another helpful use for the greedy, aversive, and delusional typology is that these types lead us toward the recognition that the five hindrances prevent our minds from flowering with mindfulness and goodwill. The five hindrances are sense desire, ill-will, laziness, restlessness, and doubt. Sense desire wants more and better—more and better flowers, gardens, vegetables. Ill-will notices what’s wrong with the garden and is quick to judge the gardener. Laziness intends to garden or meditate but doesn’t get around to it. Restlessness includes anxiety, worry, and distraction. Doubt doesn’t trust the mind, the garden, or the gardener, so we doubt that we’re gardening properly.
Finally, we practice the fourth foundation of mindfulness, the awareness of dhammas, or phenomena—that is, everything, all of nature. When we’re outdoors in nature, attending to our plants, dhamma is there. Sitting in the calm of the garden, can we let the trees teach us about accepting life just as it is in this very moment? Can we take mindfulness with us wherever we go and bring curiosity to the investigation of nature all around us?
The garden is an excellent sanctuary in which to wake up from the delusion we all live in. We cultivate the conditions for awakening simply by stepping into the backyard and whatever garden we may have there. Finding the energy to garden or to meditate, we concentrate on the task at hand, even if we’re just sitting on a garden bench. We immerse ourselves in the joy the garden brings us. Mindful of body, feelings, mind, and nature, we walk step-by-step toward the joyful, calm, and kind mind that feels at home in the garden and in the world.
ABOUT CHERYL WILFONG
Cheryl Wilfong is the author of The Meditative Gardener: Cultivating Mindfulness of Body, Feelings, and Mind.
bouquet of flowers….
Teddy Atkinson Child Dedication
Atkinson family photo
Phoebe “birthday girl” Atkinson
Ira Dyer modeling his “flashy shirt” for flower communion
James Holden at flower communion
UUs holding their flowers in the air after the service!!
Prayer List
For those working for social justice and societal change
Pray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nation
The war in Ukraine is now in its second year
Prayers for those recovering from the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria Prayers for those affected by the mass shooting at the University of Michigan
Prayers for those affected by the mass shooting in Nashville
Prayers to ease the political unrest in the Middle East
Prayers for those affected by the recent violence in the West Bank, the Dome of the Rock and political protests in Israel
Prayers for those affected by the two mass shootings in Louisville
Prayers for those affected by the recent mass shootings in Alabama
Prayers for those affected by the mass shooting in Texas
Prayers for peace and reconciliation in this spring season
Prayers for the Carmichael family with the loss of Dillon
Prayers for those affected by the tragic train crash in India last week
The Four Limitless Ones Prayer
May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.
May we be free from suffering and the root of suffering.
May we not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.
May we dwell in the great equanimity free from anger, aggression and exclusion.
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