As Eclipse ’24 approaches many of us at UUHoulton are working hard to prepare for the numerous events hosted by our organization. As the spiritual advisor of our modest group, I encourage each of you to pace yourselves accordingly; do only what you can do, rely on each other and assist each other, do so in a supportive and cooperative manner, and don’t forget to create space for your own inner experience of what the eclipse may bring to you and to our community. In today’s Support Page I’ve selected an article by meditation teacher Diana Winston that I hope might prove helpful in the coming days. Exposure to stress and the constriction of our own mind states can limit and complicate our natural awareness. Maintaining open access to our inner capacities is key when the turbulence comes.
This week is our Annual Meeting at UUHoulton. There will be an abbreviated Sunday Service upstairs in the parlor followed by a pot luck luncheon downstairs and then the annual meeting. Our aim is to be finished by 1PM (we will attempt to keep our reports brief and to the point). Please bring something yummy to share for the shared meal. All are welcome to the meeting, although only members may vote.
YouTube Channel content for this week is a continuation of our EarthCare theme with part seven of our study series titled “Tipping Points.” How far is too far? And how many of these tipping points are there? Short presentation followed by group discussion. We hope you can join us for one of the services.
In Ministry,
Dave
LGBTQ+ LUNCHEON March 16, Saturday at Noon
LGBTQ+ luncheon is at 12 noon on Saturday, March 16 in the UUHoulton Church Fellowship Hall. Food is provided, but please bring a potluck item to add to the event. It’s always fun to see what delicious fare shows up. The Cup Cafe will also have the espresso machine turned on for those interested in a caffeinated treat. Friends and allies welcome!
HOULTON COFFEEHOUSE
March 16, Saturday Evening 7-9 PM
The Cup Cafe, 61 Military Street OPEN-MIC NIGHT
Start out Saint Patrick’s Day weekend with Houlton Coffeehouse and open-mic on Saturday night at 7PM. Wear something green for the occasion! We have classic beef stew on the menu and vegan cheesy Mac as a vegetarian option. At the espresso bar we have a Saint Paddy’s Day favorite, Irish Creme Lattes and
kiwi lemon spritz Italian sodas at the fizz bar. (They’re green!)
Come early for supper and hang out before the show. Cafe doors open at 5:30PM.
See you at the Cup!
Feel the buzz…
Menu
Vegan Cheesy Mac
Classic Beef StewKiwi Lemon Spritzer Irish Cream Latte (non-alcoholic)
Eclipse ’24
Headline of the Week:
Equal Exchange Total Eclipse Chocolate Bars Arrive @The Cup Cafe!
At 92% cocao, these organic dark chocolate bars are what we call a “blackout.” I’ve never seen a higher cocao contentin a chocolate bar anywhere! Reviews are positive and they’re hard to get. We placed our order early and they’ve arrived.
We are still looking for volunteers in multiple areas. Please check with Holli for the sign-up lists to find out what might be the job for you.
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: Mar 17, 2024 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/85289611131?pwd=GmLkHtxaEQ4oJerv1jKm8wVLHJs7Se.1
Meeting ID: 852 8961 1131Passcode: 580457
Calendar of Events @UUHoulton
March 16 LGBTQ+ Luncheon in the cafe Noon
March 16 Houlton Coffeehouse 7PM
March 17 Sunday Service: Annual Meeting (abbreviated service followed by potluck and meeting)
March 24 Sunday Service: Rev. Dale Holden Palm Sunday
(Eclipse planning in the cafe during the afternoon)
March 26 Meditation Group 4PM (online)
March 31 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson Easter Sunday
(Eclipse planning in the cafe during the afternoon)April 5-8 UUHoulton Eclipse Fair (see events on church website)
April 7Sunday Service: Eclipse Service in the Sanctuary
April 8 Totality Solar Eclipse April 9 Meditation Group 4PM (online)
April 13 LGBTQ+ luncheon 12 noon
April 13 Houlton Coffeehouse 7PM
April 14 Sunday Service: Randi Bradbury & Ira Dyer
April 21 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson (Earth Day Service)
April 23 Meditation Group 4PM (online)
April 28 Sunday Service: Jodi Scott
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 (US Route 2), Houlton, ME 04730
Houlton eclipse celebration will include cairn with thousands of stones
by Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli
HOULTON, Maine — Dave Hutchinson woke up one January morning with the idea of creating a large eclipse rock on the lawn of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Houlton.
Much like ancient stone cairns found in forests as trail markers or as spiritual markers of deaths, profound events or an individual’s sacred journey, the eclipse rock creates a sacred space for attendees, he said.
“When we started to plan what kind of events we might create for Eclipse ’24, one of the first ideas we came up with was a large rock or rocks placed on the front lawn that could serve as a marker or gathering spot for eclipse activities,” Hutchinson, UU pastor said. “We are trying to bring the idea of cairns into a public space for the eclipse for people who want to approach it with that aspect in mind.”
Everyone is invited to leave a stone at the rock during their visit for the April 5 to 8 Eclipse weekend. And with a projected 40,000 visitors for the total solar eclipse on April 8, they could end up with a pretty big cairn.
Stone stacking into cairns, the Scottish word for pile of rocks, has been part of spiritual practice throughout the world for centuries. They are found on mountaintops, cliffs, deserts and arctic areas. These delicately balanced sculptures often represent different things for different people, whether for cleansing, releasing, meditation or even strength.
The huge stone pile at Cruz de Ferro along the French portion of the famed El Camino de Santiago Way between the towns of Manjarin and Foncebadon, is a place for pilgrims to drop a stone on the pile as a way of releasing the past.
Planners are inviting people to place a stone or rock on top of Houlton Eclipse Rock to gather the energy of this cosmic time during the official eclipse weekend opening ceremony at 4 p.m. April 5.
Spiritual leaders from the Maliseet tribe, the pagan tradition, a Buddhist monk and the Episcopal Church, will be part of the opening ceremony that includes the use of an ancient Chinese gong, crystal bowls and bells to officially launch the eclipse weekend festivities.
“We are limiting people to one rock per person so we can track participants,” Hutchinson said.
When the eclipse has passed through Houlton, the participants can come back to The Rock and get their stone or crystal.
“You can take your eclipse exposed rock with you as a special memento of your eclipse experience,” he said. “It’s a great event for children and adults alike.”
To add to the potentially huge visual, they are adding their Beltane – a pagan ceremony of spring and rebirth – pole wrapped in brightly colored ribbons behind the eclipse rock and flying an earth flag to create a visible landmark, Hutchinson said.
Local contractor Josh McLaughlin of McLaughlin Construction in Houlton is helping out with the rocks, including bringing them to the front lawn of the church before the April eclipse.
“We are looking for some larger irregular rocks from our gravel pit,” McLaughlin said.
The larger boulders will go back to McLaughlin’s gravel pit. And any leftover stones and rocks will go into the outdoor meditation garden behind the church as an ongoing momento to whatever spiritual or cosmic energy might be retained in those stones, Hutchinson said.
“There will be a special spot in the meditation garden where people can come back and revisit the event,” he said.
Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli
Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli is a reporter covering the Houlton area. Over the years, she has covered crime, investigations, health, politics and local government, writing for the Washington Post, the LA Times Health and Fitness Syndicate, the Rutland Herald, the Post-Star and USA Today to name a few. Along with her husband, three dogs and three cats, she just moved to an old farmhouse in Littleton.
3 Ways to Uncover Your Natural Awareness
Diana Winston on three ways to bring natural awareness into your mindfulness practice — and your life.
DIANA WINSTON5 MARCH 2024
Having taught mindfulness for twenty years, I’ve observed that a specific type of meditation practice has dominated the field for decades—classical mindfulness. Pay attention to your breathing, and when your attention wanders, bring it back to your breath. It’s great to practice this narrow, object-focused, and effort-based mindfulness, but there is also a mindfulness that is wide-open, objectless, and effortless. I call it natural awareness.
Natural awareness is a way of practicing in which your focus is on awareness itself, rather than on the things you are aware of. It is generally relaxed, effortless, and spacious, and it can elicit a profound sense of well-being. The term natural awareness invites you to notice or rediscover the awareness that already exists and is available to you at any moment.
Because natural awareness is hard to define, it is primarily recognized experientially. Let me give you some markers for it. Experiencing natural awareness can feel like:
- Your mind is completely aware and undistracted, without doing anything in particular to make yourself aware.
- Your mind is like wide open space, and everything in it is just passing by.
- You are aware, but not identified with the part of you that is aware.
- Your mind feels at rest.
- You are noticing that you are noticing, and you are abiding in that awareness.
- Everything just seems to be happening on its own.
- You feel a sense of contentment not connected to external conditions.
- You are simply being, without agenda, and this beingness creates a feeling of timelessness and ease.
How to Shift into Natural Awareness
If you have an existing mindfulness practice, let’s look at three deliberate shifts you can make during your classical mindfulness meditation that point you toward natural awareness. Once you have evoked natural awareness, you can then try natural awareness meditations to prolong and deepen your experience.
1. Relaxing Effort
Effort in classical mindfulness meditation typically means you rigorously and faithfully return your attention to our main focus, typically your breathing. Relaxing your effort to shift into natural awareness is a little different. It means you rein in the tendency to put your attention on your breath or other objects, and just be with the objects as they arise.
Many meditators fear that if they stop trying, nothing will happen. Or their mind will wander all over the place if they’re not making any effort to do something with it. But just sitting down and not doing anything wouldn’t be natural awareness practice—it would be sitting down and doing nothing. Dropping or relaxing effort is very different because we are tuning into the awareness that is already present, and so we don’t have to try hard to get there.
Also, you won’t necessarily have a wandering mind because you relax your effort after having worked hard to pay attention. Think of shifting into natural awareness like riding a bicycle. You pedal really hard, but then at a certain point you can stop pedaling and coast. The bike stays upright, you’re still heading where you want to go, but you’re not working so hard. In fact, it’s quite exhilarating.
So what does relaxing your effort feel like when you’re meditating? It feels like stopping the attempt to wrestle with your unruly mind, fighting to bring it back to the present. Instead, you are resting, relaxing, and exploring the awareness that is already present. It feels immensely joyful to stop the struggle.
2. Broaden Your Attention
In meditation as in life, your attention can be narrowly or broadly focused. You can think of attention as like a camera. Sometimes you use a telescopic lens to focus on something quite narrow, and sometimes you use a panoramic lens to take a wide landscape.
When you meditate, you can apply narrow or panoramic attention. An example of narrow focus would be attending primarily to a single object, like your breath. Panoramic attention is wide open—you notice many things at play or just have a general wide view.
Broad, panoramic attention tends to be the type of attention present when we do natural awareness practice. It doesn’t equal natural awareness, but it does point us in the direction of natural awareness. Because most of us gravitate toward focused attention in both meditation and daily life, opening up panoramically can invite in natural awareness. It counteracts our usual forward-focus tendencies and allows our minds to rest and reset, kind of like a brain vacation.
3. Drop Objects
As a practitioner of classical mindfulness, probably the most important shift you can make to invite in natural awareness is to move your attention from an object to objectlessness.
Objects of meditation are, simply put, the things you focus on, such as the breath, body sensations, emotions, thoughts, or sounds. Focusing on objects and attending to them is generally how we live our life as well.
Objectless awareness is when you focus less on the objects of awareness and instead focus on the awareness itself. Objects will arise in your meditation—thoughts, emotions, sensations—but your focus is on the awareness itself.
Experiencing Objectless Awareness
When people tune into objectless awareness, they tend to experience it in three different ways.
It is that in which everything is contained. “Our mind is like the sky,” it is sometimes said, “and everything in it is like clouds floating by.” When you turn your attention to the sky-like nature of your mind, noticing the boundless space around things, you experience a field of vast awareness in which everything is contained. Some people experience objectless awareness in this way.
It is that which knows. Most of us are used to focusing on objects when we meditate. But what happens when you make the shift to noticing that which is aware—to seeking the knower? If you start searching for the knower, what do you find?
As you notice things, you can also notice the thing that notices things. You can take your attention from an outward focus on objects and turn it inward, as if you were reversing your attention. You move from that which you are aware of to that which is aware of what you are aware of.
It is that which just is. Sometimes in objectless awareness you experience a deep felt sense that you are aware. You are here, fully present, and everything seems to be happening on its own. It may feel like this awareness is unshakable, that it is spontaneously present, and that there is nothing you can do to stop being aware. No matter what is happening, including thoughts, you are fully and uncompromisingly aware.
Practice: Experience Your Natural Awareness
I invite you to give natural awareness a try. Bring to it a spirit of experimentation and curiosity. Enjoy the process. And trust yourself—if you think you are entering the territory, you probably are.
Here are a few “glimpse” practices that you can insert into your classical mindfulness meditation. I recommend concentrating your mind for a while by noticing your breathing and then shifting over to one of these practices:
Recollection
One of the simplest ways to access natural awareness is through memory. Let yourself remember a time when you felt awake, connected, peaceful, and expansive—in a state of “beingness.” Don’t try too hard. Let it come to you in a simple way.
Now remember how you felt at the time. What did your body feel like? How about your heart? See if you can invite in a full-bodied experience of the memory. Recall details: sight, scents, sounds, and any other sensory experience.
Now notice what is happening in the present moment. See if a sense of beingness is present for you, just by your imagining a past experience. What does that beingness feel like? Connectedness, ease, presence, relaxation? Let yourself rest here.
Expand Your Field of Awareness
Begin with expanded listening—listening out to the far reaches of your hearing. Once you’ve expanded your listening, open your eyes and broaden your vision. Let your field of vision be expansive, noticing the space between things and viewing peripherally. Then expand your body awareness. First notice your back body. Then begin to expand further out, sensing the field around, above, and below you in 360 degrees.
At this point, your senses of hearing, sight, and feeling should all be expanded. From here, you can begin to play with that expansion. Can you stay expanded but also feel embodied? Can you have simultaneous inner and outer awareness? What predominates?
When you notice yourself tensing, just relax your body. It might be possible to stay connected to only one field (sight, sound, feeling), or perhaps you can feel them all simultaneously. Rest in this awareness for as long as you wish.
Mind Like an Ocean
Imagine your mind is like an ocean. On the surface are choppy waves and turbulence. These are the dramas you get caught in: thoughts, fears, emotions, and stories. Imagine sinking below the surface into the infinite depth. Deep in the ocean is a boundless stillness that is completely undisturbed by the turbulence above. Can you connect with this deep tranquility? Once you can sense it, see if you can rest there for a while.
Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center MARC . She is the author of The Little Book of Being, published by Sounds True, and the co-author of Fully Present: The Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness. She is a member of the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and is a founding board member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association.
Birthday People last Sunday modeling their necklaces and trophies.Happy birthday Mac & Diane!
Work in Action Shots from this week in the church basement…
“Let’s get a second measurement on that!”
Mac showing how a tape measure works…
Kitchen crew
Lehua in the kitchen
Prayer List
For those working for social justice and societal changePray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nationThe war in Ukraine continues
Prayers for those in Palestine and Israel as the war continues into its fifth monthPrayers for the worsening humanitarian crisis in GazaPrayers for the homeless and hunger challenged during the cold seasonPrayers for those affected by the recent wildfires in TexasPrayers for Stephen Kinney who had surgery this 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 delusion.
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