May 5, 2024

Today, I am inviting you to "pause", spiritually throughout the day. You might begin right now, with a releasing exhale (of any measure), then a slow, quite inhale. Pause, and a slow release. It seems to me that May, 2024 is off to a rather jarring start. This weekend brings catastrophic flooding to the Houston area, and continued flood watch and warnings across Texas and Oklahoma. Growing up in Houston, I learned to live with water, floods, hurricanes, thunder and lightening and tornado warnings. Family and friends are still there, so I check in as I can. I note severe flood warnings in Brazil and Kenya while I follow Houston's. In an odd mix, today is also Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican-American holiday that arose from Mexico's victory over the French during the Franco-Mexican War in 1892. Despite the ominous weather warnings, the parades, dances and parties continue in Houston and across the Southwest. Additionally, this has been an intense week in the academic world as University student protests on the Israeli/Gaza war have escalated across the country with encampments, threats and counter threats, vandalism and arrests, provoking further division and conflict. And also notable, May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

While considering today's post, I came across a note, in my own handwriting, used as a quick bookmark, that advised: "Rid yourself of dependency in cultural/social/material structure." I don't know when I wrote it, but it referred to a paragraph by Emmet Fox, summed up by a quote of Jesus, Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." If I changed the word "dependency" to "attachment", it would be a Buddhist teaching. Yet now, my sense of spirituality leads me to see the world and it's processes, it's complexity and "cultural/social/material structures" are all expressions of God. In truth, we do depend on one another, as persons and as a collective social order. This is the kingdom. This is the "garden". We are the current expressions of the transcendent, living our part, our contribution to the whole. We consciously know only a fragment of that whole. Whether we focus on the things, people, places, events of the world, or whether we withdraw to "seek God", we never leave the spiritual field. Despite the world's turmoil and seeming tragedy, we all live, move, and have our being it that which we name God. As we trust that more, "jarring" events are more manageable. The next step and the next become clearer.

Today, find those pauses that remind you: you have never left the spiritual ground of being. Pause for peace, for silence, for direction, for rest, for strength. Pause to remember. Have a day of Peace. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry: https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../SecondPoemth/index.html

https://allpoetry.com/As-Once-the-Winged-Energy-of-Delight

https://www.pauljhowell.com/.../student-do-the-simple...

April 28, 2024

This past week, I was tasked with gathering some school project supplies for my grandson. It was a creative math project on geometric forms, involving picture-taking, glue, poster-board and a brief essay. There was an element of adventure in the mission to search the neighborhood and document geometry! What struck me most though about this assignment was the underlying theme of discovery. Discovery is an essential part of learning. In this case, the point was to discover that geometry is not just an abstract concept for math tests; it is intertwined with functionality and human creativity. This week, I have been reflecting on our human capacity to find what has not been known before--which is the definition of discovery. Today, I am encouraging you to open to delightful discovery.

Not all discovery of course is delightful. Finding the hurtful, frightening, or disappointing person, place or thing--the mistake, trespass, lie, threat, the complicated messes in our lives--is painful, although often, in the long run, worth knowing. This Sunday though, consider the delightful unexpected discovery.

In our attempts to live spiritually, especially in these times of divisiveness and upheaval, we can all too easily slip into a kind of rigid expectation of our path, our practice, as shields. Our spiritual minds are made up; our beliefs are sealed in defense and self-protection. Yet, while life often requires steadfastness, it also requires our capacity to adapt to changing situations. If we allow our beliefs, minds, and hearts to concretize as they were 10 years (or more ago), or even as they were in 2020-2022 (the throes of the pandemic), we are not really living. Delightful discoveries are road signs for us; they inform us that we are still open. The soil of our souls is fertile, life is still nurturing us beyond our repetitious affirmations and detailed prayers. When we are willing to be surprised, something wonderfully new can slip in.

When was your last delightful discovery? A few weeks ago, I was at the local market grabbing a handful of grocery items, including a marked-down head of radicchio. In the checkout, the young cashier asked me how I prepared my radicchio. I'm not much of a cook, so I said to her, "I just throw it my salads". She told me she grilled it and ate it like a "warm salad" and encouraged me to look it up online. Warm salad has never appealed to me, but in deference to her youthful enthusiasm for cooking, and her friendliness in sharing, I did look it up when I got home. Then I chopped it and threw it in the skillet, with a little seasoning and oil--surprisingly wonderful!

The point here is these discoveries are a given aspect of life, sometimes leading your way in quiet steps, sometimes nourishing you, sometimes healing, and sometimes lifting "the veil" to reveal the joy. Don't dismiss the small wonders while longing for a great cosmic unveiling. Whitman's description describes it best: "I find letters from God, dropped in the streets and every one is signed by God’s name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoever I go, Others will punctually come for ever and ever." Look again for yours. (Susan Nettleton)

For poetry: https://poetrysociety.org/poetry-in-motion/happiness https://poets.org/poem/blessing https://hillsidesource.com/unexpected-income-larry-poem

April 21, 2024

Tomorrow is Earth Day 2024. It will be the 54th Earth Day, now celebrated globally. I have been mulling over my thoughts for this post during the past week, especially ways to pull us all outside into the fullness of Earth as nature, as the "natural". However, Friday night I remembered each Earth Day has a specific highlighted theme that serves as a focus for locally based events around the world. In all the political messaging and news of the current wars, I had not yet run across Earth Day news. So I looked it up. With a deep sign, I now must turn our attention to the 2024 theme: Planet versus Plastic. Here is the irony: The brilliance of human creativity and discovery that brought forth plastic (1907), a material that served our needs and shaped amazing productivity and conveniences, has evolved into a pollution nightmare. This is highlighted with an increasing awareness of microplastics (named in 2004) threatening Earth's oceans, marine and wildlife, and it's uncertain impact on human health. The problem is compounded by lab created, harmful PFAS--used in manufacturing and various consumer products--known as "forever chemicals" that stick to microplastics and are carried wherever microplastics land. So there are layers to the problem of "Plastic" that settles and migrates throughout the planet and its life forms. Note that the dates here move us from an early 20th century discovery to our 21st century consequences. Where do we go from here?

We leap to a global solution. The day after tomorrow's Earth Day, April 23-29, negotiators from 175 countries are gathering to draft a global, legally binding, Global Plastics Treaty. This is the fourth round of the United Nations Plastics Treaty negotiations. The goal is to cut plastic production and end single-use plastic across the globe by the end of this year. This treaty is at the core of Earth Day 2024's theme. Environmental cleanup and climate change is multifaceted. It is the way of humanity to break the complex into understandable and manageable pieces; even though that way often leads to divisive polarization, in other ways, it is our strength. Of course there will be argument and maneuvering. Yet to meet to build such a treaty, with this vast array of countries, climates, and cultures... and agendas, in a time of warring peoples and nations, is simply miraculous. You and I won't be attending in person, but we can participate. We can offer our positive expectations, our prayers, our forgiveness, our blessings, and our gratitude for those who work for the health of our planet.

Then consider the other positive progress we collectively are making. (Here is one website's offering https://www.bobvila.com/articles/earth-day-good-news/) And do take the time to nurture yourself in nature's spring renewal. Renewal is a key word for inner reflection and one that nature offers outside your door. Your home is not just your residence. Every park, every tree, every river, mountain, desert, expanse of sky is your home when your home is Earth. Time to go outside. (Susan Nettleton).

For poetry:

https://poets.org/anthology/poems-light

https://ohioenergy.org/.../Earthrise-Poem-by-Amanda...

https://www.saltproject.org/.../earth-day-poem-what-does...

April 14, 2024

Today we are more or less 3 weeks into spring and with the added boost of day light savings time, evenings are noticeably brighter. We have had the excitement of the solar eclipse, as well as a burst of frightening storms. As I write, I continue to check online news of attacks and retaliation between Iran and Israel. Yet, even with this background of escalation in world tensions, election politics, and the underlying pressure of a changing planet, spring returns with light and beauty. Consider that this may be a good week to lighten your load, a time to try a lighter touch with any and all that you strive for, and especially with your spiritual practice.

A few days ago a friend of mine, who is struggling with a grueling work overload, sent me a meme: "Today I'm giving it my some!" It took me a few beats to process; it sounded strange...my some? some what? And then it hit me, the play of words on the too familiar success advice, "give it your ALL." Work culture often prescribes--even demands--this as the ultimate formula for a happy, successful, and prosperous life. This push to "give all", all your effort, focus, time, energy, talent, relatedness, all your physical, emotional and mental strength to whatever the goal or challenge at hand, has spilled into a formula for the spiritual life as well. But is this realistic or even healthy? In the world of work, the research is clear--regular breaks improve efficiency. How do you define, "a break"? It's not about just standing up or sitting or taking a short walk. With any of these, you can easily take your "workload" along with you. That is not a break. The key is in a lighter load. You break free of the burden. You don't carry it in your body. You don't carry emotionally; you don't carry it around in your thoughts. When it is time to focus on task, you pick it up again. The load has lightened.

This is true of our spiritual work as well. If we are giving it our "all", "all" the time, (or imagining that we are), where is the space for something greater to enter in? Giving our all can actually become a way of feeding ego identity, re-enforcing a sense of our own importance in living from a spiritual level. Emmett Fox spoke to this issue in his essay, "Mental Drudgery Is Not Prayer", pointing out that "praying long and hard" leaves us tired and discouraged. This is true for both traditional petitionary (asking God) prayer and affirmative prayer (the use of affirmation), because underneath we are forcing an answer, realization, or healing as a subtle act of will. Rather, cultivating a quiet faith in our immersion in a larger field that is a Loving, Compassionate Goodness, an Intelligence beyond human capacity, and yet, simultaneously intimately connected to each of us as a unique expression, lightens the load. As a zen saying expresses it: when you have one eye on the goal, you have only one eye left to receive the gift. But isn't it all a gift? As your load lightens, the world's shadow lifts in measure. (Susan Nettleton)

For poetry and more: https://wordsfortheyear.com/.../its-dark-because-you-are.../ https://www.jendireiter.com/.../stephen-philbrick-dont.../ https://www.holidayatthesea.com/.../lightening-the-load... https://hillsidesource.com/daily-thoughts/2018/3/28/just-take-it-easy?rq=the%20light%20touch

March 31, 2024

Today is Easter Sunday, one of the holiest days in Christianity. It celebrates the Sacrifice, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, who died while being crucified, and yet, as earlier prophets and scriptures foretold, appeared alive again to his disciples, before ascending to Heaven with the promise of return, leaving the Holy Sprit to comfort them and provide spiritual guidance. Through this sacrifice, there is the promise of eternal life for those who believe in it and accept it. Within my very condensed version of the Easter Story, there are profound implications for world history and the world's future, world religions, and humanity, as well as of course, much controversy and conflict.

My focus today though is on the core of Jesus' teachings-- often lost in the attempt to update the story, rearrange, and reinterpret it, to fit 21st century culture. Yet to me, the essential message of Jesus remains love and forgiveness. Love and forgiveness are not particularly popular practices in 2024. For many, many years Hillside held a Good Friday Forgiveness service, in a guided meditation/forgiveness experience. Today I encourage you to set aside some time for an inner review of your life right now, finding the sore spots that are ready to be forgiven and finding the love that is there beyond your wounds, frustration and anger. If not today, sometime soon.

Forgiveness gets easier with practice. Forgiving quickly prevents the slow boil that hardens our hearts, and layers our psyche in a way that makes us ready to take offense at fresh failures and trespasses of others. Anger breeds anger; disappointment and frustration produce more of the same. Realistically as human beings, we go through resentment, hurt feelings, embarrassment, and feelings of insult. But we are also quite capable of forgiveness that clears our minds and heart. A forgiveness meditation now and then is like deep cleaning, rather than a quick dusting of prayer. We need both. Even in the agony of the crucifixion, Jesus spoke the Word of Forgiveness: "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."' Easter provides a door to forgiveness, which is renewal; we rediscover our capacity to love and to accept that we are loved. See where it leads you, this Spring of 2024. (Susan Nettleton)

Matthew 6:14 "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."

Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

For Poetry: https://hrs.osu.edu/.../spiritual.../poems/gethsemane.pdf...

https://keningzhu.com/maybe-by-mary-oliver

https://hillsidesource.com/forgivenessinnew https://hillsidesource.com/seeking-forgiveness...

March 24, 2024

Excerpt from this morning's Zoom talk: "A Word Unsaid: Bridging the Abyss."

The idea here is: In defining and expressing the word unsaid by naming, you bridge the abyss. So let's begin with a few definitions. By abyss, I mean the metaphysical abyss, an abstraction, a space, between the concrete, physical, manifest world and the transcendent, immaterial spiritual realm, or to simplify, God. We envision an abyss as something very deep or unfathomable, immeasurably deep, endless. Abyss often has a negative connotation, a place of despair, and hopelessness, or suffering. The 'unsaid' is unspoken, unexpressed, or something we perhaps think, but do not mention; it is withheld.

Today, I am invoking what I am calling two-directional spirituality, which is dualistic, like life. Even though personally I affirm a unity, ultimately one field that is multi-directional, let's simplify this to two view points: God creates us and we create God, a two way street. There are other ideas and beliefs. Some in New Thought elevate human beings to a kind of Divine partnership--God and humans as Co-creators. Other views invoke ultimate oneness or a unity of reality: humans as a cell in the being of God, an atom, or a ray of energy. This morning, we look at our part in bridging the abyss, between our experience as human, and the content of our spiritual consciousness--the human role in spirituality..

In essence, the problem is our sense of separation. The very fact that human beings end up in search of the transcendent, of explanation and meaning of life and reasons for troubles, reflects separation. We feel isolated, alone, we face suffering. Our sense of this wondrous world, this cosmos, this infinity that we reach to understand, but fail to grasp, leaves us longing. Religion is our attempt to bridge the separation. Our solitary spiritual search is the same attempt to bridge the separation. With religion, we rely on the discoveries and ideas, and models of others, analogous to scientific models that we build on as we add further theories and constructs to previous discoveries, research, concepts over time. We layer knowledge and belief. This building up of ideas/discoveries/frameworks is the human contribution of consciousness in an unfolding cosmos. When that consciousness is directed to understanding what transcends the concrete world, we name it spirituality. But consciousness is not just thought, right?, not just ideas, it is also feeling. It is subjective. It is both our awareness of our inner being and our outer world.

Today let's take a look at the human side of how our consciousness and choice can close the seeming separation between those two poles of matter and spirit, human life and cosmic forces, to bridge the abyss. This is a call to clarify your spirituality at this point in your life and renew your commitment to live it--direct your consciousness, your awareness to it. It is about appreciation of life and tipping the focus of your vision and your thoughts, your consciousness, to expect and appreciate satisfied moments, while considering positive solutions for dissatisfaction. I am reducing all of this to 'naming'. Our job is naming events and moments. To bridge the abyss, you find and name the good. In naming, we fill in the 'unsaid'. Words become the building blocks of ideas and perception that make the bridge real. (Susan Nettleton)

For some of today's poetry, follow the links: https://poets.org/poem/song-myself-50

https://wordsfortheyear.com/.../the-way-it-is-by-william.../

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../the-bridge-builder

March 21, 2024

Announcement to all!

Hillside will hold a Zoom Service, Sunday, March 24, 2024 with Dr. Susan Nettleton

Topic: A Word Unsaid: Bridging the Abyss

Date: March 24, 2024

Time: 11:00 AM Mountain Time, 10:00 AM Pacific Time

If you are not on our email list for Zoom service and would like to attend, please email us at Hillsideew@aol.com or through the contact page on our website: Hillsidesource.com or message us on Facebook with your email address.

March 17, 2024

My thoughts for today actually arose from our wind storm this past Thursday. It had been a noisy night of windblown objects hitting the outside wall, and in the morning, I drove my grandchildren to school past streets strewed with palm fronds and tree branches, while the wind gathered strength minute by minute. I caught a parking spot just across the street from the school gates but the wind was fierce. Debris bounced across the street and through the yards, trees bending, signs swaying. As I helped the little ones out on the passenger side, intense gusts pushed us, almost knocking us over! There was a tree at the sidewalk edge and I instinctively grabbed their hands and wrapped them around the trunk, shouting over the wind, "Hold on tight!" They bravely clung to the tree trunk as I grabbed backpacks and shut car doors. Hand in hand, we all ran across the street and up the hill to the last opened gate, fighting the wind all the way until I delivered them to their teachers.

When I arrived home and sat in meditation, a memory surface of an afternoon in Palm Springs twenty years ago. I was sitting in stillness with my friend and teacher U.G. The wind outside was gusting then, and U.G. began to talk about a-causal events--that cause and effect are one movement and “the stimulus and the response are one movement.” As he spoke, his hands were in motion and at one point he raised an arm, while watching a swaying palm tree outside. He quietly spoke: “That tree out there, that branch moving is responsible for the lifting of my arm.” The room fell silent. In a flash of clarity and acceptance, I "saw" the interweaving of life, human beings and nature as one movement, there, in that room.

After my morning meditation I remembered that just last week we had been caught in an unexpected thunder storm as school let out. I drove the kids home, waiting near the front door. while the car was battered with a torrent of rain, lightening, and roaring thunder. Instinct told me to back up away from the trees on the curb and wait it out a bit, even though it was a short run to the house. Then the hail started! I was texting my son-in-law with an update, when the storm slightly receded and he came running up the walk to scoop up the kids, one by one, into the house with me following behind. Over the next 2 hours, the storm passed as quickly as it had arrived.

I saw again how instinctive our actions had been in the wind, as we-grabbed the tree that was just where it needed to be that morning; how we ran into the wind, dodging the dangers, focused on that space of grace. I thought of all the mornings we had driven past that tree, never really noticing it in the early morning rush. Yet, something in each of us--maybe even more so for a child--knows we too are a part of all that is green, we too belong with the multi-colored flowers that the kids love to pick, and the rocks they 'ooh and awe' over and the mystery of sudden storms, even in our age of atmospheric science. Yes, nature can be treacherous, but perhaps our solutions rest in the realization that we spring from the same Source. We depend on each other: people, animals, trees, bugs, wind, sun and moon...Life. We live with each other; move with each other.

By afternoon pickup time, the wind had settled. We walked up the hill, scouring for 4 leaf clovers and plotting Leprechaun traps for today, St. Patrick Day, as a door that opens to Spring. I invite you to take the time today to discover moments that move with the flow of Life. That movement is in you, moves as you. Life as one movement. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry:

http://warpandwolf.blogspot.com/.../wind-will-blow-it-all...

https://breadsite.org/lyrics/530.htm

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../PeaceofWild/index.html

https://hillsidesource.com/daily-thoughts/2018/6/28/letting-go-is-trust?rq=Letting%20Go%20is%20Trust

March 10, 2024

Today most of the U.S. moved time forward. Our annual shift to daylight time savings time occurred at 2 a.m. (If you forgot, go change your clock!) The Sunshine Protection act, that would that would make U.S. daylight saving time permanent was passed by the U.S. Senate in 2023, but has so far failed to progress further with congressional approval. While the benefits and drawbacks are argued, we have moved time forward until Sunday, Nov. 3, at 2 a.m. when we turn time back and regain the sleep we lost last night. I am happy to 'protect sunshine', but in this American election year, it seems unlikely we will reach further agreements. So I encourage you today to shake it off, and consider your personal relationship with time.

When I settled into California during the pandemic, time altered, as life was focused on place and staying in place. The pandemic brought urgent time pressure for essential workers and research. Those who were on stay-at-home protocol seemed to have too much time, waiting, but in time, many did begin to explore home activities, discover, communicate (digitally) and create. As society reopened here, I found increasing time pressure. There is still a sense of catching up to all the changes of the last few years. This is amplified by those who commute, having had a profound shift in staying at home, then returning to congested urban traffic and office buildings. There is a certain collective, palpable agitation arising in the work week here as 3:00 p.m. approaches and commuters rush to slip out early to beat the escalating traffic mess that surely will come as 5 p.m. arrives. Those who delay may sit in standstill traffic as hours pass until accidents are cleared. What do you do, while waiting?

The question brings Thoreau's profound phrase: "As if you could kill time, without injuring eternity." The idea of 'killing time' trivializes the vastness not just of time, but of life itself. The idea of killing time dates back to the 18th century as recognition of the human tendency to be bored, to disregard life around us, by doing something inessential, or perhaps something necessary but unpleasant (boring), while we anticipate or long for something more exciting in the future. Meanwhile we make do with something or other, until the next thing comes. This is our failure to recognize the timeless infinite in which we "live, move, and have our being". By killing time, we injure ourselves, and miss our true eternal state of Being. We miss the wonder that surrounds us.

This week, I invite you to taste the timeless that surrounds you...is you, and is your world. The modern phrase for this has become mindfulness. But mindfulness has varying definitions and techniques, some complex, some mingled with meditation, some with a split or meta intent of watching yourself, your thoughts and feeling while you encounter or explore. It gets complicated. Rather, experiment. Whether you are scrolling your phone, preparing your taxes or a meal, sitting with friends or your garden... play with it. Give your attention to what your are doing. No dismissal, no guilt, no praise, no judgment, just: "THIS unfolds from the Infinite. This is Time in action."(Susan Nettleton)

..."each moment, each second of life is a miracle"...

Thich Nhat Hanh

for poetry: https://poets.org/poem/time-2

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../the-zen-of-housework https://compassioncamp.com/.../12/awareness-by-john-austin/

March 7, 2024

Announcement to all!

Hillside will hold a Zoom Service, Sunday, March 24, 2024 with Dr. Susan Nettleton

Topic: A Word Unsaid: Bridging the Abyss

Date: March 24, 2024

Time: 11:00 AM Mountain Time, 10:00 AM Pacific Time

If you are not on our email list for Zoom service and would like to attend, please email us at Hillsideew@aol.com or through the contact page on our website: Hillsidesource.com or message us on Facebook with your email address.