14 February News and Notes
Kimberly gave us an introduction to Chinese New Year rituals and beliefs, with some emphasis on the Taoist point of view. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
In Western culture, New Years celebrations are one big party followed by not very much introspection. Introspection that is accomplished is usually done in the form of New Year’s resolutions. Chinese New Year is customarily a 2 week observance. It takes that long to attend to the unfinished business of the previous year and take time to reflect upon it and put it in perspective. Holding on to the past can can interfere with your ability to move on into the future. This is especially true if you need to seek someone out to bring closure to disagreements.
Don’t let past events define you. This is often said of the bad things that happen in our lives, but positive events can have hidden problems. Once you let an event define you, you stop growing. You put on that identity and stop expanding your horizons looking for new growth and new identities. Positive identities can be just and confining as the negative ones when looked at in this prospective. Points of view can define limits that are only limits because of your point of view. From the jellyfish point of view, the shoreline is the end of the entire universe… the lip of the bowl that is the ocean. It is New Year’s again… make an effort to look at things anew.
Announcements: We are saddened to report the passing of Connie. Funeral services will be next Saturday at St Pius X. Betty announced two new hymnals have been dedicated at Stan’s request.
Dance lessons last week went well. Next Friday Dance lessons will be at 7PM Friday… an extra half hour of rest before the fun begins.
Take note of the Interfaith Power and Light movement. Earth day is coming. http://interfaithpowerandlight.org/