Practice What You Affirm

Last Sunday, Rev. Marilyn Sprague closed out our September theme, Sacred Embodiment, with a test to make a point: Tense your shoulders. Clench your fists. Now say, with conviction, "I am at peace."

(If you weren't there, try it and see how it feels.)

Um… no. Words and feelings were definitely not in alignment. So where else do we say one thing, out loud or to ourselves, while our bodies say something else?

Those of us who've been around New Thought for a while know how this works. Rev. Marilyn offered a few examples, all common in our philosophy: I am lavish abundance, said while clutching the checkbook. I am free, said while still living by a should. I am healthy, whole, and complete, said through a clenched jaw.

Affirmations are still important. Sometimes we have to "act as if" until we believe it. But at some point, saying it isn't enough. That was the heart of her talk, When Truth Takes Form: Living in Alignment.

What It Means to Affirm and Align

Rev. Marily used hanging wallpaper as an example of alignment. If you've ever hung it, you know you need a plumb line, or nothing lines up. (She also admitted she nearly ended a relationship by asking someone to help her hang it. The wallpaper never went up. The relationship won.)

A plumb line gives you a reference point. It makes an invisible force, gravity, visible. In spiritual alignment, the reference point is already within us, but it may not be visible. Ernest Holmes taught that there is one life, that life is God/Spirit/Source, and that life is our life. We are of it. We are it.

Nature's alignment

A tree doesn't keep its life hidden in its roots, Rev. Marilyn said. You see it in the trunk, the branches, the leaves, and the fruit. An aspen grove looks like a forest of separate trees, but it's just one root system. (How cool is that?)

In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben describes a vast, complex communication system underground, where trees share nutrients and even send warnings to each other. That's us. Connected in ways we can't see. What grows above ground, like how we treat ourselves and each other, is where that shared life shows.

So here's where it gets practical. If I affirm peace, am I practicing peace, or are my days more chaotic? If I affirm freedom, do I act like I have a choice? If I affirm worthiness, does it show up in how I eat, rest, move, who I spend time with, and whether I keep my own boundaries?

And if I affirm trust, how does that show up in the midst of uncertainty? Can we trust, even when we can't see an outcome? We're a great example. In the middle of a senior minister search, Rev. Marilyn said her experience of us is absolute faith that the right minister is on the way, in divine right time.

Pain Is Your Friend

Her most telling example of body wisdom, and of our ability to ignore it, came from a relationship she knew wasn't working anymore. Her hip pain kept getting worse despite countless chiropractic adjustments, until surgery was a real possibility. Then her chiropractor said, "Pain is your friend. It's an emergency call to make a different choice."

She left the relationship, and her hip healed without surgery.

Our bodies know these things.

Listen With Love

Rev. Marilyn first saw Louise Hay on the Phil Donahue Show in the late '80s, promoting her classic, You Can Heal Your Life. She still has her copy (me, too!). Hay's message was to listen to your body with love. That doesn't mean assigning meaning to every ache, Rev. Marilyn said. It means paying close attention.

For Rev. Marilyn, that meant dropping the habit of picking herself apart in the mirror. One day in the bathtub, she apologized to her body and thanked it for giving her a second chance.

The body won't tell you the cause, she said, but it will tell you what it's experiencing. So we listen. Then we ask: What am I willing to do with what I know?

The Yes

The body also tells us when we're on track. Our shoulders drop, tension eases, and you just know, and you know that you know. The situation may not have changed, and a hard conversation may still be ahead, but you've resolved it inside.

She shared a line from Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, who reportedly said at 94, "I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm." Say sizzle to yourself and notice where you feel it. (An aside: In advertising, agencies promote themselves with "sizzle reels" highlighting all of their best work. What would your sizzle reel look like if you created one about your life?) And as a certified laughter leader, Rev. Marilyn reminded us that laughter doesn't ignore pain. It gives it space to breathe.

Try It This Week

Rev. Marilyn led us through a short practice to listen to our bodies and allow a truth we already know to show itself. It's easy to do on your own, and you can follow along online. She closed with one hand on her heart and the other reaching out, and three declarations:

I listen within. I honor what I know. I let truth take form through the way I live.

Sacred Embodiment: Looking Back on September

This month started with Cindy Clay asking us to look at our hands and say thank you. Rev. Liz Mirante had us check our inner habitat. Rev. Dr. Larry King asked who told you who you are. And Rev. Marilyn asked whether the way we live matches what we say we believe.

In a world where words and actions don't always line up, we have the tools to line them up for ourselves, and to help each other.

Core Council Update

From my role on the Core Council, trust means doing the work in front of us while planning for what's ahead, making peace with uncertainty, and knowing it's all unfolding for our highest and best.

• The senior minister search is moving forward. Applications are open through October 31, with a possible extension. We may have a candidate visit in November. Stay tuned. Kudos to the team! This work takes effort, energy, patience, and trust.

• Financially, we ended August in the black. October is Pledge Month. If you have a message of prosperity or a prayer demonstration, consider sharing a My Message with us on an October Sunday. See Justin Thuemler if yes. And please give thought to your 2027 pledge. Pledges only cover about 50% of our annual budget.

• We had numerous candidates for our administrative role, and interviews are underway.

• Juniper and Laura facilitated a music department focus group; we received helpful and insightful feedback (with more to come). Suggestions included better building signage and giving people more access points to our community through events and educational opportunities.

• Our partnership with Sustainable Ballard expands this month beyond Meaningful Movies (although we have two movies in October, one of them virtual; register here for the link), with the Halloween Boo! Bash and the pre-holiday costume exchange.

• Our practitioners received 66 prayer requests over the past two months. If you need support, they are here for you. And, give them some love when you can.

  
  

If you have questions or ideas, you can always email us, or connect with us any Sunday. Thank you for being part of our community.

With gratitude,

Laura