Hopeful Thinking

I always tell my Tribe kids, “Life comes at us in waves.  You can be either driftwood, or you can be surfboard.  Be the surfboard.”  Since there’s always a steady stream of new kids and adults participating in Tribe, this gets quoted fairly frequently to the newcomers.  But even the veterans need reminding.   Being the surfboard is a lifestyle choice.  It’s not a concept that is readily digestible in its full form.  Superficially, it’s fairly self-explanatory.   Don’t be driftwood.  Be something better.  It’s inspiring in a pithy way.  But there’s something much more profound upon which to deeply meditate here for there are many layers of nuance in the choice to BE the surfboard.  It’s an intention.  And not just any intention.  It’s a covenant with yourself and the Universe to take the situations of your life—good, bad and ugly—and find a way to not only survive them, but thrive because of them.   Being...

What does it take to be a good neighbor?  Are we good neighbors?  Do we think of what  the view of us from over the fence might be like?  It’s a challenge to be neighborly.  We  are so focused on our own busy lives and families and interests that to be neighborly  too seems an extra burden.  I can remember living in New York City and having no idea  who was living on the other side of my brick walls.  People were there, living their lives  only feet away from me.  Having private moments and difficult conversations,  committing lies, or having dinner alone, all in a space less distant than that between two parked cars.   I don’t regularly quote the Bible, but Mark 12:28-31 is pretty good. It has two parts to it.  The  first is about our relationship with God as the Jews saw it, the second is my favorite, it’s  about our relationships with each other.  The text reads:   One of the scribes came a...

Sunday Service - November 9, 2014 First Parish Church Fitchburg Wil Darcangelo, officiant Opening Words  And so here we are. And it is right that we should be here.  It is right to be here now.  Give yourself permission to be truly present.  Worldly cares and concerns will still be there when our sacred time is over.  Let's take the time to fill the well together here.  Let's open our hearts to the solutions for the challenges we have.  The worldly concerns which wait outside will be better served by our devotion to these brief sacred moments we have with one another right here, right now.   Meditation - reading followed by a short meditational silence  Celebrate when you are disappointed.  I always get champagne when I’m really, really disappointed by something that hasn’t gone like I wanted to or when a sudden change comes along I wasn’t expecting.  I think I started doing it because I prefer to defy my anxiety and depressive tend...