READY FOR THE OSCARS AND PREDICTIONS

Every year I look forward to Oscar Night! As soon as I find out the date, I mark it in my daytimer. Nothing interferes with this date! This year I’ll be watching from a motel room. It’s not the first time I’ve watched while away from home.

Lots of people have Oscar parties, but not me. I don’t want to be partying and chatting during the Awards Ceremony…this is serious business to me…LOL. I did invite a friend over once, but she left early. I’m up for the long haul. It was easier when I lived in California where it airs earlier. It wouldn’t matter to me how late it ran, I’d stay up. I’d sleep all day if I had to…can you tell this is a big deal for me?

Also, I do my best to make sure I see all the movies nominated. I try to see even the ones nominated for actors etc., but I don’t always manage to see them all. Now that I live in a smaller town it is harder as some of the films don’t even make it here. I had to see The Hurt Locker on Netflix. I didn’t manage to see The Messenger or The Lovely Bones. The Lovely Bones is playing here, but I haven’t made time to see it yet. Maybe that’s because I went to see Avatar THREE times…LOL!!! I’ve only seen 3 of the ones nominated for Best Animated Film and haven’t seen any of the foreign films and only one of the documentaries.

I don’t usually make predictions, but thought I might try my hand at it this year just to see how well I’d do. I’m only going to predict the top awards as I have no idea about editing and cinematography etc. and there is a limited amount of time and space here…LOL. So here goes….

Leading Actor: I think this is Jeff Bridge’s year. He was excellent in ‘Crazy Heart’ and should have received an Oscar a long time ago. His is due! Personally I don’t think there’s any competition except for Colin Firth who was awesome in ‘A Single Man.’ Morgan Freeman was great in ‘Invictus’, but he’s always great and it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for him.

Supporting Actor: Well I didn’t see Woody Harrelson or Stanley Tucci so this probably isn’t a fair vote, but the money this year seems to be on Christoph Waltz in ‘Inglourious Basterds’. He brought life to his role as a Nazi officer and I think he will win.

Leading Actress: Well I know everyone seems to think Sandra Bullock will win, and she was great, but I think it will finally be Meryl Streep’s year. Meryl has been nominated 16 times and has only won twice and only once for Leading Actress back for Sophie’s Choice back 1n 1983. She nailed the role of Julia…you almost forgot you weren’t actually watching Julia Childs.

Supporting Actress: There’s no competition here…it should and will go to Mo’Nique for her moving portrayal of the mother of Precious. As bitchy as she was, she actually made you feel sorry for her…for a few brief moments anyway.

Animated Feature: I think it’s sort of interesting that Up was nominated for both animated and Best Picture. It has no chance at Best Picture, but it will win here.

Directing: If Kathryn Bigelow doesn’t win, then I think women everywhere should boycott Hollywood. There have only been FOUR women ever nominated for Best Director and no woman has ever won it. IT’S ABOUT TIME!!! Barbra Streisand should have been nominated years ago for Yentl…but that’s a whole ‘nuther blog…don’t get me started.

Best Picture: It’s difficult to predict this category, because the Academy has done some surprising things in the past. The money seems to be between The Hurt Locker and Avatar. The Hurt Locker was very well made and an excellent movie. It was an innovative idea to film it to seem like a documentary. It was not an easy film to watch. Avatar, on the other hand, was an absolute joy to watch, and it has rocked the movie world! James Cameron held this vision for years and had to wait for technology to catch up with his vision. There has been nothing like it before….EVER. Yes, it has no actors nominated, but the film deserves Best Picture and I, for one, will weep if it doesn’t win. SO THERE!

Well there are my predictions…enjoy Oscar Night ….I sure will!

Ramblings

Well it’s been awhile since I posted here….life has gotten a bit busier for me. I am helping out a church about 2 ¼ miles from where I live. They are a wonderful group of folks and I’m happy to help, but it does keep me busy.

I have still found time to see lots of movies though. Not much would keep me away from the cinema! This time of year all the great movies come out…many are vying for Academy Awards. I’ve seen Precious, Nine, It’s Complicated, Sherlock Holmes, Everybody’s Fine, Up in the Air, 2012, Avatar, Brothers, The Blind Side, The Princess and the Frog, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Invictus, and I’m sure a bunch more. I like all of them, but Avatar was by far the best…awesome!

I also watch movies on Netflix and last night watched Louise L. Hay: You Can Heal Your Life: The Movie. It was a great film…done in the style of What the Bleep…with some drama and a number of interviews by such people as Wayne Dyer, Gregg Braden, Esther Hicks and many more. It speaks about ‘changing your life through changing your thinking’ and was a wonderful refresher. One of my favorite quotes from the movie was, "Anything you complain about repetitively is something you have an unconscious intention to reproduce." Wow! That’s pretty powerful stuff! It heightened my resolve to watch what I say and be careful not to complain.

I am looking forward to a new year and a new decade. The past year has been an interesting year of waiting and waiting and I can feel things are ready to break forth. I am ready!

9: Pieces of the Soul

(WARNING: Contains Spoilers)

I couldn’t help but think of Harry Potter when I was watching the animated film 9 directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. Why, you might ask? Well, because both films talk about pieces of the soul, albeit in totally different ways.

In Harry Potter the villain Voldemort rips away pieces of his soul by murdering others. He then places those pieces within an object known as a Horcrux. For those of you who are not Potter fans, a Horcrux is a magical object in which a wizard hides a part of his soul in an attempt to become immortal. As long as his soul is contained in the object he cannot die. Voldemort doesn’t seem to care that he has to kill others to assure that he remains immortal. He also doesn’t seem to understand that his violent acts serve to diminish the life force in his own body.

The movie 9 also deals with the idea of a soul splitting, but in a much more altruistic manner.

9 (Elijah Wood) is a sapient burlap doll who wakes up to find himself in a post apocalyptic world where all humans are gone. In this world he finds 8 other dolls, like himself, who have taken refuge from some huge machines that are out to destroy any signs of life.

Towards the end of the movie we discover that the human creator of these 9 dolls infused each of them with a piece of his soul so that life could be preserved on earth. He didn’t do it from any selfish motive, but from a loving desire to preserve the essence of life and to bring that life to his creations.

All of us are creations of a Higher Power and we were all infused with a piece of that Creator’s energy. We are all pieces of one Soul and we are already immortal. We don’t have to do anything or take anything away from anyone else to attain immortality, it is already ours. Our bodies may fade away, but the soul lives on. Those who understand this premise live their lives respecting others and all of life. Those who don’t, like Voldemort, strike out at others from a place of fear.

All of us create from time to time. It doesn’t matter if you are an artist, a scientist, a writer or musician, a cook, a carpenter, or a parent. We all create on some level, and we all want to bring something of ourselves into our creations. This desire innately comes, not from a place of fear, but from a place of love. We don’t diminish ourselves when we give rise to something out of love and creativity, instead we add to not only our life, but to the lives of others. All of us leave a part of ourselves here on earth in the things we create. This blog is one of the ways I lovingly share bits of my soul with others. What about you? Take a moment and think of the many ways in which you create, share yourself and leave this world a better place.

Time Travel

What if the first time you kissed him was not the first time he had kissed you? What if your husband disappeared on your wedding night, but you couldn’t really be mad at him since he was with you the entire time. Of course, the you he was with was only nine at the time. Such is the world of the Time Traveler’s Wife. She met her love when he was an adult and she was just a child. He visited her many times as she was growing up and she fell in love. She spent her life waiting for time to catch up with him. When he did finally meet her—she already knew him, but to him she was a stranger.

The movie is based on a book by Audrey Niffenegger, but it was no surprise to find out that Bruce Joel Rubin wrote the screenplay. Bruce also wrote such wonderful films as Ghost, My Life, and Jacob’s Ladder. I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce in 2005 on the Spiritual Cinema Festival at Sea.

I totally enjoyed this film, but it got me thinking—no surprise—what would happen if time travel really were possible? If it truly were a reality then my future self could come back and tell me if I found my right and perfect church, where it was, and if everything turns out as well as I pray it does. Considering I’ve lived the past year in the void and wondering about my future—it truly would be pretty awesome to have those questions answered once and for all.

I took a class at Unity Village decades ago on NLP (Neura- Linguistic Programming). In this class our future self went back to our inner child to bring them the knowledge that life would turn out okay; that’s a great thing for a child to know. This was all pretend of course. We stood in a constructed timeline and simply moved back in time to assure ourselves that we turned out okay. It’s a wonderful psychological concept.

So, what if there really is a future me hanging around somewhere? That future me would have the answers that I am now seeking. While it might be nice to find out specifics from my future self, it would seem that this is virtually impossible. I have not (as of this moment) figured out how to transport myself into the future.

However, what I’ve realized is, I do know how to travel to my past. The present me can look back at other times in my past when I was feeling stress or indecision and see that I made it through perfectly fine through that stressful time to this now present moment. Knowing this, how can there be any doubt that whatever I am going through now will turn out exactly as it needs to be.

So, it turns out I can time travel—but only to my past. I know we talk in spirituality about ‘being here now’ and living in the present…but I still think it would be pretty awesome to take a trip to the future. Anyone want to go there with me?

The Man from Earth

Can you imagine what it would be like to live for over 14,000 years? What if you began as a cave man or woman and you never grew older. You would watch the earth change as oceans appeared and mountains formed. You would see evolution at work all around you. You could meet the Buddha, go study in India, and then later meet up with Van Gogh. Everyone around you is growing older so you must keep on the move so no one notices that you aren’t aging.

This very premise is explored in an interesting movie called The Man from Earth. The movie was made in 2007, and I would guess it wasn’t in theaters long, if at all, as I’m sure I would have gone to see it had I heard about it. I found in on Netflix…I just love Netflix!

The film begins with Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) packing up his things to move. Some of his colleagues have gathered around to wish him well and give him a farewell party. Someone notices a painting he is putting into his truck by Van Gogh with a note on the back “to my friend Jacques Borne” and this begins the questions.

His friends are all quizzing him about why he is leaving. John then poses this question, "What if a man, from the Upper Paleolithic survived until the present day?" Thinking he is working on a science fiction book they play along and keep asking him questions. These professors include an anthropologist, a biologist, a historian, an archeologist, a psychologist and a professor who is a devout Christian. John is able to answer all of the questions fielded to him and finally admits that he is this man. The conversation gets very interesting. Some find this idea interesting and agree that it can’t be proved or disproved. Others think John is crazy and should be locked up, but they have known him for 10 years and he has always seemed sane…until now.

As I watched this movie, I began wondering if I would believe someone who told me such a story. It feels unbelievable, but then I’ve been taught to believe anything is possible. What about you? Would you believe such a story? It’s an interesting film. If you decide to watch it, come back here and leave me a comment and let me know what you thought.

Heart and Souls

I just watched the most delightful movie! It is called Heart and Souls, and it came out in 1993. I don’t know how I missed it before now, except that I was ordained in 1993, so I may have been a bit preoccupied when the movie hit the theaters. However, I’m guessing the film didn’t get much press or advertising, because I’m certain I would have made an effort to see it. I just love those “Watch Instantly” movies on Netflix, and I sometimes watch them on my computer when there is nothing else to do. I discovered this movie from the recommended list which Netflix prepares based on my previous viewing. Boy, do they know me or what?!

The movie stars Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, Alfre Woodard, Kyra Kedgwick and Tom Sizemore. It is about four people who died together while riding a bus. They were young people with unfinished business, and at the exact moment they died a young boy, named Thomas, was born. These four souls become delightfully attached to this child in consciousness. Thomas grows up thinking of these four souls as his imaginary friends. He talks to them, sings and dances with them; they especially love singing Walk Like a Man, by the Four Seasons, and I loved singing it right along with them. However, when Thomas reaches age 7 his parents and teacher begin to wonder about his imaginary life, and the four souls fear that Thomas will be committed to a mental institution so they become invisible.

Years later when Thomas is a grown young man the four souls discover that they are being called to leave this earth, yet they have work to finish before they can leave, and they need Thomas to help them. Thomas needs some help himself, as he shut down his heart after his imaginary friends disappeared. Together the five help each other with delightful results.

I was never a child who had imaginary friends, but it made me wonder if there might have been a guardian angel hanging around and helping me when I needed a friend. While I have thought about and even believed in angels and how they could be of assistance to us, I never gave any thought to that help being reversed. It’s an interesting premise for which I have no answer. I do, however, highly recommend this movie. It is a delightful film with heart and soul…and you’ll find yourself, singing and laughing right out loud.

SPIRIT RISING: ASSOCIATION OF UNITY CONVENTION

I have just returned home from our Association of Unity Churches Convention in Overland Park, Kansas. As usual it was a full week and I’ve come home richer and full of new knowledge and insights. Below are some of my notes from convention.

OPENED WITH PRAISE AND MUSIC

The convention opened with a powerful and moving service held at Unity Village by Rev. Sky St. John from Hawaii. He combined video, music, skits, prayer and a message, and I must say I left feeling incredibly full. I especially loved his portrayal of James Dillet Freeman’s poem “I Am There”. He divided the poem into two parts….someone feeling alone and crying out, and the voice of God booming…I am Here! How often do we feel alone and yet God is always right there speaking, if we could only open ourselves up to hear God’s voice.

The music was incredible! He used mostly praise music and I had forgotten its power. I spoke with a minister friend who told me she had to leave this service, because she couldn’t deal with the raised hands. I know to some that would bring back memories of another church where one worships a God up in the sky, but someone gave me a new perspective….that it is a Yoga pose. Raising one’s hands to the sky is not worshiping a God outside oneself, but rather opening oneself, and the heart chakra up to receiving more from Spirit and the universe. I like that!

Someone else said that praise music is trance-like. I’ve noticed that in my churches we seem to do more folk type music….and while that is nice, I really like the feeling of the praise music. In that sense, the fundamentalists have something. The music Sky used had Unity lyrics, but they captured that sense of awe and wonder. I want more of that in my church services!! Jason and deMarco were awesome NGUer’s (Next Generation Unity) and they bring a fresh kind of music to Unity.

Having said that….Karen Drucker did much of the music for conference, and I suppose some of her music is a type of folk music, and I absolutely love her. So there is room for all of it!

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

There were many great keynote speakers and I came away with lots of ideas, new information and a deeper understanding of some long held ideas and beliefs. Some of those ideas include:

• Church Change can be messy, but without it we remain stagnant.
• At the end of a sermon give a couple of minutes for people to share with another something that they’ve received, and it will provide a greater retention.
• Move from an ‘either/or’ consciousness to a ‘both/and’ consciousness.
• Check out Kidlead.com (for 10-13 year olds)
• Ministers should not be paid to do ministry, but to equip others to do ministry.
• It is important to move away from a minister-centric ministry to avoid minister burn-out.
• A healthy church has over 90% active volunteers, however most churches aren’t there yet.
  LIES OF SCARCITY by Lynne Twist

1. There’s not enough
2. More is better
3. There’s nothing we can do about it

• We have forgotten that we made up money! We have abused the idea of abundance to include a consciousness of ‘more is better.’
• Sufficiency is different from abundance.
• If you let go of trying to get more of what you don’t really need, it frees up oceans of energy to turn and nourish what you already have.
• Move from a consciousness of ‘you or me’ to one of ‘you and me’.
• “What you appreciate appreciates.”
• Check out: gratefulness.org and awakeningthedreamer.org
• Gratitude includes both gratefulness and thanksgiving
• Things that unravel…sometimes need to. (BOY ISN’T THIS TRUE!)
  
  HOLACRACY by Brian Robertson
  
• Holacracy is a sense of ‘spirit as work.’ The organization is dynamic…it is free to find its own purpose as a living entity.
• Governance is distributed throughout the organization and across time…it is evolutionary and is not stagnant.
• It is ‘sense and respond’ rather than ‘predict and control’. It’s like riding a bicycle….it’s better to steer as you go along rather than try to map everything along ahead of time and try to ride blindfolded. You hold the aim in mind and steer continuously.
• In holacracy you reach a workable decision, not necessarily the BEST decision. The best decision emerges over time as you move forward.
• Any issue can be revisited at any time. Delay all decisions to the last responsible moment—you’ll have more data and make more informed decisions. Then make small decisions and deliver fast.
• Can always fall back to predict and control if needed.
  
  

ROLES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES (Holacracy)

• In every relationship, one fills a role and is accountable for something. It’s not ‘who are you accountable to’, but ‘what are you accountable for.’ People count on you for things…but it is the role that is counted on, not the person.
• Separate ‘roles’ from ‘souls’. Conflict in organizations aren’t about people, they are about roles. (I LOVE THIS!!! THIS IS SO TRUE…IF ONLY WE COULD GET THIS!)
• Role descriptions (rather than job descriptions) contain verbs + ing: i.e. teaching, preaching, equipping, etc.
• These are defined based on reality over time, rather than what you think ‘should’ be done. In other words, over time one realizes what is being done and needs to be done…rather than projecting what you ‘think’ should be in that role. (Also people should be working in their ‘sweet spot’…if there is something that needs to be filled…find the best suited person to do it…it might not be the minister).
• Accountabilities are assigned to roles not a person. Shift from responsible to accountability. You can consciously choose to not do something (this is not irresponsible) but make a choice based on best needs in the moment.
• Church is not about serving congregants, but its purpose is to find its unique spiritual expression in the world—spirit in action.
• What could the church do if it were freed from the shackles of human ego?
  
  INTEGRATING PERSPECTIVES (Holacracy)
• Not about consensus (it’s about honoring all perspectives and integrating them)
• Not about personal feelings of being ‘for’ or ‘against’ anything
• About perspective of roles, not people.
• No one blocks decisions, they just add more to integrate
• Decisions aren’t made—they emerge.
  
  MORE

I didn’t take notes for everything. Bishop Spong and Dr. Rev. Barbara King were awesome speakers, and I was too wrapped up in them to stop and take notes. There is no way to capture everything from convention. Much of it was reconnecting with friends and making new ones, as well as a little Association and Regional business meetings.

The Conference next year will be in San Diego. You don’t need to be a minister to attend, everyone is invited. Start planning now to attend…you won’t regret it!