”If we don’t find a way to transform our pain, we will always transmit it to those around us or turn it against ourselves… If your religion is not teaching you how to recognize, hold, and transform suffering, it is junk religion.” —Fr. Richard Rohr How have you transformed pain into something meaningful ..read more

“As Unitarian Universalists, our journey is to transform the big and the small, to transform ourselves, and to transform the world. Universalism means no one is outside of the circle of love, and no one is disposable.” -Elizabeth Nguyen Let someone into your circle of love today ..read more

Large ships turn slowly, and sometimes over long distances, unless they are being supported and guided by strong tugboats. And yet, they turn all the time. Similarly, large institutions sometimes take a while to fully adapt to changing societal conditions–but they can change. When have you witnessed a large institution make a significant transformation? What did it take to make it successful ..read more

Sometimes, change comes about because we take the risk to try on something new. Sometimes, we learn about ourselves by putting ourselves out there in new (and sometimes scary) ways. When have you transformed by trying on something new ..read more

“Ideology sparks movements, but relationships are what change organizations and sustain movements. It takes one relationship at a time. In the end changes to the leadership of the institution happen because of relationships, people pushing. We must place value on the relationships and the need to not leave folks behind in our quest for transformation.” -Elandria Williams How have you witnessed relationships lead to larger transformation ..read more

“Changes abound… around us, within us, between us; in our communities, our neighborhoods, and our beloved faith communities. Changes abound. May we each find the balance point we need as we move through our ever-changing world:  the balance between the old and the new,  between the known and the unknown,  between the familiar and the perhaps bold and risky possibilities that may be there, waiting.” -Michelle Collins How do you find the balance points in your life ..read more

Change takes time. Often, it takes more time than we want it to, especially if the goal is real transformation and not just surface change. We remind ourselves that attaching urgency to change doesn’t make it better (or even necessarily faster), that urgency is a symptom of the culture of oppression in which we exist. When have you had to teach yourself to let change take more time than you wanted it to ..read more

A guitar needs to be retuned from time to time–sometimes in the middle of a performance. The instrument responds to its environment and the ways it is used, and sometimes it gets out of tune. When in your life have you had to readjust something that had changed without you noticing ..read more

“A few months ago I took a day-long workshop at East Bay Meditation Center or EBMC, in Oakland, California…. One of EBMC’s core teachings is to embody the Dharma—literally—by reminding us that we are embodied beings. So I was not surprised when this other teacher started leading us in movement meditation. But I was a bit apprehensive about whether my body would be able to move as requested. “I needn’t have worried. Using language that acknowledged our various degrees of mobility in the room, she guided us to stretch and bend so far as we were able to, emphasizing that whatever we did was enou ..read more

“Change alone is unchanging, said the weeping philosopher. But it’s also really, really hard. Even if we’ve moved on in our minds, our bodies long for the way life was. In the midst of the grief that comes with life transitions we have spiritual resources available to us. Perhaps most importantly we have our own capacity for quieting down, becoming still, being peaceful, paying attention, breathing…. In moments of life transition we need to stop and grieve for the life that is, for better or for worse, slipping away. We need times of quiet and stillness to say, think and feel whatever it is w ..read more