Centering (5 minutes)

This is a time to make the transition from the busy world to the group experience. A member of the group may read these words from the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh:

I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the Earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous Earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on Earth. Everyday we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognise: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child – our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

Check-in (10 to 25 minutes)

Each person in the group has the opportunity to share something about his or her life. What significant events have taken place recently in your life? Have you accomplished something meaningful to you? Have you experienced any losses or setbacks? Have you had any insights or new ideas?

Group Discussion (45 to 70 minutes)

Our spiritual theme for this month is Mindfulness. To be mindful is to live with appreciative awareness of each passing moment. To be mindful is to be aware of what is happening here and now – the sunlight outdoors, the taste of food, your own feelings. To be mindful is also to be aware of the larger context of your personal experience – the joys and sorrows of other people, the story of how the present moment came to be. To be mindful is to be more fully alive.

For group discussion, please consider the questions associated with one or more of the following numbered sections. You need not address all of these sections, and you need not address them in this order.

1. The term “mindfulness” means awareness. Some people believe that mindfulness can be cultivated so that one is less distracted by insignificant things and more appreciative of the meaning or beauty of the present moment. Would you agree?

2. The French theologian Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “The point is not to do remarkable things, but to do ordinary things with the conviction of their immense importance.”

How can ordinary actions have immense importance?

3. Singer and songwriter Arlo Guthrie wrote, “I’m out here somewhere on the road tonight thinking about songs I used to hear and sing when I was a little guy. Last night there was a big full moon up in the sky, and as I stood there in its silvery blue light I remembered a little song my mother used to sing to us kids whenever the moon was full. The past became mixed up with the present. Then there was no past, there was only forever. And I sat there listening to my mother sing once more. The moon song was one of my mother’s favorites, and if we could get her to sing just one song, it wouldn’t be too heard for us to get her to sing just one more, and then another, and then we’d be staying up late and soon we’d all fall off to sleep with strange songs and stories in our heads. That was over thirty years ago, but I remember them more clearly now than the mornings after we heard them then. As you enjoy these songs with others, forget everything else. Let your hearts pour into each other. The moments we spend together are not limited to time or space. They are literally forever with us. Make sure your moments are worthy of eternity.”

Do you have vivid memories of positive or beautiful moments from special occasions in your life? What made these moments special?

What does it mean to make your moments worthy of eternity? How could you make more of your moments worthy of eternity?

4. The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote, “The ruler cannot mobilize the army out of personal anger. The general cannot engage in battle because of personal frustration. When it is advantageous, move; when not advantageous, stop. Anger can revert to happiness, annoyance can revert to joy, but a vanquished state cannot be revived, the dead cannot be brought back to life.”

Have you experienced a time when momentarily giving in to negative emotions had enduringly unfortunate consequences?

5. When she was in the final year of her struggle with cancer, First Unitarian Church member Stephanie Byram wrote: “I now live with an emotional intensity full of spirit and hope. I don’t mess around with things that consume my time and energy pointlessly. I keep in mind that loving and laughing are my best healers.”

Are there things in your life that consume your time and energy pointlessly?

Conclusion (5 to 10 minutes)

What will you take away from this discussion? What would have made this time together more meaningful or satisfying to you? What did you enjoy? A group member may share these words from the African-American writer W. E. B. DuBois:

The prayer of our souls is a petition for persistence; not for the one good deed, or single thought, but deed on deed, and thought on thought, until day calling unto day shall make a life worth living.