Rise and Shine

photo of bird rising over Cold Spring Harbor 2022

Photo entitled “Cold Spring Harbor: Rising 2022” by Katheryn Laible

I remember the wisest, sweetest, most incredible woman I know saying,

“People pray for power. It is better that they will Love,

for Love is the greatest power of All.”

 

I pray: May I remember her teachings well. May I understand them at least enough.

May we together channel more than ourselves;

Manifest Love and Light.

 

Pray for Love. Pray for Truth. Truth and Love in equal measure

For as many before and after have somehow said, “Truth without Love is brutal, and Love without Truth is false.”

This has long made sense to me.  I am still learning that it takes a third leg: Faith.

 

To make a sturdy table, we need Faith.

Faith, Faith, Faith

…to cast away fear, have faith…

 

“Nothing boils in lukewarm water,” she says.

Remember to command, to commune, to comfort; to will harmony in thy multifaceted being

…Truth, Love, Faith…

 

Faith in the Greater.

Faith in each other.

Faith that as we will it already is.

Faith that this Flame I feel deep within is far from mine alone.

Faith that you feel this, too.

 

Humble before God, equal before man, recognizing the God within and the human as well, each manifesting in its own way.

May we will and channel Strength and Dexterity, Grace and Mercy. Healing Light.

Open to the Greater Good without and within, in places that we do not know.

 

She reminds me:

“There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future,”

“He loves you not for what you are but for what you are becoming.”

 

“Ho’oponopono. Ho’oponopono. Ho’oponopono,”

I hear other voices say.

She speaks to me of Lady Quan Yin.

They remind me to start on a path to Forgiveness,

to Uplift, to Enlightenment with myself;

to be grateful for every blessing and each accomplishment no matter how small, 

 

For the smallest is the greatest.

For so little do we know, For we all know a little.

May we appreciate all that is Good, Humble and Grateful to be so blessed. 

 

She advises Joyful Anticipation.

Discerning and Healing. Flexible and Strong. Reconciling.

Forgiving. Transcending. Overcoming.

 

Calling all who Will to Transmute the lesser,  To Receive, Accelerate and Amplify the Greater.

Manifest Love. Be the Light. Keep the Faith.

Honor the Divine within and without.

 

This indigenous wise-woman who communes with All reminds me of St. Francis’ Prayer. “Let me be an Instrument of Thy Peace.”

Faithfully. Humbly. Gratefully. Evermore.

 

This I Pray. Namaste. Amem.

This piece was updated 6/9/23

Art Appreciation: Eloquent COVID-Era Medals on Loan for Public View

Image Motherhood Distinguished Service Medal, a heart felt found-object sculpture by Beth Atkinson

“Motherhood Distinguished Service Medal” by Beth Atkinson. It is one of the artist’s many intricate and eloquent COVID-era medals now on view at Huntington Town Hall.

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Rise and Shine

photo of bird rising over Cold Spring Harbor 2022

Photo entitled “Cold Spring Harbor: Rising 2022” by Katheryn Laible

I remember the wisest, sweetest, most incredible woman I know saying, “People pray for power. It is better that they will Love, for Love is the greatest power of All.”

I pray: May I remember her teachings well. May I understand them at least enough. May we together channel more than ourselves; manifest Love and Light.

Pray for Love. Pray for Truth. Truth and Love in equal measure

For as many before and after have somehow said, “Truth without Love is brutal, and Love without Truth is false.”

This has long made sense to me.
I am still learning that it takes a third leg: Faith. To make a sturdy table, we need Faith.

Faith, Faith, Faith

…to cast away fear, have faith…

“Nothing boils in lukewarm water,” she says…Remember to command, to commune, to comfort; to will
harmony in thy multifaceted being

…Truth, Love, Faith…

Faith in the Greater. Faith in each other. Faith that as we will it already is. Faith that this Flame I feel deep within is far from mine alone. Faith that you feel This, too.

Humble before God, equal before man, recognizing the God within and the human as well, each manifesting in its own way. May we will and channel Strength with Dexterity, Grace and Mercy. Open to the Greater Good without and within, in places that we do not know.

She reminds me, “There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future” … “He loves you not for what you are but for what you are becoming.”

“Ho’oponopono. Ho’oponopono. Ho’oponopono,” I hear other voices say. She speaks to me of Lady Quan Yin.

They remind me to start on a path to Forgiveness, to Uplift, to Enlightenment with myself; to be grateful for every blessing and each accomplishment no matter how small, 

For the smallest is the greatest. For so little do we know, For we all know a little.

May we appreciate all that is Good, Humble and Grateful to be so blessed.  She advises Joyful Anticipation.
Discerning and Healing. Flexible and Strong. Reconciling.

Overcoming.

Divine.

Calling all who Will to Transmute the lesser,  To Receive, Accelerate and Amplify the Greater. Manifest Love. Be the Light. Keep the Faith.

This indigenous wise-woman who communes with All reminds me of St. Francis’ Prayer. “Let me be an Instrument of Thy Peace.”

Faithfully. Humbly. Gratefully. Evermore.

This I Pray. Namaste. Amem.

This piece was updated 3/26/23

Happy New Year! Thank You, Friends for these End of Year Resources!

Photo of sparkler with heart shaped core by Katheryn Laible

Photo “New Year’s Love” by Katheryn Laible

Happy New Year! We thought you might appreciate the following:
 
Let’s start with this fascinating piece on the history of New Year’s and its traditions from History.com
 
Then, let’s reflect on our own recent history. Here’s a blog post on a 7-Step Year in Review from Strength Leader Deb Ingino to help guide us! Deb is great at quickly boiling things down to key takeaways. Here, she picks a particularly timely nugget out of a great podcast from John C. Maxwell, while offering the link to his full 7 steps. I found it well worth carving out time for!
 
Many of us are still doing year-end giving! Today, my dear friend Nancy brought this New York Times newsletter: A giving guide to my attention. There’s a lot of useful stuff in here. As we might expect, it offers resources from a much more global viewpoint than we do, but also noted that LOCAL giving — including to local news sources —  is really important.
 
Along those lines…this piece written with David Okorn of the Long Island Community Foundation,“Foundations for the Common Good — A Call to Action” remains timely. If you want to quick-update it to account for the impacts of the last few years, just underline the sense of urgency in triplicate. The article explains growing holes in the LI safety net and how we might fill them. It also shares how the LI Community Foundation itself helps givers make the best use of their philanthropic dollars, as well as how it serves issues they’ve identified as critical directly.
 
Here’s a list of JUST A FEW incredible local organizations that could use our support...use it as a starter guide. We look forward to sharing many more in the New Year!
 
We’re also going to keep repeating this: The idea that a not for profit organization should be judged primarily by the % going to admin and fundraising is just plain wrong! Find out why in this article written with Marian Conway of the NY Community Bank Foundation: “Stop the Nonprofit Budget Fantasy. It’s Not Right!”  Marian’s run a foundation for years and in one way or another served and studied countless organizations. She literally has a Ph.D awarded for her dissertation on “What are the general operating expenses for nonprofits and who pays them.” She knows what she’s talking about. Please listen to her!!!
 
Finally, New Year – New Beginnings. Let’s talk a little bit about resolutions. Considering joining the Dry January tradition? Dr. Jeffery Reynolds, CEO of Family & Children’s Association has some great tips that I think can also be applied to helping follow through on other pledges, especially when paired with this good advice from Forbes.com on how to actually keep your resolutions.
 
Among mine, resolutions tend to involve committing to lifelong learning and development. Toward that end, I find the Farnam Street Newsletter to be something I regularly open and intend to dig more deeply into next year. This week, among other things, they offered snippets from their most downloaded podcasts. As for just a few favorite sources of local guidance, I really appreciate the Fair Media Council channel on YouTube, and everything Vision Long Island puts on its Vimeo.
 
I also resolve to more deeply appreciate our wonderful local treasures. Thank you, Cindy Mardenfeld, for sharing this Newsday article on the membership perks of Long Island attractions(it’s Newsday, so, please forgive the paywall). It covers all sorts of great museums, theaters, kids places and parks. The best part is knowing they’ve hardly scratched the surface!
 
Let me know your year-end reflections and resources, and what you’d like to see focused on in 2022. Thanks!!!

Gifts of our Facebook Feed: Mastic Beach Ambulance Company, William Floyd School District, Northport Main St. Group, Northport-East Northport Public Library

We know these are just a few of our neighbors who’ve been giving it their best to be of service with their Social Media time. We love to hear about more!

The Mastic Beach Ambulance company has been sharing all sorts of great stuff, including their own efforts to keep Long Islanders fed, as well as tended to in emergencies.

We thought it was them generating these great profiles of local EMTs. They’re still probably the easiest place to find them, but we’ve realized it was the William Floyd School District that was soliciting and sharing them.

Now, they’ve turned to highlighting their Class of 2020.

Meanwhile, the Northport Village and Local Business Community is a model we think every downtown should follow! This group lets small businesses post their wares and how they’re offering them, as well as all sorts of information critical to the community.

Finally, WE LOVE LIBRARIES! While missing their visitors dearly, they are continuing to do wonderful things for the community. Last time, we mentioned the 3D Printer Army helping make shields for first responders. Lately, we’ve simply been loving the Facebook Feeds.

While we highly recommend following all of Long Island’s libraries, the Northport-East Northport Public Library seems to really be on a roll lately. Follow their Facebook page, scroll down through the past few weeks — it’s wonderful…
 

Reflecting on the Helpers, Calling to the Dreamers: If You Had a Magic Wand…

Photo: Still the Flowers Bloom by Katheryn Laible

 

We are grateful to the friend who shared this YouTube video by Probably Tomfoolery, “The Great Realisation.” It echoes a dream that we believe more than a few of us have been reflecting on…

Katie was thinking about such things a lot when she wrote How Shall We Rise? A Holiday Reflection. A few days later, she was moved again to offer In Gratitude for the Good News Makers, when the launching of Some Good News made her smile. She was glad, both that this kind of thing was taking off Nationally, and that there are so many, right here at home, whom she knows are giving it their best to create such stories.

While many of us are very occupied with the needs of the moment, many others are in a unique position to make adjustments that may help us all.

So, maybe now is a good time to do some visioning: If you had a Magic Wand — or maybe even just a few listening ears, some helping hands, thoughtful minds and a bit of faith — How would you shape our future?