A Grateful Prayer: Rise and Shine

Photo entitled “Angels in the Troposphere III” by Katheryn Laible

Good morning. Rise and shine! Grateful for all with calm heads, clear eyes, pure hearts and brave souls.

To all those willing and able to speak truth and shine light; humbly, gracefully, earnestly willing to give their best;

To all who understand the Golden Rule, the sacred secular hope of our Nation’s founding, the value of the scientific method and journalistic standards, the nuance of complex history, ethics/morality and just plain common decency… to all who will uplift and stand for those who honor them, and to all those who are bravely, honestly giving it their best to learn better and do better…

For all those willing to have compassion for, and comfort, and patiently yet firmly guide to better places all who are struggling and confused and displaced and frustrated and scared and distrustful and regretful and overwhelmed and completely misled and burnt out and totally traumatized… who isn’t, in one uniquely complex way or another?

Grateful to all who start with themselves and those they know and love best, wherever you are, whatever you happen to specialize in. Grateful to all who give their lives to serve others and who help us to help ourselves so we can better help others and work together to make it all better for everyone…grateful to all who tend their own little space with love and light.

For all who recognize our common souls and unique gifts and this beautiful miracle of a planet that sustains us, that we are responsible for, and which we share with so many other souls we’re only beginning to recognize — tragically broken and yet so worth mending — and for all who keep the faith; those who see the light in the darkness, and those who honestly build the faith that we are not alone in wanting things to work out for the best for this whole precious world.

For every creature who stands up for truth and love with honor and integrity because they know it’s the right thing to do; for all who give it their best to learn and to do better than they might have done before; grateful to all who will offer a hand on board to those brave enough to cast aside what they realize is wrong, and to all who stand and uphold whatever it is they know is right.

It matters so much. It really, really does. May God that is ultimate truth and love guide us all. Best with everything.

My Prayer: 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

My Philosophy

I am forever reflecting on this endeavor to develop a communications platform centered on the Synchronicity Network Newsletter. I don’t think it changes much, but I do find it helps me to remember my grounding and, perhaps even, deepen my understanding.

The mission, as currently understood, is this:

Synchronicity Planning & Communications endeavors to serve and celebrate those who care for art, science and the common good on Long Island and beyond, improving the quality and quantity of community engagement.

Digging deeper I ask myself, “WHY?”

Continue reading

Huntington Art Walk!

This Sunday!! All new exhibits for the Huntington Village Art Walk! 

Join the Huntington Art Center along with ten other venues around town as they celebrate that vibrant downtown’s deep embrace of the arts. This is “a self-guided tour of the new exhibits at the museums and galleries, in the Village of Huntington, New York.  Many of the artists will be on hand to talk about their inspiration, while you enjoy tasty treats and check out the art scene in the Village! Live music playing along the way.  

Free!  No tickets, just come on down!”


When: Sunday, October 6, 12-5pm
 
More information is available at The Huntington Art Center Website including a map and details regarding the various venues. There’s a lot of information there. Check it out!
 
There will be an info table under the marquee at the Paramount Theater on the day of the event.
 
This is ALWAYS a fantastic event. Enjoy!

Huntington PUBlic Art Crawl!

Huntington Public Art Crawl Flyer
Come experience the “Village-Wide Celebration of the Thriving Art & Cultural Community” that is the Huntington PUBlic Art Crawl!

It’s free. It’s fun. There’s so much going on!

When: Saturday, June 8, 12-5pm (rain date 6/15)

Basic info is available on the Huntington Chamber of Commerce website.

Here’s a great article in Going LocalLI that covers all sorts of great stuff happening that day, including live painting, music, kids activities, and food and drink specials offered to anyone who picks up an event bracelet.

Paid Guided Tours: For $10 you can take a guided tour of local murals, getting all sorts of inside information on the village’s public-facing art (tickets and info are here). For $32, folks 21 and over can take a “PUBlic Art Crawl Pub Tour,” which also includes info about the murals as well as treats and insight into the works of art that are some of our local business establishments (tickets and info are here).
 
Enjoy!
Huntington Public Art Crawl Poster. Details in text.

The Spirit Endures: The Jarrett Engelhardt Pagano Scholarship Fund

Photo of Jarrett Engelhardt Pagano provided by Nancy Engelhardt

Photo of Jarrett Engelhardt Pagano provided by Nancy Engelhardt

I recently shared how lovely the Pal-O-Mine Winter Wonderland was. It was one of those days that most would call miserable, but there, it was just fine. Warm and cozy if not outright sunny. 

I was glad to run into dear Nancy Engelhardt. She’s the reason I know what Pal-O-Mine is. We were all connected through Leadership Huntington and she introduced me. She’s been a board member herself there for 12 years now. 

I wrote a long, beautiful story about Nancy, herself, years ago for The Corridor: Long Island’s Journal for Strategic Alliances. It seemed like a full and accomplished life then. What she’s done since is remarkable. That’s for another day, tho. In this moment, I hugged and told her I loved her.

Her son, Jarrett, recently passed. As her eyes held volumes more, Nancy smiled, speaking of the faith that is never far from her lips and how she is grateful to feel him still, especially here. She asked if I’d seen the video of Pal-O-Mine Founder Lisa Gatti at his services. 

There, Lisa shared her story of the handsome, charming young man who came to volunteer at 17 and became a fundamental part of this healing place. She smiled, recounting his passion for the horses and the day a boy with autism whom he worked with spoke for the first time.

I told her I had.

The Jarrett Engelhardt Pagano Scholarship Fund

Lisa had emphasized the indelible mark Jarrett Engelhardt Pagano had left on the farm and how his spirit would live on through all he’d touched there. Nancy was grateful to say that friends had come together to establish a Pal-o-Mine scholarship fund in his honor as a way he might keep serving all he loved there.

If you’d like to join them in keeping his spirit alive and give the gift of equine healing, you may do so here.

It’s a deeply meaningful, uplifting way to give.

Photo of Jarrett and a young Pal-O-Mine student many years ago. Image provided by Pal-O-Mine Equestrian
Photo of Jarrett and a young Pal-O-Mine student many years ago. Image provided by Pal-O-Mine Equestrian