Note from Louisa
 
The ocean is my thing. It’s the place where I feel most connected, most at peace. For me, it is a place of reverence, humility, majesty, and spirituality. It is an inconvenient thing to be sure, living in a landlocked part of the country as I so. A few years ago, my husband, an avid diver, and I made a pledge to make our way back to the ocean regularly, to feel gratitude for the gifts and beauty of the Earth and refuel from its power before returning to the day to day demands of our lives.
 
Then the pandemic hit.
 
So, this year, during our family vacation, the ocean and I have been getting reacquainted. I’ve been rediscovering her spiritual gifts each morning as I greet the sun in meditation on the beach.
 
Today, she taught me another wonderful lesson about being human at this juncture in history. I got up early so that she and I might share some time alone before the bustle of vacationers set in. As I settled into my practice, using the sounds of the waves landing on the shore as an anchor, smelling the salty air and the decaying seaweed washed up on the beach, life happened around me.
 
A small but very loud truck drove by several times, removing the unwanted deposits of seaweed, raking the beach in preparation for the day’s activities. 
 
A large, beautiful family took advantage of the early morning light to have professional pictures taken by the ocean. Several young children in their group had other ideas about time spent on the beach, despite their immaculately pressed dress clothes.
 
A panicked father lightly touched my arm to ask if I had seen his missing little boy, an act that any desperate parent will understand. (I later witnessed them walking hand in hand along the beach, a stern but loving tone in the father’s voice).
 
And, beneath it all, the regular, majestic, slurred drum beat of the ocean, waxing and waning on the shore. Predictable, steady, powerful.
 
I opened my eyes and watched each wave leave the safety of the greater mass and be thrust onto the sand, lingering briefly before returning to the whole. 
 
All these events seemed orchestrated to remind me of the nature of life, particularly during these trying times. The joys and sorrows, the loud and distracting work of life will always continue around us. We can choose to focus on those ups and downs, coming fast and furious, one after another. Or we can listen to the steady, comforting beat of the waves as they undulate with ancient rhythms, driven by forces much larger than ourselves.
 
We can understand ourselves as the wave, feeling flung onto the beach, alone and unprotected. Or we can remember that every wave has its moment, when it appears to be separating from itself, sometimes humbly, sometimes with great force and bluster, before being reclaimed by the vast wholeness of ocean. 
 
Do I see myself and my personal struggles as a momentary wave? Are my struggles but a crest in the greater experience of humanity? For me, how I chose to answer these questions may mean the difference between acceptance and resistance, as the events of life at this time threaten to overwhelm and drown me.
 
For you, it may not be the ocean. Your thing may be the mist on the mountains after the rain, the morning dew in your garden, or standing amid a grove of Sequoias. You may find peace and connection in the laughter of your child, in the aching muscles of good long day of work, or in an act of service to another. 
 
Wherever you find it, be sure to stop and listen deeply. You have been drawn here for a reason. Let other concerns fall aside and be present, even when it is hard, even when you are tired, even when you don’t want to.
 
Especially right now when it is easy to despair. 
 
There is something beneath the chaos, noise, and distractions at the surface. Something within us that is regular, reliable, and powerful. There is always a beckoning, an invitation to learn, we need only open and listen.
 
Blessings on your journey,
Louisa
Join Us at Dundee Day
August 20th 8:00 am to 3:00 pm

Stop by our booth to say hello, meet the gang, and check out our fall programming. 

Pamela will engage us in a community art project and Jenna will be let loose with a microphone for a future episode of her “Being Human” podcast.
COVID UPDATE:

We’re back! Please join us for these hybrid opportunities for practice:

  • Wednesday Morning Sitting Group - 8:15 am to 9:00 am
  • Mindfulness Study Group - First and Third Sundays 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

These offerings will allow for both in-person at The Center for Mindful Living and virtual attendance on Zoom. At this time, all other programs remain virtual. We will revisit this policy this fall. Thank you for your help and understanding in keeping our community healthy and safe!
Daily Silent Meditation             
8:15 - 9:00 am
Monday - Friday Morning
Meeting ID: 899 6440 8784
Passcode: 818114
----------------------------
Guided Meditation
1:15 - 1:45 pm          
Tuesday Afternoon
Meeting ID: 826 1223 4516
Passcode: 058471

A Field Beyond Ideas: Taking Refuge in the Clarity and Compassion of Mindfulness
Wednesday Evenings
September 14th to October 5th (4 sessions)
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Facilitated by Laura Crosby
 

This field of refuge can be difficult to find, whether in our own hearts and minds, in our relationships, or in the thrum of this frenetic, uncertain world. In this workshop, we will map a path to this type of refuge using mindfulness-meditation teachings and practices that connect us with our innate peace, self-acceptance, clarity, and compassion. All practice levels welcome. Each week will include a minimum 15-minute guided meditation.
 
Cost: $50 for the series
Text your name and the code “FBI” to 402.681.6061 by September 7th
New Therapy Group Forming!
Prosilience: Getting Ahead of Your Anxiety
Saturday mornings
September 24th to November 12th
(8 sessions)
9:00 am to 11:30 am
Facilitated by Dr. Louisa Foster
 
“Resilience is a response. Prosilience is a plan.”
 
If your anxiety feels unmanageable in these challenging times, having a reliable self-care plan can make the difference between functioning and feeling like you’re drowning.
 
Join us for a powerful, time-tested action approach to let yourself gently and compassionately address your anxiety and usher in greater self-awareness and self-compassion. Together we’ll build vital co-creative connections in a safe group setting for a happier, healthier, more balanced existence.
 
  • Understand your anxiety and how we inadvertently keep ourselves in an anxious state
  • Increase your spontaneity and self-reliance in challenging situations
  • Gain greater self-awareness, self-compassion, and trust in yourself
  • Amplify your ability to think creatively and take novel approaches to old problems
  • Release your perfectionism, people-pleasing, and over-working habits
  • Feel more grounded in your body, mind, and spirit
  • Let go of limiting beliefs and other obstacles that make you feel “stuck”
  • Feel greater equanimity and peace, even in the face of uncertainty
  • Genuinely commit to your self-care
  • Recognize the costs of your anxiety on your health and well-being

If you’d like a proactive way to address your anxiety and create a plan for peace, serenity, and well-being, we invite you to join our 8-week program. There is no prior experience needed with creativity, action methods, self-compassion, or meditation — all you need is an open mind and heart, along with a desire to feel happier, healthier, and freer.
 
Cost: $50.00 per session (must attend all sessions)
Group is limited to 12 participants
(BCBS insurance is accepted)
 
Email Louisa@thecenterformindfullivingomaha for more information or to register.
Loving & Living the Questions:
Weaving inquiry and innate wisdom into mindfulness practice
A Half-Day Retreat
Sunday, October 9th
10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Facilitated by Laura Crosby
 

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense.” Rumi
 
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms … the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."  Rainer Maria Rilke
 
This gentle retreat will guide you through mindfulness practices that will help you listen for the questions present in your life and live your way into the answers.

Through guided mindfulness and meditation techniques, reflection, and journaling, we will practice being present with the questions, inquiring skillfully and accessing our innate wisdom and compassion. All practice levels welcome.
 
Cost: $50
Text your name and the code “LLQ” to 402.681.6061 by October 2nd
This Month on the “Being Human” Podcast
with Jenna Lopez
 
Hey Humans! This month on the pod we are in conversation with one of my dearest and oldest friends Shawnsey. The theme for today's episode is 'Being Storytellers'.

As a therapist I work with other humans to process through the story of their life in order to grow, heal and change. Shawnsey is a writer who creates stories and has taught others how to write them.

Our shared history began way back in the day when we attended the same Catholic high school. We discuss how Religion as storytelling shaped our experiences then, and how our understanding of those experiences has changed over time. We discuss the innate human trait to use storytelling as a means of evolving and contemplate how and why it shifted to be a means of asserting power and control over others. We get deep, we get silly. I am LOUD and talk fast, but hopefully it will be as good of a listen for you as it was for us chatting. 

You can listen to the entire episode here.

If you would like to submit a question, share a story or strategy, please send your contributions to info@thecenterformindfullivingomaha.com.
Mindfulness Study Group Begins New Books on July 17!
Facilitated Online and In-Person by Laura Crosby
First and Third Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6pm

We are excited to announce that our Mindfulness Study Group will begin two new books on July 17! Everyone is welcome and invited to join as the group explores mindfulness teachings and practices with two uniquely inspiring works:
 
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
“…the classic manual on the art of living, written in a style of gemlike lucidity, radiant with humor and grace and large-heartedness and deep wisdom: one of the wonders of the world.” — Stephen Mitchell
 
Emptiness, A Practical Guide for Meditators by Guy Armstrong
“…with this wonderfully clear book, [Armstrong] invites us to consider and practice different approaches, all of which lead to our own deepening and freeing realization of the nature of awareness and its intrinsic emptiness -- and to the manifestation of compassion in our lives.” — Joseph Goldstein
Both books will be available to pick up at The Center for Mindful Living beginning June 22.  They will be in a weatherproof bin on the front porch. Please help yourself to a copy of both books.

A reminder that Mindfulness Study Group is freely offered, with no registration necessary and drop-ins welcome. We read together, discussing each section and practicing together as we go.  This means no homework! 

Meeting ID: 843 4464 0572
Passcode: 570798
Peace is the Way
by Laura Crosby
 
How welcome is further inquiry into peace? The world is rampant with anger and strife, injustice and inequity. Many people, including me, are not feeling peaceful. 
 
For these very reasons though, peace seems to be calling as insistently as ever.
 
The global wisdom leader and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) taught about, “peace in oneself, peace in the world.” This suggests that our peace work requires just as much attention to the peace within us as to the peace around us. Our mindfulness inclines toward both with clarity and compassion. 
 
In this teaching I hear a courageous, unshakeable peace that transforms fear, hatred, and violence. One that offers a healing and connecting — yet still bold — path forward in each moment.
 
It is a peace that makes more peace possible, yet is not at all passive, silenced, or conforming.
 
Can we make lasting peace in the world without tending to a peace within ourselves? Can we find inner peace in a struggling world? If not, how does the world’s struggle ease? How do we nurture and embody peace in our individual and collective habits of mind, emotion, speech, and action?
 
This reflection on peace seems worth exploring for ourselves. After all, we have a choice in each moment about whether (and how) we water the seeds of peace within and around us. Thay offered this in perspective: “Our own life has to be our message.”
 
In the spirit of living into these questions, here are some inspiring works that can help exploring and practicing “peace in oneself, peace in the world.”
 
Books: 
  • Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh
  • A Heart Full of Peace by Joseph Goldstein
  • We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption by Kaira Jewel Lingo
  • A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage, and Wisdom in Any Moment by Spring Washam
 
Talks:
 
And just for fun, a movie: Phantom of the Open
 
“There is no way to peace – peace is the way.” Thich Nhat Hanh
 
Author’s Note
When peace calls, I listen:
Interestingly, I had no intention of focusing this article on peace, especially since Jenna offered such a lovely article on finding your pace for peace last month. It seems the universe had other ideas. For days now, everywhere I turned “peace” literally called to me – articles, quotes, songs, conversations. On the day I found my bracelets forming a peace sign on my bathroom counter, I gave in. I can take a hint.