Living Our Mission

Over the past few weeks in my lessons at Unity Spiritual Center Denver where I serve as senior minister, I have been sharing my thoughts on our recently created mission statement. Our mission statement is –

We inspire transformation. We live consciously. We connect authentically.

Each week I have talked about one of these three elements. You may access audio recordings of those lessons here.

When I talked about connecting authentically, I spoke about the importance of connecting with our thoughts, feelings, desires and needs. In addition, I shared about the value of giving ourselves empathy and compassion when we are stimulated by another or by the events in the world. Further, that authentic connection also includes sharing our feelings, needs, and desires with another while being open and willing to hearing theirs as well. Authentic connection requires us to be honest with ourselves and vulnerable with others.

When I shared about inspiring transformation, I said that transformation begins in consciousness, but that true transformation most often requires us to take some action that will demonstrate our transformed consciousness in the world. Transformation asks us to be willing to connect with our judgments about ourselves, others and the world, to inquire about them and to understand them. When we are willing and able to do that, we are released from bondage to them. It is claiming ourselves as new creatures through the processes in which we consciously engage and the actions we take as a result.

This past Sunday, I talked about living consciously which is first and foremost about connecting consciously with our divine nature and the divinity in others and in all things. It is also about being conscious of ourselves and how we relate to others in our humanity with their humanity. Living consciously requires us to be in relationship to ourselves and with others from the awareness of our oneness – our shared spirituality and our common humanity.

As a spiritual community, our opportunity is to afford avenues for people to connect with their divine nature; learn spiritual practices that will assist them in living from their divine nature; and support them in living lives of connection, peace, sufficiency and love. We do that through our services, classes, workshops and events. My prayer is that we are successful at doing that.

In line with those intentions and in alignment with living our mission, we are offering a 4-week class entitled, Divine Sparks – Living our Compassion as Spiritual Practice. The class is based on the principles of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), the life work of Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D. The class has been developed and will be facilitated by Susan Kaplan, a certified NVC trainer. It will meet on the four Mondays in November from 6:30 – 9:00 PM. If you are in the Denver area, I highly encourage you to register and participate in this workshop.

I was first introduced to NVC in 2004 by a friend who had recently returned from an International Intensive Training (IIT). An IIT is a residential immersion experience of learning and practicing the principles of NVC. She was on fire with what she had learned and couldn’t wait to share it with others. Her passion for it was contagious. I, along with a group of other members of our spiritual community, participated in the first class she facilitated. I was intrigued by what I learned in that class, but in no way did I fully grasp the enormity of what I would experience with NVC in the ensuing years.

In the months that followed, I not only attended other introductory classes offered by her, I also volunteered to be her assistant for one of them. Over the years, I hosted and participated in her workshops and in those presented by other NVC teachers who came to the Dallas area where I was living at the time. I couldn’t get enough. I learned more with every experience. I have continued to attend workshops and training intensives, as well as facilitate classes and workshops based on the principles of NVC.

While at its foundation NVC is a simple four-step process – observations, feelings, needs and requests – integrating it as a way of connecting with self and with others constitutes a profound paradigm shift. NVC is more than a way to communicate: it is a spiritual practice. 

As with any spiritual practice, NVC has the potential to transform one’s consciousness. In fact when practiced intentionally and intently, the principles of NVC, primarily empathy and compassion for self and others, will inspire a profound shift in the way we connect with and understand ourselves and each other. As we are transformed, we assist in the transformation of the consciousness of humanity. As consciousness is transformed, we practice authentic connection and model it for others. In practicing authentic connection, we live consciously. When we live our mission as stated above, we contribute to manifesting our vision. Our vision is

A spiritually awakened world living Oneness.

I so fully believe in the life-transforming potential of NVC that we are offering this class for a $10 materials fee and requesting an “intentional contribution” at the end of the class. An “intentional contribution” is an opportunity for class participants to make a financial contribution which reflects the value each one places on what they have received. There is no set minimum, maximum, or suggested amount. This will be discussed further in the class.

If you would like to experience the power and potential of Living Compassion as a Spiritual Practice, please REGISTER HERE.