Mindfulness- Effort

Dear UU Parents and Guardians, 

It would be lovely if you could join us for our weekly gatherings! 
Here is what is currently being offered: 

*Sunday School *
Approximately: 30 minute program geared towards K-5 but open to all ages
Sundays at 11am
Please email me for the link
Yoga with the amazing Maggie Pleskac this Sunday! Please wear comfortable clothing and bring a yoga mat if you have one.  
This summer you will find: Drag Queen Story Hour, Yoga with Maggie, and the
Pioneers Park Nature Center as well as guests from our very own UU
volunteer pool of caring adults. Each week is something different!

*Middle and HS Zoom *
We are now combining with Omaha youth groups and this will be
offered *Wednesday* nights 7-8:30pm
Come meet some other cool UUs!
Please email me for the link

NEW
The Central East Region is creating CommUUnity Creek, an Online Middle School (for youth who graduated from 6, 7 or 8th grades this spring and are entering 7, 8 or 9th grades this fall) Adventure, August 3-7 
Conferences for middle school students are SUCH an amazing opportunity to get to know other UUs around the country. Learn more here: 
https://www.uua.org/central-east/events/youth/middle-school-virtual-summer-camp-experience-820?fbclid=IwAR1V0xM9rM7WrHTRi8REKGNFr9yZAff68pM_RNt0fEvg25KnELSkUlPR55U 

*Parent and Guardian Chat: *
The chance for parents and guardians to just get together and
Every other Thursday 8pm and every other Wednesday noon

Thursday July 23rd at 8pm
      Link: https://zoom.us/j/866583131     Password: lovemykids 
 Wednesday July  29th at noon
      Link: https://zoom.us/j/474526337     Password: lovemykids      

*New Youtube links for this week!*

Music with Miss Molly:   https://youtu.be/d_TajNsTe40  
Story with Miss Heather: https://youtu.be/BTvcfwGPmZg
Story with Ms Alexa:  https://youtu.be/7COjJqqNDso

Chelsea's Meditation Video: https://youtu.be/CnrXlxHL7GE

Theme this week: Effort

Reflection:
I'd like to share with you a story which I use often when I lead my teacher trainings. 
When we were at Faith United Methodist Church while our own building was under construction, I stepped into a classroom when a teacher told me they were struggling with a student. I came into the class to find the student had his head on the desk and was not engaging in class. He had been pounding his fist on the table. He had tears in his eyes. The teacher told me, "He's being difficult. I don't know what to do because I have all these other children to work with". The assistant at the time also was busy with the other children. 
I took the boy outside of the classroom. I know that sometimes simply changing the environment can help. "What's going on?" I asked. "I'm ready to listen to you."
What he said next has stuck with me for years. "I just wanted my picture to be perfect". This hit me right in the heart. How often have we worked on something and tried and tried and just couldn't get it 'perfect'? It is a long life lesson to let things go. To recognize that sometimes we need to practice before we get something done the way that we want it 'just right'. Or, to simply realize it is something we may never perfect. I used to practice piano and eventually gave up. I couldn't read music. It just wasn't my thing. However, for a long stretch of time, I practiced dance for hours and hours every week. I never was 'perfect', but at one point when I was taking 8 classes per week, I like to think that I sure was doing a great job. More than anything, it FELT good to do it, no matter how 'perfect' the moves may have been or not. The moral of the story is two fold. A child can teach an adult just as much if not more than adults can teach children. Also, that an adult simply asking, "What's going on?" can make a big difference (we never know what is going through their minds). However, to the point of the theme of 'effort', I am always reminded that perfection is rarely attainable. 

Words from Sumi Loundon Kim:

Mindfulness, as developed by meditation, allows us to identify various states of mind, while ethics and wisdom discern their wholesomeness or unwholesomeness and determine how to work with them. Kindness ensures that we don't feel judgemental about the unwholesome states we identify. Patience lets us not rush to dismiss these states from a place of suppression or denial, but rather make the important effort to welcome these states into our awareness and work with them. SOmetimes acknowledgment, reflection, and insight are needed. Our faculty of wisdom helps guide us to knowing what the appropriate course of action is to take with difficult mind-states. 

Discussion Questions:

1. What level of effort are you putting into developing your spiritual life right now? That of your family? How might you adjust this? 
2. Children have a wide range of dispositions, just like adults. One child may be a high achiever, so much so that they need our guidance so as to learn not to take things so hard, that failure is a teacher, that who we are is not solely defined by achievements, or that establishing ourselves socially isn't always found in performance. Another child may be more defeatist or self-limiting. For those children, we may tack toward teaching the value of persistence, perseverance, or grit, that commitment to a team or activity is beneficial, and that practice can be a joyful experience. In this way, what children need from us differs based on their personality. What are the dispositions of your children? How are you working to teach them what a balanced effort means?