Saturday, December 8, 2012

You Deserve A Moment of Sweet Surrender


Next Weekend at
The Center for Karmic Joy:
Sanctuary for Every Season of the Soul
"Determine Your Destiny, Design Your Dreams, Discover Your Self"
www.centerforkarmicjoy.com

Sunday December 16, 10-11:30am
Sweet Surrender Sunday Service- "'Delving in the Darkness, Lifting the Light"

If you missed last week, join us this Sunday, December 16 for a moment of rejuvenation.  As the the cycle of the year comes to a close and the longest night of the year approaches, let us be inspired to connect with the true spirit of this season-stillness and transition, darkness and reflection. The Winter Solstice presents us with the heightened potential to assist the Creative Life Process of Letting Out and Letting In.  Sweet Surrender invites you to "shake out" the heavy, stagnant, accumulated energy and "let in" the lightness of your spirit.  Be prepared to breathe, move and vocalize. For those who came before, no two services are ever exactly the same.

Suggested Donation $1-$11

Please rsvp to karmicjoy@gmail.com if you intend to come
We are located at 195 Harrison Ave., Montclair, NJ

Sunday, December 2, 2012


Sweet Surrender
www.centerforkarmicjoy.com


Reflections on Sweet Surrender: Tis the Season
December 2, 2012

Today’s Sweet Surrender service acknowledged the Season of Winter, which includes the power of the Winter Solstice to help us see the light within through even the darkest transitions, the potential of growth through Stillness and the purpose of reflecting on the past, being in the present and projecting the future.  

We remembered that life is composed of multiple cycles and seasons, which exist not only to sustain life on this planet, in this hemisphere, in this region, but also to serve as living examples of ways in which we, as humans, can sustain ourselves.  By aligning with and drawing upon the energy and attributes of any given cycle or season, we can help ourselves to act in accordance with our values, virtues and personal vows in order to honor our own sense of self worth and fulfillment.

The role of memory is essential to the Creative Life Process of living and learning as we cannot balance our thoughts and actions if we do not engage in a practice of reflection.  Reflection requires that we take the time to renew our connection to the Source within the Source of Oneself in order to recall, remember, and recognize the cycles we have completed, are in or are entering. 

Before technology replaced our minds as memory drives, we used and relied upon memory much more frequently, intentionally and actively than we do now. Cultures with oral traditions produced masters of memory to preserve their culture’s wisdom, medicine, practical knowledge and histories. The Winter, by imposing stillness and closeness on the people, provided an optimal time to practice the faculty of remembering the stories, lessons, legends and events from the past that would be retold and relived through imagination, and which were responsible for shaping and sustaining the collective consciousness of past, present and future generations. 

Aboriginal cultures, who directly felt the physical impact of seasonal changes, were very mindful of them and aligned their daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities with these changes.  Our health, physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally, is still intertwined with the seasons although our modern media/consumer driven culture does not help us to remember this.  In addition to reflecting on what has already come to be, we can use this time to reflect on what's coming into being.  The fertile stillness of Winter enhances our mental receptivity to visions, intuitions and dreams of what could be. 

So, using the potential of the Winter Season we grew through the stillness discovering our human form through our senses as if for the first time.  Then, applying the power of the Winter Solstice as a celestial turning point, we aligned our own energies and focus to sit at the center of ourselves, in reverie of the year past and projecting visions of ourselves into the year ahead.  Looking back, looking within and looking ahead helps us to see our way through the transitions occurring in our own lives no matter what the season!

Once again, the wisdom harvested from this Sweet Surrender was most abundant. Each participant walked away feeling replenished and reconnected to their own Source and more acutely aware of where they've been, where they are and where they want to be.

In this way, we witnessed one another perceiving our own growth...

...moving from a past of 
"unraveling, exploring and discovering to a present of re-identifying, readjusting and rooting to a future of being rooted, grounded and home." 

...from a past of  
"making life work, keeping the box together, overflowing beyond capacity and breaking apart to a present of letting go and letting God teach the way to recreate and trust intuitively in order to loosen the mind and find myself to a future of being in tune with my highest self, creating a new life that is beautiful and allows for the edges to still be undefined for expansion." 

...from a past of 
"uncertainty, confusion, lacking trust and mental clarity to a present of discovery, openness, and acceptance of new ideas, to a future of being at peace with myself, enabled to hear God's voice on a regular basis and receive the spiritual connection I feel."

...from a past of 
"more or less doing what I liked and feeling connected to the people I worked with to a  
 present of feeling unvalued, disconnected and unfulfilled in my career to a future of  
 changing my situation and finding fulfillment again."

...from a past of
"divesting my energies towards the progress and profits of other people's projects to a present of placing my visions at the center of my efforts and producing my own projects to a future of spiritual alignment and personal fulfillment that leads to self mastery, earning substantial income, and gaining credibility from the pursuit of my own projects."

Saturday, December 1, 2012

You Deserve A Moment of Sweet Surrender

This Weekend at
The Center for Karmic Joy:
Sanctuary for Every Season of the Soul
"Determine Your Destiny, Design Your Dreams, Discover Your Self"

Sunday December 2, 10-11:30am
Sweet Surrender Sunday Service- "'Tis the Season"

Join us this Sunday for a moment of connection and reflection. As the the cycle of the year comes to a close and the longest night of the year approaches, let us be inspired to connect with the true spirit of this season-stillness, connection, reflection and reverie.  Sweet Surrender invites you to travel back through the year to recall the journey thus far and remember just how far you've come.  The Winter Solstice- a celebration of dark and light presents us with a special time to access hindsight, insight and foresight.  Come to reflect on the past, be in the present and visualize the future.

Suggested Donation $1-$11

Please rsvp to karmicjoy@gmail.com if you intend to come
We are located at 195 Harrison Ave., Montclair, NJ

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Welcome to "Centering for Karmic Joy!"


Welcome to 
"Centering for Karmic Joy!"
the monthly blog/newsletter from 
The Center for Karmic Joy.  

Karmic Joy is a practice and process of living with, learning from and evolving the self as it journeys through the many life cycles and seasons of the soul.  It uses an intermodal, expressive arts based approach to living and learning and draws upon the wisdom found in many different philosophies, faiths and cultures from around the world.  From the wisdom of many, it applies what is relevant in this day and age to assist each person to live sustainably within oneself and with all life on this planet. 

The Center for Karmic Joy is a sanctuary for every season of the soul located in Montclair, NJ.  It is a sacred space that is here for retreat, reflection and restoration, creative self discovery and life celebrations, education, entertainment and inspiration.  


On-Going Weekend  Programming

Free Spirit Fridays
Fridays are for letting loose from the stress of the week and setting the spirit free to dance, laugh, hear  live music, sing, eat and enjoy the festivities in the company of other conscious folks!  Come express yourself and celebrate the joy of life monthly at the Center for Karmic Joy!  DJs, Live Music, Salsa, Samba, Open Mic and more.  

So Wisdom Workshops and Events
The Center for Karmic Joy partners with So Wisdom Productions to bring you enriching, esoteric, and enlightening workshops and events that educate, inspire and entertain.  

Sweet Surrender Service-Contemplations & Conversations on Sustaining the Self through Every Season of the Soul
Sweet Surrender is a spiritual service and sacred circle led by Karma Cloud to teach the path of Karmic Joy and support each other in sustaining our connection to the Source Within the Source of Oneself.  Through practicing Karmic Joy we bring forth the beauty and wisdom of our dreams, visions and intuitions, strengthen our passion, purpose and personal power and strive to divine and design our ever evolving destinies.


Coming Up Next Month at the Center for Karmic Joy….


December
Sundays, December 2 & 16; 10-11:30am.
Sweet Surrender Service- Please RSVP to karmicjoy@gmail.com

Saturday, December 22; 7pm-1am
So Wisdom Event-Winter Solstice Celebration: Bring a dish and a drink and an open heart and mind!
By invitation only.


Next Year at the Center for Karmic Joy….


January 2013
Saturday Jan 12
So Wisdom Event: Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium; 
Advance registration necessary.

Saturday Jan 26
Young Women, Wise Women Creative Self Discovery Program Starts  
(We meet one Saturday a month Jan-June2013; time TBD)


Care to Share Your Wisdom with the World?
We are now accepting submissions from facilitators and performers for workshops and events to be held at the Center for Karmic Joy in 2013. Email inquiries and submissions to karmicjoy@gmail.com.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Sweet Surrenders



Reflections from the first Sweet Surrender Sessions

One year ago, I shared a vision with a few of my dearest friends.  That vision was to open the Center for Karmic Joy in my home. And now, one year later that dream is being realized.  This month, I kicked off Sweet Surrender Sundays and I am delighted to share that it was a most nourishing experience for all who participated, myself included.  

For November's Sweet Surrender, we contemplated our connectedness and/or disconnectedness  to the Source within the Source of Ourselves and took a moment to refresh that connection through breath awareness and arts based introspection. We conversed about the nature of the Life Cycles that challenge us.  It was helpful to be reminded that Life is a Cycle of Becoming One and Coming Undone and that within this cycle we are continually faced with our own unique Creative Life Processes to cope with the phases of breakthrough and breakdown, of knowing and not knowing, of forgetting our worth and remembering our value.  We re-discovered that Sustaining the Self is not about maintaining a constant state of bliss, but rather about sustaining an awareness that Life is a Cycle and a connection to the Source Within the Source of Oneself, for better or for worse, as we move through each and every phase of that cycle. 


Shifting from contemplation to conversation and then to artistic exploration allowed participants to dialogue with, re-vision, re-define or re-design their relationship to themselves within their unique Creative Life Process.  In a short time, all present were able to realize and impart some Pearl of Wisdom for themselves or to share with another-whether it was setting herself free of worries and finding self contentment in the act of drawing wings upon her technological devices and homework so that they could fly away into the sunrise, or turning a desire for more discipline and routine into a quest for infusing her parenting life with the richness of ritual, or bringing forth a bursting image of divine serendipity that moves off the page beyond words to dance the universe, or scribbling out the fire and frustration of stagnation and then transcribing the sequence that leads from that place to a space of surrendering, softening, centering and submerging in order to resurface with renewed hope and anticipation, or simply realizing that she is seeing and being simultaneously, at once bearing witness to her connectedness while living at the center of herself, and discovering at that center a source of love, so deep, so strong, so gentle.


Sweet Surrender allows us the time and space to bring forth the beauty of each person's unique Karmic Creation. At the Center for Karmic Joy we use the raw material of our lives to create a sustainable life of substance.  For, in the words of Ayi Kwe Armah, "Beauty is in the creative purpose of our lives."