Center for Spiritual Living Midtown

Time Enough to Live - Rev Paul Gonyea

If we think of time as nothing more than a fixed number of minutes available to every person every day, we’re making the same mistake that people make who are obsessed with money. We’re confusing quantity with quality. Because a minute spent holding someone we love, or petting our dog, or standing on the beach watching the sun set, is worth far more than a minute spent sitting in Atlanta traffic while we’re late for another unnecessary meeting. A minute spent in the early morning sipping a warm cup of tea while we think about all the things we’re grateful for is much more powerful than a minute on a stair machine watching CNN or reading the Wall Street Journal.

The High Cost of Boredom - Rev Paul Gonyea

We all have a natural desire to be interested in life. There’s nothing wrong with that. Our mind likes stimulation. But at the same time, we also have a tendency to be lazy and impatient. Things that we’re involved with for a long time, like a marriage or a career, may start to lose their thrill after a while, especially if we take them for granted. When our day-to-day life no longer feels new and exciting, sometimes we long for a change, any change, just to shake things up so we can at least remember what it feels like to be alive. That’s why, even if someone has a very good job, or a very good relationship, many otherwise intelligent people go out and do something really stupid, just to liven things up a little.

What Are You Waiting For? - Rev. Paul Gonyea

Think for a moment about how many different things we find ourselves waiting for. One of my favorites is, we wait until we have enough time, which is pretty funny when you think about it, because I don’t know of a single person throughout recorded history who ever managed to accumulate (by waiting) more than twenty-four hours in a single day. It’s not like a wireless plan, where we can do nothing for a few days, then use those accumulated minutes to do something really amazing later on. Just like Life, time doesn’t wait for us. Either we use it or we lose it.

Living In A House of Cards - Rev Paul Gonyea

Because the creative cause of every experience comes from the spiritual side of life, it may be invisible, but it is strong and it is solid. If a decision in any area of our life, large or small, seems difficult, that’s only because we’re listening too closely to the world; we’re listening to our intellect, instead of listening to our inner core. Spirit always speaks from intelligence and feeling. But its most valuable characteristic is simplicity. Whenever we have a choice to make, the best answer is almost always the least complicated one. Love works and fear doesn’t. Honesty works and deceit doesn’t. Generosity works and greed doesn’t. Peace works and anger doesn’t. Joy works and apathy doesn’t. Always, always, always.

Everyday Miracles - Rev. Paul Gonyea

The healthiest and most constructive way for us to live, mentally and spiritually, is be to look at every single part of this thing we call Life as a miraculous occurrence. But the miracles we should be focusing on are not those spectacular events that seem to occur outside of nature; there aren’t too many of those anyway. Instead, the miracle that most deserves our attention is the creative process itself, the process that nature itself uses, day in and day out, to create the world we see. It’s the perfectly natural combination of intelligence and physical laws that creates amazing things like thunderstorms and butterflies, and flowers and trees, and the laughter of a child. These ordinary miracles constantly remind us that life is beautiful and abundant and precious, just as it is.

We’re Not Just Along For The Ride - Rev Paul Gonyea

The real joy of being up in the driver’s seat is not about being in charge or in control. The real joy is in the freedom to choose, the freedom to change our mind, the freedom to be spontaneous. It’s in the opportunity to choose our own direction in life. There’s nothing wrong with doing things with other people. That’s part of what we’re here to learn. We’re here to learn how to share, and how to love, and how to live together with other people while we learn from one another. We don’t need to be in charge of other people to be successful, but we do need to be in charge of ourselves. Our desires are no more or less important than anyone else’s, but no one will ever be as interested in our growth and our spiritual path as we are, nor should they be. We’re all here to walk our own path while learning how to live together.

Our Inner World - Rev Paul Gonyea

Our fears are not bad…they’re just unnecessary. We all fear the same things. We’re afraid of being alone and unloved. We’re afraid of being helpless and dependent. We’re afraid that God might not be listening to us. Those are the kinds of fears that contort and restrict our Inner World, which affects what we are able to create in the Physical World. It’s time we cleaned these beliefs out, and focused on the things we all want, because we do all want the same things. We all want to be loved, and we want people to share our love. We all want to feel that our life has meaning, and that what we are doing is worthwhile. We all want to feel connected, with Life, with each other and with God. That sense of Oneness is the one and only foundation upon which our Inner World should rest.

The Price of Immortality - Rev Paul Gonyea

When we think about the possibility of living forever, even at the spiritual level, some people are scared to death. Because to some people, life has always been a struggle. For them, every day is painful. They have to make hard decisions that hurt them or other people. It forces them to give up things they love, and it traps them into doing things they detest. So the idea of going through similar experiences for another ten or twenty million years or so does not appeal to them, and understandably so. For people with that kind of outlook on life, the best thing they can do, as spiritual beings, is to somehow learn how to enjoy the little piece of life they’re living right now.

The Real Victim - Rev Paul Gonyea

We have to realize what we’re doing when we tell other people that we are powerless in our life, which is what we're really saying when we say we’re a victim. Most of the time we use our sad story to get sympathy from others, or we use it to be right or to prove that we’ve been wronged. That may feel good in the short term, but sympathy can create a very unhealthy attitude for both parties. Because what it does is to solidify the idea in both people’s minds that the problem is more powerful than any solution they could come up with.

Try A Little Kindness - Rev Paul Gonyea

If we help someone out of a sense of obligation or guilt, it’s better than not helping them at all, at least for them. But what does it do to us? If we feel like we’re being manipulated or coerced into doing something nice for someone, even if it’s very subtle, it’s going to negatively affect the way we see that person. Instead of seeing them as someone who could use a hand, and providing a hand simply because we have a hand to give, we’re going to end up seeing them as helpless, or as a victim of circumstances who needs us. That’s a very different level of interaction. It’s out of balance. That’s why the Buddhists use the term “loving kindness,” as if it were one word. Because love for other people and love of ourselves is the foundation for sharing our mutual strengths in order to balance out our temporary individual weaknesses.