Center for Spiritual Living Midtown

Growing Pains - Rev Paul Gonyea

"Growth can be painful, and frequently is, because it forces us out of our comfort zone. It forces us out of our safe and secure shell. It requires us to give up some really familiar parts of our old identity, and to take on some new and unfamiliar characteristics that we’re not used to. Growth challenges us to recognize that most, if not all, of our so-called limitations are really self-imposed and artificial. All these things can be a pretty big blow to the ego, which also doesn’t feel very good. But when the growing pain ends --- which it will --- the results are almost always worth it."

Something Mother Taught Us - Rev. Angela Harmon

Mother's Day is upon us! 

Mother's day is one of the most active days of the year to phone Mom! 

Mother's day is one of the most popular days of the year to send flowers, running a close second to Valentine's Day  I realize relationships with our Mom's vary. 

From communicating daily to communicating never! 
Regardless to the type of relationship, consider something Mom taught! Some individuals may have a laundry list of lessons! 

Others may not be able to recall. For those, I ask that you search deep within! Find one life lesson! Are you better for having it? 

What We Believe - Rev. Paul Gonyea

Rev. Paul Gonyea speaking on what we believe at the Center for Spiritual Living Midtown! It totally rocks!

Let's Be Honest - Rev. Paul Gonyea

"We have available to us the intelligence and the passion and the power to make anything happen in our life and (if we do it together) in the world. But we have to stop wasting so much time and energy lying to ourselves and to each other about what we want and what we are willing to do to make those things happen. And we need to stop being afraid of what other people will think of us if we tell them the truth. If we start to practice being honest on the little things, maybe we’ll see how quickly our power translates to the bigger, more important things."

Doubting Thomas, Doubting Me - David Barrett

It took a lot for Thomas to understand what the visions actually were.....Not visions, but the aspect within each one of us that doubts, the one that questions, the one that feels alone....only to realize that the doubt is truly evidence of Faith, a faith hard to describe, but within each one of us.

There's More to Easter Than A Rabbit and A Tomb! - Rev. David Barrett

While race consciousness tells the story of Easter once again through the eyes of the Easter Rabbit, or rolling away the stone, we will recognize the TRUE meaning of this annual event. It is not about something that happened thousands of years ago, nor is it a fairy tale..... It is about the newness of Life forever pushing itself through each one of us this very minute.

Coming Down Into the City - Rev. Paul Gonyea

We have to get away from the idea that living a successful and fulfilling life is all about avoiding pain and disapproval, because our ability to live successfully has nothing to do with outside opinions. It’s all about doing what we have to do, in our heart, in order to be the person we know ourselves to be, no matter what. No matter what anyone else says. No matter where we are or what challenges we’re facing. No matter what the risk or the danger might be. And we need to use all the wisdom and all the intelligence we have at the moment, combined with all the love we can possibly express. If we do this, no matter what happens, we will not regret what we have done with our life, because it will reflect perfectly who we believe we are

The Flip of a Coin - Rev. Paul Gonyea

"When we flip a coin and see it lying there face-up, we only see one side. We don't think about the fact that the other side is just 'this far away.' We accept without question the verdict of the side that's showing, the one fact that confronts us, the appearance we see, as the way things have to be, because that's all we can see. We think that God has to pick one way or the other, just because we do. We get so fixated on what we do know, we forget that there's an infinite range of possibilities that we don't know. We forget that God usually has a better idea. We forget that God is both sides of the coin, and the edge, and the place it lands, and the consciousness of the person who decided to toss the coin. God has no limits; so why do we insist on limiting God?'

How to Cure a Calloused Heart - David Barrett

We have a hardening of the arteries around our heart because of the way that we have lived our lives up to this point. But from this day forward, we know there is a cure for the hardening of the arteries, or the callousing of the heart. We not only eat in a better way, and work out in a better way, but we also THINK in a better way. The hardened arteries are softened, and the calloused heart is more pliable. Our lives change both in a physical manner, and a spiritual manner, yes, by eating and exercising, but most importantly, with THINKING correctly.

The Deadly Art of Non-Living Rev. Paul Gonyea

 "What most people don’t understand is that the main pre-occupation of society is not to support us in living well; it’s to make everyone the same. The race consciousness that fills the physical world wants us all to act the same, to think the same, to be the same. Conventional wisdom (which is not very wise at all) tells us that change is disruptive and conformity is good.

          

The funny thing is, if society were successful at doing this, it would never advance into something greater. It would never grow. We would never evolve as a race. All those fantastic technological and scientific and social improvements that we have enjoyed through the years are not a result of society; they occur in spite of it."