God is a tranquil Being

and abides
in a tranquil eternity

So must thy spirit
become a tranquil

and clear little pool

wherein the serene light of God

can be mirrored.

~ Gerhard Tersteegen





photography by permission

madalina diaconu

when was the last time you were still?

Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness. ~ Meister Eckhart














photography by permission
madalina diaconu

Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. It wears us out by multiplying distractions and beats us down destroying our solitude, where otherwise we might drink and renew our strength, before going out to face the world again. "The thoughtful soul to solitude retires," said the poet of other and quieter times, but where is the solitude to which we can retire today? "Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still," is a wise and healing counsel, but how can it be followed in this day of the newspaper, the telephone, the radio and television? These modern playthings, like pet tiger cubs, have grown so large and dangerous that they threaten to devour us all. What was intended to be a blessing has become a positive curse. No spot is now safe from the world's intrusion. The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. ~ A.W. Tozer, Of God and Men

photography by permission
madalina diaconu

march 28 concert and cd release party

Spirit First is pleased to announce it will host a concert and CD release party on March 28, 2009, featuring Felicia Rose.

“Inspirational” is the clearest way to describe the music of Felicia Rose. Since 1989, she has been captivating audiences worldwide with her unique blend of soulful ballads, alternative rock, and angelic mystique. Focused on Love and Inner Truth, Felicia’s music is divinely guided by a Higher Source. In the middle of a powerful vision quest, Felicia was struck by an enlightening message that forever changed her course in life. During a direct communication with a humpback whale, she was told to sing and that a voice would come. Having never sung nor played an instrument before, Felicia followed the directive. She could not have imagined the blessing of musical talent she came to know from following the direction of that voice.

Felicia Rose is an amazing talent destined for far greater recognition, and Spirit First is honored to sponsor this concert to mark the beginning of her CD tour, the release of her CD "Indigo."

Spirit First presents Felicia Rose on March 28 at the Takoma Park Chapel, a metaphysical chapel in Silver Spring, Maryland (a lovely chapel not far from my home that I am honored to attend). Food and fellowship will follow the performance of the evening. Please contact Diana Christine at SeekSpiritFirst@aol.com today to reserve your seat. Donations are requested but not required. Please join us for an amazing evening of music and spiritual connection. This is an event for the entire family!

Please come...I look forward to seeing you there!

new logo for Spirit First

I am so very pleased to present our brand-new symbol, the new logo for Spirit First. Our design comes from a brilliant young writer and artist, 25-year-old Kat at Jumping Into Life. Thank you, Kat, for your beauty and your light, and thank you to my logo development team for your unfailing support. I am so very pleased with what you all have brought forth.

And now, here is the symbol for Spirit First:

Our first retreat

Spirit First is happy to announce it will presents its 2009 Spring Retreat at Wellspring Retreat Center in Germantown, Maryland, on May 8—May 10. (This will be Spirit First's very first retreat!)

HRDAYA YOGA: YOGA OF THE HEART
May 8—May 10, 2009
Mystic, yoga leader, and
award-winning author of
Peace, Power, and Presence,
New Zealander Jonathan brings
YOGA OF THE HEART
to the Washington, D.C., area.

If you are new to Yoga or
you are an advanced practitioner,
this retreat is for you!

May 8, 6 p.m. through May 10, 3 p.m.
$250 includes full 2 1/2-day program, 2 nights of accommodations, and all meals (whole, healthful, vegetarian). For more information or to register, email Diana at SeekSpiritFirst@aol.com or call 301-565-2438.

If you desire conscious participation in the awakening of your true nature—as a whole & healthy Being—this workshop will benefit you. Part discourses, part active meditations, and part yoga asana and kriyas (internal energy practice), this is an opportunity for you to feel intimately empowered and at home within the very depths of your Heart...within your body, mind, and emotions...within your life right now.

Find your Freedom—Find your Peace

In YOGA OF THE HEART

Wellspring Retreat Center
11411 Neelsville Church Road
Germantown, MD 20876

In the beginning I had no idea what Spirit First would become. It started as simply a feeling, a feeling and a name, so I called it by its name: Spirit First. It wasn't until at least two years later on a Saturday morning in March that I imagined a vision of a meditation retreat center with quiet walking trails, fragrant gardens, outdoor labyrinths, and sanctuaries of every major discipline, and in that moment I knew it would carry the name Spirit First. Still, though, I did not know what I would be able to accomplish or what might unfold, and I did not know what Spirit First would become.

Last year when I commited to this vision and officially organized a new nonprofit, I still wasn't sure what Spirit First would become. Even if I thought I knew what she would become, I had no idea what all it would be that I needed to do. However, I always knew what the next step needed to be, and somehow knowing one next step was enough. Each step I took always led me to knowing the next step (it might be nice to know the end at the beginning, but some journeys just don't work that way!).

I still don't know for sure what Spirit First will become, but I love what she is becoming already . Much has been stirring, and during the next several days I will announce some of what is happening in the coming weeks.

In these busy days of planning, I find myself practicing the words of Francis of Assisi...

Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. ~ Francis of Assisi

photography by permission
madalina diaconu

If we have not quiet in our minds,
outward comfort will do no more for us
than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.

~ John Bunyan

photography by permission

madalina diaconu

The following is a transcript of the inaugural poem, “Praise Song for the Day,” written and recited by Elizabeth Alexander, as provided by Graywolf Press.

Each day we go about our business,

walking past each other, catching each other’s

eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is

noise and bramble, thorn and din, each

one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning

a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,

repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,

with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,

with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky.

A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words

spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,

words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark

the will of some one and then others, who said

I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.

We need to find a place where we are safe.

We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,

who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built

brick by brick the glittering edifices

they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,

the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,

others by first do no harm or take no more

than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,

love that casts a widening pool of light,

love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,

any thing can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.
~Elizabeth Alexander

inauguration photography

by permission of the artist

madalina diaconu

do justly now...

Sometimes I sit in front of a blank page and am overcome by so much that I would say and all the words I have are not enough to touch what I feel. Sometimes in these times I put away the page and walk away.

Sometimes I see the grief of the world around me, and I am overcome by so much that I would like to do, but all that I can do feels far too little to have any effect.

In the past three weeks I have learned of two friends who lost their homes and two more friends who face this experience now. As I held the hand of one to comfort and strengthen her, I wept to feel so great sorrow that poured from her. I wanted to be able to do more. Feeling unable to do enough, though, is no reason to do nothing at all.

I find words from the Talmud give us direction during these times...

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
~ The Talmud

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

Peace comes not from the absence of conflict,

but from the ability to cope with it.
~Unknown

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

“I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.”
~Taylor Caldwell

I believe in going away from Christmas as the wise men went: "another way." I want to be different when these days are past—more centered, more thoughtful, more caring.
~Anonymous

Rumi and Rassouli

The mystical art of Rassouli graces many of our pages
throughout this Spirit First website, and we are grateful for
such breathtakingly beautiful art.

You can now enjoy the beauty of Rassouli along with
empowering messages of one of our greatest mystics
in a Rumi 2009 wall calendar: Rumi, The Journey of the Heart.

Spirit First has several copies of this recently released calendar, so we will be giving one to supporters who donate $50 or more during the next month. Please let me know if you are interested in receiving the calendar.

Thank you, Rassouli, for your beauty and your grace, and for the light you share with the rest of us.

Silence is the language of God...
all else is poor translation
~Rumi

art by permission
rassouli

Try pausing right before
and right after
undertaking a new action,
even something simple
like putting a key in a lock
to open a door.

Such pauses take a brief moment,
yet they have the effect
of decompressing time
and centering you.

~A life practice from Br. David Steindl-Rast

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

Only one thing has to change

for us to know happiness in our lives:

where we focus our attention.

- Greg Anderson







photography by permission

cindy lee jones

Spirit First seeks to provide a home...

Every one of us needs a home. The world needs a home. There are so many young people who are homeless. They may have a building to live in, but they are homeless in their hearts. That is why the most important practice of our time is to give each person a home.
~ Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

more on thanksgiving...

On Thanksgiving Day I posted a writing of my experience with giving thanks, and I pondered the appropriateness of my post in light of present difficult economic times. I went ahead with the posting despite its reference to our living in abundance because, as it seems to me, most of us even in stressed financial times have far more than most others in the world. For many our life is one of abundance by simple comparison.

Again and again in my life I have turned to the practice of giving thanks when I have faced difficult circumstances such as financial stress, depression, loss, et cetera. When I feel undone I begin to say aloud the many things I am thankful for. It might be while sitting at a red traffic light, lying in bed in the sleepless hours of 2 and 3 a.m., or walking several miles on a day's trek. "I'm thankful for my car that runs well...I'm thankful for the breakfast tea that still feels warm in my belly...I'm thankful for the scent of lavender on my skin...I'm thankful for my warm coat on this cold day...I'm thankful for..." and I would continue my list. Sometimes I would write down as many answers as I could write in a two- or three-minute fragment of time. Sometimes I would make up new answers while standing in the shower (which, of course, I am also thankful for!). I practiced, and continue to practice, the giving of thanks.

I think one cannot be thankful and sad at the same time.

I expanded my practice of thankfulness to include looking for all the things in my world that I have in abundance (and please don't joke with your self about having an abundance of bills or an abundance of troubles...). I would begin my list..."I have an abundance of soap (people often give gifts of exquisite soap and I always seem to have lots of soap--and that includes sweet little soaps picked up in hotels during business travels)...I have an abundance of toilet paper on the shelf...I have a full tank of gas (a wonderful abundance)...I have an abundance of jars of jelly...I have an abundance of candles in the house..." I learned to stalk my own abundance in my giving of thanks, and I learned to include such things as my unlimited long-distance calls on my telephone, the sounds of birds and crickets and cicadas, and the abundance of ideas and opportunities.

For those who seek to create an abundant life, remember that creating comes from seeing. If all you can see around you is lack and insufficiency, you will have difficulty creating wealth. Begin by seeing the abundance you possess and learn to practice thanks giving.

During these difficult times and no matter what perils seem to cross your path, I wish you joy, peace, and the ability to see your abundance and feel gratitude. (I would love your comments about what is abundant in your world...)

written with Love
diana christine

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

If your cup is small,

a little bit of salt

will make the water salty.

If your heart is small,

then a little bit of pain

can make you suffer.

Your heart must be large.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

Happiness
is not what makes us grateful.

It is gratefulness
that makes us happy.

~ David Steindl-Rast
A Listening Heart



photography by permission
cindy lee jones

If I could live only one day, I would choose this one: Thanksgiving Day.

My first words when I waken in the morning are the words “thank you,” as early streams of light pour through my windows, my spirit re-connects with my body, and I begin to feel the crispness of fresh cotton sheets on my bare skin. There’s a sweetness in these moments in between sleep and wakefulness, and my first conscious thought is gratitude. It feels good to be here. I need to go to the bathroom so I slide out of bed, and when my feet touch the floor and I feel myself standing upright, I again whisper the words “thank you.” It feels good to be inside my own body. It feels good to be here, and I really have a lot to be thankful for.

I have not always lived with such an awareness of gratitude, but I have been gifted with many teachers. One of my teachers was an old man I used to see sitting in the park while I walked to and from work. One day the old man wasn’t there anymore, and I imagined he had moved on or had simply tired of the same old park. He was just plain gone. A year or so later I received a letter in the mail; the writer of the letter wrote that she was a nurse in a veteran’s hospital in a city somewhere across the state, and one of her patients requested she write the letter to me on his behalf. She explained that her patient Bill had been the old man in the park, that Bill had just had his legs amputated and would probably never again leave that hospital. The letter continued to let me know that Bill wanted to say thank you for my friendship in that park, that he appreciated that I had given him apples and home-baked cookies, that I had so often taken the time to stop and say hello and chat with him for a minute or two before I went on my way. And now, when he knew he would never see me again and in fact knew he wouldn’t even live much longer, the one thing Bill wanted was to say thank you to someone who had made a difference in his life. Bill didn’t have much, but he gave thanks for what he had.














Gratitude is more than simply saying the words “thank you.” True gratitude is fully enjoying a thing, thoroughly experiencing it. (If I am truly thankful for a thing, I cannot at the same time ignore or neglect it.)

If you have only one gift, that one gift is deserving of a lifetime of appreciation. We in the Western world, however, have more than one gift. We have incredibly much of everything. Even on an ordinary day (not a special day such as this holiday), we have such abundance that we sometimes have a hard time deciding what it is we want to eat, what we want to wear, what we want to do for entertainment. We live in abundance of possessions and abundance of opportunities. And with so much abundance it can be difficult to feel how much we have. I don’t want to make that mistake. I don’t want to miss my own bounty. I want to drink deeply. I want to taste completely. And for being given such an abundance of gifts, I want to live a life of gratitude.

What could be better, then, than a day set aside for the giving of thanks….

On this special Thanksgiving Day, I wish you much joy in the treasures in your life. I wish you to be deeply aware of your own abundance. And I wish you to be happy in thanksgiving. After all, we really do have a lot to be thankful for.

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is "thank you," it will be enough.

~ Meister Eckhart

random act of kindness

Last night I sat at a dinner table with nearly a dozen women, and in the conversation one of the women exclaimed that this very day she was the recipient of a random act of kindness. She was incredibly excited as she began to tell her story. As it happened to be, while she was at the post office, someone gave her a postage stamp so she could be off and on her way without having to wait in a long line. Such a simple act, the giving of a postage stamp (a value of 42 cents...), but the expression of kindness made her day as though a brilliant light has shined upon it. And now even her evening was graced as she recounted her story to us with great joy.

I loved seeing her pleasure in her "random act of kindness" (as she so lovingly called it). Not long ago I began a practice of every day giving something to someone, and last night I had the opportunity to see what it might be like for a recipient for someone I have given something.

Sometimes my gift is as simple as a couple of dollars to a homeless person. Sometimes it might be a check I write for a child I support in Ethiopia, a greeting card to a lonely woman in a nursing home, a bag of fruit to a group of teenagers, a loaf of home-baked bread for a neighbor, or a handwritten letter to a woman I sponsor in a work program in Nigeria. Sometimes I have to get creative to find another way to give. A couple of days ago I picked up a woman with her very young children standing and waiting at a bus stop when the temperature was 32 degrees and very windy. She kept saying "thank you" to me again and again, and "God bless you." I gave her little boys some quarters for their pockets and their little faces broke into big smiles. Such a simple thing, really, giving someone a ride for a few blocks, but for this mother the act of kindness was more than a warm ride on a cold day. It was a moment of feeling special, a moment of feeling the touch of friendship.

If you give or do something as a random act of kindness, please share with us so we can take joy in the gift as well (and, of course, I am always on the lookout for new ways to give!).

Meditation may require a lifetime to master,
but it will have been a lifetime well spent.

If you want to judge your progress,
ask yourself these questions:
Am I more loving?
Is my judgment sounder?
Do I have more energy?
Can my mind remain calm under provocation?
Am I free from the conditioning of anger, fear, and greed?

Spiritual awareness reveals itself
as eloquently in character development
and selfless action
as in mystical states.
~ Eknath Easwaran



















art by permission
rassouli

Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup...you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle...you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

Bruce Lee

the work for which all other work is but preparation...

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most
difficult task of all, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
It is a high inducement to the individual to ripen...a great claim upon us, something that chooses us out and calls us to vast things.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

with that moon language...

I love the writings of Hafiz perhaps more than any other poet (but I love so much the work of both Hafiz and Rumi that it's hard to say one is my favorite...). In the poem I posted on November 4, Hafiz suggests "Any thought that you are better or less than another man quickly breaks the wine glass..." Isn't his completeness beautiful? He didn't say "any thought that you are better than another" but included "any thought that you are better than or less than another man" breaks the wine glass. Belief in one is a belief in the other, and any feelings of better or less diminishes one's taste of the holy wine.

I would like to bring you another of my favorite Hafiz poems, one called With That Moon Language. This poem is my reminder to be the love the world seeks...

Admit something:
Everyone that you see, you say to them, "Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye
that is always saying,
with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in this world is dying to hear?

The sun once glimpsed God's true nature

And has never been the same.

Thus that radiant sphere

Constantly pours its energy

Upon this earth

As does He from behind

The veil.

With a wonderful God like that

Why isn't everyone a screaming drunk?

Hafiz's guess is this:

Any thought that you are better or less

Than another man

Quickly

Breaks the wine

Glass.

~ Hafiz

the voice of God...

The Creation of the Inaudible
by Pattiann Rogers

Maybe no one can distinguish which voice
Is god’s voice sounding in a summer dusk
Because he calls with the same rising frequency,
The same rasp and rattling rustle the cicadas use
As they cling to the high leaves in the glowing
Dust of the oaks.

His exclamations might blend so precisely with the final
Cries of the swallows settling before dark
That no one will ever be able to say with certainty,
“That last long cry winging over the rooftop
Came from god."

Breathy and low, the vibrations of his nightly
Incantations could easily be masked by the scarcely
Audible hush of the lakeline dealing with the rocky shore,
And when a thousand dry sheaths of rushes and thistles
Stiffen and shiver in an autumn wind, anyone can imagine
How quickly and irretrievably his whisper might be lost.

Someone faraway must be saying right now:
The only unique sound of his being
Is the spoken postulation of his unheard presence.

For even if he found the perfect chant this morning
And even if he played the perfect strings to accompany it,
Still, no one could be expected to know,
Because the blind click beetle flipping in midair,
And the slider turtle easing through the black iris bog,
And two savannah pines shedding dawn in staccato pieces
Of falling sun are already engaged in performing
The very same arrangement themselves.

Pattiann Rogers, “The Creation of the Inaudible” from Firekeeper: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by Pattiann Rogers.

Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted – a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul. ~Rabbi Harold Kushner

photography by permission
graham jeffery

give what we have

My friend Austin doesn’t ask his little girls what they want to be when they grow up. He doesn’t even ask them what they want to do when they grow up. When Austin talks to his little girls about their dreams, he asks them, “What do you want to give when you grow up?” Austin is a brilliant young entrepreneur who has spent quite some time pondering the purpose of life, and what he has come up with is this: our purpose in life is to give what we have. Our purpose is not about what we do, what we achieve, what we acquire, what we know, or what we become. Our purpose is about what we give, and we are here to give what we have.

When I consider this human purpose in relationship to all things in nature, it makes sense. The clouds, the sun, the trees, the ocean, the earth…all have an existence of giving what they have. Even decayed leaves and dead flowers and excrement give what they have. The natural process is everything giving what it has. We, too, are here to give what we have.

This feels right to me. And it changes everything. We evaluate and assess what we have achieved and what we have gained, and we use it to measure our success, but this feels like the opposite of the purpose of giving what we have. Working hard to achieve feels different from working hard to give. And the measurement of it feels very different.

I don’t mean to suggest we are let off the hook, though, for if my purpose is to give what I have, then I want to give the best I have and that means working hard to make my gift the best it can be. If I am a pianist, an architect, a doctor, a teacher, a cook…I will study and practice and work to give the best in what I am giving. But the underlying purpose feels different when considering my purpose is to give, not to earn or achieve.

And so it is I have begun to take the time to ask myself at the close of each day, “How did I give today…?”

photography by Madalina Diacanu

Silence is God's language, and it’s a very difficult language to learn. ~ Thomas Keating

Thomas Keating brings us truth...silence is God's language, and this language we call God's is difficult to learn. Its difficulty, though, is not in the language being tough to understand, but rather its difficulty is in the struggle we have in letting go of all those things that prevent our hearing. My greatest peace and even great joy come from my practice of silence, yet I too find myself having to work my way back again and again. I'm not sure why noise and distractions carry such appeal, but I find myself entangled in them again and again. Still, the silence awaits, and every moment I return I am at once embraced, held, restored. I am become whole.

photography by diana christine

A man is known by the silence he keeps.
~ Oliver Herford

The American ideal is not that we all agree with each other, or even like each other, every minute of the day. It is rather that we will respect each other's rights, especially the right to be different, and that, at the end of the day, we will understand that we are one people, one country, and one community, and that our well-being is inextricably bound up with the well-being of each and every one of our fellow citizens. ~ C. Everett Koop, former US surgeon general

art by permission
rassouli

Silence is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it. There is no substitute for the creative inspiration, knowledge, and stability that come from knowing how to contact your core of inner silence.
~ Deepak Chopra



photography by permission
marc goldring

"By listening to the Creator within, we are led to our right path." ~ Julia Cameron







photography by permission
cindy lee jones

July 19 Photo Album

Two of the guests at our July gathering captured the event on film, and I used some of the photographs to create a video album.

Thank you, Madalina, and thank you, Hector, for your beautiful gifts of photography!

thank you

I’ve started writing this post several times and every time I write a few lines, I scratch out what I have written and start again. I am trying to say thank you, but whatever I write feels small compared to how much I feel inside.

When I started Spirit First I wanted to begin by sharing my vision with friends and family, so I planned the formal announcement of the beginning of the organization to be a dinner party at my own home, which turned into our July 19 celebration. Many of my friends shared what they have to make our gathering a wonderful dinner and a musical gala. I cannot imagine a more beautiful way for the organization to commence than with the shared gifts of friends who embrace its vision.

Our celebration became more than just an announcement, as this event also became our first fundraiser. Spirit First raised several thousand dollars, and I am grateful to so many who gave such loving financial support. Everyone gave what he or she had—sometimes a big check and sometimes five or ten dollars—and all of it added up to a really nice beginning for Spirit First. To those who handed me five or ten dollars and apologized for their gift being so small, I want to say there is no such thing as a small gift when you give what you have. Besides, almost all the gifts were small gifts, but it is quite beautiful how several small gifts add up to something really big.

We often hear the expression “charity begins at home…” and Spirit First begins in just this way with its first funding coming from friends and family giving what they have to honor and support the beginning of this dream. Before we seek funding from outside sources, we begin by receiving from friends and loved ones who support our vision.

Friends not only donated money but offered what they could to contribute to the event, and those gifts are just as big. Miguel volunteered and helped me prepare the yard. Javier and Hector arrived early to help set up and several others helped with cleanup. Brigitte, a new friend I met just this year, brought plants and flowers from her garden to decorate. Glendora, an old friend I hadn’t seen in several years, offered kitchen duty and helped serve. Margarita, Etsegenet, Veronica, Azeb, Jonathan, and Basma cooked and donated incredible food. Madalina and Hector photographed the event. Treasure, Greg, Felicia, Jeremiah, Dan, Sassy, Karen, Joe, and Vicki sang and/or played music for us (all of our musicians and singers donated their time).

Everyone who gave time, gifts, or financial donations is now one of our founding contributors, our founding donors, and you are become part of Spirit First.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

July 19 launching of Spirit First

Spirit First was formally introduced to the world as beloved friends gathered with me on July 19 to celebrate the launching of the organization. In the same way friends come together to witness the union of a man and woman, or come together to celebrate the birth of a child, nearly 75 people gathered to honor and celebrate with me the beginning of Spirit First.

Music filled the air, as several friends donated performances for the launching ceremonies, and we enjoyed incredibly beautiful music.


Felicia Rose came to us from Pennsylvania and brought magic...one of our young guests commented that "when I close my eyes and listen to the music, I feel completely free."

Treasure and Greg were amazing. These two are friends of my son, and I had never heard them perform until the day of our gathering. Their music was wonderful (I think they don't know how good they are...).

Dan Mack played beautiful classical guitar followed by several popular numbers accompanied by vocalist (and wife) Sassy Wagner.

Primordia brought our day full circle closing with Native American poetry and music with Joe Sullivan on flute.

photography by Madalina Diacanu

photography by Hector Guevara

advisory board

I am honored to present to you the founding members of our Spirit First advisory board, a group of individuals who provide counsel and spiritual direction for Spirit First. From the beginning these advisors have been with me, supporting and assisting me. Spirit First would not be as beautiful as she is become had it not been for the counsel and leadership of these friends. I am most grateful…

Harkirat Singh

Harkirat Singh was born and raised in India in the religious tradition of Sikhism and moved to the U.S. to earn a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. Harkirat is an avid student of metaphysics and philosophy and believes in living every moment with spiritual awareness. A Reiki practitioner since 2001, Harkirat is a gifted healer and loves to share this gift with others.

Harkirat’s vision can be summed up in these words from Vedic literature, “Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu”: "May all beings in all the worlds be happy."

Marc Goldring

Marc Goldring is an Associate Principal at WolfBrown in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he provides strategic planning and conducts economic and financial research for arts organizations. Marc also offers community cultural planning, helping areas develop and sustain their community’s cultural life and the lives of their cultural institutions.
Marc is a Fulbright award-winning craftsperson and has had sculptural craft work displayed in galleries and museums nationwide. He founded and directed an international organization of artists working in leather, curated exhibits of contemporary art and craft leather, and organized national and international conferences. He went on to become Executive Director of the National Crafts Planning Board, which served craftspeople in all media.

Today Marc Goldring is a fine art photographer and author of Discovering the Familiar (2008), a merging of profound images and reflective poetic prose that inspires mindfulness in the reader. His images are presented on his website at www.marcoclicks.com.

Sedarius Tekara Perotta

Sedarius Tekara Perotta is a graduate of Georgetown University and has been an entrepreneur since his school days when he founded J&J Georgetown, a college t-shirt reseller. He became president of American Original Designs, an orthopedic back-saving carrying device company, and he founded Nihooka, an online environmentally-friendly product reseller. Sedarius later founded and now serves as president of Neuron Global, a company providing on-demand global intelligence, with offices in the Philippines, the District of Columbia, and New York City.

Sedarius conducts training on leadership and business development and provides consulting services on four continents. He served in the United States Peace Corps in Romania and participated in a United Nations leadership development program.

Rise early
when summer darkness
still enwraps the trees.
Walk into the dark forest
with only your attentive heart.
Gaze toward the east,
take a deep breath, and wait.

After a short while you will see God
carrying a lantern through the forest,
bits of light bobbing up and down
in and out, higher and higher
the light climbs, spilling over
into the spaces between the leaves
and on into the world
beyond the forest.

Then the beautiful darkness
hands you over to the light.
It slips away reverently
into the bark of the tree trunks
into the black earth
into all those other countries
that wait for its return.

Lift your face to the day-star now.
Experience the coming of dawn.
Bathed in morning light, pray
that the lantern of your life
move gently this day
into all those places
where light is needed.

posted on Spirit First with the permission of the poem's author
© Macrina Wiederkehr
All rights reserved
from The Circle of Life published March 2005, by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr

The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament. ~Brother Lawrence in The Practice of the Presence of God

photography by permission
graham jeffery

mindfulness exercise serving tea

Prepare a pot of tea to serve to a guest or to drink by yourself. Do each movement slowly, in mindfulness. Do not let one detail of your movements go by without being mindful of it. Know that your hand lifts the pot by its handle. Know that you are pouring the fragrant warm tea into the cup. Follow each step in mindfulness. Breathe gently and more deeply than usual. Take hold of your breath if your mind strays. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

mindfulness exercise washing dishes

While washing dishes, wash each piece relaxingly, as though each bowl is an object of contemplation. Consider each plate as sacred. Follow your breath to prevent your mind from straying. Do not try to hurry to get the job over with. Consider washing the dishes the most important thing in life. Washing the dishes is meditation. If you cannot wash the dishes in mindfulness, neither can you meditate while sitting in silence. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh