The Four Agreements, Part 2: Don’t Take Anything Personally

Sunday, August 21st, 2022

We continue our series on Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements with the second agreement, “Don’t Take Anything Personally.” As Ruiz states, “Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.” We invite you to join in the conversation this Sunday, in person, at 10:30 a.m., 117 Evans Dr., Fort Collins, CO. We’ll have our monthly community potluck immediately following our gathering (details below). You are always invited to the potluck, even if you don’t make it to the discussion! We love being in community with you, however that feels best for you.
Love and Light on this glorious Thursday, Colleen and Mark

Quotes to ponder

“When someone is cruel, harsh, mean, to not take their words personally is one thing, but to hear the silent cry within those words is another. This sort of perspective can not only liberate us from crippling self-doubt in the face of criticism, it can also liberate us from automatically becoming blind participants in the interaction patterns that the cruel person has become accustomed to – a favor we do for the other person as much as for ourselves.”
~ Vironika Tugaleva

“When you lose your ego, you win. It really is that simple.”
~ Shannon L. Alder

“When you let it get personal, the cost becomes personal too. You’re opening your own heart here. You sure you want to do that?”
~ Michael Marshall Smith

“Not taking things personally is a true sign of maturity.”
~ Robert Celner

“There is nothing that strengthens the ego more than being right. The ego loves to make wrong in order to be right. Ego takes everything personally. Emotion arises, defensiveness, perhaps even aggression. Are you defending the truth? No, the truth, in any case, needs no defense.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

Looking Ahead/Notes of Interest

Paths of Heart Sunday Schedule, 10:30 a.m., 117 Evans Dr., Fort Collins, CO 80524

August 21st – in person, potluck after gathering. Please bring food to share and your own reusable plate. We’ll provide utensils, cups/glasses, cloth napkins, and a variety of beverages. We aim for zero waste!
August 28th – No Paths of Heart
September 4th – in person
September 11th – ZOOM gathering
September 18th and 25th – No Paths of Heart
October 2nd – in person, potluck after gathering.

Current Mask Policy
Though Covid cases continue to be at a high level in Larimer County, most resultant illnesses seem to be generally mild, and we are leaving it up to attendees whether they want to mask or not.

Giving Opportunities
Paths of Heart continues (in our 9th year now!) solely through your generous donations. What an amazing thing! Several survey participants expressed interest in signing up for regular monthly donations and we gratefully welcome that! During the pandemic, online donations became increasingly important to our organization, and are always gratefully accepted on our website, https://www.pathsofheart.org/donate/. Once you are on our PayPal site, there will be an option for recurring monthly donations. If you find value in what we do here at Paths of Heart, please consider donating to keep our non-profit running smoothly, with grace and ease. Thanks so much for supporting the continuation of Paths of Heart. Remember, we are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so your donations are tax deductible.

Two ways you can further support Paths of Heart are detailed below:

King Soopers Community Rewards Program
If you shop at KS and have a rewards card, you can “link” it to Paths of Heart and King Soopers will donate a portion of your dollars spent (around 5%) to our non-profit. Go to https://www.kingsoopers.com/i/community/community-rewards to sign up and link your card. Our organization name is Paths of Heart and organization number is RG782. Let us know if you want help signing up!

Amazon Smile
We do love shopping locally and very often do, but Amazon sometimes fits the bill. If you are an Amazon shopper, you can make a difference by shopping at smile.amazon.com/ch/81-4175487 to generate donations for Paths of Heart!

“Paths of Heart” Labyrinth and Zen Meditation Garden
This was intentioned to be a community space, so know that you are always welcome to drop by and walk or sit – you do not need to let us know in advance. Do note that we have experienced the outer “halo” of glass blocks in the labyrinth to be slippery when wet, so it’s best to walk it on a dry day (not usually a problem in Colorado!). We also welcome volunteers to help keep our labyrinth looking beautiful and free of debris and weeds. Thank you!

Sending prayers and affirmations
If anyone would like to receive our collective positive thoughts and prayers on a Sunday morning, please ask! We can be as specific or as anonymous as you’d like. Let us know if we can surround you and your loved ones in love and light!

Gratitudes

A break in the heat!! This week our temps are in the delightful 80’s. What a welcome pleasure after so many near (or over) 100 days. Enjoy, those who live around here, and we hope the rest of you are enjoying your late summer as well!

What are you grateful for today?

“I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.”
~ Will Arnett

“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.”
~ Kristin Armstrong

“Gratitude can lead you, as it did me, away from the darkness of complicated need into the light of Simple Abundance.”
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

About Paths of Heart…

Paths of Heart is a high spirited, heart-centered community where we gather together (in new and creative ways!) for music, poetry, commentary, and dialogue to create and nurture joy, compassion, gratitude, and love – in our own lives and throughout the world. Paths of Heart is a 501(c)(3) Human Services/Educational non-profit organization that uses the arts, especially, to encourage and propel seekers of a better, more peaceful world to find ways to serve, while becoming more kind and compassionate human beings.

We welcome you as we collectively and individually explore the sweet mysteries of life – this is an invitation into co-creation!

Visit us on the web at https://www.pathsofheart.org
We hope our physical paths may cross soon!

“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” ~ Ruth Reichl

08/12/202208/12/2022

Paths of Heart Survey/Questionnaire Overview

Hello All –
We promised a synopsis of our survey that was sent out a couple of months ago, so here are some of the things we gleaned from your responses. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts with us!

We were happy to see that for most who attend regularly, either in person or on ZOOM, your experience at Paths of Heart is a welcoming, uplifting, and fulfilling one and many wouldn't change a thing! Some would like more music, community singing, and meditation (we like those ideas!). Some would like to see more racial and age diversity (we would, too, and welcome ideas for how to reach out to different populations in that respect). We got a question about childcare, which we used to provide, but haven't had a request for in recent years. We would be happy to explore this option again. Please reach out to us (since our survey was anonymous, we don't know who asked for this!) so that we can meet that need.

It is overwhelmingly apparent that this "Covid thing", either directly or indirectly, is still having a great effect on our attendance. Some still need to be extremely careful of being exposed because of health issues; others are happily scheduling all the activities and vacations that they put off for the last 2 years and thus are too busy to attend. Some have just gotten into a different routine after such a long period of self isolation - a few mentioned that after so much seclusion it feels difficult to get out there and be social again (we can relate!).

The folks who engage regularly with Paths of Heart feel invested in the Paths of Heart community and are contributing financially at a level that is comfortable for them. We appreciate that!  Quite a few respondents were unaware of the financial resources needed to run our non-profit. All are welcome to review our Profit and Loss Statements and yearly budget proposals and actuals, though we'll mention a few of our major expenses here: We (Colleen and Mark) are paid for orchestrating and presenting each Sunday at Paths of Heart (as are our guest presenters and musicians). Our compensation has always been well below the industry standard for similar organizations and we have recently taken a voluntary pay reduction as well to conserve Paths of Heart's resources at this time. Other expenses are our website (domain name registration and yearly renewal, web hosting, website maintenance and updates), office expenses (newsletter, bookkeeping, copier paper and ink cartridges, etc.), Paths of Heart's financial commitment to other charitable organizations that align with our vision and mission (we support 3 with monthly giving and others through your suggestions or when the spirit moves...), and general upkeep of our gathering space (cleaning and supplies). We hope this gives people a better understanding of the commitment and work that goes into Paths of Heart on a weekly basis.

Most survey participants liked the "2 in-person, 1 Zoom a month" option for frequency, though for now we'll have to stick with just one of each a month until our finances improve. There wasn't enough interest in the weekday evening option to pursue at this time.

We trust this synopsis makes our situation clearer to everyone. The future of Paths of Heart remains uncertain in these tricky times. We’ll keep having our gatherings as long as we have the support to do so – we are so grateful for that support and your investment in our spiritual community. Here’s our schedule for the next couple of months:
August 14th – No Paths of Heart
August 21st – in person, potluck after gathering
August 28th – No Paths of Heart
September 4th – in person
September 11th – ZOOM gathering
September 18th and 25th – No Paths of Heart
October 2nd – in person

Have a great weekend everyone!
Love, Colleen and Mark, the POH Board, and our Survey Committee

08/05/202208/06/2022

Revisiting The Four Agreements

Sunday, August 7th, 2022

We’ve recently had cause to revisit Don Miguel Ruiz’s classic book The Four Agreements and have decided to make a little Paths of Heart mini-series of it, delving into each agreement over our next 4 gatherings. The first agreement is “Be Impeccable with Your Word”, which Ruiz calls “the most important one, and also the most difficult one to honor”! That’s what we’ll explore on our Zoom Gathering this Sunday. Here’s the link:
POH Zoom Gathering
Aug 7, 2022 10:30 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82746610642?pwd=bFFOMWQwRmQyZzhVelZtWjE4Y0d1UT09
Meeting ID: 827 4661 0642
Passcode: 986474
Hope to see you onscreen this Sunday!
Love and Light, Colleen and Mark

Quotes to ponder

“Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.”
~ Don Miguel Ruiz

“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see…”
~ John Lennon

“Leading with integrity and empathy requires vision and a connection to your deepest self.
~ Karla McLaren

“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.”
~ Spencer Johnson

“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

Looking Ahead/Notes of Interest

Paths of Heart Sunday Schedule, 10:30 a.m.

August 7th – ZOOM gathering

August 14th – No Paths of Heart

August 21st – in person, potluck after gathering

August 28th – No Paths of Heart

September 4th – in person

September 11th – ZOOM gathering

September 18th and 25th – No Paths of Heart

Two ways you can further support Paths of Heart are detailed below:

Gratitudes

THE GREEN!! With our recent rains (and more on the way this weekend?) everything has greened up again and is looking so lush! That’s not often the case as August rolls around in CO… 🙂

We are SO grateful for our Paths of Heart Community! You enrich our lives and give us hope for the future with your love, kindness, and generosity.

What are you grateful for today?

“I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.”
~ Will Arnett

“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.”
~ Kristin Armstrong

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
~ Robert Brault