Hi everyone! Kelli McNeal here! I have the honor of serving as the Congregational Life Coordinator at First UU. I don’t know about you, but I am so grateful for technology that allows me to reach out to you and for us all to interact with one another. It’s of course not the same as seeing each other face to face, but it brings me comfort to see your smiling faces on our church Facebook and Discord pages. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, you can click here to find it: Take me to Discord!
This will probably be a new platform for you, I know it was for me, but it is super user friendly. If you have any problems, feel free to email us and we’ll be happy to walk you through it. You can get help at onlinehelp@firstuucolumbus.org. This is basically a giant chat room for all of us to check in with one another and keep in touch during this unique time.
Each day of the week, you’ll hear from someone on the First UU staff or our community with different blog posts which will hopefully help us all feel more in touch with one another and give us an opportunity to practice self care. On Mondays, I’m going to be walking us through a meditation practice. Now, if you’re like me you might be uncomfortable with the term meditation. I know for me, I never found meditation to be incredibly helpful. But then I discovered the wide range of practices that can be meditative! So, some Monday’s I’ll be providing resources to practice a coloring meditation, some videos will be highlighting a walking meditation, some will be the more traditional, quiet, contemplative meditation style. My hope is to provide a little something for everyone.
This week, I want to highlight an app that I have found to be very helpful. For me, when I sit down to do a meditation practice, I need someone guiding me through the practice, because otherwise, my brain will be moving a mile a minute and I don’t feel the healing benefits of the practice. So when I need a breather, I pull out my Calm App and find an expert who will help guide me. The great thing is that Calm has moved a lot of their material out of the “members only” portal, and they’ve opened up a lot of great material for free. My favorite aspects are the bedtime stories. I have a hard time falling asleep when I’m feeling anxious, so I just turn on one of the bedtime stories and I’m often out in a matter of minutes. In this link, you’ll find guided meditations, sleep stories, calming music, resources, and even links for the children in your life. Click this link to find the free materials: Take me to the Calm free materials!
I invite you to pick one of the Soothing Meditations to try, light a chalice (or a candle), find a comfortable position and give it a try. When you’re done, go over to our Discord channel and let us know what meditation you tried and if you found any of the other resources on the page to be helpful. I look forward to hearing from you!
Virtual hugs!
Kelli
Helpful Links:
I want to chat, take me to Discord!
Show me the church’s Facebook page!