At our most recent Seekers Group (Sept. 29, 2014), we talked about Fear. Some of us talked about how fear keeps us from living as fully and adventurously as we wish we would. For many of us fear gets in the way of us being ourselves, though this lessens as we age. Fear of the unknown, of our own vulnerability, of not being in control (but then again, are we ever?), of being less than perfect, of death, and of what the Divine might ask of us if we truly listened, are experiences to which we can all relate. We loved the idea of letting ourselves be spiritual 5 year olds, where we might live and act more spontaneously, without a lot of manipulation, rationalization, or head trips. We are grateful to be able to laugh about very imperfect endings to our attempts to be more than we fear we are! We liked the idea of embracing imperfection – in our artwork and our home repairs, as well as in ourselves, though for some of us this was a challenging idea. We ended agreeing that a quote from Lyman Randall about “accepting <our> fears as a natural part of living instead of trying to eliminate them by being perfectly courageous all the time” was a comforting and wise insight. Our next meeting will be Monday, October 27, 2014 at 7pm in the Community House. Our topic will be Gratitude. Stay tuned for suggested readings. All are welcome to join us. – Gretchen Baker-Smith