Dharma Topics

Prior to each Thursday evening gathering in Silver Spring for meditation and Dharma sharing we send out an announcement of the topic. The announcement is includes a short essay that focuses on a way of bringing mindfulness into our lives, families, work, and society. Below are topics that we've discussed in the past.

The archive goes from 2004 to the present. You can search by one or more key words, such as: Compassion Training (no quotes), or by phrases, such as: “emotional and spiritual healing” (with quotes). If you would like to receive our weekly announcement, please click on the bar to the right.

Transforming Thanksgiving

Facilitated by: Mitchell Ratner| in: Dharma Topics

Discussion Date: Thu, Nov 26, 2020

Online on Thursday Afternoon Thanksgiving Day, November 26, at 1:00 pm Online on Friday Evening, November 27, 7:00 to 8:45 pm

Dear Still Water Friends,

I developed a deep appreciation for Thanksgiving in my early twenties, after I graduated from college and moved several thousand miles from where my parents lived. I liked that it was an ecumenical national family holiday. I liked that in my circles there was a real effort to be inclusive – friends of friends, people with no where to go, and foreign students were all invited. And I liked that it nourished our better angels. We often talked about what we were grateful for.

I vaguely knew about the events the holiday celebrated. In my Los Angeles grammar schools, I participated in assemblies where students portraying “pilgrims” and... Continued