Recent Entries

• THE PATH OF THE TRAVELER

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC April 26, 2013
  One of the best songs I ever found to describe the path I chose and that was chosen for me if I chose to accept it is ‘Days Are Numbers’ by Alan Parsons Project. I heard this song on the radio when I was a lot younger and it sank in. I understand now that it was supposed to mean somethin...
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• MENTAL HOUSEKEEPING

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC April 26, 2013
  REFLECTIONS: MENTAL HOUSEKEEPING             It feels strange to sit here at my desk during a work day (yes, Fridays are work days) and have time to write this.  The In and Out boxes are empty and no work sits in the Pending box, thus maki...
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• REACTION TO BOSTON

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC April 15, 2013
  In the news today a sick intolerant soul set bombs at the Boston Marathon, succeeding in killing 2 and as of the most recent count injuring 23.  In the mail today to correspond with this foul news I received word that a local Peace organization that has been around for over 20 years has had to ...
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• Springtime Survival

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC April 15, 2013
  A SPRINGTIME SURVIVAL GUIDE: SURVIVING ACHOO IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST   It’s pretty unavoidable for most of us here. Spring – lovely, promising and enticing spring – is here and the world (achoo) is in full bloom.  It’s lovely for photos and a time of hope but i...

• From Simplify to Abide in Four Steps

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC March 23, 2013
  This is some advice that has come to me over the last two decades and the Almighty keeps reminding me of it when I get too wrapped up in something for my own good. I am so grateful that I serve a loving and patient God that doesn't hopefully get too exasperated when I'm given the answers but keep as...

• Letting Go in Dudesville

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC March 17, 2013
  This is all about letting go; you know what I mean, right? If you don't then let me try and explain. There are a lot of times when we need to just simply 'abide', when we detach from stuff that in the scope of the bigger picture is not worth the worry and we sit back with some friends, watch a sunr...

• Doing More By Doing Less

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC March 6, 2013
  As the wise ones say, Learning to Live is Learning to Let Go.   We fufill so many roles every day and some folks do even more than I do. I am an employee, a chaplain, a friend, a daughter/sister, an associate, a confidante. I do volunteer work for a couple of civic orders, I write, I try to d...

• Human Bonsai

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC February 5, 2013
  I’m sitting at a plastic table outside of my apartment trimming and transplanting my small bonsai trees.  These particular ones are volunteer cedars taken from the yard of a friend. I like how the soil feels to my fingers; it is dark and rich, warm to the touch despite the cold of a late ...

• ACCOUNTABILITY

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC February 1, 2013
  BLOG ENTRY FOR 2/1/13   The Waitress and the Pastor   I’m sure by now that most of us subjected to Yahoo have heard about the recent snafu between a pastor who didn’t tip and commented on the tab and the waitress who posted it up online and got fired.  It’s a sad...
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• This Is How A Road Gets Made

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC January 18, 2013
  This is one of the poems that gave me a proper start on my spiritual journey when I was in my 20's. Peace be with you all.Rev. K Hyler DDTHIS IS HOW A ROAD GETS MADE By Simon Le Bon/Duran Duran   This is how a road gets made. Somebody walked on a virgin land. Someone else saw their tracks...

• Foundation of Sand or Stone?

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC January 16, 2013
  This blog is about my journey and what I have discovered about building something from the ground up, whether it's a home or a ministry. I'll use building a house as an analogy. All things begin with a foundation and a plan. More than one holy teacher has taught to build your 'house' on stone, not ...

• MORE ON DEISM

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC January 8, 2013
  MORE ABOUT DEISM Rev. K Hyler DD OCC, Spiritual Deist Fellowship of Salem OR   Some of this may sound familiar from prior blogs, but I figured I'd try to condense some of the information and add to it. So - here we go... Spiritual Deism doesn't have to depend on the teachings of a church or...
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• Church of Confusion

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC January 5, 2013
  For Christmas a friend, knowing I'm a classic Saturday Night Live lover (especially the 1970's shows) gave me a DVD set of the third season. One of these shows had a sketch featuring Chevy Chase called the Church of Confusion. As Chevy rambled on, throwing phrases and platitudes from various religi...
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• Spiritual Bogs

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC January 4, 2013
  SPIRITUAL BOGS               Spiritual Bogs affect all of us at one time or another and they usually happen more than once our lives.  It does not matter what path we are on or what faith we follow.  One day we find ourselves no...

• HOW I CAME TO JOIN THE ULC

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC January 3, 2013
  My journey to the ULC began back in the 1980's, actually. I was in college and I began searching for something.    You see, Christianity no longer fit me. I found my beliefs changing from Christian to Spiritual but Distrusting of Religion, thanks to being encouraged and told by some very...
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• Be A Solution Not A Resolution

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC January 1, 2013
  It is the beginning of the New Year 2013. It is a time of potential, of new beginnings. The end of the hectic holiday season is over and spring is just around the corner. Many of us have in the past made resolutions to do something. We say we'll do this, we'll do that. We'll finally go on that diet...

• A LITTLE MYSTICAL FUN

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC December 28, 2012
  I submit to you my most recent entry for my monthly journaling group. The assignment was to write about a side of yourself that you haven't tapped into lately. I call it:   A MESSAGE FROM MY INNER MYSTIC To break the spell of my recent overzealousness, an almost forgotten Jungian inner-frien...

• NATIVE AMERICAN PRAYER

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC December 28, 2012
  This is a prayer that I have always found to inspire me. Enjoy in Peace - Rev. K Hyler DD OCC   Great Spirit Prayer   "Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, Whose breath gives life to all the world. Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty, an...
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• Deist Beliefs

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC December 27, 2012
  Here is some more of what I believe: I, along with several of America's founding fathers and others before me dating back to Socrates and beyond, have been called 'godless' by a great many throughout the years but that isn't the truth - far from it. (Please note that I have as yet to come across th...
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• SOME TSALAGI INSPIRATION

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC December 20, 2012
  I left the source as-is below - this is a piece of my Tsalagi Deer Clan heritage that I wanted to share with you, my brothers and sisters of this earth.  I noted the source below for reference. I shared it with the Chaplains Office group and thought it good to pass it on to everyone else as wel...

• WHO I AM: Part Two: About Spiritual Deism

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC December 20, 2012
  THIS I BELIEVE/DEISM PART TWO   I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I may have ended up where I needed to be. Douglas Adams   Continuing on from my last post, here is a bit more about the faith I follow and live by. I realize Deism isn’t to everybody’s ...

• MERCY AND ABUNDANCE

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC December 19, 2012
  MERCY AND ABUNDANCE   It’s the holiday season and right now tables are groaning to capacity with sweets and treats of all shapes and sizes. Meringue cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip treats, shortbread… It’s an almost unending plethora of sugar and if I’m not ca...

• WHO I AM: PART ONE

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC December 18, 2012
  WHO I AM AND WHAT I BELIEVE PART ONE: A (SOMEWHAT) BRIEF SUMMARY   I present this to you of my own free will, in full honesty and honor.  I have decided that it is time for me to stand up bravely and show who I am; for if I cannot do so before our assembly who can I tell?   Thank...

• A FRANCISCAN PRAYER TO SHARE

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC December 5, 2012
  I submit this with permission from Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar - a Franciscan prayer he showed me. It goes like this:   May God bless you with discomfort - at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships - so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger - at inju...
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• THANKSGIVING AT THE GROWN-UP TABLE

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC November 30, 2012
  (This is what I am sharing with my journaling/writer's group and thought I'd share it with you.) THANKSGIVING AT THE ‘GROWN-UP’ TABLE   This is about a very special Thanksgiving, one that stands out in my memory.   When I was little Thanksgiving meant getting dressed up in...
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• BE THE CHANGE

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC November 26, 2012
  One of my favorite all time quites has been Mahatma Gandhi's 'You must be the change you wish to see in the world.'   Note that he said YOU. He didn't say the guy next to you, the person down the street, the lady in the car next to you. He pointed the finger at YOU.   Whare does this c...

• LOVE IN ADVERTISING

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC November 21, 2012
  I was recently sitting at a neighbor’s house having dinner.  She had the television on; I don’t recall what show she was watching.  I found myself thinking something like this as the seemingly endless ads went on and on:   Wouldn’t it be something if we could make ...
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• An Exercise in Faith

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC October 26, 2012
  Here I am, a product of the late 20th century living in the 21st century, a world of resources before me and thousands upon thousands of different belief systems that may or may not be right for me. I'm pretty solid just now in what I believe but I decided, for the sake of argument and to get rid of...
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• Giving Up Television/Update

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC October 3, 2012
  It is a funny thing, but I have found that I really don't miss that flat screened dust catching beast in the living room.  It helped to sell all but a few of my DVD's and I put the money in a vacation/emergency fund.  The odd thing about this is how other people have reacted. One friend, ...
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• NO TELEVISION: DAY ONE

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC September 12, 2012
  I watched with a sense of relief last night as a supportive did me a huge favor by helping me take the tv, etc. out of the closet and we carried it out to her car. I watched as my friend drove off with the television and DVD player.  I figured if it wasn't in my house I would not be as tem...
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• Giving Up Television, Wish Me Luck

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC September 11, 2012
  Just a quick message to let everybody know about an experiment I am trying for a while.  Last night I disconnected the television and the DVD player and I put it away in a closet.  I boxed up all of the DVD's and the remotes. I have not been watching for a few days so I figure th...
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• Spiritual Growth and Facing Fear and Weakness

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC September 10, 2012
  I have found the pure joy of making time to do spiritual study even on the busiest of weekends. This weekend was no exception - lots going on, family obligations, friendship obligations. I enjoy these times because something always manages to test what I have been studying recently. Our Creator is...

• FAITH AND GENETICS

  by Kerena Hyler DD OCC September 6, 2012
  I never cease to be amazed at the sheer amount of people, many of them functioning adults claiming to be true believers in a Higher Power, who have been sold and continue to perpetuate this awful misguided idea that we are stuck with the problems we were born with, that we are victim to the same pro...
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