Here are some photos and videos from The Pre-Parliament. You can place your mouse over the screen show to skip videos or photos.

The New Thought delegation met for a pre-conference event which brought together many churches, ministers, and believers together for a day of passion and learning.

Here we are on the way to the event:

The music was amazing:

As well as the Opening Ceremony:

Today we arrived in Melbourne, Australia. We had a very long trip lasting nearly 24 hours. It began with our flight from Atlanta to Los

Boeing 747 to Melbourne

Angeles. A short layover in LAX and then a 15.5 hour flight from LA to Melbourne. Flight was great, slept a bit. There was no power for my computer, so i ended up reading “Illusions” by Richard Bach, again! I finished it, cover to cover, and really felt great after reading it.

Now about international travel… I bought a respitory mask in the gift shop, as flying that long with all that recycled air, just felt led to go ahead and buy it. Did I wear it? uhm… no. Am I a little under the weather now…. uhm yes. So in hindsight, I would recommend to all international travelers to go ahead, throw fashion to the wind, and put on that mask. You will be very glad you did.

A few other points of etiquette, in the spirit of Kindness Krusade, here are some things you could do to make the flight more enjoyable for everyone.

1. if you are in an aisle seat, and you do not know the people in the middle seats, get to know them. And just be nice! Be aware that they feel just as bad about bothering you to get up as you do about getting up. Be kind, on a 15 hour flight, you may be good friends by the end. We met a wonderful girl, by the name of Penny, and I really think we might be friends for a long time to come.

2. If you are sick, WEAR A MASK! That would be the kindest thing that you could do.

3. Just be nice, smile often, say excuse me, pay a compliment. Like attracts like.

4. Do not litter, for goodness sake. every time you get up, just look around clean up any trash you might have. If you notice when you walk off the plane, the place is trashed. It was shocking. Now I am not asking you to pick up other people’s trash (that would be gross), but do your part.

5. Tell the crew how grateful you are for them and their service, even if it wasn’t that great and the one attendant seemed super grumpy like she just wanted to go home. Everyone like to hear that they are appreciated and it just might turn someone’s day around.

New Thought Pre-Conference is tomorrow!

Take a look at our new children’s mini-mag.!

We have all had them, the ideas that come to us while we are in the shower, or driving to work, or laying in bed just before sleeping. Charles Fillmore calls them ideas from the Divine Mind. Many of us have had these ideas, and usually we notice these ideas when someone ends up on TV with an infomercial selling the exact idea we had. It happens everyday, good ideas die all over the country on the couches of the American people. We have all heard of these terms (and some can probably relate more than others) like procrastination, analysis paralysis, fear of success or failure. All of these things can keep us from realizing our ideas and seeing them to manifestation or fulfillment.

So what is the solution… hmmm I bet you know this. One of my favorite authors is Dan Kennedy and he wrote a little book and I can’t even remember the name. It was something like The Ultimate Success Secret or similar (you could goggle it). Anyway, he never actually comes right out and says it, but Action–Taking Action, is the best opportunity we have to making our dreams come true.

Just Do It? Get ‘er Done? Sound Familar?

Just take action, one step, and the rest will follow… here is a quote to leave you with…

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. –Martin Luther King Jr.

At Atlanta Unity we have begun our Fall season with a study of the book “12 Powers of Man” by Charles Fillmore. Rev. John Stickland will speak about the powers each week for 7 weeks and we, the congregation, are invited to participate in small study groups to go through the text. This week was an introduction to the powers and a high level understanding of what each “power” means.

You can see a graphical representation of the 12 powers here. UNTC 12 Powers Picture
You can find an online version of the 12 Powers book here, if you would like to go along with us.
Charles Fillmore – The Twelve Powers of Man – My Edit
You can also find a wealth of Unity texts online by clicking here.

See you next week as we focus our attention on Faith and Strength.

For those of you interested in learning a little bit more about the Parliament of World Religions and what it is all about, here is the link:

http://www.parliamentofreligions.org

This event is only held every 5 years, and like the Olympics, it is in a different location each time. I am so excited to be going and have an opportunity to meet people from many different religions and cultures.

My next planning step is to think about what kindness activities I will be doing. My goal is to have a different goal/activity each day and see how my experience evolves over the course of the week. I am going to do some practice runs here in the states as Kindness is my way of life.

Got any ideas for innovative acts of Kindness that I could do? Share them with me

I am now officially going to represent the SE Next Generation of Unity at the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne Australia. The event begins with a Pre-conference on Dec 2 and continues with the full conference Dec 3-9. After the conference I am stopping over in New Zealand for a week. I know a life changing event when I see one . As a result of this trip I will be speaking at the regional and international conventions for Unity ministers in the south-east and worldwide respectively. Hopefully turning in to the opportunity to share my experience around my region and the country (and may be even the world)

I am really excited to be doing this, representing my faith, my denomination, and my passion for loving kindness in the world.

I plan to use this site as a travel log, diary, and journal of all of my experiences leading up to this trip. I hope you will enjoy it as much (well maybe half as much) as I do!