december announcements

CELEBRATE NEW YEAR'S EVE WITH THE SANGHA
Our celebration this year will be at sangha house, 248 D St.  We will gather at 4:30 for a sit, a walk and another sit followed by a potluck and an outdoor fire to set our intentions for 2017.  It's great fun.  Please come!

Registration for our March residential retreat at Blazing Mountain in Crestone is still open.  You can register online here:
https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1855190


AND NOW AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BOARD
Dear Sangha Brothers and Sisters: 
 
We as a Board are deeply grateful for your participation in the Sangha in all the ways that you are involved. And we wanted to send out a friendly reminder on Mindful Speech.
 
As a Sangha, we are committed to being a welcoming refuge for all people. We welcome all social identities, including, but not limited to, all races, ethnicities, classes, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, political orientation, ages and abilities. Our skillful speech is crucial in creating this environment of inclusivity. 
 
With this in mind, we ask that we all engage in Mindful Speech to ensure that we demonstrate this commitment of being welcoming to all. Sometimes we may forget that there is significant diversity in the Sangha, and therefore we may make assumptions about how others are feeling about particular issues.  As a way of mitigating this tendency, we ask that, when you are expressing feelings about world or local events/situations, you use “I” statements rather than "we" statements.  Another helpful tool, is to imagine that there is someone in the room that shares a differing view than you do. 
 
For Sit Leaders, it is helpful to remember that our main role is to communicate the teachings of the Buddha and to communicate them in a manner that aims to dissolve the sense of separation.  
 
If you have any questions or comments regarding this request, please feel free to contact us. Again, thank you for  offering your time and your practice to the Salida Sangha.
There are many audio talks available on our website resource page including the September Community Talk by Brian Lesage - "Our Relationship to Politics: Navigating Views of Us & Them."   Here's the link to the resource page:
http://www.salidasangha.org/resources.html
While you are on our beautiful new website click on the calendar page to see what's up in the future.

HAPPY HOLIDAY WISHES AND BLESSINGS TO EVERYONE!