Around Town, Oct 20, 2006

Meetings & Lectures

Finding the courage to live and die in peace

Dr. Martha Horton speaks of “The Fearless Heart: Finding the Courage to Live and Die in Peace” at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Sunday, October 22. Subscribing to the words of the Dahli Lama, Dr. Horton believes that achieving individual inner peace is a fundamental necessity for achieving world peace.

Horton’s long, distinguished career includes running a successful alternative high school program for dropouts and working as a caseworker for adolescents and as an aftercare specialist for individuals in recovery for addictions. She is currently president of the Amáte Institute, A.C., dedicated to emotional and spiritual healing, growth and development for Spanish- and English-speaking individuals in San Miguel using Amáte Growth Work.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch. For more information, visit portalsanmiguel.com/lifestyle/unitarians/unitarians.html.



Midday Rotary Club

On Tuesday, October 24, David Bossman, a charter member of the Midday Rotary, will speak about his recent stay in Jalapa, Veracruz. David lived in a cabin outside of town and studied Spanish in the city. He will talk about the culture, the people and the recent progress in the State of Veracruz.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets every Tuesday at 12:30pm at the Villa Jacaranda Hotel, Aldama 53. Visiting Rotarians and others interested in Rotary are invited to attend this meeting. Lunch follows at 1:30pm in the hotel dining room. 

For more information see the website at www.rotarysma.org 

Classes & Workshops

San Miguel Actors Workshop

Alan Jordan, a well-known actor/director and educator in Canada and the United States, has recently moved to San Miguel and is now teaching acting classes under the banner San Miguel Actors Workshop. Jordan is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where he studied with Sanford Meisner.

His many stage credits include starring roles at New York’s Circle Repertory Company, Manhattan Theater Club and Playwrights Horizon as well as Stratford Festival. He has also toured the United States in national companies of the musicals Applause, Shenandoah and 1776.

Television and film audiences have seen Jordan in over 100 productions, such as Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Falcon Crest, Knight Rider, Fall Guy, Friday the 13th, Echoes in the Darkness, Sorry Wrong Number, Woman on the Run, African Journey, The Young and the Restless, and Santa Barbara.

In Hollywood, Mr. Jordan was a faculty member at the Los Angeles High School for Performing Arts and chairman of the board at Theatre West, and in San Francisco he was an advisor to the Young Conservatory at American Conservatory Theater.

In Toronto, Jordan founded The Actors Workshop where he was artistic director for 15 years. He also co-founded Actors Repertory Company, a professional company, now producing in Toronto, as well as Iguana Productions, now producing in San Miguel.

Acceptance to San Miguel Actors Workshop is by interview, which is a great way to see if this class is appropriate for you. This dynamic series of workshops will include physical, vocal and, most importantly, emotional warm-ups as well as a fun, improvisational method-based approach to acting. The focus will be on the craft of acting and building on each participant’s unique life experience.

Classes will be held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10am to1pm from November 7 to December 1. The fee is 1,500 pesos. For an interview and more information, contact Alan Jordan at 154-0352 or alantheactor@hotmail.com.



Computer obedience training

Another session of Roger Hind’s acclaimed computer classes for new users and for those who want to better learn the basics will begin soon. Roger is particularly well known for his ability to put those suffering from “computerphobia” at ease.

The classes will be held in the computer training room at the Biblioteca and will cover these topics: introduction to computers and computing, introduction to Windows and basic Windows techniques, introduction to the Internet, Internet browsing and searching, basic Internet-based email, introduction to word processing, and managing Internet-based email attachments.

Classes will be in plain English (no computerese!). Each student will have his or her own computer, and there will be lots of hands-on exercises to reinforce the principles as they are presented.

Classes will run from 10:30am until 1pm and will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays over four weeks, beginning Tuesday, October 31. Pre-enrollment, including payment of the course fee of 350 pesos, is required. Places are limited to 10 people, who must have either temporary or full membership at the library. A temporary membership costs only 150 pesos, of which 100 pesos is refundable when you leave San Miguel.

Please note that the classes are for PC users—we do not have Macs.

To enroll, take your membership card and 350 pesos to the front desk at the library. Note that Roger donates 100% of the course fee to the library’s scholarship fund.

Roger has written a detailed manual that is an essential adjunct to the class. The manual will be available at the first class for 150 pesos.

If you can’t make the course beginning on October 31, Roger will be repeating the course beginning on November 30. Enrollments are also open for this course.

If you would like more information about the course objectives and content, contact Roger by phone at 154-6552 or by email at rogerhind@hotmail.com 

Tours & Excursions

Botanical Garden tour

Every Tuesday morning discover the marvels of cacti and other Mexican plants, as well as the history of El Charco, with Mario Mendoza, vice-director. An additional privilege of this visit is the opportunity to see the plants in the nursery that is not ordinarily open to the public. Many rare species and plants threatened with extinction are protected and propagated at El Charco. 

Entrance fee is 30 pesos (waived for members) and the tour is 50 pesos. All proceeds benefit the garden. The tour is in English and starts at the main entrance at 9am and lasts about 2 hours. Bring a hat and water. Space is limited, so reserve by calling Mario at 044-415-101-0338 or email charco@unisono.net.mx 

Performances & Events

Monthly ALMA sale

The monthly ALMA rummage sale will be held Saturday October 28, from 10am to 1pm at ALMA in colonia La Lejona. The bodega is bulging, and there are bargains available on all kinds of clothing, bedding, dishes, electronics, paintings and furniture. There is a special on sweaters for 20 pesos each. A free bus to ALMA leaves from Ancha de San Antonio, across from Espino’s, every half hour. Help the elderly residents of ALMA by shopping, and they would love a visit if you have the time.



Films & Videos

Shalom SMA film 

Jews around the world have just finished celebrating the holiday of Sukkoth, and on Monday, October 23, Shalom SMA Forum presents Ushpizin, a film that examines Sukkot and Sukkahs (Sukkahs are temporary dwellings in which observant Jews traditionally live for a week to remind themselves of their wanderings in the desert). In the film’s story, Moshe and Mali are a penniless couple who can’t afford to build a sukkah but then happen to find an abandoned one along with a handsome cash donation. But Moshe has a dark past as a violent criminal. When a friend from the old days shows up with a shady cohort, having escaped from prison, tradition requires Moshe to be a hospitable host, a duty that pushes him to the breaking point. The film extols the virtues of charity and generosity without sugar-coating its difficulty, and it opens viewers’ eyes up to a unique culture.

The film provides a valuable glimpse into the religious practices of ultra-Orthodox Jews living in Jerusalem. (This is the first production allowed inside one of the city’s closed communities.) But it’s also a cleverly plotted film, which, refreshingly, also features a few welcome comic elements.

The movie will be screened at 4:30pm in the TV room of the Hotel Quinta Loreto, located at Loreto 15. It is 90 minutes long, and a discussion follows the film. A donation of 50 pesos is suggested.



Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer translators needed for CASA

The Texas Podiatric Medical Foundation in Austin, Texas, is sponsoring a visit by a team of podiatrists and nurses to the CASA clinic in Colonia San Rafael the first week in November. They will arrive with medical supplies and equipment donated by various foundations and charitable institutions. Translators are needed, since not all of the medical team speaks Spanish. If you can help, please call Pat at 154-9478 or email mexicanpat@yahoo.com 





Eliminate suffering by asking four questions
By Suzy Batiz

LifePath Retreat Center workshop

“The Work” of Byron Katie with Suzy Batiz

Sunday, November 5, 2–6pm & Monday, November 6, 9:30am–3:30pm

US$150, 154-8465

“Confusion,” insists Byron Katie, “is the only suffering in the world.” And the way to relieve confusion is to question the thoughts that are causing the stress. You can identify these thoughts easily because they are the ones that are being repeated over and over, leaving you exhausted, stressed out and, inevitably, suffering.

Byron Katie is the author of Loving What Is, and she has developed a very simple but effective method of inquiry into your thoughts. It’s a way of getting to know yourself, and a means of turning suffering into peace. She says when the heart meets the mind, love is the only thing that remains.

It’s not the experience that causes us pain—it’s the beliefs and judgments we build around those experiences that trap us in this endless cycle of suffering. Katie urges you examine your beliefs and judgments by using her simple process of four questions and a turn-around. This process can be used anytime, anywhere and with any thoughts.

Katie doesn’t tell you what to do or what to think. She says, “I don’t have the answers. I have the questions”—meaning that she has the process, and all the answers come from within you. You are encouraged to go inside and find out what is true for yourself. 

Katie says that most of the thoughts that cause suffering are not new; they’re recycled. “We’re trapped in the endless cycle of these thoughts,” she says. “These thoughts are the obstacle between you and love.”

Let’s say you feel your spouse does not care about you. It causes you stress because you fear that ultimately he doesn’t love you. You may even worry that you will soon be alone in the world. Your mind races into the future with divorce, pain and suffering. It feels hopeless in this state. “The mind’s job is to validate what it thinks,” says Katie, so it looks for proof that your spouse doesn’t care about you. In this fearful state you focus on building proof. You need clarity to know what is really going on. 

So, for example, you have identified the stressful thought, “My husband does not care about me.” Now begin to question this thought: 

Question one: Is it true? Is it true that he doesn’t care about me? (It certainly feels this way.)

Question two: Can you absolutely know that it’s true? How do I know it’s true? Where’s the proof? Can I really know what he is thinking? (I cannot absolutely know it’s true.) 

Question three: How do I react when I think that thought? (It makes me fearful, frightened that I will be alone and unloved forever. I treat myself badly with thoughts like, “I don’t deserve love.” I withdraw from him, become cold and isolated and treat him badly by saying sarcastic, cold things.) 

Question four: Who would I be without that thought? Without that story, what would my life be like? (I would feel free and peaceful knowing that love can only exist from within myself. I would care about me and not leave it up to my husband. I would listen to him and be open to seeing the ways he does care about me.) 

And then, turn the thought around. Consider other possibilities that may exist. Turning around “He doesn’t care about me” might lead you to “I don’t care about him.” (Yes, this turn-around could be as true, especially when I feel hurt, I withdraw from him and when I get angry, I don’t care what he is feeling.) Or it might lead you to “I don’t care about me.” (I don’t care about myself when I go to war with someone I love. I take away my own peace of mind.) Or you might conclude “He does care about me.” (He may care about me and still speak harshly to me.) 

Ask yourself whether any of your turned-around versions seem as true or even truer than your original thought. And if they do, find three genuine ways in which they are true. Turn-arounds, says Katie, can dramatically set you free from a thought, especially if you’ve debunked your belief in it by asking the four questions. 

On November 5 from 2 to 6pm and November 6 from 9:30am to 3:30pm, I will lead a workshop at the LifePath Retreat Center called “The Work of Byron Katie.” It is a deeply transformative process of inquiry that is helping people around the world battle the war with reality—with four questions. The workship explores the profound effect of The Work of Byron Katie, including opportunities to practice The Work as well as engage in powerful exercises designed to bring you into the Now, into loving what is, resulting in freedom from stress and peace of mind.

Cost for the workshop is US$150. Individual sessions are available November 7, 8 and 9. Advance registration is required. Call LifePath at 154-8465. To explore more about the work of Byron Katie, go to www.thework.com.



Suzy Batiz has been an interior designer for the past decade and has turned her gift into service of the deepest interior design—awareness. She is a graduate of and served in a staff position at The School for The Work of Byron Katie. She is the founder of A Peaceful Mind and regularly facilitates clients and conducts inquiry groups and workshops internationally. She is currently working on her first book, Unwounded—Beyond the Scars: A Journey into the Self-Realization of Who You Really Are.



The unfinished life

Jock Whitehouse will explore possible answers to such questions as What is important? and What is Being?, based on his experience of 10 years of searching and meditation to find an answer, and present details of the journey in a two-day workshop called “Transformation Through Crisis: Six Steps to Spiritual Wholeness” at the LifePath Center November 4 and 5. The six steps appeal to both hemispheres of the brain, and their unifying effect is assimilated through meditation. 

Whitehouse believes that our expanding consciousness calls us to become our spiritual essence, that our lives should be set to the largest of causes. There isn’t a mission or a destiny more important than the life we are living, and we are called to stand on its highest ground. The six steps help lead the way. 

For many of us, retirement isn’t what we thought it would be. The voice, heard once again, arrives demanding against the stark reality of passing time. It reminds us that we’re too young to cast our lives adrift, waiting for the end. 

It tells us we have too much value and vitality left, too much wisdom that remains untouched, too much of ourselves that has gone unused, unfinished. It’s the voice that comes from the deepest part of ourselves, calling us to a second chance while there is yet time. 

Whitehouse is a spiritual guide, speaker and workshop leader who was raised in Mexico and lives in San Miguel.

In this workshop, participants learn the transforming power of crisis, and, along with meditations, are guided through six steps to spiritual wholeness. 

For further information or reservations, contact him at jockwhitehouse@mindspring.com  or at 152-8146, or contact LifePath Center at info@lifepathretreats.com  or 154-8465. Enrollment is limited.

Crossword