Trains, Fountains and Wonder Bread

Kansas City, MO, still has alot of trains - I'm not sure what they transport? grain, cattle, corn? but I noticed on my first night at Unity that they pass thru once an hour or so - I thought at first it was a thunderstorm but the thunder lasted way too long... I got to see the tracks and stations when I drove into KC yesterday afternoon as well as many, many fountains. Surprisingly this mid-western city is know for its myriad fountains and European inspired architecture; I drove through both the Plaza and Valencia district and was entranced with the sytles of buildings and the waterworks. After my search and discovery mission for yarn stores I vowed to find the famous barbecue spot in KC (at least that's what all the tour books tell me) - Arthur Bryant's. Boy what a surprise when Miss Daisy (my GPS) landed me in the Ameristar Casino and Hotel complex (and I mean complex)on the northern side of the city. I couldn't see a sign for the restaurant on the outside but after walking around this mega mall I found it and promptly ordered my barbecue sandwich of that day's special, "shredded beef" and of course french fries (why ruin a perfect barbecue experience), although I opted out of the coleslaw and baked beans... Much to my surprise the sandwich was made on wonder bread! I chucled because not a half hour before I had passed a wonder bread and debby madison cakes thrift store and couldn't believe my eyes. I haven't had wonder bread since I was very young - oh maybe 50 years ago and here it is alive and well in KC! I unloaded the shredded beef onto my plate and pushed the wonder bread aside - by the time the barbecue beef had met it it had pretty much already melted into its traditional texture anyway.

Last night I went to my very first Unity Church service as well as one today at Unity Village. I was curious to observe/participate in their worship programs - given as how I have been staying in world headquarters for the past week. Each church, although different in size, (the former had about 50 people at their Saturday pm service, the latter probably close to 300) had live musicians and vocal soloists perform uplifting and enthusiastic music. The services each included prayer and meditaton time, singing, a "lesson" (aka sermon), announcements and greetings. I resonanted with most of the message although the ideology is too Christcentric for me. While I recognize Christ as an ascended Master I also recognize many other souls, past and present, which I try to emulate and learn from.
I also rebel at the thought of reciting words together as a group, no matter how benevolent the words are - it reminds me too much of rote memorization and something a little bit akin to brainwashing. I don't think I'm meant to be a member of any church; I'm too independent minded and don't always play well in groups. I have to admit; however, that the energy here is great, the people happy, positive and welcoming - they must be doing alot right....

AS promised I did finish reading Sylvia Boorstein's book (well, barely, I did take the liberty of skipping over the philosophical pages and getting to the stories - which I found much more enjoyable). There is one phrase in the book that I really took issue with - she explains that in the Buddhist philosophy we are trained to realize that we are but actors in this play called life and can choose our responses to what happens to us but we are not the directors of the show. Maybe it's my controlling nature coming out again but I choose to be the director of my life, the captain of my soul and believe that I am, on some level, 100% responsible for what happens to me aka what I have attracted into my life. Even when I don't know how or why something happened I do feel that at some level, perhaps or usually unconscious, I have attracted that circumstance, event, or relationship into my life based upon my current or past vibrations. So if I work on changing my vibrations, by changing my thoughts and feelings I can attract different events into my life. And of course this is an ongoing process.

Tomorrow I'm off to Omaha, Nebraska to visit a friend for a few days before flying to Chicago for more interviews. Let's see what I attract for my experiences in Omaha...