Cooking together could be such a fun learning process of mindfulness and discovery of spiritual self. CGIE is enjoying offering collaborative training for the Junior youth Empowerment project at Pitzer College under the loving instruction of Zenia Gutierrez. . The training process is most engaging and includes many aspects of integrated education such as learning to harvest the raw materials, preparing; washing, peeling, chopping the ingredients. Learning to properly use the kitchen tools, and cook.
The whole team of adults and junior youth participate in an exploration of the connections between preparing food and the discovery of their own gifts and strengths in the context of metaphors, stories, prayers, and many aspects of nature. As we explore the properties of the food we eat, we see the parallels attributes in ourselves such as sweetness, bitterness, spicy, sourness, prickly, softness, and hard to cook. While it is difficult to change the properties of sweet or sour ingredients, we learn that by negotiating our thoughts and attitudes, we can change the reality of our experiences in life. The whole team works together with no pause for the generation gap.
Together we take advantage of the opportunities for mindfulness and transformation all around us. The secret of the bridging of the generations is in the spirit of caring to connect and enthusiasm to learn and grow while holding tight to the universal spiritual values of independent investigation of truth, the oneness of all humanity, and a deep commitment to the well-being of all.
Our commitment to the well-being of each other leaves no room for separation and gulfs that festers in our divided society between the old and young. Meanwhile, we prepare as a team rough sketches for painting a mural on the free wall at Pitzer College using the metaphors and concepts in the prayer for the youth we have been reflecting on and implementing for several weeks. The process will teach us the skills of brainstorming, fact-finding, critical thinking, consultation, consensus building, and finally executing it in the form of a big mural on the free wall.
The beautiful spaces and gardens at Pitzer College lift our team’s spirit as we sit under the shaded trellis to begin our morning prayer, meditation, and reflection. Everyone gets to choose from the spiritual menue spread before them in the two prayers we have been learning. We wish to be radiant, have added strength at the break of each day, lead the hapless, guide the wayward, and so on.
Prayer for the youth:
O Lord! Make this youth radiant, and confer Thy bounty upon this poor creature. Bestow upon him knowledge, grant him added strength at the break of every morn and guard him, within the shelter of Thy protection so that he may be freed from error, may devote himself to the service of Thy Cause, may guide the wayward, lead the hapless, free the captives and awaken the heedless, that all may be blessed with Thy remembrance and praise. Thou art the mighty and the Powerful.
Keyvan Geula is a licensed Marriage, Family, and Child Therapist; LMFT. She received her Master of Science in Marriage, family, and Child Therapy from the University of La Verne, in La Verne, California. She employs the latest research in behavioral sciences, neuroscience, and the Baha’i principle of the oneness of all humanity to serve the well-being of her clients.
She offers her services as a clinician, lecturer, trainer, and supervisor to a global set of clients in person and online. In her clinical work, she incorporates the wisdom of the Baha’i Writings, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy research, Mindfulness meditation, and consultation skills, as well as knowledge of the spiritual self.
She is an adjunct professor of Behavioral Sciences at Citrus Community College, faculty of continued education at Claremont Graduate University. She teaches psychology online to students at Baha’i Institute of Higher Education.
She is the Founder and Executive Director of Center for Global Integrated Education (CGIE), a non-profit Baha’i-inspired educational organization, which explores oneness of all humanity, and teaches the integrated mind-body-spirit approach in education.
She has served for two years as the producer and host of a two-hour weekly live radio show for the Persian community in Sothern, California focusing on the role of the psychology of spirituality in personal and social transformation, creativity, emotional and social intelligence, and a greater sense of harmony in a global society. She also has been the host and producer of TV series called Transforming Human Consciousness for eight years. She regularly writes and blogs on www.cgie.org/blog on topics related to integrated education, the oneness of humanity, the powers of the human spirit in the betterment of global society, elimination of all prejudice, equality of women and men, and education reform. Some of her shows are posted on her; Keyvan Geula YouTube Channel.
Mrs. Geula has served in several Baha’i institutions since her youth in Iran and USA.
