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Paula has been involved in Unity since 1980 and is enrolled in Unity Institute to become a Unity minister. As the VP of Communications at Unity, she is responsible for internal and external communications.
Sep
01
We sell a T-shirt in the Unity Village bookstore that simply says, “Coexist,” with symbols of the world’s major religions arranged in a circle. It is an elegant representation of the ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Aug
12
Like a lot of Unity people, I’m a big fan of Myrtle Fillmore, who co-founded the Unity movement with her husband Charles. Last Friday, Aug. 6, was her birthday, which “coincidentally” ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jul
14
I’m focusing on health and fitness these days, fueled in part by Dr. Michelle Robin’s great new book Wellness on a Shoestring, but also by a recent visit with my 83-year-old mother, who maintains ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jun
28
Like a lot of people these days, I keep an overly full schedule. Often my reply to the question, “How are you?” is today’s common response: “Busy.”
I love my life ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jun
21
At the Unity People’s Conference in San Diego earlier this month, visionary author and speaker Barbara Marx Hubbard shared this inspiring and thought-provoking quote from French philosopher Pierre ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
May
17
My daughter Emily graduated from University of Missouri at Columbia last Saturday. Like many parents seeing their children advance from one stage of life to the next, my emotions fluctuated between tremendous ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
May
10
This is the story of how one man held to his dream for 35 years, relentlessly persevering, and how that dream finally came true, in a big, big way – for the benefit of the whole ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
May
03
I got contact lenses last Friday so I won’t have to grope around for reading glasses all the time. As I adjust to how they affect my vision, it struck me that this is a great metaphor for learning ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Apr
26
On this cool, rainy Sunday morning, I find myself, happily, in The Zone. I experienced it yesterday as well, while riding my horse in the indoor arena, and later in the evening, while reading a book. The ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Apr
12
Lately I’ve been thinking about the concept of “releasing the imprisoned splendor,” so I Googled it to find the source. Turns out it’s from Robert Browning’s poem Paracelsus, ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Apr
05
Today I have been working on a new brochure to explain what Unity is to those unfamiliar with it. And while I have been able to compile certain words and sentences that convey the gist of our philosophy ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Mar
29
One of my favorite quotes is the well-known passage in A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson in which she writes:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Mar
04
At last weekend’s inspiring True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, featuring some of the world’s best independent documentary films, I had the pleasure of viewing an intriguing film ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Feb
08
Unity is celebrating 2010 as “The Year of the 12 Powers” and the power for February is Strength – a power which has held special meaning for me since one year ago.
Last year at about ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jan
25
Like most people on the planet, I’ve been riveted the last few weeks to the news reports coming out of Haiti – the heartbreaking scenes of people trapped under the earthquake rubble; doctors ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jan
11
Some quick thoughts as we begin the New Year:
The 21-Day Challenge: My husband Richard and I have embarked on the 21-day cleanse described in the January/February Unity Magazine article, ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Dec
14
My baby girl is arriving home today after six months in South Africa. Never mind that she will turn 22 on Saturday – she is still my baby girl, and always will be.
Back in July, I wrote about ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Dec
07
This is the last week of ministerial school before Christmas break and all of our term papers are due, which explains why I haven’t blogged in three weeks. It has been a VERY long time since ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Nov
16
When I was in my mid-forties, a dear friend gave me my first Bible. Although I was happy to get it, it took me two years to get the courage to open it.
Why, you ask? I didn’t know where to begin. ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Nov
02
One of my ministerial school professors commented in class the other day that “it isn’t necessary to suffer first in order to experience joy.”
As I recall, he was underscoring how ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Oct
19
My beloved friend Karen, visiting from Portland, persuaded me this weekend to try Bikram Yoga. Bikram is a lot like regular yoga except it is held in a studio heated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Oct
12
Last week, bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert told a Unity Village audience how difficult it had been to complete her subsequent book after the runaway success of Eat, Pray, Love. The pressure ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Oct
05
I have felt for some time now that a major part of my mission in life is to “find my voice”; that is, to discover and express what is uniquely me, as clearly, fully and authentically as possible. ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Sep
21
As a young adult, I used to worry that the pervasiveness of technology was going to ruin the quality of our lives. I blamed Americans’ addiction to television for many of our societal ills, from ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Sep
07
I’m not sure when I fell in love with silence. Perhaps it was when I married a man (my first husband) who did not want to have the TV on – ever – and I found out life was better that ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Aug
31
Our neighbors to the east have three small energetic dogs and their cue to begin barking is when I sit down to meditate.
Actually, only the youngest one starts up immediately. He has a sixth sense about ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Aug
24
This is the time of year for vacations -- and after every vacation is the period of re-entry. The work typically piles up while we’re away, so readjusting is doubly hard, with added urgency. ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Aug
03
A new energy is taking hold at Unity Village. It is the energy of creativity, vision, passion and love for our movement – grounded in who we are and inspired by what we can do. It captures ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jul
27
The other day I looked up the word “Christian” in the dictionary. And it said: “One who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ.”
So, for people who question ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jul
20
Time to follow up on a few of the topics I’ve written about recently…
Life after “The Cleanse”
People keep asking me about The Master Cleanse and how well it has worked for me, ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jul
13
I got a nice surprise while attending the annual conference of the North American Interfaith Network two weeks ago at Unity Village. As expected, it was inspiring to learn about each distinctive faith ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jul
06
I put my daughter Emily on a plane to South Africa this morning. She is 21 and she will be gone six months.
To say this took a toll on my heartstrings would be a vast understatement. It would ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jun
25
Hooray! I made it! Day 10 was, if you’ll pardon the expression, a piece of cake, especially after I finished drinking the last saltwater flush in the morning.
I stayed on my regimen throughout ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jun
22
The Cleanse – Day 7
Today marks one week on the Master Cleanse and my way of relating to food has changed in a most intriguing way. This morning I surveyed the contents of the refrigerator ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jun
19
Day 5
Each day seems to be getting easier. My energy level and clear-headedness continue to surprise me.
My one variance from the cleanse today was to chew a piece of mint sugarless gum ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jun
17
Day 3
A much better day, all around. The salt flush went down more easily this morning with the switch to cool water. I was surprised during the day at my high energy level and good cheer ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jun
15
Because of Lynne Twist, I have embarked on a fast. It is my way of getting right on the inside so I may be more effective on the outside.
Here’s what inspired me: In her book ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jun
08
When I turned 40, my father said, “Happy Birthday! Now you can start enjoying life.”
I loved him for taking the sting out of that birthday for me.
Now, 14 years later, I am amazed to find ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
May
11
For Mom, Ben and Emily --
On the occasion of Mother’s Day, I am struck by the life-transforming education that has come with motherhood. Until I became a mother, I didn’t know: ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
May
04
I’ve been noticing lately the seemingly innate human tendency to regard some people as “good guys,” (i.e., those who are on “our side,” who think and act like we do, who don’t ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Apr
27
A friend and former co-worker of mine made her transition last week, suddenly and unexpectedly. It was a great loss to me and to all who knew her.
At the funeral Saturday, the chaplain said something ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Apr
20
I learned about surrender while riding my horse one Saturday about a year ago.
Three women friends and I had ventured to Blue/Gray Park for a trail ride. We were in high spirits, ready for adventure. ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Apr
13
At the Easter service this morning, Rev. Kevin Ross told the congregation at Unity Southeast Church that one reason we don’t experience more miracles in our lives is because “we know too much.” ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Apr
06
Last week as Unity School of Christianity announced job and salary reductions in response to current financial challenges, I kept remembering the statement: “My heart is broken – open.” ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Mar
30
Like a lot of middle-aged, introspective Baby Boomers, I am prone to asking myself, “What is my purpose in life? What am I here to do?”
Last week it was as if the still small voice responded: ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Mar
23
Meister Eckhart, the 13th century German mystic, once wrote, “God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction.”
Can you imagine how different our world ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Mar
16
A few years ago, I had a revelation while taking a Spiritual Education and Enrichment class at Unity Village called “How to Let God Help You,” based on the book by Myrtle Fillmore. ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Mar
09
Jesus and I got off to a rocky start.
It wasn’t his fault, nor was it mine. Just the result of a little too much pressure from too many people to accept him as my personal savior, and too little ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Mar
02
One of my all-time favorite books is the New York Times Bestseller, Animals as Teachers and Healers, by Susan Chernak McElroy. Before I read it, I subscribed to the common assumption that human beings ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Feb
23
We at Unity get pushback every once in awhile from people who don’t agree that there are many paths to God.
“One God, many paths,” we say in Unity. Our movement, which is positive, ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Feb
16
In September of 1992, my mother had the misfortune of being in Kauai when Hurricane Iniki hit.
For eight terrifying hours, she huddled in the bathroom with my stepfather, holding her hands over her ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Feb
09
Today – Feb. 9, 2009 – is my first day of ministerial school at Unity Village.
I am only taking one class, “A Call to Ministry,” yet it feels momentous. In fact, my heart is ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Feb
02
“Learn how to die and you learn how to live.”
For years, I’ve been fascinated by near-death experiences. I’ve never had one, of course, but I’ve studied them.
While ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
Jan
26
In keeping with that well-known song, I’m wondering if anyone else out there has noticed one particular virtue of our new President: Respect.
Like everyone else, I’ve been struck by ...
Posted By Paula Coppel
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